[KineJapan] [External] Re: Kawase Redux

Thu May 26 18:45:35 EDT 2022

I saw "Side A" at the Cannes screening with Kawase in attendance (see attached). Haven't really followed the protests, so can only speak about the film. I have seen all the Olympics films ... and all Kawase's work. Side A was frustrating. Though it started in a quietly poetic way no other Olympics film has really dared, it quickly devolved into repetitive and usually superficial lessons about gender equality and a specifically Japanese approach to the highlighted sports. 20+ minutes were devoted to the contrast between a breastfeeding Canadian basketball player, one who stood up against the Olympic Committee's ban on family member's attendance, and a star Japanese basketball player and recent mother, who says she simply accepted the ban (she "followed the rule") and gave up her spot on the team. Sportswise, Side A was probably 85% women's basketball, judo, and karate. A single three (?) minute montage at the end of the film showed a handful of other events.

Much of the (non-interview) footage is quite beautiful. Kawase said there were 5000 hours of footage. I wish someone else had cut it.

I think she said the movies come to Japan in June - one one week and the other the next.

Bob

Robert W. Davis Jr.
Professor, Department of Cinema and Television Arts
California State University, Fullerton
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From: KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Frederick Veith via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2022 3:19 PM
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Frederick Veith <notreconciled at gmail.com>
Subject: [External] Re: [KineJapan] Kawase Redux

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I don’t think the film is available to the general public here until sometime in June. I can only offer a perhaps meaningless piece of anecdata, which that the protest at the premiere in Tokyo made it to the Kyodo News headline ticker on Yamanote-sen, on a day when there had been (judging from photos) somewhat larger protests against President Biden’s visit which received no such treatment.

Fred.

On Fri, May 27, 2022 at 6:28 Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
Shukan Bunshun has another Kawase article, and apparently much longer. It's behind a paywall that cuts off after the incident where she punches a staff member in the face so hard his face swells up. But this box below the headline gives a sense for the ground it covers.

東京五輪公式映画が間もなく封切られる河瀬直美氏。キャリアの絶頂を極めるまでには、役者を精神的に追い詰める演出や、スタッフを部品のように切り捨てる一面も。自らを卑弥呼になぞらえる映画界の女帝の足跡を辿る。

▶「人を部品のように」カンヌ受賞作主演が3時間語った
▶女性スタッフを深夜のNYに締め出し「帰ってくるな」
▶仕出しスタッフに一目惚れして主演抜擢、破局後に“追放”
▶ヒロインに“イジメ演出”「徹底的に無視」「点滴5回」
▶「黒澤明、大島渚の次の世代が私」“世界のカワセ”と豪語

Spectacular...by design. It's a weekly, so hard to trust. But it's also a topic the major outlets resist—as we've seen here in the states, especially pre-#Metoo. I'm curious if anyone has read the whole article, or if it's being picked up by other magazines, newspapers and TV.

She must be in the news all the time considering the Olympics film (part 1 of 2) is out and is playing at Cannes. Has anyone seen it????

Markus

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Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

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