Japanese Film "Ten no Chasuke" is Nominated at Berlinale

In the hectic heaven, dozens of playwrites are writing “scenarios of life” for living human beings. What is invented by those playwrights is lived out below on earth. Celestial tea server Chasuke comes to like Yuri, whose story is written by a playwright as well. What is shocking to him is that she is condemned to die in a car accident. Her playwright has already written how Yuri’s story will end. With a sheer desire to rescue her, he leaves the afterlife and goes to Okinawa in Japan. There he meets earth-dwellers. He meets an antique dealer Taneda and a noodle restaurant owner Joe, who are kind enough to help him. Chasuke however, also encounters brutal enemies and is hounded by them. Yet he continues in his attempt to rescue Yuri.

SABU, born in Hiroyuki Tanaka in 1964, has produced 13 films. SABU initially began his career as an actor in “Sorobanzuku” (1986). He was later awarded the Young Actor of the Year Award at the Yokohama Film Festival for “World Apartment of Horror” (1992). Since 1995, SABU has begun writing screenplays himself.

His second feature film “Postman Blues” was screened in cinemas worldwide. He won the NETPAC Award at the 2003 Berlinale for the Best Asian Film with “Blessing Bell” (2002). ‘Blessing Bell’ followed the wanderings of a blue-collar protagonist, Igarashi through the 24 hours after the closing of the factory he works for.

SABU’s films are famous for their mixture between philosophy and buffoonery, and ‘Chasuke’s Journey’ is no exception. It includes famous motifs from historic films, uniting melodrama, the gangster tradition, romance and slapstick. The common theme in his movies is that every life has a value of its own and is far from predictable.