Film
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Cert:(adv PG)
Dir. Jennifer Oreck
USA , 90 mins, 2009
Cast: Documentary
Selected as one of current cinema's most notable “unknown pleasures” in a recent survey for Film Comment magazine (along with fellow BIFF 2010 selections Lowlands and The Blacks), this chronicle of Japan's insect-collecting mania is a fine example of how American independent filmmakers have been venturing far beyond their nation's borders in search of inspiration. Wrote Michael Chaiken in Film Comment: “A kaleidoscope view of Japan's past, through the traditions and customs that survive to the present, Beetle Queen bristles with kinetic energy. Lightning bugs become flares in the night as the micro-world of insects is portrayed as an exalted and adventurous place. Boasting beautifully accentuated sound design, it's a film to be heard as well as seen.” Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the CineVegas film festival and nominated for the Truer Than Fiction gong at the prestigious Independent Spirit Awards, Beetle Queen provides an oblique, outsider's take on present-day Japan - making it an apt companion piece for Kenta McGrath's Three Hams In A Can.
Print source: Myriapod Productions
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