A Bride for Rip Van Winkle

A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
Japanese theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji	リップヴァンウィンクルの花嫁
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Rippu van winkuru no hanayome
Directed by	Shunji Iwai
Written by	Shunji Iwai
Based on	A Bride for Rip Van Winkle by Shunji Iwai
Produced by	Shunji Iwai Tomoyuki Miyagawa Aki Mizuno Muneyuki Kii
Starring	Haru Kuroki Gō Ayano Cocco
Cinematography	Chigi Kanbe
Edited by	Shunji Iwai
Music by	Mako Kuwabara
Production company	Rockwell Eyes
Distributed by	Toei Company Eleven Arts
Release dates	March 8, 2016 (2016-03-08) (Hong Kong).[1] March 26, 2016 (2016-03-26) (Japan)[2]
Running time	179 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (リップヴァンウィンクルの花嫁, Rippu van winkuru no hanayome) is a 2016 Japanese drama film written, directed, edited and co-produced by Shunji Iwai, based on his novel of the same name.^[3]

Synopsis

Nanami is an apathetic, part-time junior high school teacher, whose only solace comes from connecting with others on "Planet", a new social networking service. One day, a young man named Tetsuya messages her and asks to meet in person. The two begin dating and quickly become engaged.

Nanami's parents meet Tetsuya's, though Nanami's parents are actually divorced, they pretend to be together for the sake of harmony. Nanami, underconfident, and quiet, loses her job as a teacher and decides to quit to be a housewife for Tetsuya. As the wedding plans progress, Nanami can only get 2 family members to attend the wedding, and Tetsuya begs Nanami to increase her guest list for the wedding, as he thinks the wedding will look strange being all his family. Nanami is desperate so reaches out to her online friend, Amuro, a self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, who runs a business (amongst others) that hires actors for weddings. He hires actors to play Nanami's guests on her big day.

As she gets used to married life, she finds her husband despondent and seems to lack interest. Nanami then finds an earring in her flat. She thinks he is having an affair. She contacts Amuro to find out what is going on, who promises to investigate for a fee. However, at the same time, a man contacts Nanami saying he is the partner of the woman that Tetsuya is having the affair with. He convinces Nanami to meet him in a hotel room and then tries to seduce her. Nanami flees to the bathroom and calls Amuro for help, who turns up. It is revealed that the man is an actor, working for Amuro.

Amuro contacts Nanami and asks her to help out by acting as a family member for another wedding. She joins a fake family of actors, one of whom is actress Mashiro, who she goes drinking with.

A few weeks following the ceremony, Tetsuya's mother confronts Nanami with allegations of lying and cheating, and has also found out Nanami's parents are divorced. She has been sent a video of Nanami with the man acting as the cheating girl's partner in the hotel room. Nanami in turn tells her of Tetsuya's cheating, and then talks to Tetsuya. Tetsuya seems to be unaware of the cheating, even when Nanami mentions the name of the girl, as she was told by his partner. Tetsuya gets angry and splits with her.

Heartbroken and depressed, Nanami checks herself into a hotel and manages to get hired there as a maid. One day, Amuro offers Nanami a housekeeping job in an old mansion, and she finds Mashiro is the other maid. Mashiro's sole resident's infectious spirit helps Nanami to open her heart. However, Nanami soon realizes that Amuro, the mansion, and Mashiro aren't what they seem - and even dreams have limits.

Cast

• Haru Kuroki as Nanami Minagawa
• Gō Ayano as Yukimasu Amuro
• Cocco as Mashiro Satonaka
• Go Jibiki as Tetsuya
• Hideko Hara
• Soko Wada
• Tomoko Mariya
• Akio Kaneda
• Lily

Release

After the film had its world premiere in Hong Kong on March 8, 2016,^[1] A Bride for Rip Van Winkle was released in Taiwan on March 11, 2016^[4] and in Hong Kong on March 17, 2016,^[5] ahead of its release in Japan on March 26, 2016.^[3] The film was released in the United States on November 10, 2017^[6]

A Bride for Rip Van Winkle was an official selection of numerous international film festivals:

• 2016 Seattle International Film Festival^[7]
• 2016 New York Asian Film Festival^[8]
• 2016 Shanghai International Film Festival^[9]
• 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival^[10]
• 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival^[11]
• 2016 Hawaii International Film Festival^[12]
• 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam^[13]

Versions

Two versions of A Bride for Rip Van Winkle were available for theatrical release, a 179-minute "director's cut" and a 119-minute theatrical version.^[5] Only the longer version was released in Japan, while both versions were available selectively for international release.^[3] Both versions were released in Hong Kong,^[5] whereas only the director's cut was released in the United States.^[14]

