Calligraphy

Kirsten Cather kcather at mail.utexas.edu
Fri Apr 30 20:35:22 EDT 2010


If we're stretching, how about the characters Abe Sada scripts on  
Kichizo's body with his blood at the
end of In the Realm of the Senses?

Kirsten

On Apr 30, 2010, at 7:28 PM, Mark Nornes wrote:

> This example actually reminds me of Emperor's Naked Army Marches On  
> (I am in Beijing at Wu Wenguang's CCD Worldtation introducing the  
> films of Hara Kazuo, about which more later). We just showed the  
> film yesterday.
>
> There are two bits of memorable calligraphy. One is the memorial  
> wood stake Okazaki writes for his fallen/eaten comrades----another  
> kind of creation of connection.
>
> The other is all the writing on his garage and truck. This may  
> stretch the definition of calligraphy unacceptably. Hiwever, if we  
> think of calligraphy of brushed writing with an expressive and  
> ideally individuallized spin on conventionalized form, then these  
> characters should fit the bill: they are idiosyncratic while akin  
> to the writing on uyoku trucks and with their excessive covering of  
> alevery inch of truck they most definitely express Okazaki's insanity.
>
> Markus
>
> (Sent from my iPod, so please excuse the brevity and mistakes.)
>
> On May 1, 2010, at 7:42 AM, "Roger Macy" <macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>  
> wrote:
>
>> I'm just in the door from Udine.  I don't think I can connect  
>> calligraphy to ShinToho exploitation films, of which more later.   
>> But there was a new Korean thriller, 'Secret Reunion', 'Ui-hyeong- 
>> je', by a young director called JANG Hun.  Amongst the traits that  
>> separate the two main characters from the North and the South, are  
>> different kinds of absent fatherhood and whether one can write  
>> calligraphy.  In a short scene, the southerner, in a gesture of  
>> appeasement, writes a memorial prayer for the use of the Northener  
>> in Chinese characters - something the Northener is unable to do.
>> And I'm trying to remember which Oshima film starts with the  
>> central disc of the hinamori, with various bits of handwring on,  
>> including a hangul expression.
>> Roger
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Mark Nornes
>> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 11:27 PM
>> Subject: Re: Calligraphy
>>
>> All the late Kurosawa films were apparently by the same calligrapher.
>>
>> M
>>
>> (Sent from my iPod, so please excuse the brevity and mistakes.)
>>
>> On May 1, 2010, at 3:49 AM, "Yuna de Lannoy"  
>> <yuna_tasaka at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I would like to mention two more examples of calligraphy in  
>>> Japanese films, even though calligraphy doesn't play a central  
>>> role in these films.
>>> My first example is In the Realm of the Senses/ Ai no corrida  
>>> where at the end of the film the woman writes on the body of the  
>>> partner with his blood. My second example are the early films of  
>>> Kurosawa whose titles and credits were always written by  
>>> professional calligraphers.
>>>
>>> Yuna
>>>
>>> Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:34:15 -0400
>>> From: wgardne1 at swarthmore.edu
>>> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>>> Subject: Re: Calligraphy
>>>
>>> Speaking of the "calligraphic style" of Chambara, I'm familiar  
>>> with this term from Bordwell's Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema and  
>>> related articles-- and, despite my great admiration for  
>>> Bordwell's work, I've always a bit skeptical about this term as a  
>>> stylistic label for a certain type of prewar cinema. Still, I've  
>>> never been sure if it was Bordwell's invention, or if it came  
>>> from somewhere else. Does anyone know more about this term and  
>>> whether it originates outside of, or has travelled beyond,  
>>> Bordwell's work?
>>> --Will
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "ryan cook" <ryan.cook at yale.edu>
>>> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>>> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 11:38:19 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada  
>>> Eastern
>>> Subject: Re: Calligraphy
>>>
>>>
>>> Scott Nygren takes up cinematic calligraphy in a figurative  
>>> sense, drawing on
>>> Derrida and Karatani, in his book Time Frames: Japanese Cinema  
>>> and the
>>> Unfolding of History.  This is a much more theoretical treatment  
>>> less
>>> concerned
>>> with literal instances of calligraphy in film than with the idea  
>>> of a
>>> "decentered" cinematic ecriture, as Mathieu mentions.  Of course  
>>> there is also
>>> the talk of the calligraphic style of chambara, for example,  
>>> where camera
>>> movement itself is likened to bold strokes of the brush.
>>>
>>> -Ryan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Quoting Mathieu Capel <mathieucapel at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> > dear Markus,
>>> >
>>> > Talking about Yoshida, the finale of Jôen/The affair shows a  
>>> beautiful piece
>>> > of calligraphy, written by Okada's character (well, I assume  
>>> it's not really
>>> > her, for we only see hands at that time) on the shôji of her  
>>> summer house -
>>> > and I think it has a strong meaning regarding the plot and the  
>>> rest of the
>>> > film. I mean, here calligraphy - or let's say the act of  
>>> writing - seems to
>>> > be related to the death of her love affair, and the end of her  
>>> dreams of
>>> > freedom... I wonder if one could not link that to Derrida and  
>>> Karatani when
>>> > they talk about "Ecriture", etc. (?)
>>> >
>>> > Best,
>>> >
>>> > Mathieu Capel
>>> > 2010/4/30 Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>
>>> >
>>> >>
>>> >> <thomas.lamarre at mcgill.ca> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> it's not actually calligraphy but talismanic writing plays a  
>>> central role:
>>> >>> Onmyôji.
>>> >>>
>>> >>
>>> >> Why isn't it calligraphy?
>>> >>
>>> >> M
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Mathieu Capel
>>> > 67 rue de la Roquette
>>> > 75011 Paris
>>> > 06 50 32 45 00 / 01 43 79 19 19
>>> > mathieucapel at gmail.com
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20100430/29f3d393/attachment.html 


More information about the KineJapan mailing list