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Pigeon Shrine FrightFest is set to host the European premiere of A Samurai in Time, offering audiences a unique blend of historical drama and modern-day adventure. Screening at Discovery Screen 3 on Saturday, 24 August, and Sunday, 25 August, this 2024 Japanese film directed by Junichi Yasuda promises a memorable cinematic experience. This premiere follows its international debut at the Fantasia Festival.

Set during the closing days of the Edo period in Kyoto, the film begins with a samurai, Kosaka Shinzaemon, played by Makiya Yamaguchi, preparing for a duel against a ronin. A sudden flash of lightning transports him to present-day Kyoto, where the duel location has become a film set for jidaigeki (period drama) TV shows and movies. Clad in his traditional samurai attire, Shinzaemon is mistaken for an extra and thrust into the world of movie production.

Due to his authentic appearance and language, Shinzaemon quickly becomes a favourite on the sets,...

Stars: Vic Morrow, Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Philip Casnoff, Peggy Lee Brennan, Tetsurô Tanba, Mikio Narita, Makoto Satô, Seizô Fukumoto, Hiroyuki Sanada | Written by Kinji Fukasaku, Shotaro Ishinomori, Hirô Matsuda | Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Message from Space, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, is a Japanese science fiction film that blends traditional space opera tropes with unique cultural elements, delivering a visually captivating yet narratively uneven experience. Released in the wake of the monumental success of Star Wars, this film ambitiously seeks to carve out its own niche within the genre.

One of the standout features of Message from Space is its visual presentation. The film showcases an impressive array of special effects for its time, with meticulously designed spacecraft and vibrant alien landscapes that reflect a distinctively Japanese aesthetic. The miniature models and practical effects, though not as polished as those in Hollywood blockbusters, possess a charming quality that adds to the film’s retro-futuristic appeal.

Transplanted to the Japanese film industry, this adaptation of the 1952 original is an interesting if predictable homage about an ageing actor too old to play the acrobatic extra who always gets killed

The memory of Charlie Chaplin’s 1952 film Limelight is revived in this interesting if sugary cinephile homage – a kind of remake-adaptation transplanted to the Japanese movie industry. Seizô Fukumoto plays Kamiyama, an ageing actor who specialises in samurai films, always being the guy who gets killed. No one can die in a swordfight as acrobatically or dramatically as him: Fukumoto himself has had a similar career. But at 70, Kamiyama is getting too old for the job, and is poignantly reduced to playing the samurai in studio theme-park shows. At the same time, however, he finds himself mentoring a young extra and would-be actress Satsuki Iga (Chihiro Yamamoto), whose own career begins to take off.

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