Calligraphy

[Roger Macy]

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
    >





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