Typhoon Club

a film by Shinji Sômai
1985 (restored 2023), 115 minutes

Poster

Synopsis

Winner of the Grand Prix at the first Tokyo International Film Festival in 1985, Typhoon Club is widely regarded as the seminal film of director Shinji Somai’s career. A work of raw, elemental power, it follows an ensemble of junior high students in a provincial town, beset by a summer-y malaise as a typhoon looms. When the storm makes landfall, the teens find themselves holed up in their school unsupervised, while another classmate (Yuki Kudo) disappears alone on a harrowing trek to the big city. Set adrift in a world suddenly unmoored, the students let loose their pent-up angst and burgeoning passions in a series of propulsive, phantasmic scenes—part apocalypse, part utopia—as the deluge rages on into the night. Observed in daring long takes, director Somai gives material form to the students’ turbulent inner lives. When day breaks and the rains let up, the youngsters open their eyes to a world in ruins—or a world renewed. The 10th best Japanese film of all time, according to Japan’s Kinema Junpo poll.

Reviews

"I can say with absolute conviction that no Japanese filmmaker makes a film without being conscious of Shinji Somai’s existence. That is how significant Somai's presence is in the history of Japanese cinema… For anyone who wants to see a movie that has the power to change and sustain your life, I urge you to see Somai’s films."
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, director of Drive My Car

"Maybe the last great master of Japanese film history."
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director of Cure

"Shinji Somai is one of the most personal and original Japanese filmmakers, and a master whose work has been almost completely neglected outside Japan."
Chris Fujiwara, critic and programmer

"This is cinema."
- Hou Hsiao-hsien

"One of the most beautiful and touching teenage films I’ve ever seen. An absolutely devastating film."
– Bernardo Bertolucci

Press Materials

High Res Still and Press Kit
Press Release

Where to watch

In Theaters

Playdates

Sept 8-14: IFC Center - New York, NY
Sep 15-21: Laemmle Royal - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 16-17: Cinema Moderne - Montreal, QC
Sep 17-18: Lark Theater - Larkspur, CA
Sep 22: Center for Contemporary Arts - Santa Fe, NM
Sep 23: Duke University Cinema - Durham, NC
Sep 26: Mezzanine - Los Angeles, CA
Sep 28 & 30: Spacy - Dallas, TX
Sep 29-Oct 5: The Beacon - Seattle, WA
Sep 30: Lightbox Film Center - Philadelphia, PA

Oct 7: Cleveland Cinematheque - Cleveland, OH
Oct 7-8: Oklahoma City Museum of Art - Oklahoma City, OK
Oct 8 & 11: Austin Film Society - Austin, TX

Nov 4-12: The Cinematheque - Vancouver, BC
Nov 5: Webster Film Series - St. Louis, MO

Dec 8-9: UWM Union Cinema - Milwaukee, WI

Festivals & Awards

Winner: Tokyo Grand Prix - Tokyo International Film Festival, 1985
Official Selection - Berlin Film Festival, 2023

Trailer

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Shinji Sômai