Categories
action drama, melodrama jidai-geki literary adaptations

The Winds of Change, Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran”

After a monumental career, Kurosawa Akira directs his last great epic in 1985’s Ran. Although Kurosawa would continue making films after Ran, they would not approach the scope and scale of this highly celebrated film. Set in ancient Japan, the film is a jidaigeki (period-piece) about an aging warlord ceding power to his three sons. The story, itself an interpretation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, focuses on the themes of aging, regret, and change. To portray these themes it was necessary for Kurosawa to enlist highly talented actors. This was especially true for the complex lead role of Lord Ichimonji whose gradual self-destruction is brilliantly realized by Tatsuya Nakadai. Alongside Nakadai are Terao Akira, Nezu Jinpachi, and Ryu Daisuke playing his sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo respectively. Shinnosuke ‘Peter’ Ikehata also makes an appearance as Lord Ichimonji’s inseparable jester.

The film opens with a hunting expedition in the mountains held by Lord Ichimonji, his three sons, several advisors and his jester Kyoami. Lord Ichimonji, after a startling dream, uses this occasion to express his plan to abdicate the throne. The decision to hand power to his sons is met with mixed reaction. His youngest son Saburo becomes increasingly insolent, vehemently speaking his mind and is ultimately banished. Because Saburo is now out of the picture, Lord Ichimonji leaves all his power and territory to his two eldest sons Taro and Jiro, with the intention to live out his remaining days as their guest. This change to the balance of power quickly gives rise to conflict as Jiro is envious of his elder brother’s superior position, and Lord Ichimonji does not adapt well to his new lack of authority. In the chaos that ensues, Taro and Jiro plot each other’s demise while Lord Ichimonji is shunned by both and left to wander the countryside. The brother’s conflict quickly leads to war, and Lord Ichimonji, consumed by guilt for his past atrocities, grows increasingly insane. As the film progresses, many lives are lost, and the sins of Lord Ichimonji’s past haunt him in his quest for solace.

Among the key themes Kurosawa addresses in his film is the concept of change. The film’s title itself, Ran, can be roughly translated as ‘chaos’. Although there is much chaos found within the film, all the chaos stems from change, and the evolution of order into disorder. One way Kurosawa represents change is by continuously returning to brief shots of the sky, and more specifically of clouds transforming. In the opening scene of the film, Lord Ichimonji takes a nap after a day of hunting wild boar. During this nap Kurosawa inserts a brief but telling shot of the clouds shifting. As implied by the foreshadowing, change is quickly instituted as Lord Ichimonji awakens from his dream and announces his plan to abdicate. Kurosawa often returns to this device throughout the film, and the transformation of the clouds becomes more rapid and threatening as the conflict they oversee escalates.

A large portion of the film deals with Lord Ichimonji drifting through the countryside tortured by his past and his inability to change it. During his descent into madness, the only person to remain by his side is his jester Kyoami. Kurosawa utilizes Kyoami to not only provide contrast to Lord Ichimonji’s rambling, but also to narrate the film. In this manner, Kyoami is like a cryptic benshi, explaining the plot development through metaphor. In one scene Kyoami orates a seemingly random story of a bird choosing to look after a snake egg because it is white and pure. After the egg hatches, the bird is attacked. This story reflects the situation of Lord Ichimonji being betrayed by Taro and Jiro who had previously appeared more innocent and loving than Saburo.

In addition to excellent character development, beautiful cinematography and an engaging musical score, Ran also includes several elaborately staged battle scenes. These scenes are brought to life through the use of countless extras, filling the ranks of Kurosawa’s impressive armies. Similar to his previous films such as 1980’s Kagemusha, Kurosawa seems intent on showing the brutality of war and focuses on the casualties more so than the action itself. This element of action serves to drive the plot and is also highly entertaining on an purely aesthetic level.

Throughout his career Kurosawa was responsible for making several epic films of this proportion, and the accumulation of his experience and artistry is well displayed in Ran. Because the film delivers on both an intellectual level, and is engaging to watch due to the excellent acting performances and thrilling battle scenes, audiences of a wide range can enjoy this classic of Japanese cinema.

Categories
gendai-geki shomin-geki

“Okuribito”: the Joy of Life

Released in 2008, Okuribito (or Departures in English) touches on one of the most controversial occupations in Japan: nōkanshi, a profession that involves preparing the dead in front of mourners before their bodies are placed in a coffin. Since the nōkanshi profession is generally frowned upon in Japan, the director, Takita Yōjirō, designed Okuribito as both an appealing and analytical melodrama. Starring Motoki Masahiro, Hirosue Ryoko, and Yamazaki Tsutomu, Okuribito received a reputable response and even won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.

