| REPORTAGE/FEATURE: Raindance |
15th Annual Raindance Film Festival WITH PIX OF JASPER SHARP and images for Fast Food Grifters and Prisoner/Terrorist (taguchi9.jpg = Tomorowo Taguchi in Prisoner/Terrorist; Ushigoro_gang.jpg: Mamoru Oshii’s Fast Food Grifters.) by MARTINA ANZINGER 07791545175 IT’S not every movie critic who gets to turn down the offer of a star part from a prize-winning director. But then after a couple of earlier walk-ons, Japanese film buff Jasper Sharp was becoming convinced he wasn’t cut out to become screen legend. The role he missed out on was as the gaijin lover of a Japanese girl in director Ryuichi Hiroki’s film ‘Girlfriend’ (2004). Sharp, 36, recalls the mother of all butterflies in his stomach when he turned up for the audition after getting a call out of the blue from director Hiroki. “I met him for coffee and had to the audition in Japanese, so I was a bit nervous. We chatted for half an hour and the funny thing was that we weren’t talking about the film at all. At the very beginning he said: ‘We want to shoot in about a fortnight.’ And I said: ‘Ah, I am not going to be in Tokyo at that time.’ And he says: ‘I see what we can do.’ ” In fact, the role went to another Brit – a friend of Sharp’s – but the web author realised he’d had a lucky escape. Acting offers to Westerners are very common – especially from directors making low-budget movies. Sharp had been an extra a couple of times, once as an American GI, but in ‘Girlfriend’ it was a speaking part. “But I realised that I actually don’t like acting on camera,” he adds. But there were no hard feelings on Hiroki’s part and the director accepted Sharp’s invitation to appear at this year’s Raindance Festival where his three films are headlining the Japanese strand. They are his documentary, ‘Bakushi: The Incredible Lives of the Rope-Masters’ about the erotic art form known as Kinbaku (2007), and two powerful psychological dramas: ‘M’ (2007) about the double life of a psychotic housewife, and ‘It’s Only Talk’ (2005) about a manic depressive 30-something female named Yuko. Certainly Sharp is looking forward to catching up with Hiroki again, who will be introducing all his films at the festival in between being shown round London town by his star who got away. “Hiroki is one of these guys who has been doing well at all of these international festivals recently and winning prizes. His “It’s Only Talk” – we say on Midnight Eye – is one of the best films of 2005,” Jasper says. But Sharp also singles out others in this year’s Raindance offerings. “The films I am really excited about are ‘The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters’ by director, Mamoru Oshii, the giant of animation in Japan and maker of the ‘Ghost in a Shell’ films, and Masao Adachi’s ‘Prisoner/Terrorist’,” he says. The showing of “Prisoner/Terrorist” (2007) is the UK premiere of the existentialist musings of a Japanese Red Army terrorist in an Israeli prison cell. The festival, now in its 15th year, features an eclectic range of films not just from Asia, but also from Africa, Europe and the USA, and many never before released in the UK. This year’s highlights include ‘Paranoid Park’ by Gus Van Sant, Lars Van Trier’s ‘The Boss of It All’, Ethan Hawke’s coming-of-age tale ‘The Hottest State’ (2006), ‘What the Snow Brings’ (a multi prize winner at the 2005 Tokyo Film Festival) and the 2006 Nigerian-British co-production ‘The Amazing Grace’. Midnight Cowboy Jasper’s only regret may be that ‘Girlfriend’ won’t be showing at Raindance – so that festival goers could judge how he would have coped with the film’s girl-on-girl plot line. But at least Hiroki will be in good company with Ken Loach and Michael Madsen, who are turning up to face the music in special Q&A sessions. Back to top Back to COPYWRITING & EDITING section |