Summer Vacation 1999

+ intro by writer and film curator Ren Scateni

1999 nen no natsu yasumi

A boy who resembles a recently deceased student arrives at a remote boarding school.

  • Director

    Shusuke Kaneko

  • With

    Eri Miyajima, Tomoko Otakara, Miyuki Nakano, Eri Fukatsu

  • Japan 1988. 90min

  • 35mm (courtesy of the ICA Archive)

  • Certificate

    15

  • English subtitles

It’s 1999 and an adolescent boy has committed suicide at a boarding school in a remote forest in Japan. During the summer vacation, another boy arrives who resembles the dead student. And with his arrival, violent passions are unleashed. Shusuke Kaneko’s beguiling, homoerotic drama blends mystery, horror, melodrama and sci-fi, offering a striking exploration of androgynous youth, yearning and desire.

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