Throughout Okuribito, nōkan, the act of preparing the dead for the afterlife, is depicted as an art which is gradually perfected by the main character, Kobayashi Daigo (Motoki Masahiro). Kobayashi is not initially attracted to the art of nōkan though and instead works with an orchestra in Tokyo as a cellist. Once the orchestra is disbanded and Kobayashi decides to quit cello, he and his wife, Mika (Hirosue Ryoko), move back to his hometown in Yamagata to find Kobayashi a new job and purpose in life. One day, Kobayashi sees a job advertisement that seems for a travel agency, but finds out it is actually a job for nōkan when meeting with the boss of the business, Sasaki Ikuei. At first, Kobayashi is uneasy with accepting the job and does not tell his wife, especially after his first assignment when Kobayashi helps Sasaki perform nōkan on a deceased woman who died at home and for two weeks remained undiscovered. After this job, the dishevelled Kobayashi goes to a public bath and vigorously washes away the smell and “impurity” of having touched a dead body. Yet, after watching Sasaki carry out nōkan, he comes to realize the necessity of nōkanshi.

The first time Sasaki does nōkan in front of Kobayashi, the procession is carefully and calmly performed by Sasaki. During the ceremony, Kobayashi notices the mourners’ gratitude, especially from the husband and daughter of the lady, and begins to understand how nōkanshi can touch people’s hearts. As the days pass, Kobayashi increasingly appreciates the art of nōkan and feels fulfillment after preparing the deceased for the next life. Once his wife finds out about his profession, she pleads for him to quit such a shameful job. At this point though, Kobayashi has become so fond of his job that he cannot unexpectedly stop. His wife is shocked that he chooses the job over her and decides to stay at her parent’s home until he quits his job. Throughout the rest of Okuribito, Kobayashi’s experiences present to the audience the acceptance of death and the joy of life.

From the beginning to the end of Okuribito, Takita Yōjirō illustrates the character development of Kobayashi. At the beginning, Kobayashi does not fully recognize his purpose in life and describes his life as “unremarkable.” When he sells his pricey cello after the disbanding of his orchestra, he feels a sense of “relief as if suddenly released from being tied up” and realizes that becoming a cellist was not his dream. Once Kobayashi starts to work as a nōkanshi, the thoughts and movements of the actor, Motoki Masahiro, demonstrate such passion for nōkan. When Kobayashi presents the art of nōkan, especially on the owner of the public bath, and when he decides to sacrifice his wife for his profession, Takita clearly shows that Kobayashi has grasped his purpose in life.

Throughout Okuribito, the opposing forces of death and life are presented in diverse ways. Being significant concepts in the movie, as well as in the nōkanshi profession, there are numerous scenes that show the contrast between the two. When Kobayashi is contemplating about the nōkanshi profession on the bridge, he notices that the salmon are briskly swimming against the river’s current and end up dying because of this, just like humans who work hard during life and then die. As well, the scenery represents death and life. Within the hometown, there are many scenes of a snowy winter and the withering of plants. Yet, when the spring comes, the cherry blossoms and tulips in front of Kobayashi’s house bloom along with the other flora. Animals and food are also portrayed throughout the film to show the distinction between death and life. When eating food, such as fried chicken and blowfish milt, close-ups and loud chewing or sucking noises are used to emphasize the scene’s connection to deceased bodies. Live animals are also shown in the film, such as the live octopus given to Mika at the beginning and the recurrent scenes of birds flying. With these different techniques, Takita illustrates both death and life as concepts associated with the nōkanshi profession.

Overall, Okuribito is a stimulating film about the beauty of life and the natural passage to the next life. Throughout the film, Takita presents the audience with delightful acting and scenery, information on the experiences of nōkanshi in Japan and the criticism they receive, and the meaning of life. This film will surely touch the heart of all ages and leave a lasting impression about life and the inevitable road afterwards.

Categories
anime

Words of Magic and Greedy Gods: A Review of “Spirited Away”

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (translating to Sen and the hiding of Chihiro, also known as Spirited Away, in English), is a famous masterpiece written by the well-known animation artist Miyazaki Hayao. Written and directed by Miyazaki himself, the film was produced with Studio Ghibli in 2001. The story revolves around a ten year-old girl, Chihiro (voiced by Hiiragi Rumi), when she is moving to a new town in a suburban area with her parents. During the process of moving, she enters a mysterious tunnel and journeys into a magical world of gods and spirits. Filled with limitless imagination and fantasy of the supernatural elements, Spirited Away was the first non-English film that won many prestigious awards: The Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Academy Award, and the Berlin International Film Festival at Berlin 2002.

