[KineJapan] Paris, Renga jokō, and translations

[Roger Macy]

A belated thank you for this information, Mathieu.

On the subject of advice on publications, I noticed that the currentedition of Positions has a couple of Japanese film articles, but surelytheir authors will announce them ?

You also ask about the current programme in Paris by the Cinémathèquefrançaise. I have caught a few of them. Let me just contrast the screening of Shinano yoru, 1940, with Renga jokō, which was made in 1940 by ChibaYasuki in 1940 but not released until 1946. I’m pretty sure that was its firstscreening outside Japan.

Shina no yoru was made for audiences in two languages (althoughone shunned it). Its line delivery rate is somewhat measured and those linesare delivered by professional actors through a studio recording system. Perhapssomeone has already looked into the significance of which of Li/Yamaguchi’sMandarin lines are subtitles in Japanese. Anyway, somewhere between theJapanese and the French subtitles I could glean enough to appreciate it.

However, Renga jokō was another matter for this weak linguist.It’s in non-standard Japanese with a rapid delivery rate, particularly at thestart, by less experienced actors. What’s more, on the rare occasions when Icould get both the Japanese and the French, it struck me that the French wasexcessively polite and long-winded compared to the Japanese, Of course, forreadability in western languages, the opposite needs to be the case. It wasn’tjust me who couldn’t cope - the French subtitles were way out of synch. for thefirst five minutes. Incidentally, the only screening I have caught to give a translationcredit was ‘Chocolat etSoldats’.

So the definitive western screening of Renga jokō has still totake place. Although I didn’t notice anything about sexuality, it certainlydeals with the subjugation of class, of women and of immigrants; so I could, intheory nominate it for Kine Club XXIII, but I’ve made my nominations and,selfishly, I’d rather see films I haven’t seen that others nominate. There is asecond screening of Renga jokō at the Cinémathèque on the 17th.It had something of a ‘tendency’ film for me. Curiously, the unenthusiasticreview in Kinema Junpō in 1946 by Hayata Hidetoshi spoke of it as depictingtroubles from way back ’ our present hardships are more complicated and havebecome more serious’.

Roger


    On Sunday, 30 September 2018, 02:46:10 GMT+1, Mathieu Capel <mathieucapel at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Dear Kinejapaners,
Following Michael Raine's wish for more announcements for newly-published works on KineJapan, may I draw your attention to the latest issue of cinema review "Trafic", where French readers (alas, I wish it could be available for everyone on the list) can find a short set of three articles related to Suzuki Seijun ?Two are transations of texts taken from Yamane Sadao et al. "Cinema'69" review (Suzuki's own "Rain Snow Wind", and a early piece by Hasumi dealing mostly with Youth of the beast and Branded to kill), the third one being my own take on Suzuki's so-called Taishô Trilogy (including Hishu monogatari, as a matter of fact).http://www.pol-editeur.com/index.php?spec=livre&ISBN=978-2-8180-46159

By the way, lots of Japanese films are now playing in Paris Cinematheque française, I'd be curious to hear from this retrospective if anyone's in Paris by now :http://www.cinematheque.fr/cycle/100-ans-de-cinema-japonais-1ere-partie-466.html

All the best,
Mathieu CapelTokyo / French Research Institute on Japan_______________________________________________
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