The Forest of Wool and Steel

Set to be published in translation  imminently is the 2016 best selling novel by Natsu Miyashita, The Forest of Wool and Steel received the Japan Booksellers Award and has in 2018 appeared in a film adaption directed by Kojiro Hashimoto.

The main protagonist, Tomura, a high school student hears the sound of a piano being tuned which evokes the forest that surrounds the small town of the novel's setting. Having not read the novel as of yet the story feels very much to be one that sees the centeal character as he confronts the challenges and obstacles of pursuing your true calling. Although not being able to see much information about the translator on various websites, I'm pretty certain it's by Philip Gabriel, both the film and the novel I'm looking forward to catching up with.


The Forest of Wool and Steel at Penguin

for the film's website.http://hitsuji-hagane-movie.com/sp/

Love at Least

As Yukiko Motoya's Picnic In the Storm has recently been published in a translation by Asa Yoneda it seemed apt to give another of Motoya's books a mention. Yukiko Motoya has been awarded just about every major literary award in Japan so hopefully more of her writing will eventually be forthcoming in translation. Among the novels and plays of hers that have already seen adaption to film include Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!, directed by Daihachi Yoshida, Third Window Films,  and also her play Vengeance Can Wait which has been translated into English by Andy Bragen and Kyoko Yoshida and is published by Samuel French, if you fancied giving that a read.

The film Love At Least directed by Kosai Sekine released last year is adapted from Motoya's novel from 2006, Ikiteru dake da, ai follows a couple as their relationship faces falling apart as Yasuko retreats into depression. Here is where I redirect you over to Mark Shilling's review over at the Japan Times. It's a movie I'd love to see and further more a novel that again hopefully might appear in translation, more spaces to watch eh?.


The Lonesome Bodybuilder translated by Asa Yoneda at Electric Literature.

Fumiko's Legs

In a slightly gratuitous bid to speed up the number of posts I thought it time to take a brief glance at some recent film adaptions of literary storys, maybe over the next week or so. First up is a film directed by Ueda Atsushi, Fumiko's Legs, from 2018 is an adaptation of Tanizaki's short story Fumiko no ashi which first appeared one hundred years ago in 1919. Although a quick glance on the Internet and shelves indicate that the story perhaps hasn't appeared in English translation, I'll be pleased to be proved wrong, the novella though has been translated into French and also Spanish, although a quick search over at Folio gives the impression that it too has slipped out of print in the French edition.

Through the trailer the story appears to display themes Tanizaki explored through his fictions, that of obsessive infatuation pursued to the extremities, centering around the painting of a portrait of Fumiko. I'm guessing it's doubtful that the film will ever see broader distribution in any way outside of the country, in spite of it looking an intriguing adaption.

male actor outside of Japan?

In this post I was wondering who is the most famous contemporary Japanese male actor known outside of Japan, I read this news via Asahi AJW about accolades heaped upon the film Watashi no otoko directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, which was recently awarded the Golden George Prize at the 36th Moscow International Film festival, Asano Tadanobu also received an award for best actor for the film, I'll let you search/google which award he won. This news lead me to contemplate who is the most famous male Japanese actor known outside of Japan?, of course I'd also like to know which female actress is considered the most famous. Asano is an actor whose performances I've deeply enjoyed over the years, although I've not seen all of his films, although each time I've seen one of his films I usually find myself readjusting which of his films is my favourite, for me he is like a mixture between Mifune and Eastwood, in his earlier films the less his dialogue the more he seems to express, which is quite a rarity in contemporary cinema. Who might you think?.

Confessions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Apologies, not quite a review of the book as of yet, but I couldn't resist getting more acquainted with the story of Confessions, the novel, Minato Kanae's debut, Kokuhaku, originally appeared in 2008 and the film adaption was released in 2010 directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. Third Window Films in the U.K released the DVD with an additional disc of extra's including a short programme of Q & A's with the child actors cast as the class along with original trailers and a more lengthy programme which features an interview with director Nakashima in which he describes his process of adapting the novel to film. During the interview Nakashima and the production crew talk through among other processes, the unique lighting approach as well as the layered sound recordings used, the film was awarded Best Film for that years Japan Academy Prize, along with Best Screen Play, Best Director, and an award for the film's editior Yoshiyuki Koike.

The film opens with a classroom scene, the class are rowdy and are largely ignoring their teacher, Moriguchi, as she explains that she is intending to resign as their teacher, Moriguchi's narrative develops into describing the events leading up to the death of her daughter, Manami, which the police believed to have been caused through an accident, although Moriguchi believes that her daughter was murdered. As Moriguchi talks through the clues surrounding and leading to her daughters death they begin to point to two of the boys in her class, whom she names as student A and student B, as the film progresses we learn that the boys are named Shuya and Naoki. Pointing out that as they are children they will be exempt from prosecution, Moriguchi begins to describe the method of her revenge, by infecting the two boys milk ration with the blood of Manami's biological father who is dying of HIV, from this moment the film begins to open up into telling each of the characters own confessions or perspectives and motives relating to the death of Manami. The film is far from being a straight forward crime story, underneath each character's motives and involvement a differing number of issues facing society arise and their results are depicted, child abandonment, bullying, a girl's involvement with a deadly teenage cult,  behind these themes it very much feels that the story carries a social commentary. The film is impressive with its slick visual style and soundtrack, it'll be interesting to see how it measures against the translation of the book.