The story begins with Chihiro in her parents’ car in displeasure. While driving along the countryside and discovering they have gotten lost, Chihiro’s father decides to take a short-cut into the forest, in hopes of finding their way back to the road; however, instead of finding civilization, they come across a mysterious tunnel with a statue that has two faces, back to back. In curiosity, the family exit the vehicle and, on a whim, decide to travel through the tunnel, where then the family discovers an empty town. To their surprise, the seemingly empty town has food freshly prepared, sitting on top of stands. The parents, suddenly struck with hunger at the sight of the food, gobble the mysterious cuisine. Chihiro, on the other hand, wanders off and meets Haku (voiced by Irino Miyu), a boy who seems to know her and warns her about the danger of nightfall. When Chihiro returns to the food stand, she discovers her parents have been turned into pigs and are no longer capable of recognizing her. As the sun begins to set, the seemingly empty town transforms; once-unlit lanterns suddenly become bright and dazzling and empty streets begin to crowd with echoes and chatter of spirits. Haku helps Chihiro to a giant yuuya (bathhouse) where she meets Kamajii (voiced by Sugawara Bunta), an old man who boils bath water that has the arms of a spider. Along with the hint of Kamajii and aid of the yuuya staff Rin (voiced by Tamaii Yumi), Chihiro was able to make her way to the yuuya supervisor Yubaba (voiced by Natsuki Mari), a rich and powerful witch, and convince her to give her a job at the bathhouse.

After a working agreement is signed with Yubaba, Chihiro works at the bathhouse as Sen, and gradually she gains the friendliness of Rin. Together they successfully clean and cure the stink god, when the god’s true identity is revealed to be a river god, heavily polluted. The river god awards Sen a medicinal spell cake. Later on, Sen finds out that Haku, in dragon form, is attacked by a group of flying paper birds casted by Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister. It is learned that Haku, at this point, is cursed because he has stolen a seal that is under the command of Yubaba; therefore causing paper birds to endlessly chase Haku. Sen feeds Haku the piece of spell cake from the river god that causes Haku to vomit, where then she retrieves the seal. Sen determines to return Zeniba her seal and cure Haku from his curse. She takes the train to Zeniba’s place with the spirit Kaonashi (literally No Face) who tries to please her but, instead, causes disaster in the bathhouse. In the resulting chaos, Yubaba’s pet raven is transformed into a fly, while her son Boh is morphed into a mouse. The story continues to unravel at Zeniba’s place, where Sen realizes Haku is the same river god who saved her when she fell into the Kohaku River during childhood. Together, Zeniba and Sen’s friends make Sen a special hairband as a souvenir of their friendship, and Haku arrives to take Sen back to the bathhouse to face Yubaba for a final task before she is released to go home with her parents.

The power of words is certainly worth mentioning, as they play a significant role in this film. In the spirit world, Yubaba takes control of her workers forever by stealing their original names. For instance, the full name of Chihiro is visually gripped by Yubaba in the film to show that Chihiro is now under Yubaba’s service. In return, Yubaba leaves Chihiro with one character out of the two from her name in an alternative reading – Sen. Names in the spirit world serve as the identity of each individual in the story, thus Haku repeatedly warns Chihiro that she must not forget her original name or else she would not be able to find her way home out of the spirit world. Haku, on the other hand, is the living example of one whom has forgotten their name and therefore forever serves, loyal to Yubaba. Ultimately, Chihiro’s realization of Haku’s original name Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi helps Haku to break free from Yubaba’s enslavement.

However, it is Miyazaki’s careful manipulation and recurring theme of greed, throughout the story, that adds complexity and dimension to his characters (humans and spirits). Chihiro’s parents, obsessed with self indulgence and gluttony, consume the unattended food, ignoring Chihiro when she warns them their actions might not please the owner. The father, instead of stopping, reassures Chihiro that his credit card is fully loaded and continues to eat. Because of the parent’s act of gluttony, they are turned into pigs. On the other hand, Haku, at first, appears friendly but it is later discovered he has a dark side of secretly fulfilling unscrupulous deeds for Yubaba. This is because Haku has a greed for learning magic from Yubaba, thus his name is stolen and he can no longer be free from slavery. Kaonashi, who at first only tries to repay Chihiro for the favour of letting him into the bathhouse from the pouring rain, later becomes greedy of Chihiro’s attention. After seeing how the bathhouse staff reacts to the gold, he continuously produces gold from thin air and roams across the bathhouse for service and eventually swallows three workers. However, the greediest of all is perhaps Yubaba; with expanding slaves and earning money, she actually operates the bathhouse for the spirits to pay and relax, thus showing a parallelism to humans opening business trying to make profit. Many scenes depict her wearing magnifying glasses to analyze her box of jewels. Her room is lavishly decorated with expensive and luxurious materials. We can see that Yubaba herself wears heavy make-up especially emphasized on her eyes, excessive jewels like huge earrings and practically a stone ring on every finger with fingernails painted bold red.

