Shusuke Kaneko
90 mins
1999: an adolescent boy has recently committed suicide at a single-sex boarding school in a remote Japanese forest. During the summer vacation, only three students remain at the empty school, idling away their time with quiet study. But one day, another boy arrives who exactly resembles the dead student, and violent passions are unleashed. Inspired by The Heart of Thomas, a legendary manga series by Moto Hagio, this beguiling, homoerotic film by Shusuke Kaneko blends mystery, horror, melodrama, and sci-fi – with a nod to Alfred Hitchcock and Vertigo. Released in 1988 but set in the future, the film is strikingly androgenous: the boys are all played by female actors, lending a subversive, gender-fluid feel to its exploration of teenage yearning and desire.
Shusuke Kaneko is a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter, whose accolades include Best Director at the Yokohama Film Festival for Summer Vacation 1999. Kaneko was later chosen to direct Daiei’s revival of the Gamera franchise in 1995, as well as a highly successful Godzilla film. He has contributed to various documentaries on kaiju (monster) films, championing their artistry and imagination.
With an introduction from Ren Scateni, writer and film curator.