''800 Two Lap Runners'' is a 1994 Japanese film directed by

Ryūichi Hiroki is a Japanese film director. He won critical acclaim for ''800 Two Lap Runners''. Film critic and researcher Alexander Jacoby has described Hiroki as "one of the modern Japanese cinema's most intelligent students of character". Biography ''Pink ...

starring

Shunsuke Matsuoka Shunsuke (written: , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese actor, talent and fashion model *, Japanese baseball player *, Ja ...

and

Eugene Nomura Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

. For director Hiroki, the film marks a transition from his early work in ''

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

'' to mainstream cinema.

Plot

This coming-of-age story revolves around two young long distance runners, Kenji Hirose and Ryuji Nakazawa. Kenji, haunted by memories of his dead friend Aihara with whom he had a brief homosexual affair, is now dating Aihara's former girlfriend Kyoko, but Kyoko is more interested in Kenji than he is in her. Ryuji, Kenji's friend and track rival, is pursuing hurdler Shoko but she in turn is after Kenji. Ryuji does have his own admirer, Nao, Kenji's younger sister, but when they do get together, Nao resembles her brother too much for Ryuji to go through with the lovemaking.

Cast

* as Kenji Hirose * as Ryuji Nakazawa * as Shoko Ida * as Kyoko Yamaguchi * as Nao Hirose * as Aihara * as Tomomi Ogawa * as Shunichi Saitō

Release

''800 Two Lap Runners'' was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in the "Panorama" section in February 1994 before its theatrical release in Japan on July 9, 1994, by Herald Ace (). It was released on DVD in Japan by Pioneer LDC on May 24, 2002.

Reception

Kinema Junpo magazine placed the film at number 7 in its list of the ten best Japanese films of 1994. At the

16th Yokohama Film Festival The was held on 22 January 1995 in Kannai Hall, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Awards * Best Film: ''Tokarefu'' * Best Film Score: Shigeru Umebayashi – ''Tokarefu'', ''Ghost Pub'' * Best Actor: Eiji Okuda – ''Like a Rolling Stone (film), Like a R ...

held in January 1995, ''800 Two Lap Runners'' was listed as the fourth best film of 1994 and actor

was given one of the Best New Talent Awards. The film also took two awards at the 49th annual Mainichi Film Awards,

for Best New Talent and Naoki Kayano for Cinematography.

References

External links

* * {{Ryūichi Hiroki Japanese romantic drama films 1994 films 1990s Japanese-language films Films directed by Ryūichi Hiroki Films based on Japanese novels ja:800 (小説)#映画