[KineJapan] RIP Roger Macy

[Alexander Jacoby]

Dear all,

It's been heartening to read all these tributes to Roger; it's good to hear
how much he meant to many members of the KineJapan community. I often think
that the reason it's worth any of us devoting our academic lives to
Japanese film is because, at heart, we are enthusiasts, and Roger was a
true enthusiast.

One of the tributes asked if there were any plans to commemorate his
legacy. Many of his writings are still online at Midnight Eye and Senses of
Cinema, and form one part of it; and I wonder (not with especially high
hopes) if the BFI could be persuaded to screen Kaguyahime in tribute, the
rediscovery of which, as Jasper points out, was his doing. But much of his
legacy is more indirect - the sharply phrased query in a conference which
led me, and no doubt others, to rethink a critical observation or correct a
matter of fact - he is present, I'm sure, to varying degrees in the work
that many of us have produced.

I think that his son and daughter would be touched to read the warm
tributes on the thread, and wonder if anyone would have any objection if I
were to forward them to Colin.

As ever,


ALEX



On Sat, 25 Oct 2025 at 04:04, Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu> wrote:

> Thanks Alex for conveying the news. I don’t think I can replicate all the
> wonderful stories others are relating, but I can add that I myself had many
> pleasurable moments meeting Roger and seeing him in action at conferences,
> in London, and even
> 
> Thanks Alex for conveying the news. I don’t think I can replicate all the
> wonderful stories others are relating, but I can add that I myself had many
> pleasurable moments meeting Roger and seeing him in action at conferences,
> in London, and even once when he came to Yale to do research in the Close
> Up papers we have.
>
> I should note that Rober is a member of the Editorial Collective at Kinema
> Club. When we were thinking of who could best represent this peculiar
> organization, we immediately thought of Roger. In many ways, he represents
> what Kinema Club/KineJapan should be: free and open to anyone, academic or
> fan, to speak about Japanese film and media, while encouraging a deep and
> continuing engagement with the cinema and its lovers.
>
> You will be missed, Roger.
>
> Aaron Gerow
>
> 10/24/25 午後8:01、Alexander Jacoby via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu
> >のメール:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I thought members of KineJapan might wish to be informed of the death of
> Roger Macy, who often posed queries and engaged in discussion about
> Japanese film via this mailing list. His son, who I don't know personally,
> contacted me the other day by text to share the news.
>
> Roger was a true enthusiast, whose interest in Japanese film and Japan in
> general stemmed in part from family matters; his daughter had settled and
> married in the country. He took his enthusiasm seriously and engaged in his
> own private research into Japanese cinema. His opinions about the films he
> watched and discussed were sometimes eccentric, even at times infuriating,
> but always stimulating, and he was a source of entertaining and
> knowledgeable conversation.
>
> Although he had no academic post, he regularly travelled to conferences
> and lectures on film and Japan-related themes, and voyaged across Britain,
> to Paris and to the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna to see rare
> movies. Alas, this year he was not able to go to Bologna. When I visited
> him last month in the nursing home to which his final illness confined him,
> he was still lamenting that fact, as well as the failing eyesight which now
> prevented him from watching films.
>
> To many people on this list he will have been a name rather than a face,
> and others will have known him only slightly. For anybody who knew him
> well, the funeral will be on Saturday 8th November in London; I'm happy to
> share details if messaged off-list.
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Alexander Jacoby
> (Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies, Oxford Brookes University)
> alexanderjacoby at brookes.ac.uk
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