BOZO / Bocchan
Japan / 2012 / 130 min.
Director: OMORI Tatsushi
[Introduction]
The film opens on a scene in which 28-year-old KAJI arrives at a factory in Nagano Prefecture as a temporary worker. Lacking self-confidence in his own outward appearance, KAJI is introverted, living a daily existence posting his thoughts on internet message boards. Even such a person does make friends. He ends up spending a great deal of time with a co-worker, TANAKA who suffers from the chronic, sudden sleep sickness, narcolepsy, and is unable to properly function in society. One night while out for a drive, they meet Yuri who has run away from their co-worker OKADA. Captivated by her, the two attempt to safeguard Yuri, but in so doing are drawn in to a predicament....... "BOZO," the latest film from "A Crowd of Three" director OMORI Tatsushi, depicts an ordinary, young temporary worker being driven into a corner of society, modeled on the perpetrator of the actual Akihabara massacre which occurred in 2008. Consistent with OMORI's works, this is a film in which a sympathetic gaze on the socially disadvantaged can be felt. Also worthy of note is the competing performances of the young actors such as MIZUSAWA Shingo from the "8000 Miles" series, UNO Shohei often the "go to" player of the eccentric supporting character, FUCHIKAMI Yasushi, a newcome expected to gain offers playing shady characters, and TAMURA Ai who won the Best Actress Award at the Monaco International Film Festival in 2010.
OMORI Tatsushi
Born in 1970, eldest son of MARO Akaji, an actor and avant-garde dancer who founded the famous Dairakudan butoh troupe. OMORI began making 8mm films in university, working subsequently as a film and stage actor. He produced and acted in OKUHARA Hiroshi's "Wave"(01), winner of the NETPAC award for Asian films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and after working on ARATO Genjiro's "Akame 48 Waterfalls" directed his first movie, "The Whispering of the Gods", in 2005. Accepted into competition the Locarno and Tokyo International Film Festivals, the film won wide international acceptance. "A Crowd of Three"(10) won the New Directors Award from the Directors Guild of Japan, and was screened in the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival, and at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. "Tada's Do-It-All House", which had a nation-wide theatrical release in 2011, was rated 4th in the Kinema Junpo Top Ten films of the year.
