Cannes 2011: Third Window Films Acquires UNDERWATER LOVE And SABI OTOKO SABI ONNA For UK

by J Hurtado, May 21, 2011 2:53 PM

The lovely folks over at Third Window Films, one of the UK's finest purveyors of Asian entertainment, have grabbed a couple of cool little titles from the Cannes film market. The first of which is Twitch favorite, Shinji Imaoka's (Bottled Vulva: Bank Teller Noriko) Underwater Love, and the second is comedy omnibus film Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna from directors Gen Sekiguchi (Survive Style 5+), Masaya Kakehi, Mipo Oh, Tomoko Matsunashi, and Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine).

Underwater Love has gotten a lot of love here. The film is probably best known for having been shot by legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Chungking Express, Last Life in the Universe, The Limits of Control, etc), it seems to have a lot more going for it than that. The script, which was penned by director Shinji Imaoka, was given a polish by well-known programmer and author Tom Mes (Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike), and Fumio Moriya (The Strange Sage of Hiroshi the Freeloading Sex Machine). Our own Ben Umstead caught the film at Tribeca not too long ago and had this to say:

All in all, Underwater Love is a fun 87 minutes. It feels like it was shot in a week, and the kappa prosthetic certainly leaves something to be desired (sorry Yoshihiro Nishimura), but this low-budget lopsidedness adds to the film's charms. With it's folktale twist and sunny disposition, Imaoka, Doyle and Stereo Total give what could have been a rather blasé pink film an imaginative snap, crackle and pop.

Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna is a bit less of a known entity so far. The talent involved is immense, and the trailer is impressive, so I am willing to go on this ride. Third Window have yet to lead me astray, and if I sound like a shill, so be it, they're that fucking good! It is a bit of a chore finding any critical response to the film, however, Mark Schilling was generous enough to provide a link below to his review in the Japan Times which yielded this praise:

The comedy omnibus Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna (which roughly translates as "Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls") is not one long laugh riot: Some of the four segments are (sniff, sniff) funnier than others. At the same time, the overall talent/quality level is high and the end result is a blissed-out feeling, as though the film has been massaging the stress out of your brain.

No plans are yet being made for their release, however, whatever happens, I'm sure it will be worth watching for. As soon as I know, you'll know.

Also, FYI, it is great fun doing these columns on pink films because it gives me an excuse to reference films with titles like The Strange Case of Hiroshi the Freeloading Sex Machine and Bottled Vulva: Bank Teller Noriko, though sadly I cannot say that I've seen them. Something to shoot for, I guess.

Video

Underwater Love Trailer

Sabi Otoko Sabu Onna Trailer - via Nippon Cinema

3 Comments

by Mark, May 22, 2011 1:35 PM

I didn't "doodle" about "Sabi" -- I wrote a full-length review for "The Japan Times": http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20110107a3.html

"Groovy" was my rough translation of "sabi" for film's title in the JT review. (The official English title is now "Quirky Guys and Gals.") "Sabi," BTW, refers to the chorus or "hook" of a song.

We screened both "Sabi" and "Underwater" at Udine this year. Our audience loved'em.

J Hurtado replied to comment from Mark, May 22, 2011 3:26 PM

No offense was intended. It is often difficult to find reviews for films without well known international titles because we have to rely on differing transliterations. I will amend my column when I get a minute. Thanks for your more informed opinion on the film and for the link!

Mark replied to comment from J Hurtado, May 22, 2011 10:18 PM

No offense taken! I thought you might have seen a short comment about the film from me in a blog post or tweet.Just thought I'd supply a link to the full review -- that's all! Thanks for the extended quote.

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