Japan, 2019, 119 min, 2K DCP, Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Not Rated, Japanese with English subtitles, Grasshopper Film


Asako I & II

Friday, 7/26 to Thursday, 8/1

“It’s refreshing to see a high-concept movie that doesn’t assume every love story has to reach a tidy conclusion, and implies that some happy endings are best left open-ended.” – Eric Kohn, IndieWire

A truly original Vertigo riff, Asako I & II is an enchanting paean to the notion of love as a trance state. Asako and Baku share an intense, all-consuming romance — but one day the moody Baku ups and vanishes. Two years later, Asako meets Baku’s exact double. Ryusuke Hamaguchi, one of Japan’s most celebrated filmmakers, has made a beguiling and mysterious film that traces the trajectory of a love — or, to be accurate, two loves — found, lost, displaced, and regained.

Asako I & II is one of the most deceptively simple — and rewarding — films you’re likely to see this year, the product of an original young talent in world cinema. On Opening Night, July 26 at 6:15pm, CGAC Director of Programming Nat Chediak will open a window onto a film that richly deserves the widest possible audience.


Tickets to these screenings are $12.75 and under. Cinema members pay only $8.



Check out the rest of our New Releases program!