Demon Pond

[PercySun@aol.com]

How quiet KineJapan has been recently. I imagine many are away here and there 
for the summer. This may be bad timing to ask the following, but 
nonetheless....
I've been trying for some time to find a copy of Shinoda Masahiro's "Yasha ga 
ike" (Demon pond) on video; when I didn't need this I used to see it not 
infrequently listed among the meager offerings with English subtitles, from 
Facets, for example. Now that I need it I can't seem to find it! I think I 
may have asked about this film already, but I'm trying again. I'm interested 
in the question of how the onnagata performance might be linked to a type of 
(hyperbolic) disregard for diegetic effect; also, how language-text might in 
some cases enhance this disregard (especially for example when film is based 
on Kyoka text). I'm trying to think about how the filmic-subject's production 
in language (for spectator) is actualized in films like this (also, for eg., 
in Bando Tamasaburo's Tenshu monogatari, which I do have a copy of). I know 
Yasha ga ike is not generally believed to be a "good" film, but I'm really 
curious to see it again and see it closely (thus video to be replayed at my 
leisure)..... Subtitled or not, anyone know a distributor for this? Or anyone 
got a copy for me? Or thoughts on the above? I'm thinking in terms of how 
films specifically linked to certain notions of "Japaneseness" might tend to 
intentionally flaunt conventions of filmic realism; how this relates to the 
Japanese language itself.... complex questions not yet very well thought 
through, I'm afraid. 
Thanks,
Nina Cornyetz