October 05, 2008

A trip to New York by a Japanese university student seeking “hazard” is now added to the Evokative Films road-map. We are most pleased to announce that Sion Sono’s HAZARD will finally be distributed in Canada. Filmed on location in New York in 2002 and only released in Japan in 2005, the film has not previously been distributed in North America. This anarchic adventure, depicting pre-Guiliani New-York from the eyes of a naive Japanese student, was filmed with a very small budget but stayed with me since I saw it at the Fantasia Festival in 2007, when Sion Sono also came to present EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS.

While at the Asian Film Market of the Pusan International Film Festival, I had the pleasure of meeting with Ko Mori and Kana Aida from Elevent Arts and make the deal for a Canadian DVD release of the film. Filmed with the then little-known but now big Japanese star Jo Odagiri (ADRIFT IN TOKYO), HAZARD also stars Jai West (BIG BANG LOVE, JUVENILE A) and Motoki Fukami (CROWS: EPISODE 0).

Shin is a Japanese university student living a boring and meaningless life. One day, he spots a book titled Dangerous Ways to Walk the World, in which he finds a page written about hazards in New-York. Eager to get out, he jets off to New-York to find this inspiration. He quickly does find out the hazards of the city when he is mugged and left with no money or clothes. By chance, he meets Lee and Takeda, two Japanese-American punks who take him in. With Lee and Takeda, Shin’s days in New-York are now full of excitement and danger. When they need a ride, they threaten people and take their cars. When they are hungry, they rob the deli for food. But their trouble-seeking ways eventually gets them chased by the police, which kills a friend and imprisons the other. Shin ultimately goes back to Japan with a new thirst for life.

You may see the film’s Fantasia International Film Festival write-up here and Twitchfilm’s review here. The acquisition news already got covered by Twitchfilm and the Toronto J-Film Pow-wow. You may also see the trailer and a picture gallery on our Facebook page.

Posted in Acquisitions