Calligraphy

[Mark Nornes]

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 bea 
>> utiful 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 sum 
>> mer 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.
>
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