"Paco and the Magical Picture Book" has it's U.S. Premiere in New York on April 7th

by Chris MaGee

Day jobs are good, don't get me wrong. They do things like pay the rent, buy you groceries, and whatever is left over can go to paying for internet access and your monthly allotment of DVDs. In the present fragile state of the world economy that's nothing to sneeze at, but one thing day jobs don't allow is the flexibility to drop everything to head down to New York to attend the U.S. premiere of Tetsuya Nakashima's "Paco and the Magical Picture Book" even if you've been invited! Arrrgghh!!!!

That's exactly what happned when I opened up my email this morning and received an invite to Nakashima's kid-friendly follow up to his critically-lauded (well, not by me, but...) "Memories of Matsuko". "Paco" stars newcomer Ayaka Wilson as a little girl in hospital who, due to a car accident that claimed the life of her parents, can no longer retain memories past a day. She is befriended by a cranky old man played by Koji Yakusho who introduces her into a magical world through a children's picture book. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Satoshi Tsumabuki, Anna Tsuchiya, Ryo Kase, and Sadao Abe.

The U.S. premiere of "Paco and the Magical Picture Book" is being presented by All Nippon Air and the fine folks at New York-Tokyo on Tuesday April 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street. If you're lucky enough to be in the New York City area that day you can RSVP to attend by clicking here because admission is FREE.

Well, thanks Taeko-san, but I guess this time I'll have to take a rain cheque.