The film has a simple plot and a simple goal of Chihiro’s journey to escape from the spirit world. However, the details of characters and events are extraordinarily weaved and intertwined together. Other than the motif of greed and the power of words mentioned, the film definitely suggests much more yet to be discovered. The film features many kinds of relationships other than love, which was suggested lightly when Chihiro shows her worry for Haku and decides to do what she can to save him. With so much moral meaning of the film for the inner mind to such colorful images for the visual eyes, I definitely recommend this film for everyone whether adult or children.

Categories
action chambara/chanbara gendai-geki

“The Machine Girl”: Guns, Gore, a Girl and More!

Iguchi Noboru’s The Machine Girl (2008) is a fast-paced action film that defies genre conventions.  The film follows Ami, a college student who exacts revenge on school bullies and their yakuza connections after they kill her brother and cut her arm off. The film’s combination of choreographed fight scenes, excessive gore, and playful humour provides a stark contrast to Japanese filmic tradition. His excessive use of violence is characteristic of Japanese cinema, however, the excessive gore is indicative of how desensitized to violence modern audiences are. The film uses several parodist elements in order to redefine Japanese film, making it self-aware. The juxtaposition of iconic imagery also suggests a change in Japanese film. Iguchi uses excessive violence, parodist elements, and the juxtaposition of iconic imagery to subvert Japanese filmic tradition.

Excessive gore and violence is certainly part of Japanese filmic tradition, however, Iguchi takes this aspect of Japanese film and makes the violence even more over-the-top. Anderson and Richie in their book The Japanese Film: Art and Industry state, “Pointless killing is one of the main features of the Japanese film, whether chambara or modern gangster movie” (318). They go even further explicating that “Japanese films also tend to accentuate the attendant gore” (Anderson 318). Anderson and Richie use the noise of bones breaking as a kid jumps on his chest in Nikkatsu’s Beyond the Green (1955) as an example. This example pales in comparison to the gore and violence in Iguchi’s The Machine Girl.

In one scene, Ami shoots one of the hitmen for the yakuza in the face. As her machine gun goes off we are exposed to the bits of flesh coming off, slowly exposing the facial muscles. The blood spurts everywhere almost like a fountain from the man’s neck. The hitman is still alive, and we are made aware of this through his frantic running and screaming. This attempt to make the gore even more over-the-top is an active attempt to point out how violence is ingrained in modern culture. He suggests that nowadays it is not enough to see a person get shot; to provoke a response, that person must have his flesh slowly blown away as he screams in agony.

The film’s self-reflexivity lends it to be a critique of the way Japanese culture is portrayed in contemporary media. Roland Kelts in his book Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S explicates how Japanese culture is portrayed in the United States. Kelts argues that the American conception has a lot to with manga and anime, describing it as “playful, colourful, cute, and sometimes crazy” (208). The Machine Girl definitely plays with this conception of culture to convey a sense of irony.

In the film, Ami searches for one of the bullies who killed her brother. After an extended fight with the bully’s parents, the mother dips Ami’s hand in tempura batter before deep frying her arm. Ami slowly reveals her arm which looks like a giant piece of tempura. The scene is cartoon-like, clearly parodying manga and Japanese anime. However, the scene is still brutal as it does depict a young girl getting her arm burnt. The anime-like aspects of the scene are contrasted by the harsh screams of Ami, a character that the audience identifies with. In introducing the brutality into this parody, Iguchi suggests that there is something wrong with this conception of Japanese culture. Although it can be seen as playful, colourful, and sometimes crazy, there is a sense of brutality underlying the superficial conception of Japanese culture.

Iguchi uses contrasting imagery to explicate the state of Japanese cinema, suggesting that it is not immune to the effects of an increasingly globalized culture. The katana, a sword used most often in chambara films, is iconic because it represents a whole genre of Japanese film. Although the katana is used in the film, Ami primarily uses a machine gun. The machine gun is also iconic; it is a product of the 80’s action film in the United States. In the final scene, a bloody Ami walks towards a katana with a machine gun for an arm. The camera slowly revolves around Ami as she lifts the sword upwards; as the camera revolves we are shown more of the machine gun until she strikes her final pose; katana and machine-gun pointing straight at the camera. The scene is the synthesis of American and Japanese filmic tradition. Ami openly accepts both weapons, clearly accepting the globalized nature of film. By combining these iconic images Iguchi seems to be a proponent for the integration of western tropes into Japanese cinema.

