Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Real.
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest film, Real, has been added to the Main Slate of the 51st New York Film Festival. The addition brings the total number of Main Slate Official Selections to 36. Also today, the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the schedule for the Official Selection of the upcoming festival, taking place September 27 – October 13, 2013.
Real is the Japanese director's first feature since his 2008 title Tokyo Sonata, which screened at NYFF that year. Film Society noted that the film is “at once the most romantic and tender film of his career, and entirely consistent with the rest of his unparalleled body of work. It is also, as always, as visually and tonally exquisite as it is unsettling.”
Starring Takeru Sato and Haruka Ayase, the Sci-Fi drama centers on Koichi and Atsumi, who are childhood friends that have become lovers. Despite their close relationship, Atsumi attempts suicide, putting her in a coma and leaving Koichi at a loss to comprehend what drove her to do it. As a neurosurgeon, Koichi accesses the latest medical studies and procedures that will allow him to enter Atsumi's subconscious. Through “sensing,” he taps the intentional aspect of the comatose patient's mind, trying to find answers and also to bring her back to consciousness.
The 51st New York Film Festival opens with the World Premiere of Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips. The World Premiere of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will screen as the festival's Centerpiece and will close out with the World Premiere of Spike Jonze's Her. On Thursday, the Film Society announced that Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes will be this year's Gala Tributes.
A star manga artist (Haruka Ayase) is in a coma, the result perhaps of a suicide attempt. In an experimental medical procedure, her husband (Takeru Satô) enters her unconscious in an attempt to awaken her. But when one psyche merges with another, mirror opposites are the possible, troubling result. A haunting successor to the mother of all time travel films, Chris Marker’s La Jetée, with a tip of the hat to Bong Joon-ho’s The Host, Real finds its mysteries in the ordinary. What does it mean to be coupled? Can love conquer death? A unique film from one of the most unique artists in contemporary cinema.
The full NYFF Main Slate can be viewed here.
General Public tickets will be available on September 8th. Members of the Film Society of Lincoln Center have the opportunity to purchase single screening tickets in advance of the General Public. VIP Passes for the New York Film Festival are on sale now. For more information about becoming a Film Society Member click here. More ticket information for the New York Film Festival will be available here .
