Imamura & Domestic Exoticism

[Stephen Cremin]

I think generally city-dwellers all over the world have a romanticised image 
of the countryside which can be seen as a form of domestic exoticism.  I've 
always seen the use of Okinawa in Japanese cinema as referring to the 
"mythological dreamplace" it represents rather than the actual place whether 
in Imamura's films or Kitano's come to that.  I'm not so sure that the 
Okinawa depicted in Takamine Go's "Untama Giru" is any less exoticised.  But 
I feel I'm getting a little bit out of my depth here, so I'll leave it to 
others to add their thoughts.

Stephen Cremin


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