Nakashima's _Confessions_ screening in LA 1/6

[Anne McKnight]

Thanks, Jordan, for the thoughts.
I, too, was surprised at how packed the place was--to the gills.

I had a couple of thoughts about the relation between the legal and  
the literary and this film--and was also curious about what a  
conservative/traditional critic could possibly find fault with. To me,  
the film seemed like a traditionalist's wet dream. What's up with the  
critique, Alex?

Two characters (Moriguchi, the teacher, and one of the youth  
criminals, Shōnen A) cited the shōnen-hō criminal law, and the fact  
that your offenses were erased when you come of age and become,  
essentially, an adult tabula rasa. I could imagine some umbrage at  
that. Bad people go free!
But the villains of the film seemed to be the tried and true ones from  
central casting--mostly mothers, but also "the system." One new twist  
was the takedown of the heroic teacher--the kind who jumps on tables  
and issues inspirational homilies à la Robin Williams. The sympathetic  
shōjo character (I think it was, Kitahara) calls one of the shōnen  
criminals "mazā-kon" which surprised me--does that term have any  
currency anymore? The film seemed more nihilistic than anything--a  
priori categories were fixed, and all was doomed.

The conflation with AUM tropes was kind of interesting--Shonen A  
(Shuya, of mazā-kon fame) was an evil techno-genius who did not get  
proper recognition for his science fair feats and general scientific  
awesomeness. It seemed to me that a parallel narrative could be traced  
in the last 15 years between the sexualization of shōjo to younger and  
younger girl-ages, with the techno-evil of shōnen to younger and  
younger boy-ages.

The title is a bit baffling to me, which is why I was curious if  
anyone had read the novel. Confession is the literary trope par  
excellence of modern prose fiction. But despite being called  
"kokuhaku," the actual narration of this film was part kokuhaku (in  
Shōnen B's mother's diary, Shōnen A's video tell-all), but mostly  
what I would call shōgen, witnessing. It is the same as the narrative  
style we see in _Shimotsuma_, for example, in Momoko's voice-of-God  
account of how she was conceived. It's a very novelistic way of  
telling a story as a narrator of things one does not actually  
experience oneself: not blurting out one's inner life onto the page as  
a supplicant/confessor, to make sense of it after it is spilled onto  
the page, but rather synthesizing and narrating a story after the  
fact, even if the medium in which it is relayed (e.g. video) signifies  
"liveness."

But I have to say that the Radiohead/Boris soundtrack did not do a lot  
for me either. But a lot of people seemed moved. There was even a guy  
who, after the film, stood in the lobby and captured the attention of  
people milling around by confessing HIS sorrow/anxiety at the issues  
the film brought up--until it became clear that he was not really  
responding to the film per se, but using it as an occasion to advocate  
fr Christianity and all of our sins ("").

So what was the buzz from the "trad" people who panned the film?

