The Clone Returns Home

The Clone Returns Home（2008）

2008 /35mm/110min. /color / JAPAN

I must keep on living…

Story

Kohei Takahara is a 38-year-old Japanese astronaut who is killed in an accident in the line of duty. Scientists have recently perfected legacy memory implantation technology, and this radically experimental procedure is to be used to bring him back in clone form. Despite the reservations of his wife, the clone is vivified and loaded with Kohei’s memory data, and set for re-entry into his former life. Contrary to the scientists’ expectations, however, when the clone awakens, his memory is stalled in childhood, his consciousness trapped in the period of his twin brother’s tragic death. One day while walking in the forest, the clone discovers the body of his legacy human, Kohei. Believing it to be the body of his deceased twin, the clone sets off with the corpse on a journey to the beautiful rural village where Kohei spent his childhood with his mother and twin brother. What shattering discovery will the clone make in the remnants of his childhood home?

Note

Kanji Nakajima’s The Clone Returns Home is a compelling meditation on the paradox of life and death, and the meaning of love and family. Set in an imaginary -yet utterly imaginable -future, this quietly provocative film skillfully transposes complex emotional drama into the realm of science fiction by exploring the influence of technology on human memory and experience. Filled with stunning imagery and haunting stillness, The Clone Returns Home deftly combines subtly nuanced sci-fi with auniquely Japanese perspective on the universal themes of family, life,love, and death.

Comments

The moment I read the script,
I knew immediately that it was the best one.
The strength of this work lies in the emotional content,
not the science-fiction…
Most science fiction just…
transforms your mind.
It doesn’t usually come from here [the heart].

—– Wim Wenders
(Juror, SUNDANCE / NHK International Filmmaker’s Award 2006)

Enigmatic, haunting…
Bewitchingly intense…
A Japanese oddity that should please arthouse auds and sci-fi cultists alike.

—– Russell Edwards
(Variety)

Official Invitation from

Winner, SUNDANCE / NHK International Filmmaker’s Award 2006
Nominee, Japanese Eyes Best Film, Tokyo Film Festival 2008
Official Selection, World Dramatic Competition, SUNDANCE Film Festival 2009
Special Selection, Wim Wenders Carte Blanche, Sao Paolo International
Film Festival 2008
Best Cinematography – Montreal Fantasia International Film Festival 2009
Best Visual Achievement – New York Asian Film Festival 2009　

Cast

Mitsuhiro Oikawa / Eri Ishida / Hiromi Nagasaku / Kyusaku Shimada / Toru Shinagawa

Staff

Exective Producer : Wim Wenders
Director / Screenwiter : Kanji Nakajima
Director of photography : Hideho Urata
Sound Designer : Masaru Usui
Art Director : Takeo Kimura
Production : “The Clone Retuns Home” Film Partners

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