Eiga Geijutsu Best Ten 2002

[Aaron Gerow]

It's a little bit late this year, but here's the Best Ten and Worst Ten 
for 2002 according to the long-running magazine Eiga Geijutsu. Remember 
that Eigei defines the year as December 1, 2001, to November 30, 2003, so 
some good works like Keimusho no naka were not eligible.

1) Gaichu (Shiota Akihiko)
2) KT (Sakamoto Junji)
3) UNLOVED (Manda Kunitoshi)
4) Hush! (Hashiguchi Ryosuke)
5) Koroshiya 1 (Miike Takashi)
6) Aoi haru (Toyoda Toshiaki)
7) Tasogare Seibei (Yamada Yoji)
8) A2 (Mori Tatsuya)
8) Hikari no ame (Takahashi Banmei)
10) Gomen (Togashi Shin)

Some films that just missed were:

11) OUT (Hirayama Hideyuki)
12) Sukedachiya Sukeroku (Okamoto Kihachi)
13) Harenchi Family (Meiike Mitsuru)
14) Crayon Shinchan Arashi o yobu appare! (Hara Keiichi)
15) Last Scene (Nakata Hideo)
16) Dog Star (Zeze Takahisa)
17) AIKI (Tengan Daisuke)
18) Kasei no kanon (Kazama Shiori)
19) Shin Jingi no hakaba (Miike Takashi)
20) tokyo.sora (Ishikawa Hiroshi)

The results reveal how different the Eigei poll is. Gaichu was virtually 
ignored in most of the other, more commercial or conservative polls, but 
ends up number one here. I must admit that I find the Eigei poll more 
interesting, not just because I also vote and because my number one also 
managed to be number one this year, but also because you get some 
peculiar results and a some critical comments by the voters.

The Eigei best ten is also peculiar because it includes a worst ten list 
and subtracts 
worst ten votes from the best ten votes.  Voters can also freely allot 
the voting points for each film, as long as none gets over 10 points and 
the voter does not exceed 55 points.  Given the variety of the selectors, 
pink films sometimes hit the best ten.  Also, since some professional 
people (i.e. filmmakers) also vote (the general policy at Eigei being to 
bring forward the professional point of view), behind the camera 
relationships do seem to 
have an effect.

This was my list:

1) Gaichu (Shiota Akihiko)
1) Kasei no kanon (Kazama Shiori)
4) Hush! (Hashiguchi Ryosuke)
5) Dog Star (Zeze Takahisa)
6) Ryoma no tsuma to sono otto to aijin (Ichikawa Jun)
6) Travaille (Onishi Kentaro)
7) KT (Sakamoto Junji)
8) A2 (Mori Tatsuya)
9) Crayon Shinchan Arashi o yobu appare! (Hara Keiichi)
10) Koroshiya 1 (Miike Takashi)

Here is the fun part, the Eigei Worst Ten:

1) Sennen no koi (Horikawa Tonko)
2) Totsunyu seyo! Asama Sanso jiken (Harada Masato)
3) Kyoki no sakura (Sonoda Kenji)
4) Mohohan (Morita Yoshimitsu)
5) Dolls (Kitano Takeshi)
6) Hikari no ame (Takahashi Banmei)
7) Gaichu (Shiota Akihiko)
8) Tasogare Seibei (Yamada Yoji)
9) Infinity (Takahashi Iwao)
9) KT (Sakamoto Junji)

It is interesting to see a few of the same films appear in the best and 
the worst ten lists. Dolls position also reveals how poorly that film was 
received. 

The best ten issue (No. 402) also has an anonymous zadankai about the 
state of the industry (including somebody we know?), another zadankai on 
"Is Tasogare Seibei a Masterpiece" (the answer: no), and feature articles 
on Kurosawa's Akarui mirai (which is probably in the running to be the 
Eigi best film for 2003).




Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171