After a quick trip to the southeast quandrant of the US, I was back in line for another festival film.  Kanikôsen was a novel that was adapted to a graphic novel which is now adapted to a movie (actually, there was another film adaptation in 1953). The title refers to the crab-canning boat in which the story takes place. The setting: early 20th century, summer, in the waters between Japan and Russia. The Japanese boats are in a competition for “national pride” to can more crab than their fellow boats. This one we’re on is losing the competition and the boss is not happy. He and his second beat the workers, demanding harder work, more efficiency, greater output. An idealistic worker, Shinjo, tries to lure his brothers into a better life through mass suicide. After that fails, he leaves the boat on a dinghy (I’m a little hazy on the details of this as it was past my bedtime and I might have nodded off) and is subsequently rescued by a Russian boat, where he sees how happy the workers are in their current lives. Shinjo returns to his cannery boat and rallies his fellow workers. There is humor, there is tragedy, there is drama. [Kanikôsen screens again 31 May, 8:30pm at the Egyptian.]