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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">I think the
Japanese film industry is in a pretty enviable shape compared with most
other national cinemas, the most obvious point of references being the
industries of the individual European companies. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Its true, based
on anecdotal evidence, one might get the impression that no one in Japan
ever watches Japanese films, but you have to remember who you are actually
asking. I work in an English school in Ginza, and most of my students wake
up at 5am and work a minimum of twelve hours a day. You can imagine that
when they do go to the cinema, they’re not going to sit for three
hours watching EUREKA. No - they want no-brain entertainment like SPIDERMAN
or MATRIX when they’re not shopping or walking around the golf course.
I don’t count these people as representative of the Japanese public
however. Every time I go into a cinema to watch a Japan film, there’s
a pretty good turn out of people, and there’s usually about 10
Japanese films playing in Tokyo at any one time.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">There’s
still been plenty of bigger budgeted more mainstream Japanese films playing
the major chains this year – AZUMI, MOONCHILD, SPY SORGE – so
someone is obviously watching them. Right around the corner from the school
where I drone out eikaiwa on a daily basis, a huge screen has been
emblazoned with the BATTLE ROYALE 2 logo for the past month or so, with
hordes of people swarming around the BR2 gift shop on the street, which is
purveying para-military inspired fashion accessories. Its going to be a big
release – probably the largest Japanese one this
year.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">And that’s
not including the ever-lucrative low-cost high return animated endeavours of
regular favourites such as DORAEMON or ONE PIECE, nor the GODZILLA
franchise. And lets not forget that no country in the world has an
equivalent to Miyazaki, a national treasure whose films continue to
out-gross all foreign competition. Nor the fact that the video chain Tsutaya
devotes about a third of its floor space to domestic films –
there’s certainly nothing like that in video shops in the UK.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">As Aaron points
out, Hollywood does have unfair market advantages - the same in any country
- and their block-booking tactics, market saturation and the fact
distributors and cinema chains are owned by the companies that produce the
films, will ensure that in provincial towns outside of Tokyo, it is actually
nigh on impossible to even see a Japanese film, whilst the latest MATRIX
film is booked into two or three screens of the local multiplex. The film
industry is one of the US’ biggest industries, whereas it ranks pretty
low on the business hierarchy in Japan, UK or even France, and as such, the
US has become fiercely protectionist about its own interests – far
more so than any other country. There is the odd local film screened in the
bigger cinema chains as a token effort alongside the Hollywood eye-candy,
but as long as this is of the quality of TRICK or MOONCHILD, then the same
people whose cinematic needs are provided for purely by the multiplex are
likely to be giving Japanese films an incredibly wide berth in the future.
(just read an interesting anecdote in Sight and Sound from last year which
said that in Quebec, ASTERIX & OBELIX 2 actually out-grossed ATTACK OF
THE CLONES last year, because independent distributors balked at paying the
high box office take demanded by Lucasfilms, so the film actually played on
a relatively small number of screens – a good indication of how behind
the scenes business skulduggery has such an enormous influence on box office
performance).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Remember that
most of the films showcased abroad, and hence discussed on boards like this,
are small arthouse releases – not the larger more commercial
offerings. As an English teacher, you might get blank looks when you try and
discuss Naruse or even Ozu with your housewives afternoon course – but
I doubt any random member of the general public in Britain knows who David
Lean is either. At the same time, it is still possible to meet plenty of
cinephiles who become notably animated when you mention names such as
Kurosawa Kiyoshi Shinya Tsukamoto.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Essentially,
like any other country I’ve been to, there are two film markets.
Mainstream multiplex, and independent cinemas that might once have been
labelled “arthouse”, but subsequent to the Mirax-isation of the
multiplex, are now the only place where you can see smaller national
releases and non-Hollywood foreign releases. These cinemas have their own
loyal followings which will ensure that this second market will never die
out, but they are also sparsely scattered enough to mean that no individual
title will ever achieve the same level of performance as a mainstream
release – even freak success stories like BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, which
has played on one screen in Tokyo, but has been sold out for over six
months.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">OK, so
we’re hardly in the Golden Age of the 50s, but then, what country is?
The 80s signified the death knell of national cinema, to my mind. It also
marked a rapid downturn in the quality of Hollywood films. These films
allegedly succeed because they are universal, but this for me is the reason
why they are so unsatisfactory. They don’t address any of the issues
that are important to me personally, and they rarely attempt to stretch the
parameters of cinema as an art form nor enlighten me about other cultures.
They are merely safe puerile fantasies where you are supposed to marvel at
how much money has been thrown up on screen. No other country can possibly
complete. Nor should they want to. The day when national cinema was forced
to cater for an international market was the day it became less fresh and
interesting. There’s nothing with the meat or power of the finest work
from the 50s, 60s or 70s, from any country. As a British person, I can find
resonance with the films of Mike Leigh or Lynne Ramsay, but it is films like
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM that are making the money. And its awful films like
HOTEL HIBISCUS that are drawing in the housewives for the matinee
performances in Tokyo.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier
New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">To the distant
observer, it may seem that there’s been nothing significant coming out
of Japan at the moment. There’s been precious little here that’s
impressed me this year either. But the film industry goes in cycles, not on
a teleological path to self-destruction. From my perspective in Tokyo,
looking at those UniJapan figures I could infer that the British film
industry is in a mess. Last year there was only 9 films from the UK screened
in Japan (one of these was KEVIN AND PERRY GO LARGE!) compared with the 30
or so from previous years. However, this year I believe there’s
already been more than 9, so this is undoubtedly just an isolated blip. In
the same respect, I’m sure that Japan will have another 1997-98, when
SHALL WE DANCE swept across America, RING and CURE crawled across cathode
ray tubes all over Asia, anime fans went wide-eyed over PRINCESS MONONOKE
and PERFECT BLUE, and arthouse audience swooned over UNAGI and HANA-BI.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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New'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><BR />
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