Films: Japan Japan

Japan Japan

Israel, 2007, 65 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Drama, Gay, Jewish, Youth
Program: World Cinema
Language: Hebrew, English English subtitles

DIRECTOR: Lior Shamriz

Japan Japan admirably crams more male nudity and cinema theory into its first sixty seconds than any film in Frameline history. But it is more than just porn and philosophy; Japan Japan is a very modern coming-ofage story with universal appeal. It is a film about growing up and moving on, and it takes place within that familiar moment between youth and adulthood when lots of nothing happens, and you spend too much time waiting for the phone to ring and change your world.
Imri, a young, handsome ex-soldier from the Israeli countryside, now lives in Tel Aviv with plans to move to Japan. In a lackadaisical purgatory, he hangs out with his roommate, does a poor job at work and looks for love and sex — often unsure of the difference. Like many guys in their early twenties, Imri is dealing with adult challenges while behaving in a juvenile manner, just waiting for that defining event that will make him a man.
With a playful, improvised style and constantly changing genres — much like its slacker hero — Japan Japan is at times a documentary, a music video, a porn film, a travelogue and even a trailer for itself. Yet the world of Japan Japan’s Tel Aviv is so familiar that it could be right here in San Francisco.
The experimental short Allen Ginsberg Gives Great Head is an explicit and poetic homage to the great American poet and writer of Howl. — COREY EUBANKS

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The following short films will screen before this film...

• 

  Allen Ginsberg Gives Great Head

  Singapore , 2007 , 15 min.
  Director: X’Ho
  The experimental short Allen Ginsberg Gives Great Head is a poetic homage to the great American poet and writer of Howl.... more

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