Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
David Lewis
david.lionel.lewis at sympatico.ca
Wed Jul 25 21:33:22 EDT 2007
hmm! I might have sounded a bit mean to poor Aya
well, even though her duracell-bunny-ness can at times be a bit hard on my
fragile nervous system, I actually do think that she has a solid (and
somewhat funny) take on the super-genki girl with an attitude who discovers
the value of team spirit and hard work (Ace wo Nerae, Attack no. 1,
Attention Please ...), but to me, this was hardly more than an aidoru-type
routine (the Ueto Aya kata?), and I was therefore surprised to see her
manage to successfully turn into Yamaguchi Yoshiko (or was it the other way
around?).
I have only seen bits of Yoshitsune, and don't remember spotting Ueto Aya in
it. Taiga dorama are pretty scary stuff to me - to get to the end, you have
to take a sick leave or something - but I'll try to give Yoshitsune a try.
and I don't think I've seen My Little Chef, but with Abe Hiroshi and Yada
Akiko, it must be pretty good
David Lewis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael McCaskey" <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
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
> "Celluloid
> > Competition: Japanese-German Film Relations, 1929-1945" 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>
> > > Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 1:21 am
> > > Subject: Bordwell on Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan
> > >
> > > > I was reading David Bordwell's blog entry mourning the
> passing on
> > > Edward Yang and came across his fascinating description of
> a film
> >
> > that just showed at Cinema Ritrovato (dated July 6).
> > > > > _
> > > > > In the early 1930s, Japanese companies explored the
> possibility
> > of > > exporting their films to Europe and the US. One
> result of
> these
> > > initiatives was Nippon: Liebe und Leidenschaft in Japan, a
> 1932>
> > German compilation created by Carl Koch. It originally consisted
> > of
> > > three films from the Shochiku studio, condensed and
> supplied with
> >
> > German intertitles. The original films were silent, so, oddly
> > enough,
> > > synced Japanese dialogue was added.
> > > > > > > In the version screened here, only two
> episodes were
> > presented. > What > beauties they were! Since many of the
> 1920s and
> > 1930s Japanese > films > that survive look quite
> weatherbeaten, it
> > was wonderful to see, in > > the print from the
> Cinémathèque Suisse,
> > how gorgeous quite > ordinary > movies from this era
> could be.
> > > > > The first story, Kaito samimaro (orig. 1928), deals
> with a
> young
> > > samurai rescuing his beloved from the clutches of a
> corrupt >
> > priest. > Brisk and beautifully shot, it came to the sort of
> frothing> > swordplay > climax typical of the period-rapid
> cutting, dynamic
> > tracking, and > slashing assaults aimed at the camera. Kagaribi
> (1928),
> > about a > young > vassal betrayed by his corrupt lord,
> likewiseended
> > with a > protracted > action scene capped by a jolting
> climax. A
> > prolonged tracking shot > > follows the young man's former
> lover as
> > she backs away from him, > but > then we cut to a full
> shot. With a
> > single stroke he kills her, > jaggedly ripping a paper door
> in his
> > follow-through. Both stand > motionless for a moment before
> she falls.
> A
> > conventional finish, > but > no less eye-smiting for
> that. For more
> > on the power of this action-> > cinema tradition, see an
> earlierentry
> > on this site.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ________________________________________________
> > Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
>
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