(Image: Summer Vacation 1999 © 1988 Argo Pictures)
A student has committed suicide at a boys-only boarding school leaving only an enigmatic note behing. During the summer vacation of 1999, only three students remain and one day, a boy who looks exactly like the dead student shows up…
Starting this week, the Japan Society in NYC is hosting a film series titled A Tribute to Donald Richie, Part 2: Richie's Electric Eight: The Bold & The Daring. On Thursday, March 13th at 7pm the opening night film is SUMMER VACATION 1999 better known to you as The Heart of Thomas! The 1988 film adaptation of Moto Hagio's seminal manga is a must-see especially since they made the decision to cast young girls (14 to 15 years old) in the roles of the young men the books is based on. After the film is a yaoi party, so feel free to dress up like the students in The Heart of Thomas & Summer Vacation 1999 while dancing to a live performance by the high-energy glam jazz pop band Ideal Orkestra.
"This profoundly romantic, beautifully realized independent production is one of the most original Japanese films of the year….One watches these young people, so young that a degree of androgyny is expected, and it is as though one is watching adolescence for the first time." –Donald Richie "New Japanese Cinema" report to Japan Society, 1988
Buy tickets here! Now! $15 for adults, $12 for Japan Society members, sassy seniors and students.
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017
