[KineJapan] "Burning" NHK Drama Special broadcast

[Steven Elworth]

I really, really like the film and have already seen it twice. I know some
critics of the film think it is too long but it is not. Why would NHK do it
before it’s opening in Japan makes no sense to me except it looks like they
can

On Sun, Dec 30, 2018 at 11:36 AM John Junkerman <jtj53213 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I had the very curious experience of watching NHK's broadcast of a
> "tokushu drama" version of Lee Chang-dong's "Burning" on Dec. 29 (10 pm Sat
> on NHK General channel). I was expecting to see the film (which is based on
> a Murakami Haruki short story) that won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes and
> has had a strongly positive response from critics, but what I saw was
> beautiful, inventive, very Murakami-esque in its oddly skewed and evocative
> slant on the pedestrian lives of its aimless characters, some hints of what
> critics raved about... but completely unengaging and unrewarding (it ended
> without an ending).
>
> Looking into it after the broadcast, it turned out that someone (NHK
> itself?) had cut 53 minutes from the film. Of course, this happens all the
> time after a film has finished theatrical release. The "drama special" was
> also dubbed...happens all the time, though it ruins the actors'
> performances.
>
> But why was this done a month before the film's theatrical release in
> Japan? Was this because NHK produced the film and has final cut, and the
> right to exploit it as it sees fit? I can't imagine that Lee directed this
> version, or signed off on it. I can't imagine Murakami did either.
>
> From what I understand, NHK has commissioned a number of leading Asian
> directors to make films based on Murakami's stories, and this is the first
> to be released. There's clearly a lot of juice behind the project (using
> hot Korean actors, and hot Japanese actors for the dubbing), but where are
> the director's rights in this equation?
>
> Some kind of hyping imperative seems to override the director's vision. To
> broadcast this chopped-up, incomprehensible version of a film, under its
> original title, with no apparent effort to let the audience know that it is
> not the same film--what were they thinking, if they were thinking at all?
>
> I'll look forward to seeing the original film when it is released in
> February, but I'd bet that a lot of those who watched the "drama special"
> won't bother, because they were left bored and perplexed.
>
> If anyone has heard some back story on all of this, I'd appreciate hearing
> it, because to me, it just flummoxes.
>
>
> --
> John Junkerman
> jtj53213 at gmail.com
> 2-18-6 Ehara-cho, Nakano
> Tokyo 165-0023
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