Why are Japanese films so terrible?

Surprised to see Tatooed Swordswoman/Blind Woman's Curse on fancy dual format release yesterday. I've saw a few other Teruo Ishii films but none really grabbed me.

midnight eye is pretty much what i rely on to "follow" the commercial japanese cinema that doesn't make it to the US (which is the vast majority of it, of course).

the quality may be dire on the whole, but the japanese share of domestic box office is pretty good these days. most of the big japanese hits appear to be series films, some of them anime, some not. without fail i know next to nothing about these films, and even variety and film international tend to avoid discussing them at all.

i wonder how japanese film attendance per capita compares with u.s. film attendance these days.

i'm a little wary of kore-eda. early on he seemed to chase fashions a bit (even when he was making great movies like after life and—especially—maborosi) and not so long after he introduced a twee element (yes, even in nobody knows) that i find hard to stomach. but there's no denying he's a kind of master and his recent films, however much i wish they went down a little less easy, are leaps better than the sort of comparable indie dramas that america pumps out.

Million Ryo Pot this morning. pictures of Yamanaka with Ozu in the accompanying booklet but the style is a bit more dynamic, the content a bit more humorous.

http://updateslive.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/sadao-yamanaka.html

I've written a bit about Like Father, Like Son on my blog: http://centrifugue.blogspot.com/2014/04/cphpix-day-1112-3x3d-like-father-like.html It's the second one.

finished the last of my bfi ozu's this afternoon*, went to order the melodramas box only to find it'd gone up £8 overnight. argh.

* "Good Morning". lovely to look at and all but, y'know, fart jokes. also, a bottle in every scene...

the fart jokes are the best

Anyone seen Kumashiro's film Ichijo's Wet Lust (sometimes titled Sayuri Ichijo: Following Desire)?

I've been interested because this is apparently placed high in the Japanese canon (I don't know if there are many others with a similar position). I think it's half documentary about a stripper, half sexploitation.

these recent titles upcoming in NYC familiar to anyone?

http://www.japansociety.org/page/programs/film/japan-cuts-2014

Why Don't You Play in Hell is pretty fun, and is also about the joy of 35mm. http://centrifugue.blogspot.com/2014/04/cphpix-day-2-jealousy-why-dont-you-play.html

you really have stuff covered, Frederik.

i know the people who program that series; they are generally very much on their game

all but two of those are unfamiliar to me; i'm jealous of folks t hat would get to see them. japan makes so many new movies a year and i see, maybe, two or three. it's embarrassing.

Tsukamoto's new film Fires On The Plain is supposed to be an extremely graphic war film based on a Shohei Ooka book that was previously adapted by Kon Ichikawa.

I can't wait.

prize title:

http://www.japansociety.org/event/inflatable-sex-doll-of-the-wastelands

I'm working on this one. Live avant-garde impressionistic live scoring on shamisen and percussion to a classic prewar Japanese film
http://www.japansociety.org/event/the-shamisen-sessions-vol-2-yumiko-tanaka

Bought a few more, up to 80 something now. Original hara kiri, kagemusha and silent duel, all new to me and less than 18 quid for the three. Now just got to find time to watch them...

Just watched Himizu. A different kind of film from the other Sono films I've seen (way less gory, albeit still very violent). Pretty powerful and effective. Not sure how much the Fukushima-related insertions are necessary, would have been very affecting regardless.

Been watching a few militant-ish Japanese films - I am sorta preoccupied with Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses, and the work of Nagisa Oshima in general. Picked Joan Allen's BFI monograph on the film too.

Mandara (Akio Jissoji, 1971)
United Red Army (Wakamatsu, 2008)
Serial Killer (Adachi, 1969)
Postwar History of Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess (Imamura, 1970)
Dear Summer Sister (Oshima, 1972)

Mandara is flat out amazing, a dbl bill w/In the Realm... could be fruitful, its a story around a sex/religious cult. Jissoji (like Yoshida and Shinoda) relishes the license given in this non-commercial gig (Art Theatre Guild was set up to make more new wavey-films) and inserts a set of bizarre tracking shots along the beach (recalls Levy's Herostratus), the music is church organ type (different tone but in the context its very Marienbad.., the rape scenes are akin to Strawdogs (made around the same time). The Buddhist dimension looks forward to Kin ki-duk. Comes with these long-ish arguments that we all ask - how to live? What was lost through the embrace of modernity? And the key - what was repressed? Sexuality for one.

The Imamura is one of his best - again the Bar Hostess has to fight. No story of survival, she just lives, and really has the economic power - men rely on her for money so seeing this play out is great. The skill here is in Imamura drawing her story out via newsreels they watch together - of Hiroshima, the royal wedding, the demonstrations against US occupation and Vietnam. She has that mixed lower-middle politics (this is basically Naruse's world). Hates the Royals but never bothered with demonstrations so she goes to watch Gone with the Wind instead. Imamura's editing is witty - comical high point: she talks of sex with an American sailor ("two bangs and he was done"), then cuts to a newsreel of Kennedy's assassination. Urgently in need of reissue (caught this torrent of a taped showing on Italian TV)

She is from an area which has an US base so there is a whole cast of sailors - whom she mostly likes.

