Sneak preview screening followed by a Q&A session with director Shuichi Okita and actor Kanji Furutachi

THE WOODSMAN AND THE RAIN (Kitsutsuki to Ame)
Japan, 2011 128 minutes
Director: Shuichi Okita
Writers: Shuichi Okita, Fumio Moriya
Producers: Tadaatsu Shundo, Miyuki Sato, Ujikatsu Omori
Cast: Koji Yakusho, Shun Oguri, Kengo Kora, Asami Usuda, Kanji Furutachi
and Tsutomu Yamazaki

Film courtesy of Kadokawa Pictures

In Japanese with English subtitles

When a film crew arrives in a tranquil village in the mountains to shoot a movie, taciturn Katsu (Yakusho), a 60-year-old lumberjack, finds himself unwittingly roped into assisting the production. While frustrated by the crew's demands, he is especially irritated by the spineless 25-year-old Koichi (Oguri), who can't seem to do anything right and appears to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But an unlikely friendship begins to develop between the two, and when Katsu discovers that Koichi is actually the film's first-time director, he paves the way for an unusual collaboration between the villagers and the film crew. Although his relationship with his own son, also named Koichi (Kora), remains strained, Katsu's relationship with the rookie director helps restore the latter's self-confidence, and reminds Katsu, a recent widower, that life can actually be a lot of fun.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival, "The Woodsman and the Rain" is one of the most charming films ever made about the team effort required in filmmaking - thus making it easy to draw comparisons between director Shuichi Okita and the struggling young director in his film. Whatever he may once have had in common with Koichi, Okita directs his two popular stars, Koji Yakusho ("Admiral Yamamoto") and Shun Oguri ("Crows Zero") like a master, and their enjoyment is evident in their relaxed, droll performances.

Please join the Movie Committee for this sneak preview of "The Woodsman and the Rain" ahead of the film's opening on February 11.

For more on the film, see: http://kitsutsuki-rain.jp/

Writer-director Shuichi Okita studied film at the Nihon University College of Art. His short film "Pots and Friends" (2002), won the Grand Prize at the Mito Short Film Festival. His first feature, "The Wonderful World," was released in 2006. After writing and directing TV dramas, he directed his second feature, "The Chef of the South Polar"(2009), which enjoyed a long theatrical run in Japan and earned him wide acclaim overseas as well.

Kanji Furutachi studied with Uta Hagen, Carol Rosenfeld and others at the famed HB Studio in New York before returning to Japan and working with the Seinendan and Sample theater companies. He has appeared in all of Okita's films, as well as in Ryosuke Hashiguchi's "All Around Us" (2008), Yoichi Higashi's "Wandering Home" (2010) and Nobuhiro Yamashita's "My Back Page" (2010), which we screened last year at FCCJ. He was also the star of Koji Fukada's 2010 "Hospitalite," winner of the Japan Eyes section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which has been widely distributed overseas.

Prior to the screening, please join Mr. Okita and Mr. Furutachi for a glass of wine and light snacks at our Meet the Filmmakers Cocktail Party, from 6:00 ? 6:45 pm. The cocktail party is 1,260 Yen (incl. tax). Space is limited to the first thirty (30) people to sign up at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161). Cancellations received after noon on the day of the screening will be charged in full.

You may attend the screening without attending the cocktail party. Please make your seating reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) or http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7146
All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.
Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee