Shinozaki, etc.
Arnold M
ma_iku
Tue Aug 6 05:47:30 EDT 2002
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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