Iguchi Noboru’s The Machine Girl is an outlandish film that is entertaining to watch. I would recommend this film due to its originality and over-the-top gore. It’s cartoon-like violence and unrealistic special effects make the gore bearable. Although the film is clearly exploitative in nature, it does have academic value. Iguchi actively subverts Japanese filmic tradition through over-the-top violence, parodist elements, and the juxtaposition of iconic images. The film is a throwback to both American and Japanese film, but in borrowing elements from these filmic traditions Iguchi creates a film that is certainly unique.

Bibliography

Anderson, Joseph L., and Donald Richie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1982. Print.

Kelts, Roland. Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.

Categories
anti-war gendai-geki literary adaptations shomin-geki

Forever Victims of the Atomic Bomb

Imamura Shōhei’s Black Rain or in Japanese Kuroi ame was based on Ibuse Masuji’s novel Black Rain and released in 1989; the genre is war. His cast members include Tanaka Yoshiko playing Yasuko, Kitamura Kazuo playing Shigematsu – Yasuko’s uncle, and Ichihara Etsuko playing Aunt Shigeko. The film is based on the Hiroshima nuclear bombing of 1945, its impact on the Japanese people, and their recovery process. The nation is never the same again after the horrific bombing and its toll on the people of Hiroshima is highlighted with utmost realism in the black and white movie.

The film starts by showing us Yasuko, a young college graduate being evacuated out of Hiroshima. She rides on the back of a neighbour’s truck to ship her, her uncle, and her aunt’s belonging out of Hiroshima. The morning seems to be peaceful, quiet, with crabs on the beautiful glistening stream creating a contrast before the horrific nuclear bombing. After the bomb is dropped we get a picture of the big luminous mushroom cloud rising and dropping its black ashes on the people of Hiroshima; the lighting in the film darkens as Yasuko re-enters Hiroshima to find her uncle. As the black rain caused by the nuclear bomb begin to drop on Yasuko we get a close-up of her lost and fearful expression as the rain begins to discolour her face; her expression outlines the feeling of all Hiroshima citizens. When Yasuko, Uncle Shigematsu, and Aunt Shigeko cross the city to take refuge at Shigematsu’s workplace, they as well as the viewers witness the suffering of Hiroshima citizens. The suffering is intensified when a child called Kyuzo walks up to his brother and his brother cannot even recognize him due to his terribly melting skin hanging from his body; the chaos further increases when we see a close-up shot of a woman cradling her dead baby with a lifeless insane look increasing the agony. Moreover the film shows people being buried alive or running around half-dead crying out for help.

After the horrific vivid scenes from the day of the atomic bombing the scene quickly jumps to the aftermath where Yasuko and her uncle walk out of the doctor’s office with her health certificate. After the bomb people start to realize that even indirect exposure to radiation makes people sick as well. Incorrect rumours start formulating and one of them is that radiation sickness could be contagious. Yasuko has trouble finding a husband due to this fear of radiation sickness. The film also shows other survivors being subjected to discrimination and seen as either dangerous for contaminating others, or lazy because they are not working due to radiation sickness. Yuichi, one of Yasuko’s neighbours, goes delirious whenever an automobile passes because he thinks it is an enemy tank. Like the crazy Yuichi who fought in the war and has gone crazy, the victims of the A-bomb are forever entrapped by it. Practically everyone in the film is damaged by the war and one by one the victims die or continue to suffer from fear of death. The film later shows us three A-bomb victims fishing due to their radiation sickness. A woman passes by and ridicules them for being lazy saying they are “happy-go-lucky people”. She represents all other Japanese people who want to and can move on losing sympathy for these A-bomb victims who remind them of the war. Everyone forgets the “hell of fire,” forgetting its victims and their ongoing pain.

Yasuko’s uncle Shigematsu takes to copying Yasuko and his wartime diary after the doctor’s health certificate fails to get Yasuko a marriage for the third time. He takes to copying these diaries to explain that Yasuko was not in Hiroshima when the bombing happened. The difficulty of finding Yasuko a husband occurs throughout the film. Yasuko highlights the desperation of the A-bomb victims and their entrapment by the war. The bomb has taken life, joy, and personality away from Yasuko and all its victims; they are confined to certain activities and for Yasuko she cannot even find anyone willing to marry her. All the victims can think about is how the disease will eventually get the best of them. They are a “community bound by the bomb” and in the end Yasuko even refuses her suitor because she thinks she is not good enough for anyone. As Shigematsu engages in the copying the diaries the film jumps back to August 6th, the day of the bombing. Everything is ablaze, cries for help everywhere, and the lighting gets dark again. As Yasuko, her uncle, and her aunt crosses a stream, burned corpses with their facial features un-recognizable floats pass them adding to the horror. One father could not even save his son leaving him burning in the fire to save himself; as he runs away the son yells for help continuously. We get another flashback as the villagers are performing a funeral service for a soldier from Takafuta. The present mixed with flashbacks reflects the fact that these victims cannot escape; unlike the vanished Hiroshima they have to live with the symptoms and the ongoing fear of sickness forever. The A-bomb victims are dying like “guinea pigs” and the ones that survived are trapped forever not knowing when the radiation sickness will hit them; they cannot work or engage in tiring activities and worst of all are discriminated by fellow countrymen. One by one the A-bomb victims in the village dies luring Yasuko into a growing fear that she may be next.

