Koroshiya Ichi/Ichi The Killer

[Mark Nornes]

I'm less interested in Miike's "cult value", which is more accurately 
discussed in terms of auteur criticism when you consider most of the 
writing itself. This is quite different stuff than typical fan 
discourse, say around Godzilla or most anime. There is much more in 
common with Wakamatsu and the way he was written about in the 1960s and 
especially in 1970s early 80s English language criticism (now, too to 
some degree). What is most interesting to me is the way that Miike and 
other directors working in violent body genres are woven into 
constructions of  "Japanese Cinema Now." Wakamatsu did get festival 
showings for a few of his films, but it's nothing like Miike or other 
directors working in relatively low budget, genre cinema or even 
straight to video. I am wondering what this says about WHO is 
constructing our collective image of Japanese Cinema Now, and whether 
this is a different crowd than before, and why has it changed.

markus



On Friday, January 25, 2002, at 10:55  AM, Tom Mes wrote:

> It's an interesting point that Aaron Gerow made about critics 
> "appropriating" Miike and this perceived need to establish him as 
> representative of current Japanese cinema.
>
> As many of you will probably be aware, we have done a fair bit of 
> writing about Miike and his films at Midnight Eye. While I certainly 
> don't see him (or any individual director) as representative for 
> current Japanese cinema, I do feel he is one of the most exciting 
> filmmakers currently working in Japan. As Aaron states, his work is 
> remarkably consistent, which is even more remarkable for the fact that 
> he makes an average of 4-5 films a year and, as stated, works with many 
> different scriptwriters (though the same names tend to crop up in 
> recent years: Masa Nakamura, Ichiro Ryu, Itaru Era).
>
> As for appropriation for personal gain (in a certain sense), there will 
> always be people directly or indirectly related to filmmaking who will 
> jump on the bandwagon of whatever is popular/fashionable/etc. This is 
> certainly not unique to Miike's current popularity. What I find more 
> interesting is that over the past few months, I have been noticing the 
> opposite effect: people trying themselves from his films by questioning 
> the artistic merits of Miike's work, writing him off as little more 
> than a guy who makes (violent) entertainment and who has little to say 
> beyond that. I get the feeling that some of these people are eager to 
> distance themselves from the "cult" audience that has so wholeheartedly 
> embraced Miike over the past year or so.
>
> I certainly agree that the surface portrayal of vice, violence and 
> viscera in his films can put people off of really looking at his films 
> and what they say. In that sense, Miike is maybe not doing himself any 
> favours. Also, it's a fact that only a very small percentage of his 
> films has made it to international audiences. Even some of Kinejapan's 
> regular contributors say they've only seen a handful at most.
>
> Those who have had the chance to see a representative amount of his 
> work, like mr. Gerow, can't fail to notice the consistency in his 
> themes, motifs and concerns. I have currently managed to see between 25 
> and 30 of his films, some multiple times, and the merits of his work 
> are evident. I've read some of Aaron Gerow's writing on Miike's films 
> and he makes very interesting observations. Unfortunately a number of 
> them have to my knowledge never appeared in English (like the essay he 
> wrote for the Miike retro in Courmayeur in 99), so some very valuable 
> insights are not easily available for many of us (I found the Italian 
> version of the Courmayeur essay online and translated it bit by bit 
> using a translation site - not the most comfortable way to read it, but 
> I managed in the end).
>
> Hopefully more writing will appear on Miike in years to come, whose 
> writers will hopefully take some distance from yes/no debates and 
> "cult" hype and offer valid insights into a body of work which I truly 
> believe to be one of the most, interesting and challenging in Japan 
> today (without hailing it as representative, of course ;) ).
>
> Tom Mes
>
> Midnight Eye
> http://www.midnighteye.com
>
>
>
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