On Jan 7, 2011, at 2:30 AM, oyabaka at ucla.edu wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I just came from the UCLA screening too, and have a few thoughts.
>
> I would have to suggest a revision to the observation that the teens  
> are all depicted as evil - at one point, the main character (the  
> teacher bent on revenge) even expresses disappointment that the kids  
> weren't more cruel, though they do come across as stupid, simple,  
> and unsympathetic.
>
> The only vector of complication to this characterization is the back  
> stories of teen's earlier childhood, where it is clear that neglect  
> from adults (parents, teachers, etc.) contributed into transforming  
> adorable, innocent, loving kids into objects of disgust and moral  
> abjection. Not that this adds much richness to the rather simplified  
> blame game... The usual suspects are there: neglectful parents,  
> mainly mothers who have careers, mothers who dote on sons, absent/ 
> overworked fathers, violence-obsessed mass media, etc.
>
> In terms of film style and plot, the film has enough to keep most  
> folks interested. Talking with others afterward (the theater was  
> packed), the general response, both from experts and average viewers  
> alike, was that the film was successful in at least some ways, and  
> all responses were enthusiastic. Some speculate that it won't  
> capture American viewers, that some aspects of the  narrative are  
> revealed too slowly or contain too much repetition to retain their  
> emotional impact.
>
> It has a Count of Monte Cristo feel to the revenge story, which  
> mixes both careful craft and spontaneity on the part of woman  
> wreaking her revenge.
>
> There are some odd moments with visual techniques and metadiegetic  
> sound effects, but anyone familiar with Nakashima's style might  
> welcome them with a bit of nostalgia, since the film does feel like  
> a more mainstreamed version of his usually richly textured style.
>
> Just a few thoughts...
>
>
> Jordan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>> On 2011/01/07, at 10:53, "Alex Zahlten" <Alex.Zahlten at gmx.de> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> did anyone go to see Kokuhaku, and have any impressions/ideas  
>>> about it? It generated some discussion in Japan (and much  
>>> criticism from the "traditional" film critic side) and I'd be  
>>> interested to hear further opinions-
>>>
>>> Alex
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
>>>> Datum: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 10:00:47 -0800
>>>> Von: Anne McKnight <mcknight at usc.edu>
>>>> An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>>>> Betreff: Nakashima¥'s _Confessions_ screening in LA 1/6
>>>
>>>> hi all,
>>>>
>>>> short notice, but for people in town, this is screening tonight @
>>>> UCLA. I was a big fan of _Shimotsuma monogatari_, and am  
>>>> interested to
>>>> see where this one goes.
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone read the novel (_Kokuhaku_)?
>>>>
>>>> ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
>>>> Melnitz Movies and the Graduate Students Association present...
>>>>
>>>> CONFESSIONS
>>>> Thursday, January 6th @ 7:30 PM
>>>>
>>>> Japan's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film
>>>>
>>>> Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions is one of Japan’s most  
>>>> important films
>>>>
>>>> of the year. Reigning the national box office for weeks, the film  
>>>> has
>>>> seduced, frightened, provoked and moved audiences with the depth of
>>>> its focus on the delinquency of a despairing youth. A stylized  
>>>> mixture
>>>> of cruelty and compassion, Confessions deals with school violence,
>>>> bullying, revenge and love, while a...lso addressing the miserable
>>>> state of Japanese public schools, prejudices against HIV victims  
>>>> and
>>>> the consequences of allowing teenage violence to go unpunished.
>>>>
>>>> Based on the bestselling novel Kohuhaku by Kanae Minato,  
>>>> Confessions
>>>> reveals the key mystery in its opening sequence and then focuses on
>>>> the reasons that prompted this violent act and subsequent vendetta.
>>>> Shifting between the point of view of the teenagers and the
>>>> devastated, grieving teacher, Nakashima prevents the audience from
>>>> taking sides, allowing the viewers room to come to their own
>>>> conclusions about the dark acts they witness.
>>>>
>>>> Official selection Toronto International Film Festival 2010,  
>>>> Official
>>>> Oscar entry Best Foreign Film (Japan)
>>>>
>>>> "Sustaining a fugue-like, intensifying counterpoint of sound and  
>>>> image
>>>> over its 103 minutes, it's truly mesmerizing, and in terms of
>>>> structure and articulation, hands down one of the most original  
>>>> films
>>>> I've seen recently, affording a glimpse of another possible  
>>>> direction
>>>> 21st-century cinema might take." - Gavin Smith, FILM COMMENT
>>>>
>>>> Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
>>>> Starring: Takako Matsu, Yoshino Kimura, Masaki Okada, Yukito  
>>>> Nishii,
>>>> Kaoru Fujiwara, Ai Hashimoto
>>>> Screenwriter: Tetsuya Nakashima
>>>> Cinematography: Shoichi Ato, Atsushi Ozawa
>>>> 35mm, 106 minutes
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> alex at nipponconnection.de
>>>
>>> GMX DSL Doppel-Flat ab 19,99 Euro/mtl.! Jetzt mit
>>> gratis Handy-Flat! http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/dsl
>>
>>
>

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