Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan

Michael McCaskey mccaskem at georgetown.edu
Wed Jul 25 20:09:45 EDT 2007


Have you seen Ueto Aya in Yoshitsune? She's pretty good in that dramatic role as well, though she plays a secondary role most of the time. Since she did the two Azumi films she has seemed somewhat less vivacious, but I liked her very much in My Little Chef earlier on.

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.

----- Original Message -----
From: David Lewis <david.lionel.lewis at sympatico.ca>
Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 2:13 pm
Subject: Re: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan

> you can search for Rikouran in d-addicts
> seems the torrents are still alive
> 
> I agree that it's much better that what one could have expected 
> from bubbly
> Ueto Aya
> 
> David Lewis
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net>
> To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 2:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
> 
> 
> > Can you tell me more about this please - I never heard about it 
> before.>
> > Thanks
> > Jasper
> >
> > "I've watched the first part of the recent fairly lengthy film 
> biographyof
> > Yamaguchi, starring Ueto Aya, which is fairly good - DVD 2, 
> which I've not
> > yet seen, is about Yamaguchi's time in Shanghai, and I'll have 
> to see if
> > Kawakita is portrayed as a key player."
> >
> > --
> > Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
> > www.midnighteye.com
> >
> > ===
> >
> > Jasper Sharp's myspace page: www.myspace.com/jaspersharp
> >
> >
> >
> > --------- Original Message --------
> > From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> > To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> > Subject: Re: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
> > Date: 25/07/07 08:31
> >
> > >
> > > There is some valuable background information in English about 
> theseearly
> > Japanese-German film connections in Janine Hansen's article
> &quot;Celluloid
> > Competition: Japanese-German Film Relations, 1929-1945&quot; in 
> the book
> > Cinema and the Swastika, pp. 187-197. It would be great if this 
> article> could be expanded into a book.
> > >
> > > There's also interesting information about Kawakita Nagamasa 
> in Sato
> > Tadao's Nihon Eiga Shi, vol. 2, pp. 123-128. Kawakita was so 
> well-known
> for
> > his film deals with the French and the Germans that he became a key
> manager
> > in the Japanese-Chinese film industry, mostly based in Shanghai, 
> under the
> > Japanese Occupation. Though answerable to the Japanese military
> authorities,
> > he seems to have played a fairly positive role - letting the 
> Chinese make
> > films pretty much as they wished, some of them even having some
> > anti-Occupation themes hidden in them.
> > >
> > > At the end of the war in 1945, according to Sato, Kawakita 
> also seems to
> > have played a role in trying to keep his film crews and actors 
> from being
> > pubished as collaborators with the Japanese Occupation. Also 
> according to
> > Sato, Kawakita gave testimony which helped keep Yamaguchi Yoshiko/Ri
> > Koran/Shirley Yamaguchi from being imprisoned or executed as a
> collaborator,
> > and he and Yamaguchi went back to Japan together.
> > >
> > > I've watched the first part of the recent fairly lengthy film 
> biographyof
> > Yamaguchi, starring Ueto Aya, which is fairly good - DVD 2, 
> which I've not
> > yet seen, is about Yamaguchi's time in Shanghai, and I'll have 
> to see if
> > Kawakita is portrayed as a key player.
> > >
> > > Michael McCaskey
> > > Georgetown Univ.
> > > Wash DC
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu&gt;
> > > Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 1:21 am
> > > Subject: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
> > >
> > > &gt; I was reading David Bordwell's blog entry mourning the 
> passing on
> > &gt; Edward Yang and came across his fascinating description of 
> a film
> &gt;
> > that just showed at Cinema Ritrovato (dated July 6).
> > > &gt; &gt; _
> > > &gt; &gt; In the early 1930s, Japanese companies explored the
> possibility
> > of &gt; &gt; exporting their films to Europe and the US. One 
> result of
> these
> >  &gt; initiatives was Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan, a 
> 1932&gt;
> > German compilation created by Carl Koch. It originally consisted 
> &gt; of
> > &gt; three films from the Shochiku studio, condensed and 
> supplied with
> &gt;
> > German intertitles. The original films were silent, so, oddly 
> &gt; enough,
> > &gt; synced Japanese dialogue was added.
> > > &gt; &gt; &gt; &gt; In the version screened here, only two 
> episodes were
> > presented. &gt; What  &gt; beauties they were! Since many of the 
> 1920s and
> > 1930s Japanese &gt; films  &gt; that survive look quite 
> weatherbeaten, it
> > was wonderful to see, in &gt; &gt; the print from the 
> Cinémathèque Suisse,
> > how gorgeous quite &gt; ordinary  &gt; movies from this era 
> could be.
> > > &gt; &gt; The first story, Kaito samimaro (orig. 1928), deals 
> with a
> young
> >  &gt; samurai rescuing his beloved from the clutches of a 
> corrupt &gt;
> > priest.  &gt; Brisk and beautifully shot, it came to the sort of 
> frothing> &gt; swordplay  &gt; climax typical of the period-rapid 
> cutting, dynamic
> > tracking, and  &gt; slashing assaults aimed at the camera. Kagaribi
> (1928),
> > about a &gt; young  &gt; vassal betrayed by his corrupt lord, 
> likewiseended
> > with a &gt; protracted  &gt; action scene capped by a jolting 
> climax. A
> > prolonged tracking shot &gt; &gt; follows the young man's former 
> lover as
> > she backs away from him, &gt; but  &gt; then we cut to a full 
> shot. With a
> > single stroke he kills her,  &gt; jaggedly ripping a paper door 
> in his
> > follow-through. Both stand  &gt; motionless for a moment before 
> she falls.
> A
> > conventional finish, &gt; but  &gt; no less eye-smiting for 
> that. For more
> > on the power of this action-&gt; &gt; cinema tradition, see an 
> earlierentry
> > on this site.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ________________________________________________
> > Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
> 


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