In his interview Nakashima mentions the inclusion of some scenes in the film which don't appear in the original novel, these were added, he mentions to give more insight into Moriguchi's character, aspects that are hinted to in the book are given a fuller interpretation in the film. Many modern films I find sometimes suffer a little from dipping into being extensions of rock or pop videos, maybe this happens on occasion in Confessions but maybe not to a distracting degree or to the extent that it relies upon it, the soundtrack is very impressive, featuring among others Radiohead, Last Flowers is the film's swansong, and also the song Arco-Iris/Rainbow from Boris/Michio Kurihara's album Rainbow.

The film at Third Window Film

film critic Mark Kermode's take on Confessions.

Kokuhaku soundtrack at CD Japan

The Snow White Murder Case, Kanae Minato's 2012 novel is due out in March in a film adaption directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura.

    
 

Floating Clouds - Ukigumo

Sometime ago I borrowed a copy of Hayashi Fumiko's novel Floating Clouds/Ukigumo, (translated by Lane Dunlop), from the library but had to return it before being able to finish it, recently I managed to catch up with the story again through watching Naruse Mikio's 1955 adaption of it, another aspect of note of this exceptional film is that Kihachi Okamoto was the assistant director, it would be interesting to learn more about how the two directors approached sharing the direction of this adaption. Initially one difference between that of the novel and the film is that in the novel, as far as I can recall, more space is given to Yukiko's time in occupied Indo Chine, in the film the scenes flash back to this time through the first part of the film, which I had thought would continue throughout the film but stops not long after it begins, although this is a period that is obviously something which deeply pre-occupies Tomioka's thoughts, and indeed the formation of their relationship, we only see a glimpse, although it is also revisited again at the end. Another aspect to the story is the deep intelligence of the narrative, at times it could be said that it operates within certain stereotypes, but as the film progresses it dispenses with conventional characterization and develops into a deeper psychological study of the two main protagonists. Tomioka, unusually instead of sinking deeper into further self destructive abandon with feelings of despondency and despair, develops a redemptive strain as Yukiko's illness worsens, the compulsive love between them expands beyond breaking point into a realm that transcends convention. One poignant crunch point of the film is when in heated argument they discuss the reading of the hero of Maupassant's Bel-Ami, and Tomioka asks Yukiko 'Why don't you fool men?', this question seems to crush any pretence of character that Yukiko entertains and taps into her raw emotive being. After this it seems that things can only go one way with their planned escape to Yakushima - 屋久島, Yukiko going on in sharing the same fate as Tomioka's wife. With the film version it could be thought that perspectives of the narrative in the book could also come from Tomioka, although as far as I can recall the book is solely, or perhaps predominantly that of Yukiko's. Perhaps Okamoto's contribution can be seen in the slightly more documentary aspects/shots of the film, which maybe aren't so common in Naruse's other films, the dancing in Iba-san's The Temple of the Sun God and the earlier shots of the matsuri.

Maybe the only slight, and usual gripe in the English presentation of the film is the nuances omitted in some of the subtitles.

3 disc boxset of Naruse at the BFI

above image from the film's wiki entry

Last Fragments of Winter

 

 

 

The transition of literary works to film is something that's constantly fascinating me, perhaps like most readers I find that often when reading I tend to envision novels, stories, poems in a cinematic way, and reversely when watching films sometimes imagining how they might potentially appear as a written work. Edmund Yeo's 2011 film; Last Fragments of Winter, finds it's inspiration in Kanai Mieko's short story, The Moon, which can be read in the collection; The Word Book, published by Dalkey Archive, 2009, the film fantastically expands on the original story. The film was shown at the 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam and is available to watch via their youtube channel until the end of February.

Last Fragments of Winter

Kotoko

Kotoko directed by Shin'ya Tsukamoto won the best film Orizzonti Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, the film exhibits some of Tsukamoto's trademark techniques, shaking camera work, the soundtrack, kaleidoscopic, assists in breaking down the barriers between the viewer and the experiences of the central character Kotoko, - a mesmerising performance given by singer/actress Cocco. It could be said that the two concerns the film focuses upon are the pressures of single motherhood and also that of violence within society, and the way individuals react and respond in being exposed to it, these internalised fears of Kotoko manifest themselves into more of a destructive physical realm, the threat of violence intrudes into Kotoko's imagination through her fraught state of mind. The film opens with Kotoko stating that she sees double, we're momentarily tempted into thinking that the movie may take the route of depicting the good and the bad in the characters that Kotoko sees, but it becomes apparent that this double vision that she suffers from  could  stem from the anxiety and fatigue of being a single mother. In a series of powerful hallucinogenic scenes Kotoko envisions her young son, Daijiro, involved in accidents, and telling herself over and over again how dangerous it would be if she were to loosen her hold on him, and as she is standing on top of her apartment building she finds herself actually letting go, screaming for someone to call an ambulance as she runs down the stairway but she finds that Daijiro is actually safe in his room. The power that Tsukamoto brings in conveying Kotoko's imagined mental world is palpable, and as we begin to assimilate ourselves into her world, the T.V in her apartment repeatedly reports news of various violent crimes, violence in the film appears to be of a pandemic nature, insinuating anxiety, apprehension and uncertainty.

Daijiro is taken to Kotoko's sister's to be looked after, Kotoko sinks lower, she falls into self harming, cutting herself, into the mirror we see her pointing at her reflection with bloodied arms repeating, Ikiru, Ikiru, watching the disturbing scene you can't help but feel that Japanese cinema has turned, or is turning full circle. Midway through the film Tsukamoto appears himself playing Tananka, a prize winning novelist who has become fascinated with Kotoko after seeing her singing on the bus, he begrudgingly admits to stalking her, we learn that when she sings her double vision recedes and she sees the world as one. At first she tries to fend his attentions away by stabbing him in the hand with a fork, something that she does to another man who tries it on with her earlier in the film, but Tanaka is determined to help her, or in the least we think to attempt to understand her, he prevents her from cutting herself at first by letting her take out her inner anguish on him, but she falls back into inflicting cuts on herself, a particularly moving scene is one in which Tanaka tries to calm her. He moves in with her, but when a letter eventually comes saying that she has rehabilitated and that Daijiro can return Tanaka disappears, was he after all just a figment of her imagination?.

