Sweet Bean | あん J-Film

Drama

Presented by JICC, Embassy of Japan and Japan Commerce Association of Washington, D.C., Inc.

8 NOV WED., 6:30 PM JICC

Warm and unusually crowd-pleasing.

The Village Voice

Naomi Kawase's gentle study of life, loss and confectionery is easily the Japanese auteur's most accessible work to date.

Variety

Delightful, unfashionably earnest and, at its best, very moving.

Pop Matters


Sweet Bean is a delicious red bean paste, the sweet heart of the dorayaki pancakes that Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) sells from his little bakery to a small but loyal clientele. Absorbed in sad memories and distant thoughts, Sentaro cooks with skill but without enthusiasm. When seventy-six-year-old Tokue (Kirin Kiki) responds to his ad for an assistant and cheerfully offers to work for a ridiculously low wage, Sentaro is skeptical about the eccentric old lady's ability to endure the long hours. But when she shows up early one morning and reveals to him the secret to the perfect sweet bean paste, Sentaro agrees to take her on.

Starring Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyara Uchida

WOMEN IN CINEMA

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Born and raised in Nara, Naomi Kawase's early films, Embracing and Katatsumori received international recognitions and awards at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1995. With her first feature, Suzaku (1997), she became the youngest filmmaker to receive the Camera d’Or at the Festival de Cannes. Also at Cannes, she won the Grand Prix for The Mourning Forest (2007), the Carrosse d'Or in 2009, and also served as one of the jurors for the competition in 2013. In 2015, Kawase was bestowed with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Aside from being a filmmaker, she is the founder and Executive Director for the Nara International Film Festival.

Japanese with English subtitles | Not Rated | 2015 | 113 min | Directed by Naomi Kawase


This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required for security purposes. Doors open at 6:00 PM and will close once seating is full or promptly at 7:00pm. Registered guests will be seated on a first come, first served basis. Please note that seating is limited and registration does not guarantee guests a seat.

To modify your registration, please email jicc@ws.mofa.go.jp. Your registration is not transferable.

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