New Books on Japanese Cinema and Pesaro F. F.

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Stephen and Roberta already wrote extensive reports
about Pesaro Symposium. I’d just like to add some
general impressions on the festival. I was in Pesaro
for 5 days and I saw 22 of the almost 50 movies,
shorts, documentaries scheduled in Pesaro.
In my opinion the Review of the New Japanese Cinema
(NJC) didn’t hit completely the mark. Director
Spagnoletti wrote in the Programme Introduction that
the target of the festival was “ to propose the first
retrospective in Italy that presents the most recent
and innovative quality films of the NJC, from the
second half of the 1990’s, in all their dynamism and
multifarious depth”.
Well, if this was the plan, I cannot explain myself
the absence in Pesaro of important directors who still
have to be discovered in Italy: it’s hard to organize
a discussion upon the renaissance of Japanese Cinema
without the presence (whether in the flesh or with
their movies) of Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Kawase Naomi,
Shiota Akihiko, Miike Takashi, Fukasaku Kinji (yes,
he’s 70, but his are films that shock, grab and
disturb the viewer, in fact his last “Battle Royale”
was originally scheduled in Pesaro). Spagnoletti
himself mentioned this introducing the symposium; he
spoke about some unexpected obstacles in receiving all
the Japanese films planned for the festival. 
Anyway, Pesaro has been an extraordinary window for
the NJC, considering the number and the average
quality of the movies, while, in my opinion, those
dynamism and multifarious depth were in some sort
missing. 

About Stephen’s and Roberta’s reports of the
symposium:
I agree with Roberta about Stephen's talk: it was
definitely interesting and necessary. The “market”
logic is often an underestimated aspect, but Stephen
explained how deeply it may weigh on the production of
films in Japan.
Two more words on Hara Masato. He was always wearing
creased light-blue shirt, blue shorts, red baseball
hat (back to front) and Japanese wood sandals (sic!)
and was carrying around everywhere a digital
video-camera, a Super 8 Kodak and a handycam, shooting
continuosly and creating sometimes a certain turmoil
in the hall. In contrast with his bizarre behaviour, I
was really surprised by his talk. He spoke about
trying to break the classic film-making structure and
about the necessity for a director to shoot first of
all: the screenplay is no longer a crucial part of the
film because everyday life has become itself a film,
so Hara doesn’t seek objectivity in the camera, he
just shoots reality as it is. As a consequence, the
film-cutting phase becomes much more relevant.
This is the key behind his “20th Century Nostalgia”,
also if the result, in my opinion, is not so
enthusiastic as Hara’s starting idea.
Last but not least:
Olaf has been really great in explaining that strange
woman in the audience there was nothing to explain on
DISTANCE!
Stephen is right when he notices Roberta didn't smoke
a single cigarette throughout the whole three hours of
the symposium. Unbelievable! 

Guillermo Gonzales
student of Japanese language and culture
Ca'Foscari University, Venice, Italy
tel. +39.347.1377923
mail. mononoaware76 at yahoo.it 



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