Fwd: Male Homosexuality and Japanese Film

[Arnault CASTEL]

On top of my hand, the following movies deal with male homosexuality :

Nagisa no Shindobaddo , aka Like grains of Sand
A very sensitive take on a teenager coming out. Even though homosexuality
is a major theme of this movie, it is not "gay centred". the movie evolves
around
the difficulty for (Japanese) teenager to define their individuality in
their social/family
environment.

1999 - Nen no natsu yasumi, aka Summer Vacation 1999
This is and will remain one of my favourite movie. By the way, I would lime
 to know if this
possible to find an interview of Shusuke Kanek, in which he explains why he
 chose to cast
girl in this movie to play the part of young male students.

Gonon, aka the Five
Although homosexuality is not directly tackled in this movie (except
regarding the gay disco),
the relationship between the main protagonists is always on the edge
between male
friendship/bonding and homoeroticism.

Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence
No comment. Great movie by the way (I am a hard-core David Bowie fan and
was surprise to
see he could act).

You will perhaps believe I am over-interpretating but I always felt a
strong gay undercurrent in
Kitano's movies (except perhaps Hana-Bi). Of course, there is an incredible
 scene of
cutting fingers/sodomy in one of his earlier movie (Boiling point or
Violent Cop, I always get confused
with these two). I also find that the older boxer in Kids return can be
viewed as a gay "bad influence"
to the young heroes.
Would like to share your views on this and learn more about Kitano
views/declarations about
homosexuality (if any)

FYI, I also found the following list on the IMDb :

1.1999 - Nen no natsu yasumi (1988) 7.9/10 (12 votes)
....aka Summer Vacation 1999 (1988)
2.Anata-ga suki desu, dai suki des (1994)
....aka I Like You, I Like You Very Much (1994)
3.Bara no soretsu (1969)
....aka Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) (literal English title)|
....aka Parade of Roses (1969)
4.Gonin (1995) 8.2/10 (27 votes)
....aka Five, The (1995) (USA)
....aka Five, The (1998) (USA)
5.Hatachi no binetsu (1993)
....aka Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old, The (1993)
6.Kira Kira Hikaru (1992) 7.4/10 (5 votes)
....aka Twinkle (1992)
7.Kurotokage (1968) 8.9/10 (11 votes)
....aka Black Lizard (1968)
8.Okoge (1993) 7.8/10 (14 votes)
....aka Fag Hag (1993)

Have you seen some of these movies ? Any recommendations.

Finally, one last remark. Though Asian societies are not viewed as "open"
regarding
gay/lesbian sexuality, I found that these themes are tackled in a very
sensitive and
direct ways in Asian movies. For instance :
     - Wong-Kar-Wai's Happy Together
     - Stanley Kwan's Hold You tight + Yin and Yang/Gender in Chinese
cinema
     -  Shu Kei's Hu-du-Men and the comedy "A queer story"
     - East palace / West Palace
     - Tsai Ming Liang's rebels of the Neon God, Vive l'amour and The River
 (all
     incredible movies)
Compare with US/European movies (with a few exceptions) and draw your won
conclusions.
Even though Asian societies (at least Greater China and Japan) cannot be
considered as accepting
homosexuality as the US and now Europe are supposed to do, However, the
influence of gay
artist on the local cultural scene is really strong (perhaps because they
do not stay confined
in dealing with gay themes)
I did not spend much time thinking of this carefully but would appreciate
your feedback.

Arnault Castel