Shaggy Dog question

[Aaron Gerow]

> I see now then - the film is a Japanese-Australian co-production  
> and features an all animal cast voiced by human actors, like Babe,  
> and Hata prepared the Japanese version. Strange how all the  
> Japanese connections have been downplayed in the online english  
> resources on the film, but this does seem to be a feature of the  
> Japanese dog movie sub-genre. Dogs seem to cross international  
> borders far more easily than humans, it seems.

It seems this is a co-production where the Japanese were mostly  
involved in first financing the film, and then producing a Japanese  
language version after it was made. Nippon Herald provided the money,  
and it is likely they asked Hata, famous in Japan as Mutsugoro, a  
somewhat schmaltzy naturalist often seen on TV, to head the Japanese  
production in part for the publicity.
>
> Are you saying you havent seen it Aaron?

I confess I have not had the pleasure. But those Amazon.com ratings  
are pretty impressive!
>
> On a related note, I just noticed the kanji used to write Inudo  
> Isshin's name - could it be that he was hired by Takashige Ichise  
> the producer to direct All About My Dog as a sort of in-joke,  
> rather like the elephant that turns up in all of Kaizo Hayashi's  
> films?

That might be a reason, though Inudo, whom I must confess I have  
never been a real big fan of, is one of the solid and dependable  
directors who is getting a good amount of work. Like Shinohara  
Tetsuo, he seems to helm 1-2 films a year. I remember chatting with  
Shiota Akihiko one day about the rankings in the industry for  
directors: who you call for which project, not in terms of personal  
artistic style, but in who was dependable for the given budget size,  
etc. Inudo and Shinohara, although different directors, strike me as  
two who are higher up on the call list for producers

Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

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