Set in 19th century Edo, Japan. Miss Hokusai blends the magical realism sensibility of Studio Ghibli with Ozu Yasujirô-like framing. Famed artist Tetsuzo, a.k.a. Hokusai Katsushika, and his grown daughter O-Ei form the basis of the tale, but it extends to the entire artist and publishing community (not to mention Yokai) in the region at the time. It is as much about the rhythm of a city as it is about the subject, insofar as Miss Hokusai is a film that you get so deeply lost in that it is difficult to discern beginning, middle or end.
The lovely and sophisticated US Distributor GKIDS (who also brought Boy & The World, Ernest & Celestine, The Secret of Kells and When Marnie Was There in the US) is giving the lovely and sophisticated Miss Hokusai a domestic cinema release in October.