Mizoguchi and neo-realism

[kiseko minaguchi]

Dear Dr, Gerow,
I am thinking of researching the Japanese films imported to 
Hawaii after the war was over.
Would you give me an info. of any institution, if there is anything like
film archive, where I could make access to books, brochures and films.
Thanks. I'm speaking of Kurosawa's Rashomon in Japanese in early
December on my campus.
Minaguchi,Kiseko

----- Original Message ----- 
??? : "Aaron Gerow" <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
?? : <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
???? : 2007?6?11? 10:17
?? : Re: Mizoguchi and neo-realism


> Just a note on thinking about "influences."
> 
> Considering the availability of films is very important (there are a 
> lot of sloppy mistakes out there that result from lazy research), but 
> one must also consider the issue of published information. For 
> instance, one could say that, given how many Soviet films were censored 
> in prewar Japan, the influence of Soviet montage on Japanese cinema was 
> as much due to published articles and translations as to the films 
> themselves. In considering the neo-realist example, one must not only 
> look at release dates for films, but also the film magazines at the 
> time and see if anyone was introducing this cinema. Remember that they 
> need not have seen the movies: there were many in the world of film 
> journalism who were multi-lingual and would often read the foreign film 
> magazines, thus writing articles based on those.
> 
> That said, the comment about domestic "realist" traditions is also very 
> important, but this again should also extend to the realm of film 
> criticism and theory. Imamura Taihei was of course the primary 
> proponent of realism in the prewar and wartime years, but some of 
> Sugiyama Kohei's writings are practically Bazinian and Hase Masato has 
> compared (somewhat problematically) Tsumura Hideo to the spirit of the 
> French New Wave. Do not forget that many directors had close 
> relationships with film critics, and often wrote pieces about film 
> themselves.
> 
> Aaron Gerow
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
> PO Box 208363
> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
>