FIRST LOOK

First Look: Kanji Nakajima's Sci-Fi The Clone Returns Home

by Alex Billington
December 27, 2008

Yet another Sundance first look to keep everyone happy this weekend. In addition to all of the American films premiering at Sundance, there are a handful of foreign films premiering in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition category. One of them is Japanese sci-fi film called Kurôn wa kokyô o mezasu, which in English translates to The Clone Returns Home. When a young astronaut is killed and his clone is regenerated, problems occur and the new clone escapes the lab to head home. "In the tradition of Solaris and other deeply philosophical science-fiction works, The Clone Returns Home is art cinema at its best."

You can check out four photos below. And if you speak Japanese, you can actually see a trailer on the TIFF site. I think this looks intriguing enough to try and catch at Sundance, but I'm still a bit skeptical.

Kohei, a young astronaut, agrees to participate in an experimental cloning program that will "regenerate" his body and memory should he die. So when he's killed during a space mission, scientists are able to regenerate his clone. But problems occur with its memory, which regresses to Kohei's youth and the accidental death of his twin brother. Distressed, the clone flees the lab in search of his childhood home. Along the way, he finds his own lifeless body in a space suit. Mistaking it for his brother, he continues his journey carrying the body on his back.

The Clone Returns Home aka Kurôn wa kokyô o mezasu is both written and directed by first-time Japanese filmmaker Kanji Nakajima. The film first premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October this year and will be making its North American debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January where it will still be looking for a distributor. Stay tuned for more information on this in 2009!

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Related categories: First Look, Indies, Sundance 09