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Fire Festival

Play trailer Fire Festival 1985 2h 0m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Beholden to long-established traditions and his own selfishness, lumberjack Tatsuo (Kin'ya Kitaôji) is well known in his small village as a volatile personality. When land developers threaten his way of life with construction plans, Tatsuo becomes increasingly unhinged -- especially as his family and siblings push him to accept the developers' offer to purchase his property. However, Tatsuo has no intention of letting anyone change the way he lives or dishonoring the traditions he holds dear.

Critics Reviews

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Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times Feb 13
So profoundly sensual is Yanagimachi’s vision that his bold sexual symbolism seems powerful rather than blatant. Go to Full Review Janet Maslin New York Times 08/30/2004
Mr. Yanagimachi's virtuosity, as demonstrated here, establishes him as an audacious director who views with visionary clarity the problems faced by modern Japan. Go to Full Review Paul Attanasio Washington Post 01/01/2000
"Himatsuri" is a powerfully mysterious look at Japan's loss of innocence, a movie of strange beauties alive with a reverence for nature. Go to Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse 07/23/2020
The beauty of the images is inescapable and actually carry the film almost for the full of its 126 minutes, despite the rather slow pace. Go to Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 08/16/2012
A
Intensely dramatic and visually riveting, this highlight of Japanese cinema contrasts modernism and rural traditionalism through the struggle of one man who's at one with nature. Go to Full Review TV Guide 07/30/2003
4/5
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Audience Reviews

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04/26/2014 intense, gripping and visually intoxicating. deserves to be much better known See more 11/23/2007 Saw this movie years ago and was very moved by it, but have been unable to find it in recent years. See more 11/17/2007 Please, please try to find this movie. A deep movie that calls up all that is mysterious and unknowable about life itself. See more Read all reviews
Fire Festival

My Rating

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Cast & Crew

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Mitsuo Yanagimachi

Director

Kin'ya Kitaôji

Tatsuo

Kiwako Taichi

Kimiko

Ryota Nakamoto

Ryota

Norihei Miki

Yamakawa

Rikiya Yasuoka

Toshio

Movie Info

Synopsis Beholden to long-established traditions and his own selfishness, lumberjack Tatsuo (Kin'ya Kitaôji) is well known in his small village as a volatile personality. When land developers threaten his way of life with construction plans, Tatsuo becomes increasingly unhinged -- especially as his family and siblings push him to accept the developers' offer to purchase his property. However, Tatsuo has no intention of letting anyone change the way he lives or dishonoring the traditions he holds dear.
Director
Mitsuo Yanagimachi
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 6, 1985, Original
Runtime
2h 0m