Black Rain is a movie successful in portraying a nation destroyed by war and the magnitude of the effect of the inhumane atomic bomb. The many grotesque and shocking images of corpse and burned victims in the city of Hiroshima deliver a clear anti-war sentiment reminding viewers the horror of the war itself. The Americans inflicted a lot of pain on the Japanese people of Hiroshima however the Japanese people who were not affected by the bomb discriminated against their own people inflicting mental pain as well. The film criticizes the war and outlines the fact that it brings out the worse in human beings. The country like its A-bomb victims will never be the same again. The film makes it easy for the viewer to identify and feel for the people affected by the A-bomb; repulsed not only by the gruesome image of victims but the war itself. The film depicts the horror and suffering of people when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and their inescapable agony in realistic way; their suffering so realistically depicted with the many incidents shown during the bombing and after the viewer can feel magnitude piercing through them as well. The film shows vivid images and cries of the dying victims imprinting the cruelty of war into the viewers’ minds. The film provides specific stories of different people and how they are getting affected during the aftermath. It shows individual perspectives and does not group everyone’s suffering into one making it easier to sympathize with the victims. After hearing the news about dropping A-bomb on Korea, Uncle Shigematsu expresses the message of the film; humans just strangle themselves and cannot learn. He says this while the room is only filled with two old people – him and his mother, intensifying the hopelessness for the people of Hiroshima. The final scene contains the only close-up of uncle Shigematsu showing his face filled with sadness as he prays for the health of Yasuko; the sorrow of the Hiroshima victims is reflected in his helpless painful expression. The world after the bomb fell is even more colourless, just like the darkening of the lighting in the already black and white film.

Categories
anime

“Castle in the Sky”

Castle in the Sky, known as Tenkū no shiro Rapyuta in Japan, was first released in Japan in 1986 and later released in the United States under its English name in 1998. This animated film was written and directed by popular award-winning artist Miyazaki Hayao. The main characters Pazu and Sheeta are voiced by Tanaka Mayumi and Yokozawa Keiko respectively. This film is the Japanese version of the animation with the storyline touching on the themes of aviation technology and the good and evil sides of human nature. The two main characters of this animation Pazu and Sheeta are on a quest to uncover the mysteries of Sheeta’s family history and the mysterious floating city of Laputa.

Sheeta escapes from captivity by the government agents during a raid by Dola and her family of sky pirates and is saved from her stone pendant as she falls towards the earth from the space ship. Together, with her rescuer, Pazu, they escape the continuous pursuits of the sky pirates and government agents while learning along the way about the powers of the stone she inherited. After becoming more acquainted, they grow fond of each other. The two children part ways after they are captured by Muska and his crew of government agents. Sheeta agrees to aid him in his quest to find Laputa in exchange for Pazu’s safe release. After returning home, he finds the sky pirates having a feast at his house. He informs them of what has happened and pleads with them to take him along on their mission to rescue Sheeta and reach Laputa before Muska and his crew does. Meanwhile, Muska uncovers key secrets that will lead him to Laputa’s whereabouts.

During the length of the film, I enjoyed the director’s drawing of frames depicting the scene from numerous different angles. The different angles allow viewers like myself to get a better feel of the setting, surroundings, and excitement the characters in the film is experiencing. For example, during the scene of the sky pirate comparing his muscles and toned body with a villager who is trying to protect Sheeta and Pazu, Miyazaki first illustrates the scene by drawing the men in close-up frames focusing on their toned muscles and then pulling back to show a cheering crowd that has been gathering. These combinations of scenes portray the intensity between the two men while the crowd and the wife of the villager are revealed in the background to add humorous and entertaining touches.

Another aspect of the film that really complimented my watching experience was the accompanying music and sound effects. The sound effects of guns firing, wood creaking, and echoes made the viewing experience smooth and exciting.  In the scene mentioned in the last paragraph where the men are comparing their body figures, the sound effects made it seem like the spectators are watching something entertaining instead of a fight that would turn into something serious. Meanwhile, the accompanying music clearly defines the mood of the scenes. For example, when Sheeta is falling from the space ship, the music played made the falling process seem tranquil and peaceful instead of being intimidating and chaotic.

