[KineJapan] Right wing cinema

Wed Feb 19 05:13:51 EST 2014

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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 -- 
 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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