Love & Pop

[Aaron Gerow]

>But I have also been bothered by the stylistic mannerisms more than a few
>of them have adopted to represent that generation -- shot after
>interminable long shot of mildly depressed twentysomethings mouthing
>Delphic-sounding dialogue meant to stand for -- what? Making the audience
>work is one thing. Boring it to death with lazy imitations of Tarkovsky and
>Bresson is another. The minimalism-by-the-numbers approach may get you
>invited to foreign film festivals -- a major objective of many today -- but
>it's not going to revitalize a struggling industry or bring back audiences
>convinced that serious Japanese films are dull, dark and dreary. 

Thanks for Mark for saying what needs to be said.  I wholly agree with 
what he says here, though I wouldn't level it as much at Aoyama and 
Kurosawa than at less adventuresome directors.  Frankly, the minimalist 
"detached" style has become a dominant, conventional style among 
independents that is really getting tired.  Those who do not see lots of 
recent Japanese films may see a work like _Maborosi_ and be impressed by 
its bold use of still long takes and long shots, but when I saw it, my 
reaction in part was, "Not another film in that style."  We can argue 
about the merits of that film, but frankly there are too many directors 
out there who use this style simply because it is the fashion, because it 
works well with foreign film festival directors, or because of certain 
ideologies (the "Japaneseness" of Maborosi or Sleeping Man).  That's why 
I found _Timeless Melodies_, for instance, a completely uninteresting 
film.  

What I would argue is interesting about people like Aoyama and Kurosawa 
is that, while using elements of that style, they don't confine themself 
to it and they often critically combine it with other styles.  That is, 
they maintain a critical perspective on the cinematic and ideological 
issues relating to style.  

>I find it interesting that one young Japanese director to have really
>struck a nerve with his generational cohort is the much-derided Shunji Iwai
>-- who may be too shojo manga to please the sterner critics, but at least
>knows what those kids on Center Gai are really watching (hint -- it's not
>"Diary of a Country Priest") and how to put their manga- and MTV-fed
>sensibility on the screen. Could his movies be better? Certainly. Could his
>minimalist colleagues learn something from his success? Probably -- but I
>rather doubt many of them will. 

As to what will revive the Japanese industry, it is definitely true a 
film like _Barren Illusions_ will not bring money back into the industry. 
 Maybe Iwai will.  But when I write on recent Japanese film, I always 
admit that I am less the disinterested critic than a polemicist trying to 
intervene (in my own weak way) in the scene.  Iwai might be able revive 
the industry (though I seriously wonder about that), but frankly its not 
a cinema that I want.  This is not simply a matter of taste: I don't 
think Iwai has thought about the cinematic or ideological implications of 
style to the extent other filmmakers have.  (Aoyama and others, for 
instance, have in the past offered in print brilliant critiques of the 
nationalism involved in Iwai's aesthetic.)  Iwai may be the darling of 
some young fans, but the point of cinema, I think, is not simply to 
appeal to the important commercial sectors (and I know this is not what 
Mark was intending--it's just that this is what could be read into his 
comments), than to use cinema as a critical tool that analyzes its 
audience instead of just appeasing them (or lets the audience analyze 
themselves).  Thus while Iwai may provide a good example of the 
ideologies inherent in contemporary youth consumer culture, Aoyama and 
other provide an incisive and powerful critique of them.  I will thus 
always favor the latter over the former.

This is not to deny the need for commercial success.  But I just think we 
should critically approach what will bring about such success.  Actually, 
I think Aoyama's _Wild Life_ (which Mark also liked), with its boisterous 
use of style, is one of the better entertainment films in the last few 
years that could have been a better commercial success were it not for 
the inherent inequalities in the industry.  But I also look to Miike 
Takashi as another possibility.  He seems to work anywhere he can and 
take on any job, but I think his combination of detached and non-detached 
styles reveals a insight (perhaps more a gut insight than an intellectual 
one) in the ideological issues surrounding style and representation that 
is no where found in Iwai.  I will champion his _Ley Lines_ over 
_Swallowtail Butterfly_ any day.



Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171