<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Paul,<div><br></div><div>You probably already know this because of your background in butoh, but the butoh group Dairakudakan lead by Maro Akaji (who will be familiar to many on this list because of his extensive film acting career including a roles in Oshima, and Suzuki Seijun movies and more recently Kill Bill) used to offer ear plugs for sale before their butoh performances because they played the soundtrack so blisteringly loud. I think Maro has always been particularly close to the world of cinema in his dances, but I don't know if he was drawing on some similar phenomenon from the cinematic world of the 70's or if he was drawing directly from punk (or just wanted to make a few more bucks off the sale of ear plugs).</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div><br></div><div>Bruce<br><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Feb 14, 2010, at 8:08 AM, Jasper Sharp wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; ">This rather reminds me of a screening of a Philipino film I caught at Thessaloniki Film Festival last year, The Muzzled Horse Of An Engineer In Search Of Mechanical Saddles. The film was an hour long video piece that had a live accompaniment from the director, Khavn de la Cruz and his various associates. It was quite a gruelling experience, way too loud for my poor head on a monday evening.<br>There's more details here, for those interested in comparisons with new punk filmmaking/exhibition practices in other parts of the world:<br> <br><a href="http://kulastalon.multiply.com/video/item/21">http://kulastalon.multiply.com/video/item/21</a><br> <br>best<br> <br>Jasper<br><br>Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema<br>www.midnighteye.com<br><br>More details about me on <a href="http://jaspersharp.com">http://jaspersharp.com</a>/<br><br><br><br> <br>> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 17:18:50 +0900<br>> From: <a href="mailto:proquet@berkeley.edu">proquet@berkeley.edu</a><br>> To: <a href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</a><br>> Subject: high volume 'bakuon' screenings<br>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>> Film and rock music critic Higuchi Yasuhito has been putting on a fairly active series of 'bakuon' (exploding sound) film events since 2006. The first few were one-off screenings paired with live music, but in the past couple years it has expanded into an ongoing series, where individuals can make requests for films they would like to see at high-volume. Most of the shows have been at Baus theater in Kichijoji (where the main theater has big arena-rock style speaker stacks on both sides of the screen), but it seems to be spreading to other theaters in western Tokyo as well.<br>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>> In the few bakuon screenings I have (accidentally!) attended, the excess volume did give the live music scenes a visceral realism - for example, the punk shows in Go Shibata's "Osoi hito" felt just right. Pummeling the audience with painfully-loud sound the entire time, however, destroyed whatever loud/soft dynamic the film originally had, and made me wince everytime someone onscreen closed a door or stirred their coffee.<br>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>> In part this seems to be one more attempt to get people back into the theater (by giving them something they can't get at home), but it also seems driven by the rise in concert videos and music documentaries the past few years. The bakuon website (<a href="http://www.bakuon-bb.net">www.bakuon-bb.net</a>) claims the festival is unique in the world, but I'm curious what the precedent for this is. Does anyone know of similar screenings elsewhere, or even films mixed to be screened at the kind of volumes that make you wish you had brought earplugs?<br>><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>> Paul Roquet<br><br><hr>Got a cool Hotmail story?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/" target="_new">Tell us now</a></span></span></blockquote></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Bruce Baird</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Assistant Professor</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Asian Languages and Literatures</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">But</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">ô</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ; font-family: Helvetica; "><br style="; font-family: Helvetica; "></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">7</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">17 Herter Hall</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">161 Presidents Drive</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">University of Massachusetts Amherst</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Amherst, MA 01003-9312</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; ">Phone: 413-577-4992</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px">Fax: 413-545-4975<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="mailto:baird@asianlan.umass.edu">baird@asianlan.umass.edu</a></span></font></p><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span> </div><br></div></div></body></html>