Rotterdam Film Festival

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Thanks to Todd for the detailed intro to this year's Rotterdam Film 
Festival, one of the best festivals for introducing Japanese films in 
Europe.  It was probably more the Rotterdam info than Todd (frankly, 
their catalogs are FULL of mistakes!), but there are a few things that 
need clarifying:

>They don't include production dates on the site but it sounds from the
>descriptions that many are post-ONIBI films, and ONIBI is from 1997. Anyone
>seen or have recommendations from the below list? I've only seen ONIBI and
>thought it was excellent (though perhaps marred by a somewhat weak ending).

Actually, most are pre-Onibi.  I've added dates as best I could:

>"Chi no shuseki - Mu Kokuseki No Otoko"
>"Debuso" (Apron Stage) 1995
>"Gedo" (The Outer Way)
>"Gokudo zange roku"(Mobster's Confession) 1998
>"Gokudo Kisha" (The Wicked Reporter) 1993
>"Koi Gokudo" (A Yakuza in Love)
>"Onibi: The Fire Within" 1997
>"Shin Gokuda Kisha - Nigeuma desetsu" (Wicked Report 3) 1996
>"Shin kanashiki hitman"  (Another Lonely Hitman) 1995
>"Skinless Night" 1990

I still haven't seen much Mochizuki (only four films), but _Shin 
kanashiki_ was quite good, and the first _Kisha_ film had its points.  I 
just saw _Gokudo zange roku_ today and was quite impressed.  Much more 
humorous and pop culture than Onibi with a great performance by Tsurumi 
Shingo.  A central question in the film: "Who do you prefer: Akira or 
Yujiro?"

Like the hero, I prefer Akira.

>It also looks that it's continuing to be a good year for actor Koji Yakusho
>who has roles in 4 of the above features (even if he is sleeping for all/most
>of one of them).

It's Ahn Sun Gi who sleeps in _Nemuro otoko_ not Yakusho.


Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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