Takechi Tetsuji resurrected?

Kirsten Cather kcather
Tue Jan 9 15:45:21 EST 2007


That would be very exciting news. I'm now working on a book on the
major censorship trials of literature, film, and manga in post-1950s Japan,
which includes a chapter on Takechi's trial for "Kuroi yuki." (Jasper, you may
remember kindly meeting with me and sharing some of your materials a few
years back now - thanks again!) The trial transcripts are interesting 
in that they
reflect this general rejection of Takechi within the Japanese film 
community, even
in the testimony of star defense witnesses like Oshima and Mishima. 
I've found too that
it's near impossible to find much written about Takechi besides the 
usual passing reference
to his trial and "Hakujitsumu."

I've got a copy of "Kuroi yuki" but haven't seen many of Takechi's other works
and would also be very interested in hearing anyone's reactions who 
might have seen
the retrospective.

Also, I neglected to follow up about Ian Buruma's project on Shirley 
Yamaguchi after his
talk here at UT Austin on her back in the fall. It turns out he's 
writing a novel that is a somewhat fictionalized account of her life, 
not an academic piece on her, so she's up for grabs after all.

Kirsten

At 3:41 AM +0900 1/10/07, J.sharp wrote:
>As far as I can make out, despite lengthy appraisals in Western books on
>pink cinema, for years Takechi Tetsuji, the late director of Daydream and
>Black Snow has gone virtually unrecognised in Japan. Whenever I have
>mentioned his name to Japanese critics or figures in the industry, I've been
>met with either blank looks or  only the dimmest signs recognition ("Oh,
>him...") Recent books on pink film (although whether Takechi is really pink
>is a moot point) also seem to excluse him. Its as if he never was.
>Or at least, it was. I have just stumbled across a retrospective which took
>place at Image Forum last October, which I am wondering if anyone here was
>aware of it or even went: see www.takechitetsuji.com
>
>What amazes me is that I always assumed that the key to Takechi's lowly
>status in his own country was because there were no prints of his films.
>Here it appears that every single one of his ten realised works is not only
>available, but new prints have been struck up.
>
>Does anyone know who was responsible for this retrospective, whether this
>means we'll see pristine new DVD releases coming soon, and why it is
>happening now. I am very curious indeed.
>
>Thanks for your help...
>
>Jasper
>
>--
>Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
>www.midnighteye.com
>
>===
>
>Available now in bookstores everywhere:
>The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (Stone Bridge Press)
>by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
>http://www.midnighteye.com/features/midnighteye_guide.shtml
>"Easily one of the most important books on Japanese cinema ever released in
>English."
>- Newtype USA
>
>
>
>
>________________________________________________
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-- 
Kirsten Cather
Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies
University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station, G9300
Austin, TX  78712




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