Exclusive: Japan Society Unveils October Series Featuring Shiguéhiko Hasumi: A Different Perspective on Cinema in America and Japan.

      In a strong contender for the series of the year, New York’s Japan Society has allowed Shiguéhiko Hasumi––a critic, theorist, and scholar who also mentored Kiyoshi Kurosawa––to curate the programming. This initiative has led to the presentation of "Shiguéhiko Hasumi: Another History of the Movie in America and Japan," taking place from October 9 to 18. The series includes films from Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama, as well as works by Robert Aldrich, Ozu, Naruse, Mizoguchi, Michael Mann, John Ford, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who remarked:

      “It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Hasumi has, in a way, shaped contemporary Japanese cinema, especially after the studio system’s decline. Understanding his contributions is crucial for grasping today's Japanese film landscape.”

      Pedro Costa added even more praise:

      “Hasumi-san’s observations are concrete and detailed: he elucidates the movement of an actor through a space, contemplates certain gestures or actions being accelerated or decelerated, and examines the balance of conflicting tensions within a sequence… He is the only writer whose approach resembles that of a filmmaker: he is one of us.”

      Below are descriptions of each film (along with a live event) and ticket information:

      **…All the Marbles (California Dolls)**

      Saturday, October 18 at 5:30 PM

      Directed by Robert Aldrich, 1981, 113 min., 35mm, color. Starring Peter Falk, Vicki Frederick, Laurene Landon. Imported 35mm Print. Aldrich’s last film is a surprisingly personal and humorous road movie centered on women’s sports. Falk plays the fast-talking, no-nonsense Harry Sears, the lackluster manager of the California Dolls, who bets on his team's last chance for success in a championship match in Reno, Nevada. The film combines Harry’s cheap theatrics and the Dolls’ talent, striving for sincerity through flawed, relatable characters who risk their futures for a faded American Dream, set against diners, budget motels, and vast highways. Drawing from Abe Polonsky’s script of John Garfield’s ’47 boxing film *Body and Soul*—a technique Aldrich previously used for *The Longest Yard*—the film culminates in a gripping final match. Hasumi reviewed it as “the most noble sports film since Raoul Walsh’s *Gentleman Jim*.”

      **Beautiful New Bay Area Project**

      「ビューティフル・ニュー・ベイエリア・プロジェクト」(Byu-tifuru Nyu Beieria Purojekuto)

      Friday, October 10 at 9:30 PM

      Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2013, 29 min., DCP, color. Featuring Mao Mita, Tasuku Emoto, Jinsei Morishita. Commissioned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, which invited four filmmakers to create shorts around the theme of "beautiful," Kurosawa presents unexpected results in this quirky romantic comedy turned action film. Amano (Tasuko Emoto), a young, disoriented executive, develops an infatuation for the beautiful laborer Takako after arriving at a bayside wharf to evaluate a development site. When Takako rebuffs him, she takes matters into her own hands when Amano reacts immaturely, leading to turmoil within a mundane Tokyo office setting. The film will screen with *Le Petit Chaperon rouge*, introduced by William Carroll.

      **The Boston Strangler**

      Thursday, October 16th at 9:00 PM

      Directed by Richard Fleischer, 1968, 116 min., DCP, color. Starring Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy. Fleischer’s 1968 procedural film depicts a dramatized account of the notorious Boston Strangler murders of the early ’60s. Law professor John Bottomly (Fonda), leads a new investigative bureau, chasing every lead while examining societal outcasts against Boston’s dreary backdrop. The film utilizes strikingly framed, split-screen techniques to create suspenseful sequences interspersed with jarring pans and zooms to heighten the anticipation of violence. Shifting into a psychological character study partially driven by Curtis' compelling portrayal, *The Boston Strangler* represents one of Fleischer’s most precise films—celebrated not only by Hasumi but also by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who would later adopt a similar narrative structure in his chilling ’90s thriller *Cure*.

      **Collateral**

      Thursday, October 9 at 7:00 PM

      Directed by Michael Mann, 2004, 120 min., 35mm, color. Featuring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith. Mann's intricate urban thriller occurs during a single restless night in