Shown at over 20 film festivals, it won the Audience Awards at Tribeca, Washington D.C., and Paris, as well as Best Picture at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
699mb.
Runtime: 74
Language: English with some Japanese (eng subs hardcoded where necessary)
Country: USA
Color: Color
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799976/
Director: Linda Hattendorf
Cast:
Tsutomu "Jimmy" Mirikitani ... himself
Linda Hattendorf ... herself
Description: If you are someone who is able to take my word for it that this film is wonderful in every respect and that you simply must watch it, then please stop reading this description right now and download it. The less you know going into the first viewing, the more you'll enjoy it. But if you need further information before making your decision, read on.
Jimmy Mirikitani is an 80-year-old Japanese American artist living homeless on the streets of New York City. He makes and sells drawings of cats and other things. Linda Hattendorf, the filmmaker, takes notice and starts filming this strange but somehow remarkable man. He holds a grudge lasting over half a century against the United States government for holding him and thousands of others at the Tule Lake internment camp during WWII, and we discover that every day he also draws picture after picture depicting his memories of camp life. 10 minutes into the film, it seems as if this story has nowhere to develop: Jimmy, for all his energy, is an old man, justifiably bitter, and unlikely to break from his cycle of anger. But the year is 2001, and while the distant past refuses to fade for Jimmy, another event is about to intrude into both his and Linda's lives. When she finds him coughing in the dark as the dust from the collapsed World Trade Center towers descends over his neighborhood, she has to make a choice, and it is that choice that throws open the world of the film wider and more beautifully than most films can even imagine.
To me, this is the first truly transcendent piece of art to emerge since motion picture media was digitally democratized and filmmaking became an art available to all. The use of small no-budget digital cameras allowed The Cats of Mirikitani to become one of the most personal, funny, and touching films I've ever seen. But this film also manages the noble task of telling the story of two of the most transformative events in American history - the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during the Second World War, and the similar fear and disorientation that accompanied the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath. Jimmy Mirikitani is the charismatic, fiesty, and instantly wonderful real-life character that bridges these two events and provides characteristic critique and clarity on the full scope of the history that he has lived. And Linda Hattendorf is the New Yorker from Ohio who had the presence of mind to switch on a camera and keep it running - and not only that, but also the necessary compassion to risk her film and her story to do the right thing. For it, she, Jimmy, and the rest of us were rewarded with a story that exceeds all expectations.
Shot for next to nothing and edited in a crisp, expert manner, this is the rare documentary that discovers life in a state of disrepair but leaves it in a state of joy. Reflexively, the act of making the film becomes a way of comprehending the past as well as transforming the future for the better, and for this The Cats of Mirikitani deserves far more praise than it has yet received. It has the vision and the courage not to simply wallow in angst, despair, and ennui, but to blaze a trail out of it. Repeat viewings only enhance the wonder one must have for the film and the filmmaker, as well as for Jimmy, his art, and his story. A must see whether you love or hate documentary; this film will win you over, and in the words of a more prominent critic than I, "may well wipe you out."
Download Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/142377876/The_Cats_of_Mirikitani__Hattendorf__2006_.part1.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/142384679/The_Cats_of_Mirikitani__Hattendorf__2006_.part2.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/142391823/The_Cats_of_Mirikitani__Hattendorf__2006_.part3.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/142398378/The_Cats_of_Mirikitani__Hattendorf__2006_.part4.rar.html
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http://rapidshare.com/files/142433263/The_Cats_of_Mirikitani__Hattendorf__2006_.part8.rar.html
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