Shinozaki, etc.

[Arnold M]

Apologies for the late response!

Mark H Nornes wrote:
>The Shinozaki thread has been very interesting. Michael, could you explain
>your reference to *Hanako*? This is the Sato Makoto documentary, right?

Yes, the Sato documentary is what I meant.  As I mentioned in the earlier 
post, I have seen several films and TV shows in Japan (and elsewhere) that 
featured physically ill or mentally unstable women characters who seemed to 
be presented as adorable exactly because of their disability or illness.  
That's what came up in my mind when I read Joseph Murphy's comments about 
the wife in Okaeri.  Sato Makoto's Hanako (2001) is a documentary film 
about a mentally disabled young woman named Imamura Hanako and the artwork 
that she creates out of leftover food at her home.  Instead of pasting on a 
pleasant, loveable image Sato shows at face value a lot of the stress and 
confusion that develops in Hanako?s family as a result of her condition.  
Several of the scenes are pleasant or amusing and Hanako and her family do 
seem like very nice people, but in contrast to what we'd probably see if we 
watched a Japanese evening drama about a disabled woman, there's nothing 
cute about Hanako?s condition.  Her determination is very impressive and 
her temper tantrums are equally hard to deal with.  The artwork she creates 
with half-eaten food was interesting as well as very messy, but probably 
not much of a feast for the eyes from where I was looking.  It was 
definitely not a romanticized story.  Very interesting film!

I think there have been a couple of other films about disabled people in 
Japanese theaters recently--was there one called National 7?  Not to 
mention several characters in the films of Lars Von Trier, Harmony Korine, 
etc.  I suppose we could look back to Cassavetes and even further though...

Michael Arnold

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