"Dying isn't simple, is it?" Strand Releasing has unveiled an official trailer for an acclaimed indie film titled I Was A Simple Man, which originally premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film is made by a Hawaiian filmmaker named Christopher Makoto Yogi, his second feature, and it earned some rave reviews from critics. It's a gorgeous slow burn work of art. A family in Hawai'i faces the imminent death of their eldest as the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside. The director explains: "It was always the goal to make it feel honest to my experience growing up in Hawaii. When I think back to my childhood, I was always surrounded by ghost stories... it's very much a vibrant part of the culture. They are told in the same ways that one would trade memories." I Was A Simple Man stars Steve Iwamoto and Constance Wu,...
- 10/14/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Christopher Makoto Yogi’s second feature “I Was a Simple Man” was one of the best films to world-premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film stars Constance Wu opposite a cast ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou, and Chanel Akiko Hirai.
The official synopsis for “I Was a Simple Man” reads: “A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Constance Wu), and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.”
IndieWire Chief Film Critic David Ehrlich named “I Was a Simple Man” an official Critic’s Pick out of the Sundance Film Festival, writing, “Layering the spectral hush of...
The official synopsis for “I Was a Simple Man” reads: “A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Constance Wu), and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.”
IndieWire Chief Film Critic David Ehrlich named “I Was a Simple Man” an official Critic’s Pick out of the Sundance Film Festival, writing, “Layering the spectral hush of...
- 10/13/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Christopher Makoto Yogi’s “I Was a Simple Man,” which stars Constance Wu and had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance film festival.
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
- 5/11/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Roster includes mountaineering documentary The Sanctity Of Space.
Ryan Kampe’s Visit Films has added acclaimed Sundance titles I Was a Simple Man, El Planeta and First Date to the sales roster for this week’s virtual EFM.
The slate includes previously announced Sundance thriller Superior, as well as mountaineering documentary The Sanctity Of Space, Tribeca 2020 selections Lorelei and My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, 2020 SXSW selection The Surrogate, and survival thriller Wildcat.
Visit holds international rights to Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man, which takes place in the countryside of the north shore of O‘ahu,...
Ryan Kampe’s Visit Films has added acclaimed Sundance titles I Was a Simple Man, El Planeta and First Date to the sales roster for this week’s virtual EFM.
The slate includes previously announced Sundance thriller Superior, as well as mountaineering documentary The Sanctity Of Space, Tribeca 2020 selections Lorelei and My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To, 2020 SXSW selection The Surrogate, and survival thriller Wildcat.
Visit holds international rights to Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man, which takes place in the countryside of the north shore of O‘ahu,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
This week on the New Hollywood Podcast, we have not one, not two but 16 guests in four separate segments. The Sundance Film Festival was virtual this year as was Deadline’s Sundance Studio. For this special episode, we share our studio interviews in podcast form.
For this episode, I had the chance to speak with Christopher Makoto Yogi, Kanoa Goo, Chanel Akiko Hirai, Tim Chiou and Nelson Lee from the Hawaii-set familial drama with a ghost story twist I Was A Simple Man as well as Nikole Beckwith, Ed Helms and Patti Harrison for the platonic friend comedy Together Together. Meanwhile, Amanda N’Duka chatted with Rebecca Hall, Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and returning guest Andre Holland for the highly-anticipated drama Passing. She also sat down and had a talk with Carlson Young, Vinessa Shaw, Dermot Mulroney and Udo Kier from the fantasy-horror The Blazing World.
Each film in this...
For this episode, I had the chance to speak with Christopher Makoto Yogi, Kanoa Goo, Chanel Akiko Hirai, Tim Chiou and Nelson Lee from the Hawaii-set familial drama with a ghost story twist I Was A Simple Man as well as Nikole Beckwith, Ed Helms and Patti Harrison for the platonic friend comedy Together Together. Meanwhile, Amanda N’Duka chatted with Rebecca Hall, Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and returning guest Andre Holland for the highly-anticipated drama Passing. She also sat down and had a talk with Carlson Young, Vinessa Shaw, Dermot Mulroney and Udo Kier from the fantasy-horror The Blazing World.
Each film in this...
- 2/2/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos and Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
One of the most succinct, yet heavily weighted lines of dialogue in cinema history is a three-syllable call to death: “Time to die,” as Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty commands Deckard in Blade Runner. Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was a Simple Man makes its own attempt at this profundity, attempting to sum up the big goodbye in one epigrammatic phrase. “Dying isn’t simple is it?” is spoken––murmured gently, more like––no less than three times across the film, and by the end, Yogi’s work seems to have offered a resolution to that question, although viewers may beg to differ.
Ah, death. You can’t stop what’s coming, and equally, you can’t stop art film directors conjuring up all their poetic means to give this subject its due. Yogi has switched tack for his second feature, his first to premiere in the U.
