THE TASTE OF TEA
Katsuhito Ishii | 2004 | Japan | 2h23m | Japanese with English subtitles
THE TASTE OF TEA is one of the strangest films in this week’s program, and also one of the gentlest. Katsuhito Ishii follows the Haruno family in rural Japan, where everyday concerns sit comfortably beside giant doppelgängers, hypnotism, animation, odd musical performances and private fantasies that suddenly spill into the real world.
Each member of the family is dealing with something different. A teenage boy is preoccupied with first love. His younger sister Sachiko is haunted by visions of a gigantic version of herself watching from the landscape. Their mother is trying to return to animation while managing family life. An uncle comes home carrying his own romantic history. Ishii lets these stories overlap without forcing them into one conventional plot.
The film’s visual ideas come from ordinary emotions rather than spectacle for its own sake. Sachiko’s enormous double turns childhood self-consciousness into something physically visible. Awkward memories become elaborate fantasy sequences. Small embarrassments expand until they seem absurdly important, which is often exactly how they feel when you are living through them.
Tadanobu Asano plays Ayano, the returning uncle, adding one of the film’s more recognisable faces for international audiences. The cast also includes Anna Tsuchiya, Tomokazu Miura and Rinko Kikuchi, while Ishii’s own background in highly stylised commercial and music-video work feeds into the film’s willingness to break away from realism whenever an idea calls for it.
What stops THE TASTE OF TEA becoming a parade of eccentric set pieces is the family at its centre. Its humour comes from people trying to deal with love, embarrassment, work, childhood and one another, often without quite knowing how to say what they mean.
ABOUT ASIAN FILM WEEK
Asian Film Week is exactly the kind of programming FOMO exists for: major classics, cult discoveries and films you rarely get the chance to see on a cinema screen in Tbilisi. This week has been curated with Denis from Ukraine, a FOMO Film Club lifetime member with a real passion for Asian cinema, whose recommendations helped fill some gaps in my own knowledge and pushed the programme in directions I might not have reached alone.
A lot of care has gone into making the week feel broad, balanced and genuinely worth exploring. You’ll find landmark films from directors already well known in the West alongside stranger, more underground work that deserves a much wider audience. If Asian cinema is already your thing, I hope there are still a few surprises here. If it isn’t, I hope this week gives you a great place to start.
10% OFF FOOD, PLUS GROUP DEALS
Dinner before a film at FOMO is now sorted! We’ve arranged special offers with our two favourite places to eat in Bazari Orbeliani, both right next door to FOMO:
10% off at La Focacceria
20% off at Potato Factory
Potato Factory 2+1: buy two and get one free
Potato Factory 3+2: buy three and get two free
Simply show your Fienta ticket when ordering. You’re welcome to eat in the Sherekilebi Bar at FOMO Secret Cinema or upstairs at FOMO Open-Air Cinema. Tell them where you’ll be sitting and they’ll bring your food to you.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: SHEREKILEBI Bar in FOMO Secret Cinema opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 01:30, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol or drinks from outside are allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
REFUND & CREDIT POLICY: If FOMO cancels a screening, all ticket holders will receive a full refund. If your plans change and you can no longer attend, we’ll issue you a credit for the value of your ticket, which can be used for any FOMO film screening within the following 30 days. Please notify us in advance so we can release your seat to another film fan.
TICKETS are also available at SHEREKILEBI Bar on arrival unless sold out.
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
