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<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal">Dear KineJapaners,</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">I took the opportunity last week to take a look at Ichikawa Kon’s <i>Otōto</i>,
showing at the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris. They are screening a
series of series of ‘grands classiques’ from new digital transfers. I had seen <i>Otōto</i>
before, in fact it was my first review for <i><a href="http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/her-brother/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Midnight Eye</a></i>, and
so I thought I’d cope without english subtitles. But it was a nice surprise to
discover when it started that it was showing with english subtitles (with
french underneath). I mentioned this afterwards and asked whether this was in
fact the norm. The answer was no, and they didn’t know which ones would be like
that. (But the subtitlers must know).</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">The print was in brilliant condition, although arguably too brilliant for
the special muted process by which the color stock was supposedly developed
(although I also thought that when I watched it at the NFT on a celluloid print
in 2008). It’s also against the grain for the best preserved print to have been
the subtitled one. More usually, one needs to go back beyond the hard-subtitled
Japan Foundation 16mm print to find a good copy of a film. The preserved
subtitles on this were below and above the bottom edge of the scope frame, so
there must be more to anamorphic lens compression than I can squeeze into my
mind.</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">The film - the work itself - still stands up very well. </p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">There’s an accompanying book for the Paris festival is now out - <i>100
ans de cinéma japonais</i> - <a href="http://www.editionsdelamartiniere.fr/ouvrage/100-ans-de-cinema-japonais/9782732488196" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.editionsdelamartiniere.fr/ouvrage/100-ans-de-cinema-japonais/9782732488196</a>.
In reality, it’s a posh catalogue of the films of the three seasons at the
Cinémathèque française and the one at MCJP. It’s lavishly illustrated with a
short piece on each film, some at least by people we know. For <i>Otōto</i>,
here titled <span class="ydp2d59fcbatitle"><i><span lang="FR">Tendre
et folle adolescence</span></i></span>, the words are by ‘Mayu Honda’,
translated into french by Léa Le Dimna. Honda doesn’t complicate things by
hesitating upon sole authorship, although she name-checks Kōda Aya as the
daughter of Kōda Rohan. This time, I timed how long the present-but-absent
Rohan took to say a word - 35 minutes. Looking back, although I still see Mori
Masayuki as relishing his role in a decapitating portrayal of Rohan, my
shortcoming was to have barely mentioned Tanaka Kinuyo. It’s hard to embrace
her role: fat and fifty, decrepit, with a very unappealing prim piety, and
reduced to powerlessly sniping from the sideline. Mori risked nothing in his
portrayal and might even have gained prestige. Tanaka, although she didn’t need
to knock out any more teeth, risked seriously damaging her persona. I think I
didn’t comment back then, because I didn’t have anything reliable about how
Kōda Aya herself saw her relationship with her stepmother, and didn’t really
know whose view was being portrayed. Focuses on mother-daughter relationships
on film were rarer then, and we have largely had to wait for women directors to
bring them to the fore (about the one thing I remember was the trouble I took
to line up the sentence, ‘Reader, it seems they had to marry them.’).</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><i><span lang="FR">Tendre et folle adolescence</span></i>
has a repeat screening at MCJP on 18<sup>th</sup> December. Incidentally, some
screenings are supposed to be presented there by cast or crew members. I
thought I saw something on a poster at MCJP about that, but I can’t find names
online.</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">And, finally, with a full retrospective of Kawase Naomi at the Centre
Pompidou running, there are some other opportunities to look at mother -
stepmother relationships.</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Thanks, if you got this far,</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Roger</p>
<p class="ydp2d59fcbaMsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"> </p>
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