Kerala - Kochi
Treat for cineastes

Japanese revolutionary filmmaker Nagisa Oshima's 1972 film, 'Dear Summer Sister,' (`Natsu No Imoto'), will be screened in Kochi on Sunday. The screening has been organised by Cochin Film Society, as part of the monthly

Archive Screening Programme held in association with the National Film Archives of India, Pune.

The film, 'an experimental exploration of moral corruption,' is partly based on a true story.

It is set against the backdrop of the return of the Okinawa Prefecture (a group of islands on the southern tip of Japan) to full Japanese rule from the decades long American occupation. This happened in 1972.

The plot is basically a simple story involving a Tokyo teenager and her soon-to-be stepmother for the search of a long-lost brother she has never met.

However, the plot evolves and is interlinked with the complex post-war relations between Japan and Okinawa.

Oshima's films, made in a naturalistic tradition that can be easily assimilated by the viewers, are highly critical of Japanese society.

The screening will be held at 9.30 a.m., at Savitha Theatre.
Renu Ramanath
(The Hindu - May 17, 2006)