Okinawa was also occupied by the US and given back to Japan - this is a subject of Oshima's Dear Summer Sister. A family is putting the jigsaws together, and so have we. Oshima doesn't make it easy - its a mess, but all we have to do is sit through. The loss of a culture, and how children have the trauma of adults passed on to them - all that resonates. I love Takemitsu's score, so good but kind of distracting as well.

Wakamatsu's United Red Army was ok. I've never been that impressed with a couple of the films of his I've seen from the 60s/70s, so this sorta started as Watkins like re-telling then had a brutal 45 mins as members of the cell are up in the mountains for training killing each one another, seemingly unable to carry out "self-criticism" its self-appointed leader demanded. Sorta annoyed at the score - which I later found was by Jim O'Rouke. Kinda tired, didn't have the energy of Carlos (or its inspired s/track choices). Masao Adachi was listed at the end - he was an associate of Mishima and Wakamatsu (a member of the RAF and then arrested in Lebanon five years ago) and I caught his doc Serial Killer. A few factoids of this 19 year old who went on a killing spree - one job to the next, one town to the next, etc. - overlaid with images: the street, alleyways, the park, some of these are peopled, some have a 6am feel. Oh and military parades - so you know what that is telling you - comes with a free jazz-ish score.

I watched Tokyo Tribe from Sion Sono tonight at Gothenburg Film Fest. That one is weird as fuck, destined to be a cult feature. Japanese hip-hop opera with tanks and bejeweled katanas and thongs and gangwarfare and scratching grandmas and a bunch of other weird ideas. Blogged some more about it here: http://centrifugue.blogspot.com/2015/01/giff-day-1-timbuktu-mateo-tokyo-tribe.html

Just watched Himizu. A different kind of film from the other Sono films I've seen (way less gory, albeit still very violent). Pretty powerful and effective. Not sure how much the Fukushima-related insertions are necessary, would have been very affecting regardless.

― Basically / I Don't Wanna Be / An mp3 / 3-2-0 kb / ps (Craigo Boingo)

insertions not strictly necessary, but an amazing interpolation of the moment. loved the film, though i found the (male) protagonist's angst-ridden diffidence a bit overstated. up there with love exposure, strange circus and guilty of romance? yeah, almost.

wanna see tokyo tribe, not sure why i haven't yet

'for the damaged right eye'

that's a great one. though I like 'Atman' as a study, and 'White Hole' is incredible for the electronic music by Yuasa, and 'KI or BREATHING' is a little slow but ends up working because of the Takemitsu score. I still haven't seen 'Funeral Parade of Roses' yet -- it looks so amazing

julio, have you seen Shinoda's 'Petrified Forest'? That one has such a great Takemitsu I'm thinking of hunting it down

― Milton Parker, Monday, January 9, 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Milton watched this last night - score was amazing, really one of Takemitsu's best. Almost overwhelmed the film.

Really sucks that the Asian film dvd releases have dried up so much, especially when all sorts of stuff is coming out on fancy bluray editions. Maybe the main audience for a lot of this stuff is just torrenting everything?

Third Window is still going but there's no sign of any of Sion Sono's films since Land Of Hope.
Here's their 2015 releases, which I hope there will be more of.
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=75efa0407558406b19a943c40&id=d69b433f90

Here is a piece about some of the difficulties Third Window have had from a few years ago. Some things specific to way UK film business works. Don't know if much will have changed.
http://twitchfilm.com/2012/06/third-window-films-stops-with-theatrical-distribution-and-this-is-why.html

yeah, that's sad. i try to buy their stuff when i can. but i admit i often save my cash for blu-rays, since i often get burned when i buy a DVD import only to see it come out on blu-ray subsequently.

Have to admit that most of the Third Window stuff looks too much on the quirky kooky indie side for my taste (which nonetheless appears to be more poppy, wild and imaginative than American indie films). But I don't think they can afford a lot of the stuff Tartan used to put out.

here in the states the studio boutiques like sony pictures classics occasionally pick up a japanese film they think might get a little awards buzz but in general its terra incognita. i actually /have/ to use torrent sites to find a lot of recent japanese stuff; it's the only place to get subtitled copies.

i emailed third window with some suggestions of 1980s and 1990s japanese films they might consider picking up, but i'm not in the business so i wouldn't presume to know what their economic calculations are when they decide what to release.

so many important japanese directors of last 30 years are almost completely unknown in the states, e.g. jun ichikawa (only "tony takitani,' not one of his better films IMO, got distributed here), sogo ishii, shuinichi nagasaki, shinji somai, masayuki suo....

in the states, and i presume in the UK too.

I was thinking of emailing dvd labels about what I'd like to see. Is that something they're known to appreciate or expect?

Sogo Ishii for sure. I'd like Angel Dust and Crazy Thunder Road in particular.

