Nordic Nippon Nights: Cold Fever

The Japan Foundation, Toronto
Nordic Nights of the Consulates of Iceland and Finland
in cooperation with The University of Toronto Department of East Asian Studies and Innis Town Hall
present

Nordic Nippon Nights at Innis Town Hall

This summer, escape the heat with two films in which Japanese protagonists travel to cooler climes for international adventure, Nordic style!
See also: Nordic Nippon Nights: Kamome Diner

Cold Fever

Directed by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson  (Japan/Iceland)
1995, 83 min.
format: blu-ray

Young salaryman Atsushi Hirata (international star Masatoshi Nagase) is forced to cancel his long-awaited golfing holiday in Hawaii. Instead, he must reluctantly travel far north to perform a memorial service in the remote, snowy corner of Iceland where his parents met their deaths. Atsushi stoically braves the Icelandic winter, discovers some unfamiliar cuisine, observes mysterious rituals, and encounters other foreign travelers as he makes his way doggedly to his destination.

This dryly observant cult classic, produced and co-written by long-time Jim Jarmusch producer Jim Stark, belongs in the canon of indie road movies alongside Leningrad Cowboys Go America and The Straight Story.