Love & Pop

[graham lincoln]

> I guess the main question here is whether a director should point a
> judgement on the subject he's directing.
> In my eyes, when the subject is linked to society or politics,
> one can not
> filmed without getting involved with the story. For example (I know it
> doesn't have any connection with the movies we're discussing here, but
> you'll see my point) : is it possible to direct a movie on Nazi
> or Japanese
> concentration camps without getting involved ?
> With Love and Pop we're dealing with the same question, can
> someone direct a
> movie about high school prostitution without denouncing it ? I find it
> intolerable to just watch a movie on such a story and find out that the
> director doesn’t express his feelings on the subject.
> For instance Bounce Ko Gals is more interesting because the
> director refuse
> to stand aside. He takes part in his movie, without being Manichean, and
> points out that there’s one serious problem in Japanese society.
> Anno doesn’t seem annoy by this, he just shot a story about a
> girl who wants
> a necklace (I don’t remember exactly what) and her means to get
> it. And he
> seems to find normal that the girl sell herself for it.




I have to say I really disagree with Julien here. There's no inherent reason
why a filmmaker should be passing moral judgement on any subject he deals
with. For me, one of the main appeals to filmmakers like, say, David
Cronenberg, is their refusal to use all of the usual cinematic devices
(reaction shots etc) that mainstream film uses to steer an audience into how
you are supposed to feel about what is on-screen. In the case of a subject
like this, I see no reason why a director should necessarily be inserting
obvious moral judgements into the story - the viewer hardly needs the
filmmaker to tell him high school prostitution is a bad thing. That way lies
tv movie of the week moralising.

On the other hand, I can remember seeing a couple of years ago a news report
on British tv which highlighted this issue. The reporter went around asking
members of the public what their reaction was to the situation and found
that everyone responded by saying that it was simply none of their business
and was a matter for the people involved. I can certainly see that, in the
context of such attitudes being prevalent in Japan a filmmaker might
understandably be questioning values which allow something so awful to go on
completely unhindered.

graham

graham