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Director: |
Takashi Yamazaki
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Starring: |
Maki Horikita, Yôichi Nukumizu, Magy, Hiroshi Kanbe, Hiroshi Kamido, Takashi Matsuo, Toru Masuoka, Kaga Mochimaru, Masaya Takahashi, Kenta Suga, Kazuki Koshimizu, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Koyuki, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Hidetaka Yoshioka
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Genres: |
Drama, Family, Indie-Arthouse Cinema
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Origin: |
Japan
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Certificate: |
PG
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Languages: |
Japanese
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Subtitles: |
English
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Running Time: |
133 min
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YAMAZAKI Takashi, Japan's top visual effects artist, has perfectly re-created the old residential streets of Tokyo in the late 1950s, the era which was the country's biggest turning point ? the beginning of the future of what Japan is today. ROBOT, the country's top film production company, proudly presents their latest masterpiece!
ALWAYS is based on the comic book Sunset on Third Street by SAIGAN Ryohei (original title: San-chome no Yuhi, still running in Weekly Big Comic Original, published by Shogaku-kan). Depicting the joys and sorrows in the daily lives of the residents of Third Street in Yuhi District, the first episode was introduced in 1973. Its heartwarming touch has been loved by countless readers over the past 30 years. With more than 14 million copies published in the series, Sunset on Third Street could be referred to as the people?s favorite in the world of Japanese comics.
Director YAMAZAKI Takashi took on the unprecedented challenge of re-creating the streets of Japan in the 1950s. His directorial debut was Juvenile, in which he depicted a friendship between children and a robot. His second film was the action-packed Returner, starring Kaneshiro Takeshi, which was distributed worldwide by Columbia-Tristar. Aside from feature films, he also directed the opening sequences of the video game Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. His technique and talent of direction have been highly acclaimed not only in Japan but also in North America and Europe.
Production company ROBOT is behind the delicate and heartfelt tone of the film. Being credited with Japan's highest-grossing domestic live action features ? the Bayside Shakedown series, which has earned over 27.5 billion yen (approx. US$250 million) and IWAI Shunji?s Love Letter, ROBOT is the most commercially and critically successful film production house in the country. The CG sequences in ALWAYS are produced by SHIROGUMI. Their CG credits include popular video game titles such as Resident Evil and Onimusha.
Through the team up of rising-star director Yamazaki and top live action production company ROBOT, ALWAYS welcomes you to ordinary life in Tokyo of the '50s. Based on tremendous research on the period, the best craftspeople in the industry created impressive location settings, provided perfect props, and rebuilt the world of the '50s using the latest stunning visual effect techniques. With this perfectly re-created backdrop, nostalgically remembered as the ?Showa? era by Japanese people, the film tells a universal story; that is, love among families, love between people, and the meaning of life.
In ALWAYS, audiences will share the feelings of the residents of Third Street in a film experience never seen or imagined before.
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