Re Kitano Takeshi texts

Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow onogerow
Sun Jun 17 10:50:20 EDT 2001


I think this message was not successfully distributed to all of you, so 
I'm trying it again from my end.  Sorry of this is a duplicate for some 
people.

Aaron Gerow

********

I'm an absolute amateur in the field but having recently completed a ms
with a chapter on Japanese film, with a small section on Kitano, I can
tell you what I found useful.

Looking at the mass of books Kitano himself has written or edited, I
found the following 2 books useful in an introductory way:

Biito, Takeshi 'Watashi wa Sekai de Kirawareru' (Tokyo: Shincho Bunko,
1998).

This one is, like much of his writing, a collection of essays on various

topics but his caustic views of the 'Tora San' series ('killed off
Japanese cinema'), and the films of Itami Juzo are interesting.

Kitano, Takeshi 'Komanechi: Biito Takeshi Zen Kiroku' (Tokyo: Shincho
Bunko, 1998).

This one has a dialogue with Imamura Shohei, and a long piece by his
daughter which is revealing, plus a 10 page biblio of all his
publications, films, scenarios, cds etc. It also contains a
communication from Elizabeth Regina.

Yomota, Inuhiko 'Nihon Eiga Shi Hyaku Nen' (Tokyo: Shueisha Shinsho,
2000).

This I found a useful, very readable (indexed) introductory text on the
past 100 years of cinema history.

These books are paperback, and so are cheap.

Kinema Junpo editions reviewing his films, plus the 'best films' of that

year special editions (usually in February) are useful.  One staff
writer called Otaka Hiroo always praises his work extravagantly but
usually writes something on him.

Hope this helps.

Leith Morton

**********************************************
Leith D. Morton
Professor of Japanese
Head, Department of Modern Languages
University of Newcastle, NSW, 2308
Australia
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/department/lg/morton.html
Ext. 61 249 21 5360.  Fax. 61 249 21 6949
**********************************************




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