After having enjoyed watching Castle in the Sky, I am now interested in viewing more animations from Miyazaki. The film is light-hearted, fast-paced, extremely exciting, and has left me reminiscing long after having finished the film. I would strongly recommend everyone, boy or girl, young or old, to watch this film as it has certainly become one of my all time favourite animations!

Categories
anime

Laputa’s Existence not a Dream but a Reality?

Miyazaki Hayao is well known for many of his animated movies. Tenku no Shiro Rapyuta (English title: Castle in the Sky), written and directed by Miyazaki is one of his famous works that was released in 1986. Castle in the Sky is a very pleasing movie that creates the feeling of excitement and enjoyment for the audience. Even though it is an animated film, we will see that the theme of power is being explored by Miyazaki throughout the movie. Also, this movie can be related to Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi (English title: Spirited Away), another movie by Miyazaki Hayao, for its adventurous and romantic atmosphere created by the two main characters in the story.

Castle in the Sky is an adventure movie about how two children are in search of Laputa, a legendary castle that is hidden behind the clouds in the sky. One of the children, Sheeta is accompanied by some government agents on a civilian airship. The ship is then attacked by a group of pirates which leads Sheeta to take a small necklace from one of the agents named Muska. The pirates’ leader, Dola seeks to rob the necklace but Sheeta prevents that from happening when she falls off the ship with the stone necklace on her. Her falling awakes the necklace’s power which emits a blue light that allows Sheeta to float gently down to the ground. Pazu, a young miner coincidently sees the blue light and decides to investigate the abnormal light that was slowly coming down. As Pazu gets closer to the blue light, he sees an unconscious Sheeta floating down and he decides to bring her to his house. At Pazu’s house, Sheeta learns that Pazu’s father accidently discovers Laputa. Pazu believe that Laputa does exist and he wants to find it for other people think it is just a myth. And then the story continues with the two children’s adventure on searching for the castle in the sky.

One thing that struck me about this movie was Miyazaki’s focus on the images of the characters. Miyazaki seems to like to focus the scene on a character’s facial expression which seems just like long steady and close up shots. For example, when in one of the scene, Pazu has been tied up at his own house by Dola, he begs Dola to release him because he wants to save and take care of Sheeta. This moment, the scene zooms in at Pazu’s face and even though it is only an animation, I was able to see clearly Pazu’s readiness in his eyes that all he was thinking at the moment of the scene was he wants to save Sheeta from the government and to take care of her after. Another example is when Sheeta was held prisoner by the government. A long steady and close-up focus shot at her facial expression occurs during the scene. From Sheeta’s expression at that time, I could see that in her eyes and facial expression that all she wants is freedom from the cage she was trapped in. Not only on these two children that the long steady close-up shots were used but Miyazaki uses it on characters that are more significant to the plot of the movie. It may seem obvious, what they want, but I think Miyazaki’s long steady close-up scene allows characters to show their true intentions deep inside their hearts or minds without stating it clearly. Even though it is an animated movie, it still surprises me that I can see what the characters are thinking with just the long steady close-up shots on them.

Another aspect I liked about this movie was the element of humour that Miyazaki inserts. The movie itself gives sympathy and a sad feeling for Sheeta who is an orphan and is being hunted down by pirates and government agents throughout the whole movie. It contributes to how Sheeta is always gloomy but because of the humour that Miyazaki puts in, I can see that Sheeta is not just a depressed girl but she can also become a joyful girl. This element of humour allows Sheeta to act as a character with a different mood.  Not only does this element of humour contribute to the character of Sheeta but it also gives the audience something to laugh at, which shows how entertaining and interesting this movie is.

This film gave me an understanding on how John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton stated “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The film gave an example of this quotation and I think Miyazaki is simply trying to teach people the theme about power. This film’s storyline was extremely interesting, and I found that the film was not too long nor too short which adds some credits towards the film. Overall, I would recommend Castle in the Sky to any viewers that like anime or any viewers that simply enjoy watching films.

Categories
drama, melodrama gendai-geki thriller

Imamura’s “Vengeance is Mine”: Well-Crafted Nihilism

Imamura Shôhei’s 1979 crime thriller Vengeance is Mine (Fukushû suru wa ware ni ari) is a well-crafted and brilliantly-acted example of 1970s nihilism. Ogata Ken stars as Enokizu Iwao, the psychotic and womanizing protagonist of the film based on a real-life serial killer and swindler.

The film opens with the police having apprehended the now-notorious Enokizu and attempting to obtain a confession. The suspect is uncooperative but does little to maintain his innocence. He is calm and detached, making the occasional wisecrack. The title card appears to blaring music.

The viewer is then treated to two murders in a row, Enokizu’s first. They are shown in explicit detail and seem to lack motive. The whole rest of the film, excepting the very end, is told in further flashbacks, sometimes in nested flashbacks.