Ah, death. You can’t stop what’s coming, and equally, you can’t stop art film directors conjuring up all their poetic means to give this subject its due. Yogi has switched tack for his second feature, his first to premiere in the U.
- 1/31/2021
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
“Dying isn’t simple, is it?” That question is asked at three separate points in “I Was a Simple Man,” and with each repetition, it sounds slightly less rhetorical, less worldly-wise, more loaded with anxious uncertainty. Christopher Makoto Yogi’s hushed, ruminative study of an elderly man’s last days in Oahu doesn’t quite settle on an answer either. It considers the troubling weight of impending death on the victim — as failing health, glitching memory and drifting ghosts of the past combine to disorienting effect — as well as on his burdened, emotionally conflicted family. Yet there’s serene peace here amid the trauma: At the film’s most lyrical points, mortality doesn’t seem a threat or a ticking clock, so much as a breeze to which you eventually bend. It might help, of course, to be surrounded by the gracious greenery and oceanic soundtrack of Oahu, to which...
- 1/29/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
I Was A Simple ManThe Sundance Institute has announced 72 feature films and 50 shorts selected for their 2021 Festival, including 66 world premieres and 38 films from first-time feature filmmakers. The first festival under new Festival Director Tabitha Jackson, Sundance 2021 is set to take place both digitally and in person across the entire United States at drive-ins and independent arthouses between January 28—February 3.U.S. Dramatic Competitioncoda (Siân Heder, USA) — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin. World Premiere.I Was a Simple Man (Christopher Makoto Yogi, USA) — As a family in Hawai'i faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside.
- 12/15/2020
- MUBI
Taking place January 28 through February 3 next year, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will look quite different than ever before. After unveiling their screening plans, featuring a new online platform, drive-ins, screenings at independent arthouses around the country, and more, the lineup has now arrived.
The full 2021 slate of works includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. These films were selected from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,377 were from the U.S. and 2,132 were international.
Check out the lineup below.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 10 films in this section are all world premieres.
Coda (Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder, Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger) — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
The full 2021 slate of works includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. These films were selected from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,377 were from the U.S. and 2,132 were international.
Check out the lineup below.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 10 films in this section are all world premieres.
Coda (Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder, Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger) — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
- 12/15/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The directorial debuts of actress Robin Wright and musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and a documentary from Edgar Wright will be among the new films screening at the largely virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Sundance organizers announced on Tuesday.
Robin Wright’s “Land,” starring Wright, Demian Bichir and Kim Dickens and set in the Rocky Mountains, will premiere at Sundance in advance of its Feb. 12 release from Focus Features. Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is a documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, which drew 300,000 people in the summer of 1969. Edgar Wright’s “The Sparks Brothers” is about Ron and Russell Mael, the two brothers who founded the rock band Sparks.
The Sundance lineup, which was revealed in its entirety, will consist of 72 feature films, 50 shorts, four indie episodic series and 14 “new frontier” projects. The films will screen on Sundance’s online platform, with each one having a live online premiere, and also...
Robin Wright’s “Land,” starring Wright, Demian Bichir and Kim Dickens and set in the Rocky Mountains, will premiere at Sundance in advance of its Feb. 12 release from Focus Features. Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is a documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, which drew 300,000 people in the summer of 1969. Edgar Wright’s “The Sparks Brothers” is about Ron and Russell Mael, the two brothers who founded the rock band Sparks.
The Sundance lineup, which was revealed in its entirety, will consist of 72 feature films, 50 shorts, four indie episodic series and 14 “new frontier” projects. The films will screen on Sundance’s online platform, with each one having a live online premiere, and also...
- 12/15/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Sundance Film Festival has announced its full slate for the 2021 edition, which will take place primarily as a virtual event through an online platform in addition to physical screenings at satellite locations across the country. The program includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries, and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. Fourteen films and projects announced today were supported by Sundance Institute in development, through direct granting or residency labs. The festival runs January 28 through February 3, 2021.
This robust lineup features plenty of familiar names and faces, including Edgar Wright, Lucy Walker, Robin Wright, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, Siân Heder, Sion Sono, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, Ana Katz, Kevin Macdonald, and many more. More than half the lineup is first-time filmmakers, and they range from established actors like Rebecca Hall and Jerrod Carmichael to newcomers like Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Sixty-six of the festival’s feature films, or 92 percent of the lineup announced today,...
This robust lineup features plenty of familiar names and faces, including Edgar Wright, Lucy Walker, Robin Wright, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, Siân Heder, Sion Sono, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, Ana Katz, Kevin Macdonald, and many more. More than half the lineup is first-time filmmakers, and they range from established actors like Rebecca Hall and Jerrod Carmichael to newcomers like Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Sixty-six of the festival’s feature films, or 92 percent of the lineup announced today,...
- 12/15/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
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