Midori

Friday, September 14, 2018 @ 11:55 PM (midnight)
Globe Cinema - 617 8 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB
$10 General | $8 Members
18+ ONLY

Welcome to the special addition, “Friday MASS” (Monthly Animation Screening Series), an ongoing program screening all of your favorite animated features from around the world. Presented by Quickdraw Animation Society, Night Terrors, and Globe Cinema.

- Friday MASS: September 2018 - Midori (1992)
Preshow: Premiere of an animated music video Marcella’s Eye by Aiwass
MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. RATED 18A

Directed by Hiroshi Harada
Story by: Suehire Maruo
Digital Presentation, 48 min.

Synopsis:
"The story follows the misadventures of a girl called Midori who, after losing her mother, is taken in by circus freaks and is horribly mistreated, until she meets a dwarf magician with a knack for escaping glass bottles and making people explode.”

This film is graphic, unsetting, and not meant for those who are unaware of what they are about to see. Midori is a direct representation of the Japanese genre of Manga called “ero guro” (Ero Guro: EROTIC, GROTESQUE, and NONSENSICAL). Many have traced back the origins of the genre to the 1814 Japanese wood block print, “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” by Hokusai with references to this genre continuing today through artists like Junji Ito, Shintaro Kago, Suehire Maruo, and Hiroshi Harada himself.

That being said, Midori is the ultimate antidote to mainstream anime. Singlehandedly drawn over five years, and independently funded, it is a gloriously lurid film with innovative animation and breathtaking detail. It is an absurd and personal marvel.

Harada takes a grueling approach to storytelling by addressing societal problems by systematically putting a defenseless person through a gauntlet of despair however with all 3 of his animated films he asks his audience, “How can we make a society where humans can live peacefully and humanely? My stories would like you to be motived to think about it” (translated from Japanese).

The screening of Midori will be followed by prerecorded comments from the director. 

About MASS

MASS, our new Monthly Animation Screening Series at the Globe. Each month we'll be showcasing classic animated features, with a few other surprises along the way. We'll be sharing the next selections soon. Some will be well known, others are underground classics, but they all represent the best that animation has to offer.

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