Search Film, Company, People...

THE INVITATION FROM CINEMA ORION

ORIONZA KARANO SHOUTAIJOU

By Kenki SAEGUSA

TOEI COMPANY, LTD. - as SALES All rights, World

Drama - Completed 2007

Staged in Kyoto, this is the story of the pure love between two souls who struggle to protect a small movie theater amidst the turmoil of the changing times.

- Year of production
- 2007
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- JAPAN
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Budget
- 3 - 5 M$
- Duration
- 116 mn
- Director(s)
- Kenki SAEGUSA
- Writer(s)
- Kiyotaka INAGAKI
- Cast
- Rie MIYAZAWA, Ryo KASE
- Producer(s)
- Akiko SASAKI
- Synopsis
- Cinema Orion has delighted audiences for half a century. But times have changed. A final “thank-you” screening signals the end, or perhaps a new beginning.
  In the 1950’s Cinema Orion is run by owner Matsuzo (Ryudo Uzaki) and his wife Toyo (Rie Miyazawa). Tomekichi (Ryo Kase) arrives begging for a job, promising never to turn his back on Cinema Orion. When Matsuzo becomes terminally ill and passes away, Tomekichi decides to take Matsuzo’s place and run the cinema with Toyo.
  When neighbors begin to gossip Tomekichi and Toyo create a new family with Yoshie and Yuji, young neighborhood children trying to escape their dark family lives.
  The decades pass, Yoshie (Kanako Higuchi) and Yuji (Tomorowo Taguchi) are married in Tokyo. However, they have lost their love for each other, and live separately. The invitation arrives just as Yoshie decides to end her marriage with Yuji.
  The four are reunited to remember and to relive the magic of Cinema Orion. Can the love that once existed for the married couple live again? Can the demons that have haunted Toyo for so many years be laid to rest? An Invitation to Cinema Orion and one final screening hold the answers.