Tsuchimoto Noriaki and the organized left

[Jonathan M. Hall]

Dear KineJapanners,

Despite being in Tokyo this past summer, I did not make it to the Tsuchimoto
screenings.  As a kind of happy penance, however, I did go see *The Shiranui
Sea* which is screening on the West Coast.  It's really a wonderfully
lyrical 2.5 hr film, dedicated to a broad look at communities on opposite
shores that share the same polluted sea.  Its oscillating movements towards
and away from its subjects really captivated me.  I took the opportunity to
read about it in Joan Mellen's *The Waves at Genji's Door*.  She writes on
page 442 Tsuchimoto "does not mention that the Chisso trade union actually
sided with the company against the victims, taking no part in the struggle.
This omission may be partly based upon Tsuchimoto's feeling that introducing
the issue of the neo-feudal role of so many trade unions in Japan would
distract from the central issue of the Minamata victims."  Mellen raises an
interesting question.   How does the "organized left" figure--or not-- in
the Minamata films?  In the Shiranui Sea --the film of his that I've most
recently seen--, that left really is striking in its absence.

Just a thought for the day.  I wonder if others more familiar with
Tsuchimoto's films have reactions.

Jonathan

-- 

Jonathan M. Hall
Japanese Film and Modern Literature, Critical Theories of East Asia

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
Humanities Instructional Building 435
University of California Irvine
Irvine, California 92697

T: 1-949-824-9778
F: 1-949-824-2916
E: jmhall at uci.edu