The movie is on the whole a gruelling one to watch, and it is to a degree reliant on its shock value to deliver its punch, although the observations it's making about violence and it's malignant influence on society give the impression that it could have quite easily have been produced at any point over the last twenty to thirty years and for all it's unflinching depictions of violent scenes there are at times some very moving scenes to witness within the film, one in particular is when Kotoko sings for Tanaka, when she comes to the end of her song we get the impression that Kotoko has finally arrived at a balanced place, but she still lacks the power to step out of herself, the sense of wretchedness at the end of this scene is something to experience, near the film's end Kotoko watches as Daijiro walks away from visiting her at the hospital, throughout the film she appears to be immobilized through the love she has for her son and it is forcibly felt in this scene. Although the film is shocking, this value accentuates the themes it forces us to consider.

Kotoko at King Records

Kotoko at Third Window Films

Tatsumi

Tatsumi directed by Eric Khoo, is an animated biographical film of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, which dips into Tatsumi's A Drifting Life, the film achieves a fantastic balance between biography and adaption, which if you're not familiar with his manga or gekiga, (dramatic pictures), as Tatsumi renamed his genre, will make you eager to seek out his books, or perhaps more of them if you've not read all of them already. The film was premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Tatsumi was involved in the making of the film, and the artwork on film captures what we see on the page of his books very well. The film begins with an honorific salute to Tatsumi's inspiration, Tezuka Osamu, and his appreciation is never too faraway from the narrative throughout the film, in one of the later biographical segments Tatsumi recalls his first meeting with Tezuka, before the he departs for Tokyo, the film alternates between biographical segments and adapted stories. The first of the stories presented is 'Hell', a story that follows a photographer sent to Hiroshima to document the aftermath of the bomb, reduced to tears by what he sees, he discovers the burnt shadow of what appears to be a son massaging his mother's back and takes a photo-graph of it, later returning to the shadow he discovers that the wall has been pulled down. The story goes on in time to the 1950's and Koyanagi's photo is used as part of a 'No More Hiroshima's' campaign, which sees the photographer begin to profit from his image, which bites at his conscious. Then a stranger gets in contact with Koyanagi claiming to be the son who everyone thought had been killed in the blast as seen in the shadow image, he tells Koyanagi that the boy whose shadow could be seen was actually a friend he had organised to kill his mother so that he could inherit her money, the crime caught in the flash of the bomb and then by Koyanagi's photograph. The story is an excellent example of the way that Tatsumi can build a set of circumstances and then completely change their direction and adopt an opposing set of meanings and implications, the hand of fate intervenes.

Each of the biographical segments are opened with a little animated look at historical events occurring to Japan that transpired throughout Tatsumi's life, these drift into scenes from Tatsumi's life, the strained relationship with his brother, Okicahn, also a manga artist who was ill with a lung complaint and was jealous of Yoshihiro's active life. Tatsumi's family was hit by financial hardship and this lead to Tatsumi determined to continue with his drawing, entering competitions with his work in an effort to contribute to the family, eventually we see him leave home and move into a flat with other artists and have his first experiences with women. Another point that comes across emphatically is that of Tatsumi distinguishing his work from manga drawn for children with that of the manga he wanted to draw for adults, and another milestone in his life is the publication of his first manga Black Blizzard. In the meantime more stories taken from his works are introduced, Beloved Monkey, a story about a lonely factory worker with a pet monkey who suffers an industrial accident that severs his arm, Just A Man, follows a manager at a firm caught in a loveless marriage who with secret savings endeavours to have an affair, before facing his secluded pension years with his wife, most of Tatsumi's stories have a spiritual bereftness about them, people caught in unwanted lives, usually searching for a way out or finding some form of appeasement, be it permanent of temporary.

The last two stories are Occupied from Abandon the Old in Tokyo and Goodbye from the collection of the same name, Occupied, feels like a story that perhaps is drawn from experience, or perhaps draws parallels with Tatsumi's ex-periences and themes within his work, a manga artist who draws for a children's publication is being laid off after the publication of the work his contracted for, he finds himself up against a severe bout of writer's block, and after a meal he succumbs to sickness, in a toilet he sees pornographic graffiti drawn on the walls which after an offer of work drawing erotic manga proves to be a source of inspiration, for him the moment is almost an epiphany, but he is discovered when he can't stop himself drawing on the walls and his moment of salvation is drowned with accusations of 'Pervet!' from the people outside and the police are called, the story, as also can be seen in Tatsumi's work is imbued with an almost feverish desperation. The film ends with Tatsumi looking and thinking over his life and work, and it's one to be inspired by.

Tatsumi at Soda Pictures

Kaneto Shindo

Really saddened to learn that Kaneto Shindo passed away last week.

