Yoshihiro Nakamura‘s The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker (Ahiru to Kamo no Koinrokka, 2007) is finally available with English subtitles, thanks to a new Hong Kong DVD release by Kam & Ronson. This film was the first collaboration between Nakamura and expectation-subverting novelist Kotaro Isaka. The pair would go on to work together on the incredibly enjoyable Fish Story (2009) and the yet-to-be-released Golden Slumber.

Plot: Diminutive college freshman Shiina (Gaku Hamada) meets his new neighbor, the tall and quirky Kawasaki (Eita), while moving into his new apartment in Sendai. They don’t really seem to have anything in common, but immediately bond over their mutual love of Bob Dylan. Soon, and quite unexpectedly, Kawasaki is inviting Shiina on a strange mission to steal a Kojien dictionary for their neighbor, an exchange student from the Kingdom of Bhutan. As an aside, he warns Shiina to steer clear of the pet shop owner Reiko (Nene Otsuka) at all costs. The next day Kawasaki confesses that he used to date a former pet shop worker named Kotomi (Megumi Seki), but she dumped him for the very same Bhutanese guy they’re stealing the dictionary for. None of this particularly makes any sense to Shiina, but at this point he’s simply too absorbed in his new friend’s bizarre life not to see this adventure through to the end.

Specs: Region 3, NTSC, 16:9 aspect ratio, 4:3 letterbox (non-anamorphic). Japanese Dolby 5.1 audio with selectable English, traditional Chinese, and simplified Chinese subtitles.

Trailer:

via logboy

Available at the following retailer(s) on September 2, 2009:

• YesAsia

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Tags: akio seki, eita, gaku hamada, kam and ronson, kaoru hirata, kei tamura, kenichi nagira, kotaro isaka, megumi seki, midoriko kimura, nene otsuka, ryuhei matsuda, the foreign duck the native duck and god in a coin locker, yoshihiro nakamura