Pornography of Violence

[Bill Thompson]

Nina Cornyetz wrote:

> Representative filmmakers of Hong Kong and
> Japan that I'm thinking of include: John Woo, Wang Kar-Wai, Suzuki Seijun,
> Kitano Takeshi. (Films must be available with English subtitles, obviously.)
> My question is: does anybody know of good, thought provoking essays on these
> Asian filmmaker/this genre in English suitable for undergraduate readings?
> (Or, if there's something really special on American filmmakers such as
> Tarantino - although obviously I've found much more on this on my own.)
> Of course I'm doing the library journal search, but have not turned up much
> (on Hong Kong/Japan) to date.


You may already be familiar with these sources:

Lisa Odham Stokes and Michael Hoover's book  City on Fire  examines
the "pornography of violence" with considerably more depth
than books on Hong Kong cinema.  This book was published just
two months ago by Verso; I've seen it in several NYC book stores.

Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijin,
edited by Simon Field and Tony Rayns, was published by
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, in 1994.  Accompanying
their Suzuki film series, this 50-page book provides a good
introduction to the master.  I got my copy from Indiana University
Press a couple of years ago, when I was told the book was
out of print, but not out of stock.  Good luck on getting this.

Keiko MacDonald provides an interesting introduction to
the yakuza film genre in an essay included in Nolletti and Desser's
Reframing Japanese Cinema.

I also liked a Max Tessier essay on Suzuki included in a
special Cinema D'Aujourd'hui issue on Japanese cinema,
No. 15, Hiver 1979-80.  Of course its in French.

Bill Thompson