Eiga geijutsu best ten (E+J)

[mark schilling]

Michael asked for opinions on Utsukushii Natsu Kirishima, the number one
film on the Kinejun poll. My review will appear in The Japan Times on
Wednesday.

Briefly, Utsukushii is in the line of other elegiac "end-of-the-war" films
I've seen over the past decade, if not as blatantly sentimental and
mythologizing.

The biggest difference is that Kuroki filmed his own youthful experiences,
in the very house and community where he had them. All the atmospherics are
there -- but the horrors of the war are more suggested than shown. It's as
if Spielberg had filmed Saving Private Ryan entirely from the viewpoint of
the family waiting at home. This distanced, allusive approach seems to suit
the mostly over-fifty audiences at Iwanami Hall, who have made the film a
long-running hit. The Kinejun honor can only help, of course.

I also have reviews of Chakushin Ari and Josee to Tora to Sakanatachi on the
JT site at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/arts.htm. Scroll down to the Films In
Review column on the right side of the page.
My reviews of Japanese films appear on the page every Wednesday.

Mark Schilling
schill at gol.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "M Arnold" <ma_iku at hotmail.com>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Eiga geijutsu best ten (E+J)


> While we're at it, has anyone on the list seen Utsukushii natsu Kirishima?
> I've been hearing snippets of info on this for a couple of years now, and
> I'm very curious about how it turned out. (I'm also desperate to see
Harada
> Yoshio in something new to wash the taste of Azumi out of my mouth.)
There's
> a trailer on the film website.
http://www.pan-dora.co.jp/kirishima/top.html
>
> As an afterward to the discussion on the three "Japan" movies, are there
any
> recent Japanese films that merit similar or related questions about
> representation and empire? What did people think about Battle Royale II
> (other than that it was really bad)? The story left me with mixed
feelings.
> The idea of rejecting western oppression and acting on behalf of the
"third
> world" (even dressing up for the part in the last scene) was played out in
a
> way that I thought felt very different from the ideological thrust of the
> first film. The (mostly) irrational and disturbingly violent student
deaths
> of the first movie became more like romantic battlefield sacrifices in
this
> "Requiem."
>
> For those of you interested in Pink, there's an essay by William Johnson
on
> Kumashiro Tatsumi in the Fall 2003 issue of Film Quarterly. "A New View of
> Porn: The Films of Tatsumi Kumashiro." It seems to make some interesting
> claims. . . I'm still reading it so I'll withhold my comments for now.
>
> Michael Arnold

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "M Arnold" <ma_iku at hotmail.com>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Eiga geijutsu best ten (E+J)


> While we're at it, has anyone on the list seen Utsukushii natsu Kirishima?
> I've been hearing snippets of info on this for a couple of years now, and
> I'm very curious about how it turned out. (I'm also desperate to see
Harada
> Yoshio in something new to wash the taste of Azumi out of my mouth.)
There's
> a trailer on the film website.
http://www.pan-dora.co.jp/kirishima/top.html
>
> As an afterward to the discussion on the three "Japan" movies, are there
any
> recent Japanese films that merit similar or related questions about
> representation and empire? What did people think about Battle Royale II
> (other than that it was really bad)? The story left me with mixed
feelings.
> The idea of rejecting western oppression and acting on behalf of the
"third
> world" (even dressing up for the part in the last scene) was played out in
a
> way that I thought felt very different from the ideological thrust of the
> first film. The (mostly) irrational and disturbingly violent student
deaths
> of the first movie became more like romantic battlefield sacrifices in
this
> "Requiem."
>
> For those of you interested in Pink, there's an essay by William Johnson
on
> Kumashiro Tatsumi in the Fall 2003 issue of Film Quarterly. "A New View of
> Porn: The Films of Tatsumi Kumashiro." It seems to make some interesting
> claims. . . I'm still reading it so I'll withhold my comments for now.
>
> Michael Arnold