[KineJapan] Eigei Best and Worst Ten

[Zahlten, Alexander]

I’m not sure any hopes that EiGei will shake things up are likely to be fulfilled… it is more likely that it will simply fold. The magazine has had quite a few near-death experiences in the last years, and won’t be able to dodge that forever.

Arai’s influence on the rankings is what I was of course alluding to; I’m not certain, however, that it as simple as saying that EiGei simply is reflexively contrarian in its Best / Worst list – it has shared a best #1 with Kinema Junpo in the past (and we must remember that KineJun’s rankings are also often seen as problematic, especially as the reader and critics rankings have increasingly converged in recent years). That’s not to be understood as a defence of EiGei, however, but simply to say that the magazine’s rankings, despite all the backdoor mechanics, aren’t an inaccurate reflection of opinions in what one might call the “old film world”’s opinions. Koreeda has never been particularly popular (to put it mildly) among that old guard of critics / filmmakers / archivists etc.

Alex


From: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Gerow Aaron <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
Reply-To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at 21:56
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] Eigei Best and Worst Ten

Yes, Koreeda has been in their crosshairs for a while. But there is a strong sense that Eigei likes to declare they hate anything the mainstream critics or institutions like. It can get personal, as there has long been a sense that films with which the publisher Arai Haruhiko (screenwriter and director) are involved end up high in the list, and those he doesn’t like (perhaps Tomerareru this year—he even appears as a character in the film) get dumped on. Voters are reportedly added and removed according to what results are desired. The Worst results are often dubious because for long time half the voters did not submit worst votes (I think it is now mandatory?), and so just a few people decided that list.

But much of that is nothing new. And in some ways, it was kind of interesting. My complaint is that the Eigei results to me seem to be getting less interesting and more predictable. I support Eigei and still pay for my subscription, but they need to do something to shake things up a bit.

Aaron


2019/01/29 午後9:45、Zahlten, Alexander <azahlten at fas.harvard.edu<mailto:azahlten at fas.harvard.edu>>のメール:

Thanks for sending this Aaron. The EiGei choices have of course always been controversial and also distrusted (there was a sense that certain results were being engineered), and as a former contributor myself I’ve  heard a lot of that discussion even among the other contributors. Maybe one might add that it isn’t just that the poll names “any” critically successful film to worst #1- it is certainly more specific than that, and Koreeda has been in the EiGei crosshairs for a long time. It also maybe isn’t surprising that Dare To Stop Us / Tomerareru ka, Oretachi o, the film about Wakamatsu Productions, is worst #2 (and percentage-wise tied with Shoplifters at first place)– with so many people in the EiGei orbit having been close to or even members of Wakamatsu pro at some point.

There are always interesting points about the poll, however, and the films that are voted fairly high up in both the best and the worst ten list make for interesting cases. This year it is Zeze Takahisa’s Kiku to Girochin, the film about the encounter of Taisho-era anarchists with female sumo wrestlers, that made #4 on both rankings.

Alex
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