Eureka awards at Cannes

[Roland Domenig]

In the introduction of the book "Eiga wa shinda" (Film is dead), written by
Uchida Tatsuru and Matsushita Masaki and published by Inama Shobo last
December, Uchida gives a polemic introduction on the state of Japanese film
criticism. He distinguished 'promotional criticism' (puromoshon hihyo) and
'evaluative criticism' (insho hihyo) of the kind we were talking about in
the last days, and 'militant and engaged criticism' (kosenteki-sankagata
hihyo) which includes academic criticism. Uchida criticizes both approaches,
the too close and unreflective stance of most critics and the too serious
and detached stance of academic critics, and demands a third way. He
mentions Yodogawa Nagaharu as a possible model because of his love for the
cinema. 
The book is mainly concerned with western films, however, and very rarely
mentions Japanese films.
Did anyone read the book?


Roland Domenig
Institute for Japanese Studies
University of Vienna