Tokyo Film Festival: ‘Teki Cometh’ Dominates Awards

In a stunning sweep of the main awards, Japanese drama “Teki Cometh” snared three top prizes at the closing night ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday.

The film was named as the Tokyo Grand Prize, or best film, winner. Its helmer Yoshida Daihachi was named best director. Veteran lead performer Nagatsuka Kyozo was also named best actor.

“Teki Cometh” is based on a 1998 novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka about a retired professor, Watanabe Gisuke, who is quietly living out his last days when he receives a mysterious message on his PC that his “enemy” (teki) is coming.

Lensed in black-and-white, the film begins as a record of his daily existence, from his meticulous meal prep – he is a something of a gourmet – to his platonic relationship with a former student (Takeuchi Kumi) that smolders with an unstated but evident mutual passion. But once the enemy announces his presence, the film shifts into darker territory and the man’s dead wife refuses to remain quiet.

“I hope this film can establish [the] kind of relationship with the audience, [that is] not one-sided, but more like a dream that you interpret with you own imagination,” Yoshida told Variety.

The festival’s second prize went to “Adios Amigo” by Colombia’s Ivan D. Gaona. The festival described the film as “a spaghetti western action film, depicting the chaos in the mountains of Columbia at the end of the [20th century] civil war, a sublimely entertaining drama blending various themes: war, friendship, class disparity and colonialism.”

The best actress award went to Anamaria Vartolomei for her role in “Traffic.” The film is directed by Teodora Ana Mihai from a screenplay by Cristian Mungiu It tells the tale of a Romanian couple who become involved in an art theft and deals with the economic disparities between Western and Eastern Europe.

The main competition awards were determined by a jury headed by Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Ildiko Enyedi, Hashimoto Ai, Johnny To and Chiara Mastroianni.