Now Showing Aug 4

Acclaimed director, Christopher Nolan has put together an all-star international cast for his new film, ‘Inception’, a blockbuster science fiction-action film is built upon the novel concept of entering another person’s subconscious and stealing their ideas. ‘Inception’ stars three-time Academy Award nominee, Leonardo DiCaprio, who has been nominated for films such as the ‘The Aviator’ and ‘Blood Diamond’. There are many familiar faces among the cast which spans from younger actors to the more experienced stars, and includes Marion Cotillard (Oscar-winner for the Edith Piaf biopic ‘La vie en rose’), Ellen Page (Best Actress Academy Award nominee at age twenty for Cody Diablo’s ‘Juno’), and two-time Oscar-winner Michael Caine. This film may also put Ken Watanabe in the running for his second Academy Award, playing the key character of a big-shot businessman.

The most valuable thing we have in this world is our ideas. The main character, Dom Cobb, uses his special ability to go into other people’s minds and steal their ideas before they become reality. All the while he’s carrying out these clandestine underworld activities, he is being pursued around the globe and has lost the ones he loves as a consequence. Cobb gets offered a job and as Cobb’s compensation all of his crimes will be erased and he will be able to return to his family. The mission he has been given is to perform is an almost impossible ‘inception’, planting an idea instead of extracting one.

Set mostly in the subconscious of the mind, this film creates a world of no limits; Nolan, who wrote the script and directed and produced the film started to create this world over ten years ago. Be it fear or enjoyment, the brain creates everything that happens in our dreams, and the extent of influence that this imagination has is unknown; to this, Nolan has brought the notion of dream sharing and lucid dreaming together to create this complex story.

Filming began in June last year in Tokyo where a scene looking from a helipad on skyscraper down to the Tokyo metropolis was shot. The rest of the filming was done across four continents in six countries including Morocco, Canada, Paris, Los Angeles. For the dreaming sequences the sets included a 360º rotating set with opposing gravity, and a set where all people and objects were on a tilt. The result is a film that shakes up the viewer’s sense of balance and takes your breath away.

Inception

(C) 2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

USA, 2010
Opened: July 23
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Jason Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Japan
Website: wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/inception/mainsite

Extraordinary Measures

This moving story tells the story of parents who formed their own pharmaceutical company in order to develop a drug to save their children from a life threatening disease. The film is based on a true story which took place in America and stars Harrison Ford as the researcher charged with developing the drug.

USA, 2010
Japanese title: Chiisana Inochi ga Yobu Toki
Opened: July 24
Director: Tom Vaughan
Cast: Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell
Distributor: Sony Pictures Japan
Website: papa-okusuri.jp

Zombieland

Over half the people in the world have been turned into zombies. A young man who has been in seclusion sets out to find an amusement park that is said to be free of zombies and a survival adventure ensures. The film is both a horror film and a coming-of-age horror comedy.

USA, 2009
Opened: July 24
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone, Bill Murray
Distributor: Nikkatsu
Website: www.zombieland.jp

Beijing Bicycle

This film won the Grand Jury prize at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival in 2001. In China, a gap exists between the cities, which are expanding due to rapid economic growth, and the poverty of rural towns. The film is set to the backdrop of Beijing, which is troubled by this stratified society. Portrayed are two boys as they grow up, who have met because of one bicycle.

China, 2001
Japanese title: Pekin no Jitensha
Opened: July 24
Director: Siaoshuai Wang
Cast: Lin Cui, Bin Li, Xun Zhou, Shuang Li, Yuanyuan Gao
Distributor: Wako/Guapa Guapo