Issue:
August 2025
Join the Film Committee …
Join us on Tuesday, September 9 at 6 pm for a sneak preview of Yuiga Danzuka’s remarkable feature debut, Brand New Landscape. One of the youngest filmmakers to premiere a work in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival, Danzuka proved he was up to the privilege with his beguiling drama, a story that is sure to strike an unexpected chord with Tokyoites. Exploring not only the incessant transformations of Tokyo’s built environment but also how those changes can impact our own inner landscapes, the film focuses on a dysfunctional family who is given a second chance. When siblings Ren and Emi (Kodai Kurosaki and Mai Kiryu) run into their estranged father and discover that his career has flourished in the years since they last saw him, they struggle with the need for resolution and reconciliation. As the three attempt to process the scars of the past and redefine their futures, the film shifts deftly from emotionally raw moments into scenes touched with magical realism. Brand New Landscape subtly explores the dissolution of family bonds against the backdrop of some of today’s most pressing social issues, from the alienation and apathy of the “lost generation” to the displacement of entire communities under the guise of renewal and revitalization. The director will join us with producer Kenji Yamagami and upcoming actor Kodai Kurosaki for the Q&A session after the screening. (Brand New Landscape, Japan, 2025, 115 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles).
Karen Severns is chair of the FCCJ Film Committee
