Eigazukuri to mura he no michi

[Mark Nornes]

Ogawa was "behind" Filmmaking and the Way to the Village only to the  
extent that he started and stopped it. By all accounts, Fukuda was on  
his own and working independently. It was to be a "study film" that  
would be his stepping stone to director (he was Ogawa's AD at the time).

One reason it's such a precious film is that it was made at a crucial  
time in the life of Ogawa Pro, just as they were reaching the heights  
of their rhetoric about collective production. Just as they were  
making Heta Village, a film that shuttles the fighting at Sanrizuka  
to the deep background and centers on the world of the village. The  
thing is that, just as you noticed, the film makes it clear that  
Ogawa was at the center of everything. In significant ways, it was a  
collective in name only, and there were plenty of ways in which they  
replicated the authoritarian structures of the film studio or PR film  
company.

Perhaps the best of evidence of this is what happened to the film  
when it was done: Ogawa hated it intensely. The collective sat around  
in one of the discussions you see in the film, only this time they  
were critiquing Fukuda's film. People who were there talk about how  
brutal Ogawa was in his criticism, going on and on with all sorts of  
things. What exactly set him off? No one claims to remember. I sensed  
that this wasn't a refusal to remember. Rather, Ogawa's criticisms  
were so trivial that they weren't worth remembering. For the "making  
of" genre, it's a fine film.

But this left Fukuda debilitated. He stayed at Ogawa Pro, but the  
experience dashed his hopes of becoming a director. At least in Ogawa  
Pro. Instead, he left after several years and returned to Sanrizuka  
to make his own Sanrizuka Series.

And as for the film, it remained in storage until Ogawa's death and  
no one outside of the collective even knew it existed. But when  
former members were rummaging around the Magino house after the  
funeral, trying to figure out what to do with everything, Fukuda  
noticed his film. He said something like, "Um, this is mine. Could I  
take it?" Since Ogawa basically disowned it, everyone agreed that  
Fukuda might as well keep it. Unfortunately, Fukuda died before he  
was able to do anything. But he had cleaned up the film print and  
soundtrack, making it clear that he had some plan in mind for it.

So to answer your question, , yes, Ogawa was explicit about his  
problems with the film. But we don't know what the problem was. I  
spoke to at least five people that were there for that discussion.  
Each one of them did the head-tiling, breath-sucking, thought real  
hard, and simply couldn't remember what the problem was.

Markus



On Mar 31, 2007, at 5:09 AM, Jonathan M. Hall wrote:

> Markus,
>
> It's clear in watching Fukuda's film that Ogawa was behind the  
> effort, at least in part or at its inception. In one scene, the  
> latter hams it up to the camera introducing a cameraman and sound  
> engineer who give a very interesting demonstration of how they've  
> modified their equipment for their own documentary purposes.  It  
> appears, then, that Ogawa's dislike for the film comes not at the  
> idea of a "making of" film, but the result of that effort in  
> Fukuda's hands.  Was Ogawa explicit about the problems he found in  
> the film?
>
> It screens again on Tues, April 10 at 19:30.
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 29, 2007, at 5:01 PM, Mark Nornes wrote:
>
>> On Mar 29, 2007, at 6:18 PM, Jonathan M. Hall wrote:
>>> Just in time for those Tokyoites, in the throes of Markus' new book,
>>
>> My goodness. Throes?!  I know it's a confusing, crazy book, but it  
>> wasn't meant to be painful.
>>
>> Actually, there are a few things here that rarely get shown. Well,  
>> come to think of it, the chance to see any of the films on film is  
>> rare. But amongst the bunch, program 1 is precious. These are two  
>> of the films that Ogawa made with friends in his university eiken.  
>> Chisana genei is particularly unusual. I haven't seen that  
>> projected for years. The other one worth mentioning is program 11,  
>> which is Fukuda Katsuhiko's Eigazukuri mura e no michi. It's a  
>> "Making of" film shot during the production of Heta Village, and  
>> you get to see the whole collective in action. Ogawa hated the  
>> film and had it shelved. Fukuda pulled it out of storage after  
>> Ogawa's death, and shortly before his own.
>>
>> It's great that Atene makes these films available, and let me tell  
>> you: watching the films in order is the only way to do it. Those  
>> who have?Sato Makoto and others come to mind?find it a life  
>> altering experience.
>>
>> Markus
>>
>> ?????
>> 1???????1957(18?)
>> ???/???????????????/??? 
>> ???????????
>> ?????????1958(24?)
>> ???/???????????????/??? 
>> ??????
>> ?????-???????????1966(56?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 2?????-????????????1967(105?)
>> ???/???????/?????
>> 3??????-????????1967(58?)
>> ???/???????/?????
>> 4??????????????1968(108?)
>> ???/???????/?????
>> 5?????????1969(120?)
>> ???/???????/?????
>> 6????????????1970(141?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 7?????????????????1970(50?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 8????????????1971(143?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 9???????????????1972(85?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 10??????????1973(146?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 11????????????1973(54?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 12?????????-??????????1975 
>> (121?)
>> ??????/???????/????
>> 13?????????????1975(57?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 14?????????????????1977(81?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 15??????????1977(112?)
>> ???/???????/???
>> 16????????1977(43?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 17???????????1982(210?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 18?1000???????-??????1986(222?)
>> ???/???????/????
>> 19??????????????1987(18?)
>> ???/???????/???
>> ?????-????????????????89 
>> ?1991(93?)
>> ??????/???????/???????/? 
>> ????
>> 20???????????????????2001 
>> ?90??
>>
>>
>

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