Obituary at The New York Times

A retrospective of his films, (along with that of Kozaburo Yoshimura), is currently showing at BFI London

Eiga Diary

Not sure how I've managed to let it slip by for so long without posting on films, my last film diary entry was back in July 2010, (!),  my film viewing has slowed down considerably over the past year or so, I'm not too sure as to why, perhaps viewer's block?. Although, when if making it back to Japan I'll have to renew my Geo and Tsutaya cards, there are plenty of films that I'd like to catch up with, firstly Koji Wakamatsu's movie on Mishima, which has Arata as Mishima, the movie recounts the days leading up to the authors seppuku, a movie that Wakamatsu has deliberated over making for a number of years. A film that received awards last year from the Mainichi Film Awards was Sketches of Kaitan City/Kaitanshi Jokei, directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, with an award winning soundtrack by Jim O'Rourke, the film is based on an unfinished novel by Yasushi Sato. Shinji Aoyama is a director whose films have always fascinated me so I'd be interested in catching up with his latest, Tokyo Koen/Tokyo Park. A film that I've read alot about is Heaven's Story directed by Takahisa Zeze, the film comes in at a mammoth 280 minutes, I've not checked to see if the DVD of this is available yet but definitely a film I'd like to see, there is an in depth synopsis and interview with the director available to download via the film's page at the Berlin International Film Festival webpage. The films of Sono Sion both shock and compel although aside from films like Cold Fish, Suicide Club, Love Exposure, etc, Sono produces many film exploring social issues, although the films mentioned in their way do comment on society at large, Himizu follows a family facing the strains of life after the recent earthquake and tsunami. Toshiaki Toyada is a director I'm still catching up with, and much to my bewilderment I've still yet to see both Blue Spring and Nine Souls, Monsters Club looks to be another intriguing movie that I'd like to add to the list of films that I'd like to see, Toyoda also has another movie recently out called I'm Flash set in Okinawa. After recently watching Summer Wars, I'm intrigued to see The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki which is due in July, the website is up, here's what I've viewed recently, (well over the past few months):-

About Her Brother - directed by Yoji Yamada
Happiness of the Katakuris - directed by Miike Takashi
Kakera - A Piece of Our Life - directed by Ando Momoko
Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers! - directed by Daihachi Yoshida
Visitor Q - directed by Miike Takashi
Ikiru - directed by Akira Kurosawa
Red Angel - directed by Yasuzo Masumura
Goth - directed by Gen Takahashi
2/Duo - directed by Nobuhiro Suwa
Fish Story - directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura
TekkonKinkreet - directed by Michael Arias
Nausicaa - Valley of the Wind - directed by Hayao Miyazaki
The Face of Another - directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara
Harakiri - directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Confessions of a Dog - directed by Gen Takahashi
I Live in Fear - directed by Akira Kurosawa
Red Beard - directed by Akira Kurosawa
Drive - directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka, (Sabu)
Norwegian Wood - directed by Tran Anh Hung
Gozu - directed by Miike Takashi
Cold Fish - directed by Sion Sono
The Sea is Watching - directed by Kei Kumai
Metropolis - directed by Shigeyuki Hayashi 
Outrage directed by Takeshi Kitano
Guilty of Romance - directed by Sion Sono
Devils on the Doorstep - directed by Jiang Wen
Villain - directed by Lee Sang-il
Summer Wars directed by Mamoru Hosoda
High and Low - directed by Akira Kurosawa
Profound Desires of the Gods - directed by Shohei Imamura
Arrietty - directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl - directed by Katsuhito Ishii























Its been something of a revelation to finally get around to filling in some of the gaps of the films of Kurosawa that I've not seen, in many ways I wish that I had watched these films before watching his samurai or Jidaigeki films, or at least to have watched them intermittently, there are still many of Kurosawa's films that I've yet to see, I think Kurosawa is a director that I wish that I could go back and watch as many of his movies in chronological order as they were released as possible. Another director that I've just started to make in roads with is Miike Takashi, I'd only seen Ichi and Audition before and there's obviously a great many more films from this director that I'd like to track out and see, Visitor Q and Gozu are both films that I'm not going to forget in the near future. Among my future viewing plans I'm hoping to watch the essential recent releases of Shohei Imamaru's back catalogue, it sometimes seems that perhaps outside of Japan, Japanese film appreciation goes in circles, but I sincerely hope that both Akio Jissoji and Yoshida Yoshihige get the same overhaul of re-releases of their films as Imamura has received recently. At the moment it seems that my film viewing comes in bursts, I'll watch a number of films in a row and then let it pass without watching anything, something I'll have to try and remedy.

Norwegian Wood

I find it hard to believe that it's been nearly eleven years since I read Jay Rubin's translation of Norwegian Wood so it was impossible for me to watch Anh Hung Tran's adaption sparing too much thought about making comparisons to the original book. This is the third of Anh Hung Tran's films that I've seen, The Scent of Green Papaya, (1993), has to be one of my favourite films, the other by him that I've seen was Cyclo,(1995), which is a mesmeric piece of film making, so I guess I found myself watching the film largely disregarding the fact that it was adapted from Murakami's novel, although obviously the thought never remained that distant. The film runs for a little over two hours and I guess that if it followed the novel in it's entirety it would have lasted a lot longer, the sequences also run differently than they do in the novel, which also throws attempting to make comparisons to the novel further into difficulty, but for me not having read the novel for such a long time and perhaps for someone who has come to the film without having read the book, (if there was such a viewer?), it made me want to return to the novel, and perhaps for someone who hasn't read it, the film I think would want them to track down a copy of the book.

