<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto">Dear KineJapaners,</div>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 6pt" align=center><U><FONT size=5 face=Arial>‘The Keisuke Kinoshita Story’</FONT></U></H1>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Quentin Turnour mentioned at the end of his post on the KineJun Best ten 2013, on the 9<SUP>th,</SUP> that <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial> (Just as last year the hard to see film was the #2 THE DRUDGERY TRAIN and the #1 - Yang Yong-hi's brilliant OUR HOMELAND - was only finally seen on the back of a JAL airline seat)</FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><I>Our Homeland</I>, together with Yang Yong-hi, at least made it to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Frankfurt</st1:place> and a few other places but, I agree, not enough<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">.<B><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></FONT></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT face=Arial>But your comment, Quentin, did make me pay more attention to the back of my American Airlines seat and what was listed under ‘Japanese’.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT face=Arial>Of the fifty, most were middling <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:City></st1:place> (presumably available with Japanese language).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT face=Arial>The eight Japanese films among them (listed below) were, in my opinion, mostly uninspiring with several low-budget made-for-tv movies.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But one, although feeling like a tv dorama-doc, had a subject matter of interest to some KineJapan members, <I>Hajimari no michi</I>, 2013, by Hara Keiichi, billed on the menu as ‘The Keisuke Kinoshita Story – Dawn of a Filmmaker’.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>It was set in mid-1945 (opening with a clip of Kinoshita’s first film, <I>Hana saku minato</I>, 1943) and substantially related the transporting of Kinoshita’s mother by handcart along a mountain road in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Shizuoka</st1:place></st1:City>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You would have to know what was coming to stay awake for the first fifty minutes – a four-hankie setting of the jewel of the last ten minutes Tanaka Kinuyo in <I>Rikugun</I> / <I>Army</I>, 1944.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At the end of the film, we also had clips from :-<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Waga koi seshi otome, 1946<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Ojōsan kanpai`, 1949<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Yaburedaiko, 1949<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Karumen kokyō ni kaeru, 1951<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Nihon no kigeki, 1953<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Nijūshino hitomi, 1954<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Nogiku no gotoki kimi nariki, 1955<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsuki, 1957<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Narayama bushikō, 1958<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Fuefukigawa, 1960<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Eien no hito, 1961<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Kōge, 1964<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-bidi-language: BN"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Shin yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsuki, 1986<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Some of these clips, at least, had been set up in the story by visual quotes in the journey.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>The clips had all been beautifully restored by this film’s producer, Shōchiku, and it looked like a show-case by them of Kinoshita’s work.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But this film was largely a trail of visual flourishes with next to no story; and it was in danger of showing, unfairly, that Kinoshita’s work might be similarly labelled .<o:p style="RIGHT: auto"></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-SIZE: 16px; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>(It was subtitled in english, if you had initially selected ‘English’ as your language.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There was no translation credit.)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-SIZE: 16px; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </div><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">(The 8 Japanese films on American Airlines are :-<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Keisuke Kinoshita Story, HARA Keiichi<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Fruits of Faith, NAKAMURA Yoshihiro<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Maruyama , the Middle Schooler, KUDŌ Kankurō<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Midsummer’s Equation, NISHITANI Hiroshi - a Fuji TV movie, distributed by Tōhō<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The After-Dinner Mysteries, HIJIKATA Masato - <st1:place w:st="on">Hong Kong</st1:place> based heist caper<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Boy called H, FURUHATA Yasuo<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The Apology King, MIZUTA Nobuo<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 2pt 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The Human Trust, SAKAMOTO Junji<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal></FONT></SPAN> </div>
<div style="MARGIN: 4pt 0cm 0pt; RIGHT: auto" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><FONT style="RIGHT: auto" face=Arial>Roger<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></div>
<div style="RIGHT: auto"> </div></div></body></html>