I think Ghost Of Yotsuya is the most glaring absence of classic asian horror for home viewing. Especially considering it's way better than most of the other classic asian horror films.

I've always wanted there to be a site dedicated to showing what was in demand, like database listings for all manner of films, books and music and a petition on each thing so that publishers know how many people would like this or that.

The festival I'm at has Japanese theme. Any of these I need to check out? http://filmweb01.filmfestival.org/filmfestival/info/sv/festivalprogram/programentry?page=searchlist&filmId=185481

http://filmweb01.filmfestival.org/filmfestival/info/sv/festivalprogram/programentry?programSectionId=185488

Think you meant to post this link?

Tsukamoto's Fires On The Plain definitely. I hope it isn't too long before I can see it.

I think Terracotta might be picking up a lot of the new Asian films for UK home releases and cinema. But the releases haven't been that frequent recently.

I was pleased to discover Survive Style 5+ on YT. Strap in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Av8RGht0M

The Japanese Embassy in London puts on free movie showings, this month it's Yasuo Furuhata's 'Station'

http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/webmagazine/2015/01/film.html

crazy thunder road should be a huge cult film everywhere, not just in japan

if i ran a cinematheque i'd program a thunder road / crazy thunder road double bill for sure

I saw Tokyo Sonata yesterday and liked it but is that really possible for a boy that age to be locked up with adult criminals in those circumstances?

The Japanese Embassy in London puts on free movie showings, this month it's Yasuo Furuhata's 'Station'

http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/webmagazine/2015/01/film.html

― MaresNest, Sunday, 1 February 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thanks for the reminder I should go there sometime. At a three quid too.

i think part of the requirements might be difficult:

"To know where you heard about this event"

er, on an ile thread called 'Why are Japanese films so terrible?'

ICA is doing a week of japanese films. i saw 2 yesterday and 3 on saturday. would love to see them all actually. never seen anything by naruse before so was good to see one of his last night though i think i wasnt awake enough to really engage with it fully. but of the others, i loved pretty much all of them, esp blood and bones with takeshi kitano. looking forward to seeing a rare seijun suzuki one on tuesday. theyre mostly more genre-y movies, but not formulaic, so its good to see stuff that isnt just arthouse fare for your berry eating snobs at curzon and isnt straight commercial popcorn fodder either. sort of slapping myself for not going to the japan touring programme's events before.

details here for the curious:

https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/seasons/japan-foundation-touring-film-programme

Was toying with going to see Scattered Clouds yesterday. Love so much of Naruse but didn't get round to it.

Have been to the touring programme before. Kind of local, forgettable fare that costs way too much to see (see also the Polish/Spanish/Czech 'festivals' mounted at a cinema in London). xp

im not claiming theyre masterpieces (though takeshi kitano did make blood and bones completely unforgettable), but idk, i like seeing east asian genre stuff too. sometimes people only want to see 'foreign' movies if theyre exotic or presenting/doing something stylistically different to generic stuff from the US/UK, but i dont mind seeing the regular stuff too if it does it well. they did a reasonable multibuy offer too.

I'm not saying you are claiming they are masterpieces.

I just don't take much of a liking to this block of films of 'heart warming tales' or (in Japan's case) cartoons Anime that don't seem to be deemed interesting enough to sustain even a one week showing at a cinema in London (they aren't great judges of this, and I guess it doesn't work that way) although cultural instiutes (Japan embassy, Goethe, I think the Korea embassy also) in London can do a fairly good job with cheap one-off screenings.

i think a lot of films get passed over by distributors for cinema release tbh. they appear and go down well at festivals but no one picks them up after that. not always to do with their quality. but yes, i dont think half of these films *would* do well as theyre not really 'interesting' enough for arthouse audiences who often like international movies for their novelty aspect or a window into another world etc, or show you the most extreme part of the society theyre from (or a chocolate box version of it), but even something like trash humpers only got shown at the ica for idk, one week when it came out. the japan touring programme i would say is a bit like the indian film festival in london, mostly for the people the films are made by.

I looked at the films for that Indian film festival last summer and didn't appeal. People turning up to see faces they are more comfortable in seeing is not my thing.

I bother with films from other parts of the world to see different worlds and extremities and aesthetics, often tied to politics most people find boring - which gives them an internationalism. Or so that is the case for much of the time..

"People turning up to see faces they are more comfortable in seeing is not my thing."

this is not behaviour limited to any one group...

the indian film fest had some good stuff in there (eg - miss lovely, which even S&S seemed to like iirc). theres more to indian cinema than satyajit ray. and i imagine for a certain type of cinephile, the japan touring programme reminds that there is more to japanese cinema than idk, ozu.

anyway, i saw this last year at the terracotta film fest, and apart from over-using the intro of be my baby, it was a really good modern japanese micro budget movie.

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/thiwinfil-21/detail/B00SBS0B34

third window put out a lot of good stuff. if tartan was still around i imagine they would have picked some of this stuff up.