 

The soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood seemed in places a little bit out of place, sometimes as if it was composed for a different film, although the tracks by Can worked really well, Greenwood's subtler guitar based pieces seemed to fit really well, along with the more atmospheric pieces, although the string arrangements I sometimes found difficult to reconcile with what was happening on screen, it gave the actors an animated quality which worked a little unevenly at times. The Beatles song features only twice in the film, once sung by Reiko, (played by Reika Kirishima), and again at the closing credits, music is an integral aspect to Murakami's novels it's great to learn that YMO legend Haruomi Hosono appears as the record shop owner where Watanabe works.  Kenichi Matsuyama gives an understated performance as Watanabe, caught between the emotionally fragile world of  Naoko and Midori, (played by Kiko Mizuhara), Matsuyama's next movie appearance is in Sabu's Usagi Drop based on Yumi Unita's josei manga Bunny Drop which will also be shown as an animated T.V series. Watching the film for me made me think that Naoko, (played by Rinko Kikuchi), is perhaps the central  character to the story that the rest of the characters revolve around, (although in another sense it could be Kuzuki's suicide, played by Kengo Kora), which I don't remember feeling to such a degree when reading the novel.

 

The film is superbly shot, the scenes of Naoko's rural retreat seemed to match how the novel seems to visualise it, the shots also of Watanabe by the sea after Naoko's suicide were beautifully captured, I've not yet checked the location of some of the filming, the feel of the rest of the film evokes the time period it's set in, with Watanabe walking indifferently amongst protesting students near the start of the film. The novel is obviously a tricky one to transfer onto screen due to Watanabe's inner contemplative narratives which would be difficult to convey in film, although it remains a beautifully presented film and would find it hard to imagine it to disappoint. Anh Hung Tran didn't opt for a voice over narration by Watanabe and has chosen to depict the dialogue and what is seen in the novel in a straight forward way, the emotional scenes are caught with great effect, adapting from literary works is largely an ambiguous enterprise, the film acts in a way as an accompanying visual extension of the original novel but also succeeds as a finely crafted film in it's own sense.    

Norwegian Wood site

Norwegian Wood at Soda Pictures

 

Record of A Living Being

Like most people I first came to the films of Kurosawa through his jidai-geki/period drama films, it's only been quite recently that I've begun to explore Kurosawa's other titles like Stray Dog/Nora Inu and Drunken Angel/Yoidore Tenshi , the latest of his non jidai-geki ouput I've watched is I Live In Fear/Ikimono no kiroku, the film is often referred to, (Stuart Galbraith IV's mammoth The Emperor and The Wolf :The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, Faber and Faber 2002), as Record of A Living Being. Released in 1955 and starring two regulars of Kurosawa's films; Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, Record of A Living Being is an exploration of the anxiety of the cold war era, released soon after Godzilla it relies on none of the metaphor that that film implies, but openly voices the fears of living in the nuclear age. Dr Harada, (played by Shimada), runs his family dentist business, and also works as a mediator at a family court, arriving there after being summoned he's caught in the middle of a heated family argument, slowly the nature of the family disagreement is revealed. The father, Kiichi Nakajima,(played by Mifune), the owner of a family run foundry, to escape from the threat of atomic bombs wants to relocate the family to South America, he has already constructed an underground shelter in Akita province, but discovers that this won't be completely safe. The rest of the family want the court to declare him mentally unsound to prevent the move. At first the negotiations are stuck in stale mate, Kiichi shouts "Baka"! to any of his sons who protest against the move, to discredit their father further they look at each other uncertainly and ask if he's intending to take all the family, referring to his illegitimate children and his mistresses too, Kiichi replies that he'll take everyone, the proceedings nearly end in a brawl. A man arrives from Brazil who's eager to sell his plantation and Kiichi tries desperately to raise the funds, but things go awry, the deal falls through, eventually the court's decision falls in favour of the family. The judge afterwards trying to absolve himself from his own judgement declares that, "It's the H-bomb's fault, it made him this way".

Made in the era of the Bikini Atoll testings and the Daigo Fukuryu Maru incident it's not difficult to imagine how directly this film must have spoken to it's audience, the film relates to both the past and the future, it's prophetic message is finely observed and crafted through it's contemporary setting. Throughout the film Dr Harada seems to be the only official who doubts his feelings and misgivings about Kiichi's case and motives, medical testing proves that Kiichi is sane, and many times Kiichi protests his reasons - "It's cowards who tremble and shut their eyes, that's why I'm moving", the consequences of Kiichi's fears become apparent after the ruling, he orders a family gathering and begs his family to come with him, mother too changes her point of view and also begins to beg the family, the emotional scene ends with Kiichi collapsing. While he convalesces the family begin to contemplate changing the will in order to finally solve the problem. The film picks up again with Dr Harada pursuing the Nakajima's to see what has happened only to find that the foundry has been burnt to the ground. In the aftermath Kiichi admits to burning it down, "You wouldn't go to Brazil because of the foundry, so I burnt it down!". The extent of Kiichi's presumed madness is heightened by the protestations of the workers, You don't mind if we starve, he's mad! they shout, and after he's been taken into custody the other convicts mock him, 'H-bombs, you're a fool to care, leave it to the politicians!', they jeer at him. Gilbraith observes Record of A Living Being as Kurosawa's testing out ideas which would be more fully realized in Ran, with Kiichi being an early prototype for the Hidetora/Lear character. Dr Harada eventually tracks Kiichi down to a mental hospital where the Dr there admits 'Maybe I'm not sane as I think I am', Kiichi is viewed as either a madman in a sane world or a sane man in a mad world, Kiichi staring out of the window confuses the sun with the earth, It's burning, it's burning!. Kurosawa ends the film with a finely composed scene of Harada walking down the hospital stairs away from Harada and his daughter walking apprehensively up to visit him.

