Onmyoji/recent japanese cinema

[Tom Mes]

I've been reading this ongoing discussion about the quality of recent 
Japanese films with a mix of alarm and surprise. Alarm, because it makes me 
wonder whether we at Midnight Eye are actually reaching people, and surprise 
because the names and works of the leading contemporary directors are so 
often the topic of discussion here that I expected long-tem Kinejapaners 
would know how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Several good points have already been made: the balance of good and bad 
films is probably no different in Japan than in any other film-producing 
nation, and that the films that receive foreign distibution aren't 
necessarily the best Japan has to offer.

It helps a lot to go to film festivals rather than rely only on DVD, but 
even if DVD is your only way of getting to see these films, there are still 
hundreds of interesting titles available with English subtitles, especially 
if you have a multi-region player. Importing discs from Japan is cheaper now 
than it ever was and a surprising number of interesting films from the likes 
of Koreeda, Aoyama, Kurosawa, Hashiguchi and others are available in Japan 
with English subs. Have a look at Hong Kong and European DVD releases too.

There are so many wonderful directors working in Japan at the moment. In 
addition to the ones already mentioned: Shinya Tsukamoto, Shinobu Yaguchi, 
Ryuichi Hiroki, Makoto Shinozaki, Sogo Ishii, Naomi Kawase, Nobuhiro 
Yamashita, Toshiaki Toyoda, Junji Sakamoto, Ryuichi Honda, Kazuyoshi 
Kumakiri, the list truly goes on and on.

And don't forget to have a look at Midnight Eye once in a while for pointers 
about interesting films...

Tom
http://www.midnighteye.com

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