FACETS CINÉMATHÈQUE
June 2009
The Facets Cinémathèque is located at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. For more information on films playing in the Cinémathèque, please call 773-281-4114. To order advance tickets online, visit the TicketWeb website by clicking here.Chicago Premiere
BIG MAN JAPAN
(Dai-Nipponjin)
"[Hitoshi] Matsumoto builds on a simple-but-brilliant comic premise with patience, subtlety and daring"
-Japan Times
"Decidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary...is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity... What should have been a one-note joke is explored and pushed and pulled in endless directions and, miraculously, never looses its freshness"
-Variety
"I hurt myself laughing at this amazingly inventive mockumentary, and because it's so good, I refuse to give away much more than an insistent recommendation"
-Village Voice
Recommended! "Masumoto’s deadpan is his great strength, making what could have seemed a parallel to Peter Berg's Hancock into something much, much funnier"
-NewCity Chicago
½ "[Matsumoto] is satirizing three genres: the personal documentary, monster movies and reality TV. And he does this slyly, with a scalpel instead of a hatchet"
-Roger Ebert
Recommended! "Inspired"
-Chicago Reader
-Japan Times
"Decidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary...is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity... What should have been a one-note joke is explored and pushed and pulled in endless directions and, miraculously, never looses its freshness"
-Variety
"I hurt myself laughing at this amazingly inventive mockumentary, and because it's so good, I refuse to give away much more than an insistent recommendation"
-Village Voice
Recommended! "Masumoto’s deadpan is his great strength, making what could have seemed a parallel to Peter Berg's Hancock into something much, much funnier"
-NewCity Chicago
½ "[Matsumoto] is satirizing three genres: the personal documentary, monster movies and reality TV. And he does this slyly, with a scalpel instead of a hatchet"-Roger Ebert
Recommended! "Inspired"
-Chicago Reader
A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato's job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters. But while his predecessors were national heroes, he is a pariah among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes. And Daisato has his own problems - an agent insistent on branding him with sponsor advertisements, an Alzheimer-afflicted grandfather who transforms into a giant in dirty underwear, and a family who is embarrassed by his often cowardly exploits. A wickedly deadpan spin on the giant Japanese superhero, Big Man Japan is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic but truly unique hero. Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto, Japan, 2007, 35mm, 113 mins. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Official site (in Japanese) YouTube trailer Japan Times Variety
NewCity Chicago Chicago Tribune Roger Ebert Chicago Reader
Showtimes:
Fri., June 26 at 6:30 & 8:45 pm
Sat.-Sun., June 27-28 at 2, 4:15, 6:30 & 8:45 pm
Mon.-Thurs., June 29 - July 2 at 6:30 & 8:45 pm
Tickets:
$9 general admission
FREE for Facets Members!
Order tickets online
For all Cinémathèque inquiries, contact Charles Coleman at 773.281.9075 or charles@facets.org
$9 general admission
FREE for Facets Members!
Order tickets online
For all Cinémathèque inquiries, contact Charles Coleman at 773.281.9075 or charles@facets.org
Facets Multimedia
1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago IL 60614
Sales hours: 9am-6pm, Mon.-Fri.
Rental hours: 10am-10pm, Mon.-Sat.,
12pm-10pm, Sun. & holidays
1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago IL 60614
Sales hours: 9am-6pm, Mon.-Fri.
Rental hours: 10am-10pm, Mon.-Sat.,
12pm-10pm, Sun. & holidays
Current Schedule
Archives:
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
Archives:
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009