I Live in Fear at The Criterion Collection

I Live in Fear at The BFI

      

2/Duo

2/Duo begins with a morning scene with Kei describing a dream he had the previous night to his partner,Yu, before she leaves for work he asks for money from her, 'for lunch', he tells her. The film lingers with shots of him reclining on their bed, gazing at the ceiling. Later at his acting job, the director informs him that his scene has been pulled from the film,Kei goes home puts the washing machine on and slumps down in front of it.When Yu arrives home from work she notices the change in his attitude, he seems on edge, although on the surface things bounce along in a slightly animated joviality, with her jokingly applying make-up to him,until he erupts exclaiming 'That's enough!'. They meet later at a restaurant where, out of the blue he suggests that they get married,curious at Kei's sudden proposal she asks why, but all he can reply with is that he wants to. 2/Duo, (1997), Suwa Nobuhiro's debut as a director, has a documentary element to the film with both Yu and Kei being interviewed about their relationship as the film progresses,firstly Yu is asked about Kei's motives for the marriage, she's unsure but shares her observation that he seems sad, but doesn't know why. One day after work when she returns to their small apartment she finds him asleep again by the washing machine,the scene begins well with Yu talking and reminiscing about a visit to the beach,but as Kei begins to unpeg the washing the violence in which he throws the laundry at Yu intensifies, until she's forced to scream at him 'What's wrong?', 'I don't know' he screams back, and he storms out of the building, Yu is Kei's emotional punchbag, taking out all his frustrations on her, but he is unable to tell her his reasons.

Kei's fascination with acting is seen again when he is interviewed by an off screen interviewer,and what comes across greatly in the film is his inability to differentiate between acting and reality,as seen in a scene where he imagines his married life with Yu and the dialogues that they will share with each other, throughout the film Kei seems completely oblivious to the emotional turmoil and confusion he's inflicting on Yu, he constantly asks her for money, but at the same time this is blended with his frustrations at being an out of work actor and not being able to fulfill his vocation, taking out his anger on Yu.With each scene the pressure mounts on the couple, mainly it's Yu who bears the brunt of Kei's uncommunicated frustration at his inability to settle into a normal existence, and accept the fact that he's not going to make it as an actor, a climatic scene being where Yu has invited friends around for lunch,whilst she prepares the meal Kei continually criticizes her, the guests when they arrive feel the awkwardness between the two and after a while Kei apologies and asks them to leave,Yu almost hysterical announces to the guests that their getting married,which adds more confusion to the already fraught  situation, but the scene conveys the hidden turmoil that Yu has been trying to keep under control. 2/Duo realistically conveys a couple's disintegration and the frustration of Kei at failing to accept to settle down in a normal job and acknowledge that he failed it as an actor.Suwa's second film M/Other won the 1999 Fipresci award at the Cannes film Awards,his third film, H Story was a remake of Alain Resnais's Hiroshima Mon Amour, which starred novelist/poet/Inu vocalist Ko Machida.

Goth

After a recent reading of Otsuichi's Summer,Fireworks and My Corpse, excellent synopsis here, watching Goth seemed almost a mandatory thing to do. I've not read the novel so can't compare between the two, although I've read that there are differences between the manga adaption by Kendi Oiwa and the novel so I wouldn't be surprised if there were differences also with the film adaption. Directed by Gen Takahashi and released in 2008, Goth has similarities with Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse, Otsuichi's young characters appear stuck in the confines of the urban, the film opens with a park scene that appears normal enough until a woman notices a woman sitting on the steps of a fountain, she has her arm severed, alerting a passing policeman they discover the woman is dead, a crowd gathers,amongst them a high school girl watches the events. At school the following day the class are told to be on their guard for strangers, especially the girls as the recent murder is similar to a previous murder. The camera follows Itsuki as the class finishes up and he walks to the library, the atmosphere of the film begins to change as he walks, in the library he meets the girl who we saw at the beginning of the film observing the scene at the park, they exchange books, he hands her a volume of H.P Lovecraft, 'Give me your thoughts on it?' he asks. The two meet again at her favourite cafe/bar and Itsuki notices that her appearance is similar to that of the two victims, they decide to begin to investigate the murders, and come to the conclusion that the murderer is displaying his victims like art,and takes their hands as a memento, afterwards he follows her home and we learn from her mailbox that her name is Morino. They visit the scenes where the victims were found and Itsuki asks Morino to lie down in a river where one of the victims was discovered, he visualizes a cut in her wrist opening up, whilst joking around with his friends we learn that Morino had attempted suicide.


The murderer strikes again, the victim is discovered by Itsuki's younger sister, and at the cafe/bar Morino tells the story of the accidental death of her sister whilst the two were playing a game, Morino describes the events of her sister's death against the melancholy reverberations of a distant piano. Morino finds a notebook on the floor of the cafe which is the diary of the killer, Itsuki questions the authenticity of the book, but it contains a map which they follow to the mountain where they find the fourth victim, finding the victim before the police proves the books authenticity, but they decide on not handing the book to the police,'If there's a fifth victim it's our fault.' The notebook leads Itsuki to an abandoned school, meanwhile Morino disappears, Itsuki's sweat falls onto the Kanji of the notebook giving him a clue to the identity of the murderer, the film stars Rin Takanashi and Kanata Hongo. 

Funuke Show Some Love,You Losers!

