Leonie

[Machine Translation] The turbulent life of Leonie, mother of the world-famous sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Hisako Matsui, the director of "Yukie" and "Orihume," which drew a total of 2 million viewers, set her dream in motion and spent eight years to realize this Japan-US co-production. The film depicts the life of a mother who lived gracefully for 59 years, quietly accepting the fate of being tossed between Japan and the U.S. --New York City at the end of the 19th century. Leonie Gilmore, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, a prestigious women's college, is teaching, unable to give up her dream of becoming a poet or an editor. One day, she meets Yone Noguchi, a mysterious young poet from Japan. The English poems that resulted from their collaboration were successful in the American and British literary circles, and Leonie's fascination with poetry soon turned into a love affair. However, as soon as Yone was informed that Leonie was pregnant, she returned to Japan. Quietly and alone, Leonie decides to give birth to a mixed-race child while still unmarried. She gives birth in California to avoid publicity, and the mother and child travel to Tokyo in the late Meiji period to escape the growing yellow scars of the Russo-Japanese War. There, the mother desperately tried to provide her child with the rich and beautiful culture of Japan. Now, however, she must return her child to the U.S. before he is drafted into the Japanese army. There is only one path for her mixed-race child with extraordinary artistic talents........

Special Feature / Bonus Track: making-of, interview, theatrical trailers

世界的な彫刻芸術家、イサム・ノグチの母レオニーの波乱に満ちた一生。『ユキエ』『折り梅』で、のべ200万の観客動員を果たした松井久子監督が夢を掲げ、8年の歳月をかけて実現させた日米合作映画。日米の狭間で翻弄される運命を静かに受け入れ、母として潔く生き抜いた59年の生涯を描く。――19世紀末のニューヨーク。名門女子大ブリンマー大学を卒業したレオニー・ギルモアは、詩人か編集者になりたいという夢を捨てきれないまま教鞭をとっていた。そんなある日、日本から来た神秘的な青年詩人ヨネ・ノグチと出会う。二人の共同作業により生まれた英詩は米英の文壇で成功を収め、詩に魅せられたレオニーのときめきもいつしか恋愛感情へ。しかし、レオニーが身ごもったことを知らされた途端、ヨネは日本に帰国してしまうのだった。静かに独り、未婚のまま混血の子を産む決意をするレオニー。人目を避けカリフォルニアで出産し、高まる日露戦争の黄禍を逃れるため明治後期の東京へ渡る母子。そこで母が必死で我が子に授けたのは、豊かで美しい日本文化だった。しかし今度は、日本で徴兵される前に我が子をアメリカに帰さねばならない。並外れた芸術的才能を秘めた混血の我が子が歩むべき道は一つ・・・。4P解説書封入。

メイキング(約30分)、松井久子監督インタビュー(約10分)、劇場予告編