VACATION
Title: VACATION
Original title: KYUKA
Section: Panorama Programme
Director: Kadoi Hajime
Cast list: Kobayashi Kaoru, Nishijima Hidetosh, Ohtsuka Nene, Kashiwabara Shuji, Ohsugi Ren
Credits:
screenplay: Sako Dai; director of photography: Okimura Hiroyuki; editor: Kaneko Naoki; music: Nobuchika Teruyuki; sound: Numata Kazuo; production design: Hashimoto Chiharu; producer: Koike Kazuhiro; production: Little Bird;
Country: Japan
Year: 2008
Running time: 116
Colour: Colour
Format: 35 mm
A soft-spoken, middle-aged death-row guard, engaged to be married to a younger single mother, is conflicted over whether to accept the "unclean" task of catching and holding an inmate's legs after his execution by hanging in exchange for a week's holiday for a honeymoon. After all, the convict was his friend. Hajimi Kasoi's film raises the question of male loyalty and codes of conduct, especially in institutional settings. Here it is a prison, but it could just as well have been a military installation or a private sports club. Hajimi Kasoi's movie is austere, unfussy, and precise, Bressonian in a small-details way. (H. F.)


















