BL Metamorphosis

Thursday 9th March

Dir. KARIYAMA Shunsuke, Japan, 2022, 118 mins, subtitled. Cast. ASHIDA Mana, MIYAMOTO Nobuko, FURUKAWA Kotone.

Seventeen-year-old Urara (ASHIDA Mana) has a dull high school life. Her only pastime and passion is reading Boy’s Love (BL) manga, which she keeps a secret. Working part-time at a book shop, she one day meets an elderly woman, Yuki (MIYAMOTO Nobuko). Yuki has lost her husband and has been living alone ever since. Not knowing what BL is, she unwittingly buys a copy of a BL manga because of its pretty cover. First embarrassed but then gradually fascinated by what she finds inside, Yuki heads back to the bookstore to buy the next volume. Having BL as their common interest, Urara kindly offers to help Yuki dive into the rabbit hole. The two soon forget their fifty-eight-year age difference and form an unexpected friendship along the way.

A heart-warming film about two lonely women with a huge age gap between them and from different cultural backgrounds, who come together to find friendship and a new sense of self. Released in 2022, the film received many positive responses, especially from the BL fandom – a distinctive manga genre which has a large female readership in Japan.

Dates & Times

 Thursday 9th Mar  6:00pm
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The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2023

Hold Me Back – Thursday 16 February, 8.30pm
Blue Thermal – Thursday 23 February, 6pm
Ito – Thursday 2 March, 8.30pm
BL Metamorphosis – Thursday 9 March, 6pm

Experience Japan Through Cinema
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme, the UK’s ever-evolving and largest festival of Japanese cinema, celebrates its 20th anniversary!
With an exciting lineup of films, most of which have only recently been released, but also featuring some masterpieces from the distant past, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2023 explores the theme of “the evolution of Japanese cinema”. Audiences will be provided with food for thought: Where has Japanese cinema come from? What is its current position in the world of cinema? And where is it heading next?
Come and see some of Japan’s finest cinematic works, with films that showcase varied tones and styles, as well as the diverse skills of both experienced and emerging film talents.

Organised by: The Japan Foundation
Major Supporter: Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Sponsor in Kind: SUQQU, Athletia, Clearspring

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