PARADISE VIEW
(パラダイスビュー)
Dir. Gō Takamine, 1985
Japan. 113 min.
In Japanese with English subtitles.
THURSDAY, APRIL 4 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 – 5 PM
FRIDAY, APRIL 19 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30 – 7:30 PM
In presentation with E-Flux, Spectacle brings you director Gō Takamine’s undersung first feature Paradise View, a languid and mystical gem of cultural minority cinema set in a small Okinawan community. Taking place in the period immediately leading up to the implementation of the Okinawan Reversion Agreement, which reestablished Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa, the film is a meditation on Okinawa’s complex history of occupation. Notably, it was filmed almost entirely in the severely endangered Okinawan dialect.
Events are set in motion by the arrival of Japanese school teacher Ito, played by preeminent Japanese musician Haroumi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame, who also composed the film’s sublime electronic score. The character Chiru is played by Hosono’s musical equal and collaborator, Jun Togawa. With Ito set to marry a young woman named Nabee, the community is astir over wedding preparations. Soon, however, matters grow complicated after word spreads that Nabee has been impregnated by the ant-obsessed Reishu, played by Kaoru Kobayashi, a local who has recently quit his job on a U.S. military base.
This film is presented in partnership with e-flux’s program, Beyond Security: Approaches toward a Cinema of Okinawa. In addition to our screenings of PARADISE VIEW, e-flux will host two days of events on April 25th and April 27th in their Screening Room (172 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205).
Starting at 7:00pm on Thursday, April 25th, e-flux will feature Chikako Yamashiro’s MUD MAN, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS: BATTLE OF EASEL POINT – MEMORIAL PROJECT OKINAWA, and Chris Marker’s LEVEL FIVE.
The series continues on Saturday, April 27th at 3:00 pm with a screening of Gō Takamine’s HENGYORO (QUEER FISH LANE) and, at 5:00 pm, films from Futoshi Miyagi’s body of work, AMERICAN BOYFRIEND. Go to e-flux.com/film for more information.