Completed - JAPANESE - Musical, Historical, Animation - 98 minutes
A new film directed by Masaaki Yuasa. Officially selected and joins as part of the Work in Progress Features program at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2020.
Year of production : 2021 Director(s) : Masaaki YUASA Writer(s) : Akiko NOGI Cast : Mirai MORIYAMA, Avu-Chan (QUEEN BEE) Producer(s) : Eunyoung CHOI (Science SARU), Fumie TAKEUCHI (Asmik Ace, Inc.)
The animated feature “INU-OH” is a musical animation about Inu-Oh, a real-life Sarugaku Noh performer and playwright who enjoyed great success in 14th-century Japan. However, he is all but unknown nowadays because very few documents about his life have survived the times. Now, around 600 years later, “INU-OH” full of music and dance sequences portrays a tale of friendship between the legendary Inu-Oh who vanished from history and a Biwa player he befriended.Inu-Oh was born with unique physical characteristics, and the adults cover every inch of his body with garments and make him wear a mask on his face. One day, he meets a boy named Tomona, a blind biwa player. Inu-Oh tells him, “Write a biwa song about me”. Tomona makes a song about Inu-Oh’s tangled fate and starts performing it with biwa. Inu-Oh and Tomona become business partners for their survival in society and develop an inseverable friendship. Helping each other unlock their talents, they produce one hit after another and climb the ladder to stardom. And Inu-Oh, who comes to mesmerize his audiences on stage, frees parts of his body one by one and achieves unequaled beauty. Why is Tomona blind? Why was Inu-Oh born with unique physical characteristics? It is a story about the friendship of Inu-Oh and Tomona, who dance and sing to get to the truth and break each other’s curse.
Country(ies) : JAPAN, CHINA
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Fest. Animation Annecy - MIFA 2019 (Work in Progress)Fest. Animation Annecy - MIFA 2020 (Preview)Toronto - TIFF 2021 Special PresentationsVenice - Biennale 2021 (Orizzonti Competition)