Director Yuji Nakae brings us his take on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

by Chris MaGee

William Shakespeare's magical comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has been adapted to film many times, from Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle's 1935 version starring James Cagney as Bottom, Mickey Rooney as Puck and Olivia de Havilland as Hermia to Gil Gates Jr's 2002 revisionist "A Midsummer Night's Rave" which set the Bard's play in an all night rave, but so far we hadn't seen a Japanese screen adapation... that is until now.

Yuji Nakae, director of "Hotel Hibiscus" and "Nabbie’s Love" is getting ready to release his "Manatsu no yo no yume: A Midsummer Okinawan's Dream" in Japanese theatres on July 25th. When Yuriko, an OL from Tokyo played by Yuki Shibamoto (I Want to Be a Shellfish), returns to her home on a tropical Okinawan island her no good boyfriend Atsushi (Toshihiro Wada) follows. There they get caught in in the magical world of spirits and fairies that Nakae has based on Shakespeare's play.

"Manatsu no yo no yume" doesn't seem to have a trailer yet, but it does have an official website and the folks at Cinema Today have assembled a gallery of beautiful stills from it. Click here to check them all out.