Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Japan • 1h 30m
Directed by Jessica Oreck • Documentary • With Takeshi Yoro • 2010 • 90 minutes
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo delves into the mystery of Japan's age-old love affair with insects. From the first fabled emperor who dubbed Japan the "Isle of the Dragonflies," to the cricket-selling businesses of the 1800s, and finally to modern-day Tokyo where a beetle recently sold for $90,000, insects inspire an enthusiasm in Japan seen nowhere else in the world.
Interspersed with the philosophies of Dr. Takeshi Yoro, one of Japan's best-selling authors and anatomists, and laced with poetry, literature, and art inspired by insects, the film is a quiet rhythmic observation of traditional Japanese values, particularly the intense appreciation of something so seemingly mundane. It challenges filmgoers to observe the world from an uncommon perspective that might not only change the way we think about bugs, but about life.
Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Winner of Cinema Eye Spotlight Award.
Up Next in Japan
-
Wa-shoku Dream: Beyond Sushi
Directed by Junichi Suzuki • Documentary • With Noritoshi Kanai, Nobu Matsuhisa, Joel Robuchon • 2015 • 117 minutes
Beginning with sushi, Japanese cuisine is familiar all over the world today. At Japanese restaurants, you can see people, regardless of their ethnicity, enjoying this food culture....
-
Maborosi
Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda • Drama • With Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano • 1995 • 110 minutes
One of the finest films of Japanese cinema, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first feature film Maborosi is a story of love, loss, and ultimately, regeneration.
Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother ma...
-
100 Years of Japanese Cinema
Directed by Nagisa Oshima • Documentary • With William B. White, Nagisa Oshima • 1996 • 52 minutes
The forces and themes that have shaped his nation's cinema drive Nagisa Oshima's forceful and erudite essay. Based entirely on archive footage, it considers the rediscovery of Daisuke Ito's Chuji's...