Japanese film 1989-1997 best 30 (E)

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

EUREKA 
October 1997
Special Issue: Japanese Cinema Since Kitano Takeshi

Thanks to everyone who offered their opinions on some of the best films 
of the last eight years.  Here's my list that appeared in the _Eureka_ 
issue, arranged by theme.  Note it includes some films I don't like but 
which are historically significant.  English titles are provided when 
available.  Check out the original Japanese version for my annotations 
and comments.


The Appearance of the Other
- Untamagiru (Takamine Tsuyoshi, 1989)
- Swimming with Tears (Tashiro Hirotaka, 1992)
- All Under the Moon (Sai Yoichi, 1993)
- Swallowtail (Iwai Shunji, 1996)
- Junk Food (Yamamoto Musashi, 1997)

The Encounter With Death
- Roppongi no haikyo (Sekine Hiroyuki, 1992)
- Sonatine (Kitano Takeshi, 1993)
- Ame no wadachi (Ito Nobuyuki, 1993)
- Elephant Song (Riju Go, 1994)
- Bo no kanashimi (Kumashiro Tatsumi, 1994)
- Another Lonely Hitman (Mochizuki Rokusuke, 1995)

Wandering Identities
- Tetsuo (Tsukamoto Shinya, 1989)
- Showa guntoden 2  Tsuki no sabaku (Zeze Takahisa, 1990)
- Patlabor 2 (Oshii Mamoru, 1993)
- August in the Water (Ishii Sogo, 1995)
- Helpless (Aoyama Shinji, 1996)
- CURE (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 1997)

Alternative Identities
- Swimming Prohibited (Oki Hiroyuki, 1989)
- Embracing (Kawase Naomi, 1989)
- Moving (Somai Shinji, 1993)
- Like Grains of Sand (Higuchi Ryosuke, 1995)
- Gonin (Ishii Takashi, 1995)

New Japanese Film Entertainment
- Dotsuitarunen (Sakamoto Junji, 1989)
- Bataashi kingyo (Matsuoka Joji, 1990)
- Nowhere Man (Takenaka Naoto, 1991)
- Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (Suo Masayuki, 1992)
- Tokiwa, the Manga Apartment (Ichikawa Jun, 1996)
- Dangan Runner (Sabu, 1996)
- My Secret Cache (Yaguchi Shinobu, 1997)
- The Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki Hayao, 1997)

These things are fluid, however.  I'd probably produce a different list 
five years from now.  Also, I certainly can't say I've seen every film 
made in the last 8 years.  But lists are polemical and that's how I wrote 
mine.

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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