Minimalism?

[MileFilms at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/11/00 5:55:34 PM, kerpan at attglobal.net writes:

<< I am getting a sense that Kore-Eda's Mabarosi is being dismissed (rather
thoroughly, at that) when it is described as "minimalist". I would personally
rate it as one of my favorite modern films (Asian or otherwise), am I simply
showing naivete?

Inquiring minds like to know.

Michael Kerpan
Boston, MA >>

Well, not in our eyes, of course. I think Maborosi is still one of the best 
films from Japan this past decade and After Life is not far behind. I don't 
think of Maborosi as minimalist since it is full of emotion and a love for 
it's characters and landscape. To me, there is a difference between silence 
(the John Cage theories included) and minimalism. After Life, though not as 
artistically "tight," has a more accesible expression of Kore-eda's passion 
for humanity. (Side note, when Maborosi premiered at New Films/New Directors 
for its American premiere, Kore-eda went out of his way to announce the birth 
of Amy and my son that morning, knowing that Amy's parents were in the 
audience. He's a good man.)

Aaron, I definitely saw a relationship between Eureka and Maborosi. Eureka's 
use of silence and landscape, the lack of dialogue and artificial lighting, 
and the theme of how a person "gets on" with life after the shock of sudden 
and violent death made me think of Maborosi. The directors may have different 
perspectives. They both might disagree with me, but it's like comparing early 
Rossolini and Pasolini. Entirely different results, but concerned with the 
same themes and cinematic vocabulary.

Thank you both, however, for an extremely interesting conversation on the 
state of Japanese "art" films. I was talking with Linda Hoaglund in Toronto 
who stated that the rebirth of Japanese cinema was in a large part due to 
number of producers who were burned by investing in Hollywood films and have 
decided that their money would be better spent in making Japanese films that 
they would own for the worldwide market. She also stated that this also might 
be the reason for the "artier" leanings of the directors (or more likely, the 
choice of which directors to hire) since the producers are looking for the 
worldwide sales. I don't know if there's any writings on this, but I'm seeing 
a rise of good (young) Japanese producers which has been totally lacking in 
the European market.

Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video
PO Box 128
Harrington Park, NJ 07640
Phone: (201) 767-3117 or (800) 603-1104
Fax: (201) 767-3035
Email: milefilms at aol.com
www.milestonefilm.com