[KineJapan] "Burning" NHK Drama Special broadcast

[Michael Kerpan]

A wonderful (if depressing film).  NHK's mutilation merits excoriation.

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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