Karakara | |
---|---|
Directed by | Claude Gagnon |
Written by | Claude Gagnon |
Produced by | Claude Gagnon Samuel Gagnon Takako Miyahira |
Starring | Gabriel Arcand Youki Kudoh |
Cinematography | Michel St-Martin |
Edited by | Claude Gagnon |
Music by | Yukito Ara |
Production companies | Kukuru Vision Zuno Films |
Distributed by | Mongrel Media |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Languages | English French Japanese |
Karakara is a Canadian drama film, directed by Claude Gagnon and released in 2012. [1] The film stars Gabriel Arcand as Pierre, a professor from Quebec who is on sabbatical in Okinawa to reevaluate his life after the death of his friend, and is drawn into a love affair with Junko (Youki Kudoh), a local woman fleeing an abusive husband who offers to be his tour guide. [2]
The film's screenplay was partially inspired by Gagnon's own trip to Japan following the death of one of his closest friends. [3] The film was shot in 2011, [4] and premiered at the 2012 Montreal World Film Festival. [5]
Writing for Variety , Ronnie Scheib noted that the film reversed "the usual Westerner-in-the-Orient stereotype, where the ambitious hero learns to slow down and smell the roses. Here he’s dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the rose garden and into the world at large." [6]
For the Montreal Gazette , Brendan Kelly praised both Arcand's and Kudoh's performances, but wrote that he had difficulty believing in the core relationship between the characters. He ultimately concluded that "maybe it's uneven but it still remains a film that stays with you long after the final credits roll." [2]
At the MWFF, the film won the festival's Most Popular Canadian Film and Openness to the World awards. [7] The film received two Prix Jutra nominations at the 15th Jutra Awards in 2013, for Best Actor (Arcand) and Best Screenplay (Gagnon). [8]
The history of cinema in Quebec started on June 27, 1896 when the Frenchman Louis Minier inaugurated the first movie projection in North America in a Montreal theatre room. However, it would have to wait until the 1960s before a genuine Quebec cinema industry would emerge. Approximately 620 feature-length films have been produced, or partially produced by the Quebec film industry since 1943.
Claude Fournier was a Canadian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer. He is one of the forerunners of the Cinema of Quebec. He was the twin brother of Guy Fournier.
The Montreal World Film Festival, commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019. Founded and run throughout its lifetime by Serge Losique, it was the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF..
The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec. Until 2016, it was known as the Jutra Award in memory of influential Quebec film director Claude Jutra, but Jutra's name was withdrawn from the awards following the publication of Yves Lever's biography of Jutra, which alleged that he had sexually abused children.
Jean-Carl Boucher is a Canadian actor and filmmaker from Quebec, best known for his recurring performances as a fictionalized version of filmmaker Ricardo Trogi in Trogi's semi-autobiographical series of comedy-drama films. To date he has played Trogi in the films 1981, 1987 and 1991, with 1995 forthcoming in 2024.
Claude Gagnon is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who frequently works in both Canada and Japan. His most noted films include Keiko (1979), Kenny (1988), The Pianist (1991), Kamataki (2005), Karakara (2012) and Old Buddies (2020).
The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge was the first full-length feature film by Canadian film director Philippe Falardeau, released in 2000.
The 18th Quebec Cinema Awards ceremony were held on March 20, 2016 to honour films made with the participation of the Quebec film industry in 2015.
François Bouvier is a Canadian film and television director from Quebec.
The 19th Quebec Cinema Awards ceremony was held on 4 June 2017, hosted by actors Guylaine Tremblay and Édith Cochrane, to recognize talent and achievement in the Cinema of Quebec. Formerly known as the Jutra Awards, the Prix Iris name was announced in October 2016. Several categories were also added this year, including for Casting, Visual Effects, Revelation and Documentary Editing and Cinematography, while the Billet d'or for straightforward box office performance was succeeded by the Prix du public, chosen by viewers' votes.
The Prix Iris for Best Film is an annual film award presented Québec Cinéma as part of its Prix Iris program, to honour the year's best film made within the Cinema of Quebec.
Lise Roy is a Canadian actress who has appeared in stage productions, film and television.
Québec Cinéma presents an annual award for Best Director to recognize the best in the Cinema of Quebec.
Thrill of the Hills is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Richard Roy and released in 2011. Set in Quebec in the late 1960s, the film stars Antoine Olivier Pilon as Frisson, a young boy whose father Aurèle is killed in a workplace accident, who responds to his grief by enlisting his father's friend Tom to take him to Woodstock so that he can see his musical idol, Jimi Hendrix, perform.
Crying Out is a Canadian drama film, directed by Robin Aubert and released in 2010. The film centres on a grief-stricken widower who unexpectedly digs up his dead wife's corpse and runs off with it, forcing his father and son to set off in an attempt to find him before he gets arrested or commits suicide.
Kamataki is a Canadian-Japanese co-produced drama film, directed by Claude Gagnon and released in 2005.
Gurov and Anna is a Canadian drama film, directed by Rafaël Ouellet and released in 2014. The film stars Andreas Apergis as Ben, a literature professor in Montreal who is obsessed with Anton Chekhov's short story "The Lady with the Dog", and begins trying to act it out in his real life by commencing a love affair with his student Mercedes in which he can be the Gurov to her Anna.
Exile is a 2012 Canadian drama film, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud. The film stars Francis Cleophat as Samuel, a teenager in Haiti who is left alone after his father is kidnapped by government forces; learning that his mother whom he had long been told was dead is in fact still alive and merely ran off to the United States, he embarks on a quest to find her, and is helped by various "guardian angels" as he travels to Miami, New York City and Montreal in his search.
How to Conquer America in One Night is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Dany Laferrière and released in 2004. The film centres on the relationship between Fanfan, a Haitian Canadian man who has resided in Montreal for 20 years but still does not feel entirely at home in Canada, and his nephew Gégé, who has recently come to Montreal to visit his uncle before moving to the United States to pursue his vision of the American Dream, which mainly involves eating hamburgers and seducing large-breasted blonde women.
The Happiness of Others is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Jean-Philippe Pearson and released in 2011. The film centres on Jean-Pierre, a middle-aged man whose marriage to Louise broke up 20 years earlier, as he announces to Louise and their now-adult children Sylvain and Marion that his new girlfriend Évelyne is pregnant.