Labyrinth of Cinema

On the eve of closing down for the last time, a local cinema is hosting an all-night movie marathon, showing classic Japanese war films. Three men, Mario Baba (a film buff), Shigeru (a Buddhist monk turned Yakuza street-thug) and Hosuke (an intellectual film historian) have all come to the cinema, albeit for different reasons, to watch the film. A fourth individual, a young schoolgirl named Noriko, is also there to learn about cinema and the history of war. The action starts in earnest when the 13 year old Noriko falls into the Setouchi Kinema movie screen and becomes a part of the film's narrative. The three protagonists also jump into the screen, and find themselves a part of the fabric of the films they were there to watch, as they try to save people from the horrors of war.

The film is largely composed of several interlinked eras in Japanese military history, beginning with the Boshin War of 1868, moving into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and into the second World War, with a particular insight into the impact of the war on Okinawa, and later the impact of the Atomic Bomb drop on Hiroshima. The protagonists find themselves in various scenarios within each war.

;Main

• Takuro Atsuki as Mario
• Yoshihiko Hosoda as Shigeru
• Takahito Hosoyamada as Hosuke
• Rei Yoshida as Noriko
• Riko Narumi as Kazumi Saitō
• Hirona Yamazaki as Kazuko Yoshiyama
• Takako Tokiwa as Yuriko Tachibana

;Others

{{Cast listing|

• Tadanobu Asano as Lt. Sako
• Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Kameji
• Yukihiro Takahashi as Fanta G
• Nenji Kobayashi
• Yukihiro Takahashi
• Toshinori Omi as Kondō Isami
• Yoshikazu Ebisu as Serizawa Kamo
• Tetsuya Takeda as Sakamoto Ryōma
• Tokio Emoto as Nakaoka Shintarō
• Goro Inagaki as Ōkubo Toshimichi
• Takehiro Murata as Saigō Takamori
• Tsurutaro Kataoka as Sen no Rikyū
• Ayumi Ito as Yoshiko Kawashima
• Tōru Shinagawa as Miyamoto Musashi
• Kiyotaka Nanbara
• Hiroyuki Watanabe
• Makoto Tezuka as Ozu, a film director
• Isshin Inudo as Yamanaka, a film director
• Takashi Sasano
• Eri Watanabe
• Maiko Kawakami
• Shunsuke Kubozuka as Sadao Maruyama
• Kayoko Shiraishi
• Toshie Negishi
• Wakaba Irie
• Hiroshi Inuzuka

}}

In 2016, Nobuhiko Obayashi was diagnosed with stage-four terminal cancer.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2020/04/nobuhiko-obayashi-dies-influential-japanese-filmmaker-was-82-obituary-1202906225/|title=Nobuhiko Obayashi Dies: Influential Japanese Filmmaker Succumbs To Cancer At Age 82.|last=Haring|first=Bruce|date=10 April 2020|work=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=11 April 2020}} Despite this, he wrote and directed Hanagatami (2017), and decided to start production on Labyrinth of Cinema after Hanagatami was completed. While filming and editing Labyrinth of Cinema, Obayashi was receiving treatment for his cancer.

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter referred to Labyrinth of Cinema as "Nobuhiko Obayashi's opus", calling it "exuberantly shot" and "imaginatively edited". Mark Schilling of Variety wrote that the film has Obayashi's "characteristic blend of surreal whimsy and heartfelt emotion."

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|id=10657812}}
• {{Rotten-tomatoes|id=labyrinth_of_cinema}}

{{Nobuhiko Obayashi}}

{{Yokohama Film Festival Best Film}}

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Category:2019 films

Category:Anti-war films

Category:Films directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi

Category:Films about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Category:2010s films about time travel

Category:Japanese fantasy drama films

Category:Films scored by Kousuke Yamashita

Category:2010s Japanese films

Category:2010s Japanese-language films