AFL Reference to Japanese Film (Richie Review)

Joseph Murphy jmurphy
Sat Jan 2 19:38:06 EST 1999


>composer, of an editor.  One may discover how many film adaptations
>have been made of Izumi Kyoka (thirteen in all), which directors
>worked on which script for other directors, which directors produced
>their own films (Oshima did just two, "Yunbogi's Diary" and "Death by
>Hanging") and much else. [from the review]
>.....

Actually, there are at least 30 adaptations of Kyoka's work as of Bando
Tamasaburo's 1992 Gekashitsu, perhaps more because no one is sure how to
count the phenomenon of combined movie-stage productions (rensa-geki) from
the 1910's.  My dissertation has a fairly complete list based on Japanese
sources and a discussion of adaptation (Izumi Kyoka:  Cinema, Antimodernity
and the Logic of Contestation in the Literary Field, Cornell, 1995).
I don't mean in any way to disparage Stephen Cremin's excellent reference,
and he has pointed out several times the restriction in his work to films
which have official English titles.  Still, it's remarkable how much the
screening effect of translation alters the picture of Japanese cinema that
circulates outside Japan.

J. Murphy






More information about the KineJapan mailing list