人民公园

　　The film accompanies Magaye Niyang, a star of Touki-Bouki, a 1972 classic directed by her own uncle Djibril Diop. Following this path, we are witness of Niyang travel to a special screening of the film, which has a public release in his old town. Niyang seems detached and with a heavy longing from the past, and therefore, the film debris permeates everything with unescapable sorrow and fascination.
　　Diop film is, first and foremost, a nostalgic travel through memory, time and recreation. It is also a watermark in contemporary experimental documentary, a very intimate portrait of a lost long journey through the past that isn’t returning anymore, a detachment of rejected fame, recognition and connection which is heavily grounded on a legacy that belongs to the past, and that connects directly to a country (Senegal) and its heritage, which is sometimes feel excruciating for the old ones (a testimony such as the taxi scene in the film, where the cab driver longs for changes, and claims that the old generation had done nothing for that).
　　Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns) and, in itself, Mati Diop’s crucial talent, should be a point of reference into what could easily be one of the most interesting proposals of hybrid documentary cinema which has come from France, and which deals with a strong African heritage. Since 35 Rhums, where she proved her actress talent, Diop seems like a true promise for the following years of cinema.

　　オレ様的な性格が災いして、花形社会部から文化部将棋担当に異動させられた新聞記者・秋葉(玉木宏)は、おまけに恋人・恵子（比嘉愛未）に結婚を迫るが断られる。踏んだり蹴ったりの秋葉が出会ったのは、プロ棋士（四段以上を指す）を目指す真田(上地雄輔)、33歳。26歳までに四段になれず年齢制限に阻まれてプロ棋士になれなかった真田は、特例である三段リーグへの編入試験を受けようとしていたのだ。秋葉は、家賃滞納でアパートを追い出された真田に泣き落とされ、自分のマンションに同居させることになってしまう。「たかがボードゲーム」と将棋をばかにしていた秋葉だが、真田の師匠・千田（近藤正臣）と知り合うことで将棋にのめりこみ、 真田の33歳からプロ棋士を目指すという無謀な挑戦を後押しするようになっていく。それは社会部記者として挫折した自分にとってのリターンマッチでもあった。がそこに少年時代真田に将棋を教えたという借金取立人で元将棋の真剣師・林（石橋蓮司）が現われ・・・