Ice Cream and the Sound of Raindrops
US PREMIERE
アイスと雨音
Daigo Matsui · 2017 · 74 minutes
A group of young and aspiring actors get cast in a small town production of British playwright Simon Stephens’ “Morning.” They are asked to use their real names instead of the ones in the play, to draw on the real-life frustrations and anxieties they keep inside. To their director, this makes for a more personal and taxing experience in the hopes of better performances from the teenage thespians. After a month of rehearsals the production is suddenly cancelled. One actress suggests they continue rehearsing and find a way to perform for an audience by any means necessary. This is the battle cry they need to become renegades of the stage and continue living inside the mixture of rehearsal and real life. Captured in one 74-minute take, Daigo Matsui (Japanese Girls Never Die) tells this story without a distracting garishness. In a succinct manner time is traversed, stage and film are merged, and the score is performed live in the film by rap group MOROHA.
Filmography: Afro Tanaka (‘12); Daily Lives of High School Boys (‘13); Sweet Poolside (‘14); Wonderful World End (‘15); Our Huff and Puff Journey (‘15); Japanese Girls Never Die (‘16); Ice Cream and the Sound of Raindrops (‘17); Kimi ga kimi de kimi da (‘18).