The film’s story was also broadcast as a four-and-a-half-hour,^[14] six-episode television series ("serial edition") on the Japanese SKY PerfecTV! service's BS SKY PerfecTV! channel.^[15] While retaining the same story and plot, this television series is an alternate version of the film, with extensions for some scenes added and some scenes removed.^[16]

Iwai prefers the longer theatrical version, though he has stated that it is "not perfect. Even the TV version, the longest, isn't perfect because it doesn't have a very, very important scene in the climax. You can only see that in the three-hour version."^[14]

Accolades

• 2016 41st Hochi Film Award
  • Gō Ayano - Best Supporting Actor (winner)^[17]
• 2017 31st Takasaki Film Festival
  • Lily - Best Supporting Actress (winner)^[18]
• 2017 Kinema Junpo
  • Best 10 Japanese Movies of 2016 (ranked 6th)^[19]
• 2017 38th Yokohama Film Festival
  • Best 10 Japanese Movies of 2016 (runner-up)^[20]
• 2017 71st Mainichi Film Awards
  • Haru Kuroki - Best Actress (nominated)^[21]
• 59th Blue Ribbon Awards^[22]
  • Best Film (nominated)
  • Haru Kuroki - Best Actress (nominated)
  • Gō Ayano - Best Supporting Actor (nominated)
  • Shunji Iwai - Best Director (nominated)
• 2017 40th Japan Academy Prize
  • Haru Kuroki - Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (nominated)^[23]
• 2017 11th Asian Film Awards^[24][25]
  • Haru Kuroki - Best Actress (nominated)
  • Kyôko Heya - Best Production Design (nominated)

References

1. "'A Bride For Rip Van Winkle' Hong Kong Premiere". Getty Images. 8 March 2016. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2018. Japanese director Shunji Iwai attends the premiere of his film 'A Bride For Rip Van Winkle' on March 8, 2016 in Hong Kong, China.
2. "岩井俊二12年ぶり実写長編作は「リップヴァンウィンクルの花嫁」！黒木華が映画単独初主演". eiga.com (in Japanese). 19 November 2015.
3. Lee, Maggie (12 April 2016). "Film Review: 'A Bride for Rip Van Winkle'". Variety. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
4. "被遺忘的新娘 A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". 開眼電影網. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
5. Lee, Edmund (16 March 2016). "Film review: A Bride for Rip Van Winkle – Shunji Iwai returns in fine form". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
6. Giansanti, Raelyn (8 November 2017). "Shunji Iwai's 'A Bride For Rip Van Winkle' Shows the Timely Realities of Manipulation in Online Dating — Watch". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
7. "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". Seattle International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
8. "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". New York Asian Film Festival. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
9. "Shanghai International Film Festival Introduces Another 27 New Japanese Movies (7 Premiered Internat". Shanghai International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
10. "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". Fantasia International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
11. "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". Tokyo International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
12. "A BRIDE FOR RIP VAN WINKLE (リップヴァンウィンクルの花嫁)". Hawaii International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
13. "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". International Film Festival Rotterdam. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
14. Eagan, Daniel (11 August 2016). "Interview: Shunji Iwai". Film Comment. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
15. "黒木華×岩井俊二『リップヴァンウィンクルの花嫁』が連ドラ化＆特番". cinra.net. 25 February 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
16. Ryan, James-Masaki (7 November 2016). "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". dvdcompare.net. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
17. "「報知映画賞」発表！岩田剛典"新人賞"＆綾野剛"助演男優賞"". cinemacafe.net. 29 November 2016. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
18. "第３１回高崎映画祭受賞者を発表". Takasaki Web News. 6 January 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
19. "2017 Kinema Junpo BEST 10 Films and Individual Awards". Japanese Film Festival Australia. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
20. "2016年日本映画ベストテン". Yokohama Film Festival. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
21. "第７１回毎日映画コンクール：心に迫る一本 日本映画大賞・日本映画優秀賞候補作 - 毎日新聞". Mainichi Shimbun. 16 December 2016. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
22. "「ブルーリボン賞」ノミネート 主演女優賞候補に宮沢りえ、広瀬すず". Tokyo Sports. 4 January 2017. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
23. "第40回 日本アカデミー賞最優秀賞決定". Japan Academy Prize. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
24. "11th Asian Film Awards Nominations List". Asian Film Awards. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
25. "11th Asian Film Awards – Nominees 2017". asianfilmfestivals.com. 12 January 2017. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official website for television series (in Japanese)
• A Bride for Rip Van Winkle at IMDb 
• A Bride for Rip Van Winkle at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Bride for Rip Van Winkle at Metacritic