We Make Antiques! – Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025

Cinema | (12A) | 105 minutes |
22nd March 2025

嘘八百 Uso Happyaku
(12A) | 105 mins | 2018 | Japanese Language with English Subtitles
Screening as part of the JFTFP25: Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema.

Norio (NAKAI Kiichi) is an experienced antiques dealer, but none of his experience prepares him for the veritable treasure he finds one day while searching a rich family’s storehouse: a very precious teacup made for the use of Sen no Rikyu, Japan’s most revered tea master. The homeowner, Sasuke (SASAKI Kuranosuke), seems oblivious to its true value, so Norio successfully talks Sasuke into giving it up for next to nothing.

What Norio fails to realise is that Sasuke is not the actual homeowner; rather, he is a talented but impoverished potter who made the fake teacup Norio now possesses. Before long, Norio realises that by combining Sasuke’s artistic prowess with his dealership, the two could make a fortune, and so they decide to make a gamble of historic proportions against an authenticator by whom they have both been wronged with career-changing consequences. Against all odds, can Norio and Sasuke succeed in deceiving the connoisseurs?

A breakout hit for director TAKE Masaharu that kickstarted a beloved series, We Make Antiques! shines a laugh-a-minute light on the shady side of antiques trading, full of trivia on Sen no Rikyu and traditional Japanese pottery.

Image: ©2018 “We Make Antiques!” Film Partners

Upcoming JFTP25 Film Showings:

Ghost Cat Anzu | 29 March

DATES & TIMES

22nd March 2025

You might like...

Cinema

The Penguin Lessons

(12A) 112MINS

The Penguin Lessons is inspired by the true story of a disillusioned Englishman who went to work in a school in Argentina in 1976. Expecting...

Book now
Cinema

A Minecraft Movie

(PG) 101MINS

A Minecraft Movie features four misfits - Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks)....

Book now
Cinema

Wind, Tide & Oar

(PG) 84MINS

Wind, Tide & Oar is a compelling exploration of engineless sailing, shot on analogue film over three years. The film delves into the experiences of...

Book now

Supported by