London NFT August Season

[Jasper Sharp]

Interestingly it was Japan year last year in Holland, with the entire year 
devoted to promoting Japanese culture to your average man on the street, so 
I assume a similar thing is happening in the UK at the moment. 
Cinematically, this meant a whole host of goodies, including the No Cherry 
Blossoms season and a Kitano retrospective at the Film Museum - though I'm 
not sure to what extent this impacted upon the average Amsterdam dweller.
Great news hearing that a similar thing is happening in the UK, especially 
as I am now moving back, so the NFT season should present a nice welcome 
home to me. The most interesting thing for me is the rare chance to catch up 
with Hayashi Kaizo's films. Hayashi is most famous for his hyper-fast 
swashbuckling action fantasy ZIPANGU, though his Fellini-esque CIRCUS BOYS 
is(was) out on video in the UK on the ICA projects label. His other films I 
have heard described as being hard-boiled homages to film-noire, inspired by 
the likes of Mike Hammer. A director whose focus is very much on style over 
content, I've heard, but I'm looking forward to seeing these films all the 
same.
Thank you very much for posting this Stephen. I take it the rare screening 
of Kinugasa's silent TALES OF MADNESS is occuring at another time, then?


>From: "Gavin Rees" <garees at gol.com>
>Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>Subject: Re: London NFT August Season
>Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 14:43:17 +0100
>
>Many thanks to Stephen for posting advance notice on the list.
>
>And thanks - belatedly -  to everybody who dredged up the names of war
>movies for me a few weeks ago. (I still think, though, that my central
>thesis is right. Despite a few indy offerings, it is hard to imagine any
>commercially switched on producer putting money into a Japanese war film
>that he would have no hope of selling in the rest of Asia. Manga are
>different, I feel.)
>
>Back to the NFT season. Theoretically it is connected to a big festival in
>the UK called "Japan 2001" which is supposed to promote the best of all 
>that
>is Contemporary for a UK audience (i.e. people who don't know anything 
>about
>Japan, and on most days couldn't give a hang about it.) I was wondering 
>what
>people thought were the strengths in Rayn's selection. It is a noticeably
>different list to the one's that have been discussed here, as various
>people's "recent favourites."
>
>I have not seen any of Hayashi Kaizo's films, or Obitani Yuri's. Any
>impressions?
>
>Gavin
>
>----------
> >From: "Stephen Cremin" <asianfilmlibrary at mac.com>
> >To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> >Subject: London NFT August Season
> >Date: Mon, Jun 25, 2001, 1:25 pm
> >
>
> > For Miles, Jasper, etc, here's the lineup at NFT in London (3-25 
>August),
> > headlined UNSEEN GEMS FROM JAPAN, curated by Tony Rayns, in approximate
> > screening order.
> >
> > GOHATTO (Oshima Nagisa)
> > MARKS (Sai Yoichi) *
> > BODY DROP ASPHALT (Wada Junko) *
> > GONIN (Ishii Takashi) *
> > GONIN 2 Ishii Takashi) *
> > THE NEW MORNING OF BILLY THE KID (Yamakawa Naoto)
> > SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY (Miike Takashi) *
> > RAINY DOG (Miike Takashi) *
> > LEY LINES (Miike Takashi) *
> > WORLD APARTMENT HORROR (Otomo Katsuhiro) *
> > THE HAIR OPERA (Obitani Yuri)
> > NOT FORGOTTEN (Shinozaki Makoto) *
> > TEL-CLUB (Murakami Kenji) *
> > WATCHING THE DETECTIVE (Yagi Junichi) *
> > DISCIPLINE FOR THE LEFT-HANDED (Shirakawa Koji) *
> > LOVE/JUICE (Shindo Kaze) *
> > THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE (Hayashi Kaizo)
> > STAIRWAY TO THE DISTANT PAST (Hayashi Kaizo) *
> > THE TRAP (Hayashi Kaizo) *
> >
> > Films marked with * are to the best of my knowledge UK premieres.
> >
> > Stephen
> >

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