Kon Ichikawa 1915-2008

[Aaron Gerow]

It was sad to hear of his death. It is not just because a generation  
seems to be passing away--remember that was still making films!

Others may have other feelings, but I was always impressed by a  
certain detached stylishness that allowed him to work in many forms  
and in many eras. Remember that Ichikawa started out in animation and  
he also made documentaries, and while he is most known abroad in the  
fifties for his humanist war films like Burmese Harp and Fires on the  
Plain, he was also important for his satirical critiques like Man'in  
densha or brutal depictions like Shokei no heya. He was most often  
appraised as a "dandy" amongst Japanese critics, and I think it is in  
part his willingness to play with style--and to in some ways detach  
style from theme--that both allowed him to continue making films into  
the postmodern 80s and 90s, as well as made him a favorite of  
stylists like Iwai Shunji (who made a documentary on Ichikawa). As I  
discuss in my article on him in the Kon Ichikawa book, he was also  
not above playing the market, as he both remade his films and became  
associated with some of the excessive blockbusters of the 80s and  
90s. As a director, Ichikawa can thus represent multiple aspects of  
Japanese film history.

Let us also not forget the crucial role Wada Natto played in his  
films. To some, his films were never the same without her.


Aaron Gerow
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
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