Mizoguchi and neo-realism

[Naoki Yamamoto]

On Jun 10, 2007, at 9:17 PM, Aaron Gerow wrote:

> Just a note on thinking about "influences."
>
> Considering the availability of films is very important (there are a 
> lot of sloppy mistakes out there that result from lazy research), but 
> one must also consider the issue of published information. For 
> instance, one could say that, given how many Soviet films were 
> censored in prewar Japan, the influence of Soviet montage on Japanese 
> cinema was as much due to published articles and translations as to 
> the films themselves. In considering the neo-realist example, one must 
> not only look at release dates for films, but also the film magazines 
> at the time and see if anyone was introducing this cinema. Remember 
> that they need not have seen the movies: there were many in the world 
> of film journalism who were multi-lingual and would often read the 
> foreign film magazines, thus writing articles based on those.
>
> That said, the comment about domestic "realist" traditions is also 
> very important, but this again should also extend to the realm of film 
> criticism and theory. Imamura Taihei was of course the primary 
> proponent of realism in the prewar and wartime years, but some of 
> Sugiyama Kohei's writings are practically Bazinian and Hase Masato has 
> compared (somewhat problematically) Tsumura Hideo to the spirit of the 
> French New Wave. Do not forget that many directors had close 
> relationships with film critics, and often wrote pieces about film 
> themselves.
>
> Aaron Gerow
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
> PO Box 208363
> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
>
>
Naoki Yamamoto (Mr.)
2nd year PhD Student
East Asian Lang. & Lit./ Film Studies
Yale University