VIZ Cinema planning big February

San Francisco's VIZ Cinema pretty much always has something going for J-film fans, but February seems to be particularly eventful.

First off, they'll be celebrating the career of director Isshin Inudo by screening two of his films, "Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish" and "La Maison de Himiko".

Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish
Friday, 2/5 - Thursday, 2/18, 2010, West Coast Premiere
Cast: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chizuru Ikewaki

Viz Description: College student Tsuneo meets Kumiko aka "Josee" who rides around in a baby buggy on her daily outings with her grandmother. Kumiko cannot walk due to a disability, but she is very smart, humorous, and has her own place in this world. Kumiko’s uniqueness draws Tsuneo closer to her. Isshin Inudo adapts a short story by author Seiko Tanabe into a feature film. Chizuru Ikewaki, starring as Kumiko, delicately reveals the woman inside of the awkward girl. Josee, The Tiger and The Fish is a masterpiece that has successfully captured the happiness of love and the dispair of not seeing eye to eye.

Trailer:

La Maison de Himiko
Friday, 2/19 – Thursday, 3/4
Cast: Joe Odagiri, Kou Shibasaki

Viz Description: A father and daughter who can’t understand each other. A man and a woman who can’t love each other. Their odd and beautiful love stories are brought to life by the same staff as Inudo’s Josee, The Tiger and The Fish. Saori despises her father, who chose to leave her mother to live his gay life. One day, her father’s young and beautiful lover comes and relays the message that her father’s days are numbered by cancer.

Saori finds her father at a gay retirement facility called “Maison De Himiko”. A strange dynamic forms between Saori and the beautiful man who loves her dying father.

Also in February, VIZ will be hosting a special screening of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's "20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope" to celebrate its DVD release. Tickets are $10 for the screening alone or $25 for the screening, the DVD, a poster, and a pin.

20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope
Tuesday, 2/9, 1 night only
Cast: Toshiaki Karasawa, Takako Tokiwa, Etsuji Toyokawa, et al.

Viz Description: Don’t miss the exclusive event preceding the long-awaited DVD release of 20th Century Boys 2! It is now 2015, and Friend rules a disturbing new world. Kenji’s niece Kanna is now in high school and her textbook contains a fabricated story about Kenji being the terrorist behind the horrific events of 2000. Kanna, knowing the truth, openly resents this, and as a result she is marked as a problem child and sent to Friend Land, a facility where people with rebellious anti-Friend behavior are re-educated. There Kanna learns a crucial secret about Friend…

Trailer:

And Finally, VIZ will be hosting encore screenings of "Gurren Lagann The Movie" 1 & 2 on Sunday, 2/21.

Gurren Lagann: The Movie - Childhood’s End

Viz Description: Based on the anime television series, Gurren Lagann, the film takes place in a fictional future in which human beings have been forced to live in closed-off underground villages. Kamina and Simon are constrained by the limits imposed by the village elder. Yet, all this will change when Simon stumbles across a fantastic device -- just as the village’s peace is broken by a violent intrusion.

Gurren Lagann: The Movie 2 - The Lights In The Sky Are Stars

Viz Description: Watch both 1 & 2 and get a special discount! Overcoming a big loss of loved ones, Simon survived in mortal combat with the Beastmen leader Lordgenome. Seven years later, humans return to the surface to build a flourishing civilization. However, the peaceful time does not last forever as humans begin developing beyond their world into outer space and encounter an unknown enemy.

Trailers:

See this link for all screening dates and times.

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