Naomi Kawase - impressions

Sun Apr 21 22:48:59 EDT 2002

It does seem that Kawase is not very articulate in talking about her work,or 
about cinema in general.I still find Suzaku,Hotaru,and some of her short films  
powerful,especially her ability to show emotions.I also think her aesthetics of 
silence,or wordlessness is effective.The naivete and artlessness is indeed 
there,as Guillermo says.Her interviews and TV appearances may indeed be less 
illuminating than the films themselves.L En réponse à =%iso-8859-1?q?
Guillermo=20Gonzales?= <mononoaware76 at yahoo.it>:

>  Hi kinejapaners, 
> 
> Pier Maria's impressions about Kawase Naomi's work are
> quite biting and impressive. 
> Thanks also to Livia and her comments.
> Unfortunately I don't know anything about Hou
> Hsiao-hsien's films, so I completely trust Pier
> Maria's remarks. 
> Moreover, in Alba I spoke with Pier Maria about these
> things and our opinions were really close. I
> completely changed my point of view after Naomi’s
> seminar; I don’t remember if Pier Maria attended it
> too. So, now, I partially disagree with Pier Maria. 
> 	>"Ok for the sensitive approach to people, as Giacomo
> stated, but I think that this 		approach doesn't go so
> deep as it seems."
> 
> Maybe Naomi simply doesn't want to go "so deep". This
> is the impression I had listening to her explanation
> of how her will to make cinema sprang up: "It was
> cinema that approached me and not the opposite".
> She was quite reticent in answering questions
> concerning technical or semantic issues ; on the other
> hand, she made questions. She asked the public what we
> felt after watching "Kya-ka-ra-ba-a". 
> 
> 	>"Sure Kawase Naomi digs in human being..."
> 
> Maybe this point is not so sure. Maybe Naomi doesn't
> need to dig, to find a "depiction of a falling". 
> This is what I extrapolated as the core of Naomi’s
> work: she is almost completely unaware of the means
> she uses. Her approach to filming is absolutely naïve
> and disinterested.
> 
> Otherwise, she totally deceived me, myself and all the
> other people there.
> In this case, I just need more time to figure it out.
> 
> Bye
> Guillermo   
> 
> 
> 
> --- Pier Maria Bocchi <further at libero.it> ha scritto:
> > I was in Alba, too (as a member of the festival
> > staff).
> > 
> > Ok, fine everything Guillermo (whom I did have the
> > pleasure to meet) and
> > Giacomo (whom I didn't have the pleasure to meet,
> > too bad) said about Kawase
> > and her stuff.
> > 
> > But I feel to say something.
> > 
> > As Roberta knows (and Roberta knows me very well), I
> > can't make myself like
> > Kawase Naomi that much as anybody around the world.
> > 
> > Sure, she did something good, also very good. Suzaku
> > is a good thing, and
> > her last film, Tsuioku no dansu, has an incredible
> > power to make you bow
> > your head, and then raise again and watch, and then
> > bow again. This is
> > necessary cinema, 'obscene' in its need to be
> > watched. This is the cinema
> > that we need, nowadays.
> > 
> > Ok for the sensitive approach to people, as Giacomo
> > stated, but I think that
> > this approach doesn't go so deep as it seems.
> > 
> > Suzaku recalls to mind the cinema of Hou
> > Hsiao-hsien, using also some
> > stylistic 'tools' relating the passage of time,
> > elliptical passages and cuts
> > that the tawainese director made a personal sign,
> > but films like 'A Time to
> > Live A Time to Die', 'Dust in the Wind', 'Goodbye
> > South, Goodbye' reach
> > peaks absolutely higher (and deeper) than those of
> > Kawase. And the style is
> > more crystalline and precise in Hou.
> > I think also that a film like Moboroshi by Koreeda
> > manages to tell the
> > disintegration of people, the loneliness of man on
> > earth and the friability
> > of relationships in a more convincing way than
> > Suzaku (and this from a guy
> > like me, who doesn't like Koreeda).
> > 
> > As for Hotaru, the other long feature by Kawase, I
> > think that a not
> > indispensable pic like M/Other by Suwa Nobuhiro is
> > harder and stronger in
> > its depiction of a falling. Sure, the two films see
> > differences (as Roberta
> > said to me, properly) between themselves, but to me
> > the cruelty of M/Other,
> > also in terms of style, is more successful than the
> > unbalanced (and I hope
> > not to be misunderstood) severity of Hotaru.
> > 
> > Sure Kawase Naomi digs in human being, and sometimes
> > she gets what she wants
> > perfectly and splendidly, but she still has some way
> > to go, according to me,
> > especially -I repeat myself, sorry- in the style
> > department, in its
> > confidence, in its maturity. She is too much of a
> > filmmaker, and too much
> > involved in her 'plaisir' of using her DV camera,
> > contemplating nature more
> > than really DIG in it. She is young, and then time
> > will tell.
> > 
> > Ciao,
> > Pier Maria
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "=%iso-8859-1%q?Guillermo=20Gonzales?="
> > <mononoaware76 at yahoo.it>
> > To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> > Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 12:41 AM
> > Subject: Re: Naomi Kawase - impressions
> > 
> > 
> > > Hi Kinejapaners,
> > >
> > > as well as Giacomo I was in Alba and I attended
> > Kawase
> > > Naomi's seminar.
> > > I guess a lot of people is still moved, beyond the
> > two
> > > of us.
> > > Naomi's works and words have been really intense
> > and
> > > have penetrated deep inside who was in Alba.
> > > I must confess I had a few prejudices about her
> > and
> > > absolutely I didn't expect to come back home with
> > a
> > > totally reversed opinion.
> > > ...still overflowing, as Giacomo wrote.
> > >
> > > ciao
> > > Guillermo
> > >
> > >
> > > --- Giacomo Calorio <karisuma at tiscalinet.it> ha
> > > scritto: > Hi kinejapaners,
> > > > I've just finished to see the extraordinary
> > > > retrospective exhibition
> > > > about Kawase Naomi's work, in Alba. I'm still
> > > > moved... I've never seen
> > > > such a sensitive approach to people in a movie.
> > The
> > > > way she manages to
> > > > communicate her feelings towards an object, and
> > the
> > > > way she manages to
> > > > dig in human being... it was a really new and
> > > > wonderful experience to me.
> > > >
> > > > I'm happy but my mind is still overflowing with
> > > > thoughts and moods... can
> > > > cinema do this?
> > > >
> > > > ciao
> > > >
> > > > giacomo
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> ______________________________________________________________________
> > > Speciale Giochi - Civilization III
> > >
> >
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> > 
> >  
> 
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Rodica-Livia Monnet,Associate Professor
Département de littérature comparée/Dept.of Comparative Literature
University of Montreal,Pav.Lionel Groulx,8th floor,C-8116
3150 Jean Brillant,Montreal,Quebec, H3T 1N8,Canada
Tel.514-343-6340,Fax 514-343-2211
Email: rodica-livia.monnet at umontreal.ca