The name Hokusai might not immediately ring a bell for a lot of people outside of Japan. However, the famed artist is responsible for one of the most overly reprinted works seen around the world, “The Great Wave Of Kanagawa.” In the new animated film “Miss Hokusai,” though, it’s his daughter who is the focus.
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The film sheds light on the life of Hokusai’s daughter, O-Ei, as she grows up in 19th-century Japan and tries to create art of her own. Brought to life by the award-winning director Keiichi Hara (“Colorful“) and famed Production I.G. (“Ghost In The Shell“), the film shows the fiercely independent O-Ei struggling to make a name for herself, as her own art is sold under her father’s name. Here’s the official synopsis:
From award-winning director Keiichi Hara (Colorful) and Japanese powerhouse Production I.G (creators of Ghost in the Shell) comes a remarkable story of the daughter behind one of history’s most famous artists. As all of Edo flocks to see the work of the revered painter Hokusai, his daughter O-Ei toils diligently inside his studio. Her masterful portraits, dragons and erotic sketches- sold under the name of her father- are coveted by upper crust Lords and journeyman print makers alike. Shy and reserved in public, in the studio O-Ei is as brash and uninhibited as her father, smoking a pipe while sketching drawings that would make contemporary Japanese ladies blush. But despite this fiercely independent spirit, O-Ei struggles under the domineering influence of her father and is ridiculed for lacking the life experience that she is attempting to portray in her art. Miss Hokusai’s bustling Edo (present day Tokyo) is filled with yokai spirits, dragons, and conniving tradesmen, while O-Ei’s relationships with her demanding father and blind younger sister provide a powerful emotional underpinning to this sumptuously-animated coming-of-age tale.
The film opens in select theaters on October 14th.
