FW: Japanese train films

[Mark Mays]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> [mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Eija
Niskanen
> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 1:27 AM
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: FW: Japanese train films
> 
> The above-mentioned nostalgia and trains feature really well in the
> Tora-san movies aka Otoko wa tsurai yo series.
> 
> And don't forget imaginary trains in Akira Kurosawa's Dodeskaden.

Yes, though it is generally considered minor Kurosawa, I really like this
film, especially in how it showed the director coming to terms with the use
of color.

There have got to be films about train otaku.


> 
> If anime is OK, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away has a long beautiful
> sequence of a train travel over water. As does also Isao Takahata's
> Only Yesterday, where the main character is joined by her childhood
> self during a train journey.
> 
> Eija
> 
> On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Peter Grilli <grilli at us-japan.org>
wrote:
> > I forgot to mention another of my favorite Japanese train scenes:
> >
> > The sequence of train-cars repeatedly coupling - beautifully shot by
> > Miyagawa Kazuo - as a cutaway shot following one of the many sex scenes
in
> > Ichikawa Kon's film version of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's novel Kagi ("The
Key."
> > The film is titled, in the U.S., as "Odd Obsesson.")
> >
> >
> >
> > Peter
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Peter Grilli [mailto:grilli at us-japan.org]
> > Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 2:57 AM
> > To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> > Cc: grilli at us-japan.org
> > Subject: Re: Japanese train films
> >
> >
> >
> > One of the alltime greatest train sequences in the history of movies is
the
> > ransom-money drop from the Shinkansen in Kurosawa's  Tengoku to Jigoku
> > ("High & Low" ).
> >
> >
> >
> > For a station scene, I love the tense scene near the end of Kurosawa's
Nora
> > Inu ("Stray Dog"), in which detective Mifune Toshiro suspiciously eyes
all
> > the people in the waiting room of a little suburban station, desperately
> > trying to identify which one is the killer.
> >
> >
> >
> > There are so many trains in Japanese movies one doesn't know where to
> > begin.  Others have already mentioned many train scenes.
> >
> > One rarely seen film that is full of trains is  Tooi ippon no michi
("The
> > Far Road") -- actress Hidari Sachiko's 1977 debut film as a director in
a
> > narrative about a stationmaster's family.
> >
> > Speaking of Hidari, I recall train scenes in her 1955 film for Tasaka
> > Tomotaka Jochukko ("The Maid's Kid")
> >
> >
> >
> > And then there's Ichikawa's 1957 Mannin Densha  ("A Full-Up Train") and
the
> > unforgettable train scene at the beginning of the various different film
> > versions of Kawabata Yasunari's novel Yukiguni ("Snow Country"), and the
> > long journey in Yamada Yoji's Kazoku ("Family").
> >
> > Just about every Japanese film with the word "furusato" (hometown) in
the
> > title has a train journey in it and a nostalgic journey home.
> >
> >
> >
> > Some other memorable Japanese train stations appear in Imamura Shohei's
1955
> > Nishi-Ginza Eki-mae  ("In Front of Nishiginza Station") and Toyoda
Shiro's
> > 1955 Mugi-bue ("Grass Whistle")
> >
> > Not exactly a station, but the final scenes of Shinoda Masahiro's
beautiful
> > 1977 film Hanare-goze Orin ("Banished Orin" or "Melody in Gray") show
> > railroad track being laid in a steep mountain pass  (and I also recall
> > several trains-in-the landscape scenes in that film as Orin travels
through
> > Tsuruga and Ura-Nippon.
> >
> > There's also a powerful train scene at the end of Kobayashi's great (but
> > rarely seen) 1968 film Nihon no seishun  ("Youth of Japan" or  "Diary of
a
> > Tired Man").
> >
> >
> >
> > One odd sequence involving train stations is the party scene in
Kurosawa's
> > 1993 film Maada-dayo ("Not Yet"), at which a drunken partygoer takes it
upon
> > himself to recite the names of every train station on the main train
line
> > from the north of Hokkaido to the very south of Kagoshima.
> >
> > And don't forget Kurosawa's script Runaway Train, which was finally made
> > into a movie of the same name in 1985, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
and
> > starring Jon Voight.
> >
> >
> >
> > It's hard to know where to stop listing train scenes in Japanese films.
> > There are many, many, many more.....!
> >
> >
> >
> > Peter Grilli
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > From: "Brian Ruh" <brianruh at yahoo.com>
> >
> > To: "KineJapan" <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> >
> > Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:27 PM
> >
> > Subject: Japanese train films
> >
> >
> >
> >> Since reading this article [1] in the Japan Times, I've been thinking
> >> about Japanese trains. (I love things like subway cars and trains. I
think
> >> it stems from growing up in a place where there wasn't anything like
that.)
> >> Can anyone recommend any good Japanese films that prominently feature
> >> trains, stations, etc.? (When I try a Google search on the subject, I'm
> >> inundated with results for Densha Otoko.)
> >>
> >> Any time period or genre would be great. (I particularly like the train
> >> scenes in Shinkai Makoto's "5 Centimeters Per Second" even though
they're
> >> animated.) Thanks in advance!
> >>
> >> [1] http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080909jk.html
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Brian
> >>
> >> Brian's Essential Reading:
> >> http://www.oshiibook.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
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> >> 7:03 AM
> >>
> >>
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Eija Niskanen
> conference co-ordinator, Imaginary Japan
> tel +358-9-191 21672
> mobile +358-50-355 3189