[KineJapan] Right wing cinema
Jasper Sharp
jasper_sharp at hotmail.com
Wed Feb 19 05:22:31 EST 2014
Well, you can easily find out now, as the whole film appears to have been uploaded to youtube:
The Creeping Garden - A Real-Life Science-Fiction Story about Slime Moulds and the People Who Work With them. Currently in production, directed by Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp.
The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema (2011) is out now from Scarecrow Press
Midnight Eye - Visions of Japanese cinema
http://www.midnighteye.com
> Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 10:13:51 +0000
> From: jimharper666 at yahoo.co.uk
> To: kinejapan at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Right wing cinema
>
> Hello!
>
> I'd be very interested in knowing which (alleged) rock star was involved with that feature, if anyone comes across the name.
>
> Best,
>
> Jim Harper.
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Wed, 19/2/14, Marc Walkow <marcwalkow at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Right wing cinema
> To: "Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum" <kinejapan at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, 19 February, 2014, 4:44
>
> Markus - bizarre
> you mention that film! I was hired by the company
> distributing it in Japan, or at least the company who'd
> produced it, to try to get it booked at overseas film
> festivals, along with an action film they also
> produced.
> The action film was innocuous enough, if not very
> well-made or interesting in terms of cast or director's
> name, and played at a couple of small festivals. But the
> documentary - called SENKAKU ROCK - didn't generate any
> interest at all. Not surprisingly, I think. Few overseas
> people who aren't already interested in either Chinese
> or Japanese issues have even heard of the Senkaku dispute,
> and I think those who had might have been scared off by the
> nationalist feelings expressed in the film. It also
> wasn't even feature-length, only about 45 minutes long,
> which made programming difficult. (Of course, nobody had
> heard of the rock star in it, either.)
> The film itself was pretty harmless, I felt.
> It's presented with a kind of feel-good nationalist
> tone, if that makes any sense, concentrating on personal and
> national pride rather than demonizing the Chinese, for the
> most part. The rocker plays a depressingly tiny concert in
> Okinawa, then sets out on a boat with a right-wing politico
> to set foot on one of the Senkaku islands and plant a
> Japanese flag. It gets interesting at this point, because
> they run into various problems before being picked up by
> Japanese maritime police, but manage to land after all, and
> even play two national rallying-cry songs.
> I'm not sure who you might have met, maybe
> the director (who was also on the boat to the island, of
> course). I'd met a couple of the company members who
> were flogging it overseas in Yubari last year, but don't
> remember their names and I don't think the guy you met
> was among them. Small world - I thought nobody had ever
> heard of this movie other than me!
> If any members of this mailing list is interested
> in seeing it privately, I can provide a password-protected
> Vimeo link. Just email me separately, please.
> Marc
>
>
> On Feb 18, 2014, at 11:23 PM, Markus Nornes
> wrote:
> Anecdotally, one of my strong
> experiences of the last Yamagata festival occurred late at
> night at Komian Club (the venue everyone gathers at after
> the films). I noticed a slightly awkward looking fellow
> flitting from one clutch of people to the other. At some
> point, it was my turn. He pushed a chirashi into my hand. It
> was a film he had produced about the Senkaku Islands, and
> featuring some aged rock star. Probably because I didn't
> turn and walk away from him, he become increasingly agitated
> as he described his film and explained Japan's natural
> right to the rocks—along with China's pernicious
> claims to sovereignty. After a few minutes, his eyes started
> to gleam and thanks to his vigorous, clipped speech he began
> foaming at the mouth. Becoming nervous, I found an excuse to
> hand him off to the next poor soul. The pattern continued
> until the end of the festival, I noticed. What amazed me was
> the way his body language and speech took on the conventions
> of the New Order films—think Abe Yutaka's war films,
> for example. I'd actually like to see his film. He
> wanted me to buy the rights and distribute it for him, but
> didn't offer a screener.
>
> Markus
>
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2014
> at 10:38 PM, Gerow Aaron <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> I had
> forgotten to respond to this, sorry.
>
>
>
> There are many ways one could talk about right wing cinema.
> Personally, I would argue it was more marginal to what at
> least the film studios and film critics wanted to say was
> Japanese film culture. What has changed now is this marginal
> status.
>
>
>
>
> Shintoho of course had its Meiji Tenno films, but those
> occupied an odd position, especially next to the eruguro
> Shintoho was also selling.
>
>
>
> Clearly there were a lot of war films. Some talk of films by
> Matsubayashi Shu'e or Abe Yutaka as rightist, in part
> because of their backgrounds, though Matsubayashi also made
> some great comedies. And Abe's Senkan Yamato is very
> different from Otokotachi no Yamato. Also, not a small
> number of war films were anti-war films, and others, like
> Okamoto's Gurentai films or the Heitai yakuza films,
> made mockery of the military.
>
>
>
>
> Isolde Standish has written about some of the war films and
> masculinity. Yoshikuni Igarashi has written about recent
> kamikaze films. I have several articles on Japan Focus about
> recent neo-nationalist war and fantasy films, one of which
> is a shorter version of a much longer piece about Yamato
> films that is forthcoming.
>
>
>
>
> Aaron Gerow
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 15, 2014, at 8:40 AM, Peter Larson wrote:
>
>
>
> > All,
>
> >
>
> > A friend and I were discussing the recent success of
> Eien no zero (a recent war piece about Kamikaze pilots in
> WWII) in the context of the recent "resurgence"
> (did they ever go away?) of right wingers in Japanese
> politics.
>
>
> >
>
> > It seems like every few years a film with nationalist
> undertones comes out of Japan. Does anyone know if anyone
> has ever done any work on right wing cinema?
>
> >
>
> > Pete
>
> >
> _______________________________________________
>
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>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
> --
> Markus
> NornesChair,
> Department of Screen Arts and Cultures
> Professor of Asian Cinema,
> Department of Asian Languages and CulturesProfessor, School of Art &
> Design
>
> Department of Screen Arts and
> Cultures
> 6348 North
> Quad105 S. State
> StreetAnn Arbor, MI
> 48109-1285
>
>
>
>
>
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