Twenty-Four Eyes

With the smell of conflict and the spectre of militarism hovering on the East China Sea, the Hong Kong Film Archive's screening of Twenty-Four Eyes on Sunday couldn't be more timely. Kinoshita Keisuke's 2 1/2-hour anti-war epic from 1954 follows 20 years in the lives of 12 Japanese youngsters through the eyes of their loving teacher.

Beginning in the 1920s - when a modern, cosmopolitan teacher (the mesmerising Hideko Takamine) arrives at a small village - the film travels through the wartime years, charting the tribulations of the pupils as they grow up and enlist in the army, and their experiences while at home or away on the frontline.

The film's power is heightened by extensive restoration. HK Film Archive, Oct 3, 2.30pm.