Labyrinth of Cinema (Japanese: 海辺の映画館 キネマの玉手箱) is a 2019 Japanese anti-war fantasy drama film written, produced, directed and edited by Nobuhiko Obayashi. It stars Takuro Atsuki, Takahito Hosoyamada and Yoshihiko Hosoda as three present-day Onomichi moviegoers who find themselves transported back to 1945, just prior to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The cast also includes Rei Yoshida, Riko Narumi, Hirona Yamazaki and Takako Tokiwa.
Labyrinth of Cinema premiered at the 2019 Tokyo International Film Festival. It is Obayashi's final film before his death in 2020, as well as Yukihiro Takahashi and Hiroshi Inuzuka's last film roles before their deaths in 2023.
Contents
Plot
On the eve of closing down for the last time, a local cinema is hosting an all-night movie marathon, showing classic Japanese war films. Three men, Mario Baba (a film buff), Shigeru (a Buddhist monk turned Yakuza street-thug) and Hosuke (an intellectual film historian) have all come to the cinema, albeit for different reasons, to watch the film. A fourth individual, a young schoolgirl named Noriko, is also there to learn about cinema and the history of war. The action starts in earnest when the 13 year old Noriko falls into the Setouchi Kinema movie screen and becomes a part of the film's narrative. The three protagonists also jump into the screen, and find themselves a part of the fabric of the films they were there to watch, as they try to save people from the horrors of war.
The film is largely composed of several interlinked eras in Japanese military history, beginning with the Boshin War of 1868, moving into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and into the second World War, with a particular insight into the impact of the war on Okinawa, and later the impact of the Atomic Bomb drop on Hiroshima. The protagonists find themselves in various scenarios within each war.
Cast
Main
Takuro Atsuki as Mario
Yoshihiko Hosoda as Shigeru
Takahito Hosoyamada as Hosuke
Rei Yoshida as Noriko
Riko Narumi as Kazumi Saitō
Hirona Yamazaki as Kazuko Yoshiyama
Takako Tokiwa as Yuriko Tachibana
Others
Production
In 2016, Nobuhiko Obayashi was diagnosed with stage-four terminal cancer. Despite this, he wrote and directed Hanagatami (2017), and decided to start production on Labyrinth of Cinema after Hanagatami was completed. While filming and editing Labyrinth of Cinema, Obayashi was receiving treatment for his cancer.
Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 30 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Ambitious to a fault, Labyrinth of Cinema concludes writer-director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's career on an epic, immersive high note." Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter referred to Labyrinth of Cinema as "Nobuhiko Obayashi's opus", calling it "exuberantly shot" and "imaginatively edited". Mark Schilling of Variety wrote that the film has Obayashi's "characteristic blend of surreal whimsy and heartfelt emotion."