Japanese CNC?

[Peter Larson]

I found, and this is purely informal, that people still rent Japanese movies
on video at a rate on par with American movies, but when it comes to paying
the 2000yen to go to the movies, people are much more apt to go see an
American made puffball on the weekends than a Japanese movie. At least in my
family, I don't know.

English schools do give a really skewed view of the Japanese public, I find
that Eikaiwa people are no test demographic.
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of J.sharp
  Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2003 10:01 PM
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
  Subject: RE: Japanese CNC?



  I think the Japanese film industry is in a pretty enviable shape compared
with most other national cinemas, the most obvious point of references being
the industries of the individual European companies.


  Its true, based on anecdotal evidence, one might get the impression that
no one in Japan ever watches Japanese films, but you have to remember who
you are actually asking. I work in an English school in Ginza, and most of
my students wake up at 5am and work a minimum of twelve hours a day. You can
imagine that when they do go to the cinema, they’re not going to sit for
three hours watching EUREKA. No - they want no-brain entertainment like
SPIDERMAN or MATRIX when they’re not shopping or walking around the golf
course. I don’t count these people as representative of the Japanese public
however. Every time I go into a cinema to watch a Japan film, there’s a
pretty good turn out of people, and there’s usually about 10 Japanese films
playing in Tokyo at any one time.



  There’s still been plenty of bigger budgeted more mainstream Japanese
films playing the major chains this year – AZUMI, MOONCHILD, SPY SORGE – so
someone is obviously watching them. Right around the corner from the school
where I drone out eikaiwa on a daily basis, a huge screen has been
emblazoned with the BATTLE ROYALE 2 logo for the past month or so, with
hordes of people swarming around the BR2 gift shop on the street, which is
purveying para-military inspired fashion accessories. Its going to be a big
release – probably the largest Japanese one this year.



  And that’s not including the ever-lucrative low-cost high return animated
endeavours of regular favourites such as DORAEMON or ONE PIECE, nor the
GODZILLA franchise. And lets not forget that no country in the world has an
equivalent to Miyazaki, a national treasure whose films continue to
out-gross all foreign competition. Nor the fact that the video chain Tsutaya
devotes about a third of its floor space to domestic films – there’s
certainly nothing like that in video shops in the UK.



  As Aaron points out, Hollywood does have unfair market advantages - the
same in any country - and their block-booking tactics, market saturation and
the fact distributors and cinema chains are owned by the companies that
produce the films, will ensure that in provincial towns outside of Tokyo, it
is actually nigh on impossible to even see a Japanese film, whilst the
latest MATRIX film is booked into two or three screens of the local
multiplex. The film industry is one of the US’ biggest industries, whereas
it ranks pretty low on the business hierarchy in Japan, UK or even France,
and as such, the US has become fiercely protectionist about its own
interests – far more so than any other country. There is the odd local film
screened in the bigger cinema chains as a token effort alongside the
Hollywood eye-candy, but as long as this is of the quality of TRICK or
MOONCHILD, then the same people whose cinematic needs are provided for
purely by the multiplex are likely to be giving Japanese films an incredibly
wide berth in the future. (just read an interesting anecdote in Sight and
Sound from last year which said that in Quebec, ASTERIX & OBELIX 2 actually
out-grossed ATTACK OF THE CLONES last year, because independent distributors
balked at paying the high box office take demanded by Lucasfilms, so the
film actually played on a relatively small number of screens – a good
indication of how behind the scenes business skulduggery has such an
enormous influence on box office performance).



  Remember that most of the films showcased abroad, and hence discussed on
boards like this, are small arthouse releases – not the larger more
commercial offerings. As an English teacher, you might get blank looks when
you try and discuss Naruse or even Ozu with your housewives afternoon
course – but I doubt any random member of the general public in Britain
knows who David Lean is either. At the same time, it is still possible to
meet plenty of cinephiles who become notably animated when you mention names
such as Kurosawa Kiyoshi Shinya Tsukamoto.



  Essentially, like any other country I’ve been to, there are two film
markets. Mainstream multiplex, and independent cinemas that might once have
been labelled “arthouse”, but subsequent to the Mirax-isation of the
multiplex, are now the only place where you can see smaller national
releases and non-Hollywood foreign releases. These cinemas have their own
loyal followings which will ensure that this second market will never die
out, but they are also sparsely scattered enough to mean that no individual
title will ever achieve the same level of performance as a mainstream
release – even freak success stories like BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, which has
played on one screen in Tokyo, but has been sold out for over six months.



  OK, so we’re hardly in the Golden Age of the 50s, but then, what country
is? The 80s signified the death knell of national cinema, to my mind. It
also marked a rapid downturn in the quality of Hollywood films. These films
allegedly succeed because they are universal, but this for me is the reason
why they are so unsatisfactory. They don’t address any of the issues that
are important to me personally, and they rarely attempt to stretch the
parameters of cinema as an art form nor enlighten me about other cultures.
They are merely safe puerile fantasies where you are supposed to marvel at
how much money has been thrown up on screen. No other country can possibly
complete. Nor should they want to. The day when national cinema was forced
to cater for an international market was the day it became less fresh and
interesting. There’s nothing with the meat or power of the finest work from
the 50s, 60s or 70s, from any country. As a British person, I can find
resonance with the films of Mike Leigh or Lynne Ramsay, but it is films like
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM that are making the money. And its awful films like
HOTEL HIBISCUS that are drawing in the housewives for the matinee
performances in Tokyo.



  To the distant observer, it may seem that there’s been nothing significant
coming out of Japan at the moment. There’s been precious little here that’s
impressed me this year either. But the film industry goes in cycles, not on
a teleological path to self-destruction. From my perspective in Tokyo,
looking at those UniJapan figures I could infer that the British film
industry is in a mess. Last year there was only 9 films from the UK screened
in Japan (one of these was KEVIN AND PERRY GO LARGE!) compared with the 30
or so from previous years. However, this year I believe there’s already been
more than 9, so this is undoubtedly just an isolated blip. In the same
respect, I’m sure that Japan will have another 1997-98, when SHALL WE DANCE
swept across America, RING and CURE crawled across cathode ray tubes all
over Asia, anime fans went wide-eyed over PRINCESS MONONOKE and PERFECT
BLUE, and arthouse audience swooned over UNAGI and HANA-BI.





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