Kameari and the end of meigaza

[Mark Schilling]

 >From: Mark Schilling <schill at gol.com>
>To: KineJapan <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> Subject: Kameari and the end of meigaza
> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 10:51 PM

Aaron asks for comments on the closing of the meigaza. While I agree that
it's better to see films, of whatever age, on a big screen, I must admit
that I have long since become a traitor to the cause. I live out in the
boonies, have two kids to raise and am chained to my keyboard for the most
of the week. Schlepping to the far reaches of the Kanto Plain to see old
movies requires a commitment of time and effort that I can too seldom
afford. 

Instead I go to the Tsutaya in Garden Place and and load up. If I am, for
example, writing a review of the latest Imamura film and want to see the
earlier work I missed, so I can sound as though I know what I'm talking
about, I can plop a few tapes into a basket and I'm set. No need to wait a
year or two or three for a meigaza programmer to slot them into his
schedule, no need to sit on trains for two hours and pay Y1,800 for a
ticket for the privilege of deconstructing a scratchy print on
three-decade-old sound system. Instead I can watch my tapes at my leisure
on a 36"" screen and play them back louder anytime the dialogue becomes a
blur. True, Tsutaya doesn't have tapes of eveything ever released in Japan,
but I don't think I have enough years left to watch the ones they do have. 

I have also been seeing a lot of Japanese films on satellite TV. My wife
happens to work for DIRECTV, so we can take most of their movie channels
without spending the earth (yes, they nail us for the premium channels, the
cheapskates). I can watch Zaotichi movies to my heart's content on the
Jidai Geki Channel, recent and classic Japanese films on Momo Channel and
nearly every Godzilla movie ever made on pay-per-view  (not that I do). 

In short, there are too many convenient ways to watch old Japanese films --
and too many philistines like me taking advantage of them -- to make
meigaza survival likely. What I have been noticing, however, are more
revivals with new prints in non-meigaza theaters. One recent example is the
series of 21 films by Wakamatsu Production -- Wakamatsu Koji's production
company -- that Box Higashi Nakano is screening from February 13 to 26.
Another is Matsumoto Toshio's 1969 Bara no Sosetsu (Funerla Parade of
Roses), which will screen at Theater Shinjuku beginning on May 1. So all
hope is not lost, but if no one comes, these theaters will drop Japanese
films in favor of the latest festival winner from Hungary or cult hit from
Hollywood. So it's up to us, folks. Pardon me while I hit the rewind
button. 

Mark Schilling <schill at gol.com>