A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
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Film description
Nanami is an introvert teacher who publishes her diary online under a pseudonym. One of the things she writes about is her upcoming wedding. She does not have many people she can invite, so the groom's family forces her to hire extras to play the wedding guests. A meeting with a charming stranger managing the special acting crew will mark the beginning of a completely unexpected turn in her life – the new acquaintances will lead Nanami to places where her perfectly composed fiction can overcome the mundane reality.
Iwai, known for his ability to combine melancholic poetics with manga-style expressiveness, leads his protagonist through the urban wonderland, where appearances are deceptive, and other travelers are not who they seem to be. Nanami is not unlike Bulgakov’s Margarita, even though on her way she meets not a Master, but a Mistress. The woman will have to face her many fears, and the director’s imagination will set the bar pretty high. An epic, layered, extravagantly told story about loneliness and independence, completed with a lyrical soundtrack and atmospheric cinematography.
text:
Jagoda Murczyńska
Shunji Iwai
Born in 1963, graduate of Yokohama National University. The audiences’ favorite and one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation, renown for his unique visual style and avaunt-guard narration. Apart from directing, he is also working as a producer, composer, and screenwriter. "A Bride for Rip van Winkle" was based on one of his own novels.
1995 Love Letter
1996 Picnic
1998 Shigatsu monogatari / April Story
2001 Wszystko o Lily Chou-Chou / Riri Shushu no subete / All About Lily Chou-Chou
2004 Hana to Arisu / Hana and Alice
2012 Vampire
2015 Hana to Arisu Satsujin Jiken / Hana to Arisu Satsujin Jiken
2016 Żona dla Rip Van Winkle / Rippu Van Winkuru no hanayome / A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
2018 Ni hao, Zhihua
2020 Rasuto leta / Last Letter