Funuke Show Some Love,You Losers!, opens with a car accident, whilst Shinji and Kiyomi mourn the loss of their parents, Sumika (Shinji's sister in law) arrives from Tokyo,in these new family circumstances her allowance is cut and she has to return to the family home, Sumika's bitterness that she's back where she started is expressed in the claustrophobic gasps as she cycles about the countryside, where there's no reception for her mobile. Looking at the dolls Shinji's wife Machiko creates, Is this witchcraft?, Sumika wonders suspiciously. Slowly events from the past are told in flashback,Kiyomi had drawn a manga of Sumika fighting with her parents after her father wouldn't pay for acting school in Tokyo, she threatens him with a knife but the skirmish ends with Shinji being cut in the face when he steps in to stop it, the incident is included in Kiyomi's manga,with the caption 'I'd kill to be an actress' underneath the image of a crazed Sumika wielding a knife dripping with blood. Kiyomi enters the manga into a newcomer's competition, it wins first prize and the whole village reads it. After the fight with her parents, Shinji and Sumika find themselves drawn to each other, and Sumika makes Shinji vow to be ever faithful to her alone, although he marries Machiko they never have a physical relationship. Desperate to get to Tokyo Sumika sells herself to raise the money. The film returns to the present timeline, Sumika begins a correspondence with a film director who has recently won an award, after a few letters he replies encouraging her to write more, a debt collector from Tokyo arrives to reclaim what Sumika owes, mirroring the past she has to sell herself again to pay off her debt, all the while Sumika tries to payback Kiyomi for the damage her manga had done. One night Kiyomi discovers Shinji and Sumika's relationship,hearing a noise at the door Shinji gets up to check and when he opens the door finds Kiyomi on the otherside but returns to Sumika saying nothing was there, inwardly Shinji is devastated that he's been discovered, which has tragic consequences. Things come to a head when Kiyomi begins drawing another manga about Sumika,and reveals that she's been working at the post office and has kept Sumika's recent letters to the film director.

Based on the novel of the same name by Yukiko Motoya, Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers/Funuke domo, kanashimi no ai wo misero is an acerbic dark comedy, ostentatiously depicting the fight between two competitive sisters, the drama overspills into human drama. Hiromi Nagasaku's performance as Shinji's excessively obliging wife was a great highlight.

Funuke Show Some Love,You Losers!

Third Window

Film Diary 2010

As it's been a year since I started my blog, I thought it was about time for an update on the films I've watched since the 2009 post. I've not watched as many films recently, but here's a list of what I've seen -


Life of Kenji Mizoguchi dir:Kaneto Shindo
Miyoko Asagaya dir: Tsubota Yoshifumi
Mind Game dir: Masaaki Yusa
Toyd dir:?
Sea and Poison dir:Kei Kumai
Assasination of Ryoma dir:Kazuo Kuroki
Life of O'Haru dir: Mizoguchi Kenji
Trees Without Leaves dir:Kaneto Shindo
Humanity and Paper Balloons dir:Sadao Yamanaka
Drunken Angel: Akira Kurosawa
Onibaba dir:Kaneto Shindo
The Funeral dir: Juzo Itami
Coup D'Etat dir: Yoshida Kiju
Sado/Third Base dir: Yoichi Higashi
Branded to Kill: Seijun Suzuki
Dear Doctor dir:Miwa Nishikawa
Woman of Water dir:Hidenori Sugimori
The Affair dir: Yoshida Kiju
Air Doll dir:Hirokazu Kore-eda
A2 dir:Tatsuya Mori
Crazed Fruit dir:Ko Nakahira
Fried Dragon Fish dir:Shunji Iwai
Twilight dir: Tengai Amano
















A film I'd also really like to see soon is Koji Wakamatsu's, Caterpillar, which was nominated for the Golden Bear award at last year's 60th Berlin International Film Festival, actress Shinobu Terajima won the best actress award for her role in the film, Wakamatsu took his inspiration from an Edogawa Rampo short story,it tells the story of a soldier returning horrifically wounded from the Sino-Japanese war. Another film shown at the same festival was Yoji Yamada's Ototo/About Her Brother a film due to be released on dvd soon. A film I'm hoping to see soon is Takeshi Kitano's latest Outrage, and also a film I missed when it was released but want to see is The Clone Returns to the Homeland (2008)dir:Kanji Nakajima.

Camera Obtrusa

Camera Obtrusa published recently by Kaya Press, continues their innovative translations of titles from Japan, I'm looking forward to seeing forthcoming titles from them. The book's introduction written by Abe Mark Nornes, the author of the book,  Forest of Pressure, looks back on his own meetings with Hara Kazuo and Ogawa Shinsuke, and notes the differences between the two directors work. Abe Mark Nornes goes on to mention the work of another great documentarist, that of Michael Moore, who whilst working on his own film Roger and Me, happened by chance to see Hara's The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, and afterwards felt inspired and exhilarated, seeing in it something similar to his own film-making. The two directors met up and talked about their different approaches to documentary film making. The subtitle to this book is The Action Documentaries of Hara Kazuo, as Pat Noonan,who translated the book, describes in his foreword that documentary making for Hara is 'an act of communication between himself and his subjects'. The book actually comprises two books by Hara, the first being Camera Obtrusa/Fumikoeru Kamera, published in Japan in 1987, which is largely autobiographical, starting from reflections on his childhood experiences, his relationship with his mother in particular is returned to later in the book, leading onto his first encounters with film and photography, and working with directors Shohei Imamura and Kei Kumai. Also here Hara starts to bring into question notions of what we think of when we think of what constitutes the private and the public, and looks into his own method of film making,'while capturing my subject on film-I'm inevitably forced into situations from which there's no turning back' and also 'Whatever happens keep the camera rolling', many of his films are a cathartic experience not only for the viewer, but for those involved in the making. We learn that at many points whilst filming when it looked like things might come to a premature end,that he would be faced with paying back the loans he took out to fund the making of his films. The second book comprises the production notes he made whilst filming The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On.

