A Chorus of Angels

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Movie: A Chorus of Angels (English title) / The Northern Canaries (early working title)
Romaji: Kita no Kanariatachi
Japanese: 北のカナリアたち
Director: Junji Sakamoto
Writer: Kanae Minato (novel), Machiko Nasu
Producer: Tatsuya Kunimatsu, Tsugio Hattori
Cinematographer: Daisaku Kimura
Release Date: November 3, 2012
Runtime: 122 min.
Genre: Mystery / Suspense-Thriller / Award Winning
Distributor: Toei
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

20 years ago, an elementary school student falls on an island in the northern tip of Hokkaido. A teacher and 6 students makes contact through songs. What happened to the studen who fell? The teacher returns 20 years later to meet with her former students.

Notes

Based on Kanae Minato's short story "Nijunengo no Shukudai,” from Kanae Minato's "Oufuku Shokan" (September 21, 2010 - published by Gentosha) .
"Kita no Kanariatachi" will be made to celebrate movie company Toei's 60th anniversary.[1]
For the climax scene in "The Northern Canaries" filming took place on Rebun Island on January 12th-13th. Sayuri Yoshinaga, Mirai Moriyama, Hikari Mitsushima, Ryo Katsuji, Aoi Miyazaki, Eiko Koike, & Ryuhei Matsuda took part in the filming.

Cast



Sayuri Yoshinaga	Kyohei Shibata	Toru Nakamura	Kotaro Satomi	Mirai Moriyama
Haru Kawashima	Yukio Kawashima	Kisuke Abe	Hisashi Hotta	Nobuto Suzuki



Hikari Mitsushima	Ryo Katsuji	Aoi Miyazaki	Eiko Koike	Ryuhei Matsuda
Manami Toda	Naoki Ikushima	Yuka Ando	Manae Fujimoto	Isamu Matsuda

Additional Cast Members:

Mayu Harada
Hiroaki Ogasawara - Nobuto Suzuki (young)
Maho Watanabe - Manami Toda (young)
Hidaka Sagara - Naoki Ikushima (young)
Shion Iida - Yuka Ando (young)
Sumine Sato - Manae Fujimoto (young)
Ginga Kikuchi - Isamu Matsuda (young)

Trailers

Image Gallery

Array

Film Festivals

2013 (16th) Shanghai International Film Festival - June 15-23, 2013 - Spectrum

Awards

2012 (37th) Hochi Film Awards - December, 2012
- Best Actress (Sayuri Yoshinaga)
- Best Supporting Actor (Mirai Moriyama)
2012 (67th) Mainichi Film Awards - February 7, 2013
- Best Sound
2013 (36th) Japan Academy Prize - March 8, 2013
- Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography (Daisaku Kimura)
- Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction (Takashi Sugimoto)

Comments

Anejo Dec 18 2016 3:14 am I like the Japaneese staging of the kind. The film has its unique dynamics, the scenes are most still and faciliate one to dig into contemplation. I liked the editing, the edit makes the viewer trasit smother to the flashes (like that with the ball).

The cast is great, I mean, I knew those actors playing in various films (I love all the actors plaing here), and the directors, who have put them together had made a great job. 
 The sacrifice motive and that state of people accusing themselves prior to others is very popular in Japanees literature and filming. In this film the overall paly is convincing, and final scenes are touching. 
The final flash is a kind of open ending, giving the hope that the winter (the main characters fate trouble line) will soon come to an end.

fikuri Aug 23 2016 4:19 am looks like im not the only one who couldnt hold my tears at the scene (last 20 mins scene)

@KH, yeah some flashback really confused me at the end of the movie i had to rewind some scene to understand some flashback

PH_yader Sep 26 2013 6:27 am Watched this movie on flight back from Tokyo. This film is amazing. The last scenes were the most heartfelt and touching moments what i have seen in any movies for years.

KH Mar 20 2013 8:55 pm This movie was buried in channel 206 (out of 700+ channels) in an international flight. The flight was long enough for me to see the movie twice. Great movie but with a lot of flashbacks, it can be confusing on the first viewing. The second viewing provided more clarity.

Janeen-baasan Feb 15 2013 8:00 am Wonderful movie... beautiful cinematography, each character touched my heart, and for the final 30 minutes I could not stop the tears! Even with English subtitles, this movie speaks clearly.

R Dave Feb 01 2013 5:40 am Ditto to what John said. Saw this on an international flight to Japan as well. It had a very touching story that's universal to all people in scope.

John Jan 26 2013 3:50 am I watched this movie while flying an international flight. It was truly a beautiful movie. Touching in many was. Those involved in the making of this film have much to be proud of. I was surprised not to see more visibility of this film in the US.

FeKimi Nov 07 2012 4:09 am Wow... It looks like a pretty 'normal' character for my Ryuhei Matsuda...

External Links

Toei news release, "Toei," "September 2, 2011."

A Chorus of Angels

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Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Notes

Cast

Trailers

Image Gallery

Film Festivals

Awards

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