Shochiku coup

[Aaron Gerow]

The Shochiku shake-up was front page news in most of the sports papers.  
Headlines blazed:

SHOCHIKU COUP D'ETAT!

and featured huge photos of a flustered Okuyama Kazuyoshi.

Thanks to Mark for giving us some inside info.  I was sad to hear 
confirmation that Cinema Japanesque will be the hardest hit in the 
aftermath.  While there were problems with the project (the biggest being 
a lack of identity, releasing completely different films like  _Cure_ and 
_OL chushingura_ under the same banner), it was an interesting experiment 
in: 1) diversifying the majors' production (which is the trend in 
Hollywood); 2) freeing up the monolithic releasing system; and 3) giving 
some good directors some extra projects.

>From what I read in the papers, the coup was basically the end of a long 
struggle between Chairman Nagayama and President Okuyama, with the former 
supporting the old-style, Ofuna-cho family melodramas typified by Yamada 
Yoji and the latter, especially through his son, an effort to bring 
production up-to-date.  The conflict took place on other levels as well, 
but this seems to be the one on the level of production philosophy.  One 
paper thus explicitly said this was a victory for Yamada Yoji and cited 
the fact that he has several films scheduled for this year as a early 
indication that this would happen.  In the press conference, Otani did 
explicity say that they intend to "revive" Shochiku tradition and go back 
to their roots in the Ofuna-cho.  Does this mean just more Yamada Yoji 
and Tora-san clones?

I'd like to hear what others think of this, but this all seems rather 
reactionary, short-sighted and not very promising for the future of 
Japanese cinema.  I like Ofuna-cho as much as anyone, but I don't like to 
see it reduced to the bland, empty drivel that Yamada has been producing 
of late.  Tora-san was a hit, but given that _Niji o tsukamu otoko_ is 
not, I wonder if it even makes good economic sense to go back to a style 
that has clearly seen its days and has very little attraction for anyone 
but the older audiences.  Even in the Japanese market, diversification 
seems to be a necessity, but Shochiku seems to want to go back towards 
producing only films that appeal to everyone (as if those exist anymore). 
 In addition, the Cinema Japanesque experiment was also an attempt at 
reforming what is clearly one of the biggest problems of the film 
industry: the distribution system.  Can the new president do anything 
about that, or are they just going to rely on what has really supported 
Yamada Yoji in the last 10 years: the dubious maeuri (advanced ticket) 
system?

Okuyama Kazuyoshi made a lot of bad moves and bad films, even directing 
some (the _Ranpo_ fiasco) himself.  He also is famous for his fight with 
Takeshi over _Sonatine_, which he hated.  But he at least did bet on 
Takeshi as he has done with others.  He has also produced Hou 
Hsiao-Hsien's recent films (as has Shochiku--this decision affects Hou as 
well).  He was at least trying to do something, which is something I 
wonder about the new management at Shochiku.

Still, time will tell.  Lets hope my apprehensions prove mistaken.

Aaron Gerow
YNU

P.S. If they fire anyone, it should have been whoever thought up Kamakura 
Cinema World.  Now one I know who has gone there likes it and I found it 
embarassingly childish (except for a few sections of Shochiku history).  
Who was responsible for that?