Hara gives full backgrounds on his films, Extreme Private Eros:Love Song 1974, Goodbye CP, A Dedicated Life and probably the most well known The Emperors Naked Army Marches On, (1987), although there's a great deal written about Japanese cinema, translations of books by directors are few and far between, I can only think of two, there's Akira Kurosawa's 'Something Like An Autobiography', and also Kiju Yoshida's book; Ozu's Anti-Cinema, so this book is a great addition for anyone interested in Japanese Film. He describes meeting his wife Takeda Miyuki whilst working at a school for the handicapped, and through these experiences he made the film Goodbye CP (1972), a film following people who suffer from cerebral palsy. Hara explains the background to how he came upon the idea for the film being that at that time Shuji Teryama's book; Throw Away Your Books,Rally Into the Streets! was very popular, and whilst taking his students to the shops, he'd say let's throw our wheel chairs away and rally in the streets!, as a kind of a joking parody, when he started contemplating issues surrounding the disabled, Hara reminds us that this was before public access for the disabled was as common place as it is now. He goes onto explain that previous films he had seen about the disabled had always presented the film looking at them, so what he wanted to do was 'reverse the gaze', to see things from the disabled perspective. He talks also of his frustration that when the film was first screened many people misinterpreted it.


Kaya Press

A conversation with Hara Kazuo

Air Doll

Air Doll/Kuki Ningyo, is a film directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, it was initally screened during the Un Certain Regard category of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 and then released in cinemas in Japan in September,it's recently had its release on dvd.The film is an adaption of the manga from Yoshiie Goda,and stars Korean actress Bae Doona as the doll, Nozomi,it's the first adaption of a book that Kore-eda has directed.His films have a spatial quality to them,watching his films i get the impression that the camera is taking in the events of the film as if by itself, 'Nobody Knows' an earlier film of his, although based on a true story of child neglect has a documentary feel to it. Air Doll opens with Hideo a middle aged man who works as a waiter in a fast food restaurant returning home conversing with his inflatable partner who he has named Nozomi,they eat dinner together and then Hideo sleeps with her.In the morning after Hideo has gone to work Nozomi twitches into life,first a blink of the eyes and movement of her limbs.She dresses into her apron outfit and ventures forth into the outside world of the city.'I found myself with a heart,a heart i wasn't supposed to have'. She gets a job working in a video/DVD rental store,and she befriends and eventually falls for her colleague Junichi, played by Arata, who one day,after she has accidentally punctured herself,finds himself re inflating her by blowing life giving air into her valve/belly button. Many of Kore-eda's films explore life's meaning and the emptiness of modern existence,at many points in the film as Nozomi encounters people of the city her thoughts about her own sense of emptiness,(in Nozomi's case literally air!) are confused with their feelings of spiritual emptiness.

　
Reading the wiki entry of the film some critics have mentioned that the film has a 'weak narrative core',but i think it only takes a small leap of the imagination to get the most out of this film. The soundtrack is by World's End Girlfriend and compliments Pin Bing Lee's fantastic cinematography,the cast is an excellent mix of some big names from Japanese cinema including Arata as Junichi,Susmu Terajima as Todoroki,and Jo Odagiri as the doll maker.

Air Doll/Kuki Ningyo

Kore-Eda Hirokazu

Miyoko Asagaya Kibun

 

'Miyoko', is the second full length film by director

Tsubota Yoshifumi, and is based on the wrought

relationship of real life manga artist Abe Shinichi,

(born 1950 in Tagawa, Fukuoka), and wife Miyoko,

played by Marie Machida who's previous appearance's

include 'Kamikaze Girls', 'Tokyo Gore Police' and

recently 'Panic 4 Rooms', and has Mizuhashi Kenji

as Shinichi Abe, it spans the years from the early

seventies to the nineties and centres mainly of their

time in the area of Asagaya, Tokyo. The film's title

'Miyoko Asagaya kibun' roughly translating as 'Miyoko,

Asagaya Feeling'. Shinichi Abe, a down on his heels

artist at the time, draws influence by manga master

Shinji Nagashima, he has no luck with the publishers,

Shinichi's editor is played by Shiro Sano, Shinichi

uses Miyoko and friend Osamu for inspiration for his

manga comic, 'Garo'. Miyoko previously caught

Shinichi with her friend, in a somewhat compromising

situation and Shinichi's suspicion's about

Osamu and Miyko's relationship, threaten to push

things over the edge. The relationship is fraught

with jealousy and sometime misguided affections.

Tsubota manages to blend the montage dreamlike

sequences to just the right effect, a scene where

an impoverished Abe extracts a tooth from his mouth

and places it on the table, and then sees a miniature nude

Miyoko come and pick it up, offering it back to him,

before banging his hand down on the table, to dispel

his hallucination. At times I was thinking a suitable

subtitle for the film could be 'Portrait of the artist

in the foetal position' as many of the scenes end in

this way as Shinichi's despair was compellingly caught

by Mizuhashi. Each character seems to fall into a

manga induced dreamworld, although not relying

wholly on any animated scenes, which prevented

the film falling into the animation/real film combination,

knowing that Shinichi is a manga artist with

the combination of the scenes using montage, work

perfectly together. Shinichi's editor on a visit to the

artist's home to collect a manuscript falls prone to

this, after visualizing a scene from the manga

he's just collected, he begins to appreciate Shinichi's

talent. The film successfully gives the feeling of

a loosening of the reins, as Shinichi and Miyoko's

relationship balance precariously on the line.

The film's soundtrack features scores from

contemporary Japanese artists, Tenniscoats,

Mahar Shalal Hash Baz , Takeki Muto ,

Chihei Hatakeyama and also one of Shinichi

Abe's favourites Sparta Locals, among others.

Shinichi Abe's manga haven't yet made it to an

English translation, hopefully with this film, that

might happen in the future. Many thanks to

Asian Media Wiki for use of the image.

miyoko-asagaya.com

asianmediawiki.com