[KineJapan] Docs at Nippon Connection

[Roger Macy]

Noone has said here anything on this year's Nippon Connection. I'vealso been pretty tied up but let me try and say something on a coupleof films before I hit Il Cinema Ritrovato. I did already mentionbefore a couple of fiction films shared with FEFF.

Theoutstanding documentary for me was Shunga:The Lost Japanese Eroticaby Hirata Junko. Its core format was a classic art documentary,taking a historical narrative. But the examination of individualworks, closing up on details and relating that to the wholecomposition and to context was more than well done. There weresuggestions that the idea came out of the exhibition at the BritishMuseum a few years back but the film seemed aimed at a wideraudience, particularly in Japan. Indeed the Japanese title is just春の画,and the narrative of the film was that shunga was hidden from modernview in Japan – I wouldn't say that for the West that I know. So,to counter that, we had on-camera voices, female and Japanese,relating sympathetically to the sensations and emotions portrayed.

The quality of the images wasoutstanding and well worth seeing on a large screen. But what reallybrought the film alive for me was the music. It would be an easy trapto use various kinds of music with misleading connotations but,instead we had an extended original composition by Hara Marihiko,played on close-miked traditional instruments that seemed to reallyrespond to the art and the narrative.

As part of promoting modern femaleacceptance, there was the usual reference to Edo-era brides bringingshunga as part of their trousseau. I could quibble and mention thatthere was no reference to the power-difference, backed by agedifference in the genders portrayed , but that needs to be someoneelse's film. It did look at some same-sex shunga.

A documentary I was much lesscomfortable with was 'The Making of a Japanese', by Ema RyanYamazaki. One could only admire the dedication and patience infollowing a Year 1 and a Year 6 class through a a year in theirprimary school in western Tokyo. Her editing, and presumably heroriginal capture follow very much to the title that Yamazaki haschosen. So, we see only situations and lessons that promote groupconformity. The teachers are shown as hard-worked without anysuggestion of the marking workload. The delivery of a highly definedand even highly-scheduled curriculum and the mind-numbing repetitionare absences of Yamazaki's choice. But the primary objective ofprimary education according to many educators – the teaching of howto learn – is an absence in Japan that Yamazaki portrays withouteven mentioning it.

In the intro and Q&A afterwards,Yamazaki repeated many times her claim that the trains would not runon time in Japan without the teaching of social conformity that sheportrayed. It is a full century now from when Fascism was promoted as'the trains are running on time in Italy'. I don't think Yamazaki'sclaim is true. Nor do I think that the cause of German trains' recentlack of punctuality is a lack of fascism. The 'English disease' issomething else.

I brought up the contrast with thefilms of Hani Susumu, where non-conformity was more tolerated andchildren were shown to be encouraged in individual self-expression.In contrast, the only 'art' I saw in Yamazaki's film was the communalslaughter of 'Ode to Joy' as a lesson in machine-like socialconformity. I guess Hani and his co-authors were promoting ideas thatstill were not very widespread but, if Yamazaki's portrayal isbroadly true, Hani's project failed. Bizarrely though, Yamazakiconsidered the education shown by Hani as more authoritarian.

'The Making of a Japanese' won theaudience prize for documentaries at Nippon Connection.

Roger
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