Harada's new film

[mark schilling]

By "clunky" and "whimsical" leftist imagery, I assume Markus is referring to
the ex-radical yakuza boss in "Bounce" who drapes his "date club" with red
bunting and sings the "Internationale" at a karaoke joint with a ko-gal.
Good choice of adjectives, though I would add 'bizarre." Not because such
middle-aged nostalgists don't exist among the former hard-core left, but
because finding one among the guys who run Shibuya hooker bars would be a
trick worthy of David Copperfield.

Marcus also asks where Harada is "positioning himself" by his choice of
subject matter. I asked that question myself, because the viewpoint of the
radicals seemed to offer more dramatic potential. But Harada is making a
commercial film and a story about  forcing a clannish and hierarchical
bureaucracy to unite in a life-or-death task has more relevance for its
target salarymen audience (particularly those of its members on the
restructuring chopping block). Shooting scenes from the radicals' side of
the siege would not contribute appreciably to this story, while adding to
the already lengthy cast of characters.

Shoot a story about the radicals and make the cops the faceless others? Then
you are talking about a film like "Hikari no Ame" -- a study in group
pathology, with a jargon and mindset unfathomable to all but a small (and
rapidly graying) sector of the audience. Not a good investment for 600
million yen, I'm afraid.

Mark Schilling
schill at gol.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark H Nornes" <amnornes at umich.edu>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: Harada's new film


> re: leftist imagery
>
> I don't know about this film (but even if they sekigun don't have speaking
> roles, the subject matter is the ultimate symbol of the new left's
> failure, so you have to ask where he's positioning himself if it's only
> on one side of the "front line"). However, I'm thinking of the almost
> whimsical or perhaps clunky use of Soviet iconography and student movement
> references in previous films.
>
> Markus
>
>