Paco and the Magical Book

Paco and the Magical (Picture) Book (パコと魔法の絵本, Pako to Mahō no Ehon) is a 2008 Japanese film written and directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, based on a play by Hirohito Gotō.

Paco and the Magical Book
Film Poster
Kanji	パコと魔法の絵本
Revised Hepburn	Pako to Mahō no Ehon
Directed by	Tetsuya Nakashima
Screenplay by	Nobuhiro Monma Tetsuya Nakashima
Story by	Hirohito Goto
Produced by	Yutaka Suzuki
Starring	Kōji Yakusho Ayaka Wilson Satoshi Tsumabuki
Cinematography	Shoichi Ato Atsushi Ozawa
Edited by	Yoshiyuki Koike
Music by	Gabriele Roberto
Production companies	Cine Bazar TV Tokyo Hakuhodo DY Media Partners DesperaDo Parco Horipro Gentosha Amuse Soft Licri TV Osaka Columbia Music Entertainment TV Aichi Television Hokkaido TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting TV Setouchi
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	13 September 2008 (2008-09-13)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$22,679,633[1]

It was shown at the Munich Asian Filmfest in 2008^[2] and has been nominated for three awards for the 2009 Asian Film Awards.^[3] Actors Kōji Yakusho and Ayaka Wilson and director Tetsuya Nakashima have been nominated for the 2008 Japanese Academy Award.^[4]

Synopsis

The movie is set in a hospital where "strange" people are sent.

One of the older, gruffer patients, is Onuki, a business owner who is sent to the hospital after a heart attack, thinks little of the other hospital patients, and hopes to die without being remembered by such "worthless" people. Another patient, a young girl named Paco, is in the hospital due to a memory disorder- she can only remember the events of one day at a time. Each day she reads a pop-up children's book, and often asks Onuki to read to her. Each day it is a new story for her.

Eventually, the two of them develop a friendship, and Onuki decides to enlist the help of the other people in the hospital to perform a play of the book, hoping it will help Paco.

Cast

• Ōnuki (Prince Gama): Kōji Yakusho
• Paco: Ayaka Wilson
• Muromachi (the demon crawfish): Satoshi Tsumabuki
• Tamako (the ricefish): Anna Tsuchiya
• Horigome (the dragonfly larva): Sadao Abe
• Kōichi (the water strider): Ryō Kase
• Masami (the swamp shrimp witch): Eiko Koike
• Ryūmonji (the whirligig beetle): Takaya Yamauchi
• Kinomoto (Queen Gama): Jun Kunimura
• Takita (the fish): Gekidan Hitori
• Asano (the pond snail): Takaya Kamikawa