new "youth film'?

[Rob Smith]

I don't know if Yaguchi invented it, or reinvented it. Shunji Iwai has films
from earlier that have a similar, though less comedic, take. Fireworks
(1993) and April Story (1998), for instance, even Love Letter (1995) and
Ghost Soup (1992) to an extent. Not to say Iwai did either, but these all
predate Waterboys and Take Care of My Cat.

There are also Hana and Alice, Strawberry Shortcakes, Gomen, A Day on the
Planet, The Graduates, Honey and Clover, Crying Out Love in the Center of
the Universe, and something like Install might fit into this sub-genre, too..


It's a spreading genre feel, too. I've noticed a few films from Taiwan
lately that if I didn't know they were from Taiwan, I would have thought
they were Japanese youth films (Summer's Tail, Eternal Summer, etc).

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Frako Loden <frako at well.com> wrote:

>
> Other "sweet gentle" youth films are:
>
> Tennen kokekkô (A Gentle Breeze in the Village) (Yamashita Nobuhiro, 2007)
> Bokunchi (My House) (Sakamoto Junji, 2003)
>
> Frako Loden
> Berkeley, CA
>
>
>
>
> At 8:47 AM -0700 4/24/08, Michael Kerpan wrote:
>
>> Jun Ichikawa's "Ashita no watashi no tsukurikata"
>> might be the best example of all of this hypothesized
>> "gentle youth-film" category.  For some reason, this
>> seems to have gotten next to no notice in the West,
>> however.
>>
>> Another gentle film (albeit with a fantastic/science
>> fiction element) that hasn't gottewn sufficient
>> attention is the animated "Gril Who Leapt Through
>> Time".
>>
>> One could even include Nana (part one) in this group
>> (though the characters are post-HS). Other
>> manga-derived films possibly relevant -- Touch, Rough,
>> Yellow Tears.
>>
>> Then there are some fundamentally sweet films films
>> that feature girls with health problems -- Josee, the
>> Shark and the Fish and Midnight Sun.
>>
>> I wonder whether some of the inspiration for these
>> films came from Korea. Jeong Jae-eun's 2001 Take Care
>> of My Cat starred BAE Doo-na -- who became the central
>> character in Linda Linda Linda.
>>
>> Michael Kerpan
>> Boston, MA
>>
>> --- David Desser <desser at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>>
>>   I've been wondering if any critic or critical
>>>  consensus, in Japanese or in
>>>  English, has arrived at a genre classification for
>>>  something like the sweet
>>>  youth films typified (and perhaps begun?) by Yaguchi
>>>  Shinobu with Waterboys
>>>  (2001).  I can think also of Yaguchi's Swing Girls,
>>>  Yamashita's Linda Linda
>>>  Linda and Lee Sang-il's Hula Girls.  Are these, some
>>>  based on true stories,
>>>  kind of antidotes to the semi-horror (or actual
>>>  horror) films that are also
>>>  youth-oriented, from Suicide Club to Pulse (Kairo),
>>>  etc?  And can anyone
>>>  tell me if there are other of these gentler films
>>>  beyond those I've
>>>  mentioned?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  David Desser
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>


-- 
-rob
http://www.robixsmash.com/
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/music/
http://www.insulinfunk.net/
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