After the two murders, the film becomes something like a dark version of Spielberg’s more recent Catch Me If You Can; Enokizu travels around Japan scamming people out of money and occasionally killing them. One assumed identity, that of a professor, stays at a disreputable inn, and Enokizu becomes romantically—if it can be called that—involved with a prostitute, Haru, as well as acquainted with her depraved mother, Hisano.

Along the way, we meet Enokizu’s father, Shizuo, and wife, Kazuko, neither of whom are portrayed sympathetically. The film, in fact, lacks any sympathetic characters, excepting perhaps two detectives, who have limited screen time and whose colleagues in the police are literally unable to spot the killer with whom they are directly speaking. Sincere Catholic faith in both the Enokizu men does not prevent them from flying into homicidal rage—though the son ironically becomes enraged only at times when he is not committing murder. A flashback to Iwao’s childhood shows him already displaying the same rage. The viewer is thus left to conclude that there is no psychological explanation for Enokizu’s psychosis; he is simply congenitally evil. Imamura portrays the whole world as depraved, but among the characters in the film only Enokizu is compelled to go so far as to murder without reason.

Imamura almost explicitly parallels the emergence of an inexplicable evil like Enokizu to the perceived loss of innocence and optimism after the early 1960s. At one point, Enokizu is at the theater, and a bulletin from the police about the protagonist is preceded by a newsreel of JFK’s funeral. Juxtapositions like this, as well as the lead’s acting, elevate the movie beyond a simple exploitation flick.

Ogata is able to make an entirely unsympathetic protagonist engaging. Enokizu’s demeanour ranges from a chilling calm to violent rage to manipulative friendliness. Imamura has Enokizu almost always hide his face with glasses, but even on the occasions when he is without them, Ogata makes sure that the only thing the viewer can discern from Enokizu’s face is what Enokizu himself wants to display.

Imamura’s direction manages to be clinical with the occasional artistic touch. The director occasionally employs handheld shots for a slight cinéma vérité vibe, though this is used sparingly so that control is maintained. Each flashback is introduced with text crawls from the police reports on Enokizu. Shots of depravity are composed to show all details, as though they are intended to be incontrovertible evidence in a court case. By contrast, a shot of the detectives interviewing witnesses is framed in a long shot showing everyone at once, but obscured by being shot through a window barred like a prison cell. A couple of times Enokizu is in an apartment where a cord hangs from the ceiling like a miniature noose, further foreshadowing the fate that the viewer knows is coming from the start.

Vengeance is Mine is definitely not for everyone. On one hand, it is bleak and relentless in its depiction of violence and cruelty. There is little in the way of a profound sociological or political theme to gain from this cruelty beyond a cynical suggestion of incompetence on the part of the police. Indeed, perhaps the title should be interpreted as meaning “God only knows” what made Enokizu the way he is, knowledge, no less than vengeance, being impossible to obtain for mere mortals. On the other hand, while there is explicit sex and violence, this is spread out between long stretches of focus on ultimately fruitless examination of the killer between his killings, so the fan of slasher films will be unsatisfied. What makes the film worth watching is thus nothing else but the craftsmanship of Imamura and the controlled performance of the lead actor.

Categories
gendai-geki shomin-geki

“Tokyo Sonata” Is Music to the Ears

From director Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Tokyo Sonata, released in 2008, garnered critical acclaim securing the Jury Prize in the Cannes Film Festival.  Kurosawa directs a shomin-geki style film, following the lives of an average contemporary Japanese family, who find themselves torn apart as tensions rise after its patriarch Ryuhei (Kagawa Teruyuki) loses his job and begins to lose his authority in the family. Each member of the family begins to feel alienated from society, and as the plot unfolds, their lives begin to unravel.

The film revolves around a family in the midst of a downturn of the economy in Tokyo. For Ryuhei the downturn is inescapable, as he ends up losing his administrative job due to downsizing in his company. He desperately attempts to keep his loss a secret from the family by acting as if nothing has happened. He pretends to go to work, but instead looks for any job that is willing to take him in at any cost, even his dignity. He does this in hopes of maintaining his authoritative patriarchal status in the family. The longer he keeps this façade up, the more he loses faith in finding his balance again as he starts to realize that there are many others in the same boat as him. His frustrations are felt by his family, who begin to suspect his secret. Each one resorts to drastic measures to escape the hardships within their family, as well as what society places on them with unemployment looming. The matriarch of the family first suspects his secret and at first desperately tries to keep the family structure in perfect harmony as she plays the mother and wife role to perfection.  However, her world comes crashing down once her suspicions are confirmed and finds herself allowing herself to be swept away as a hostage after her house is broken into. The eldest son tires of a dead-end existence in a meaningless job and is pushed by the fractured dynamics of the family into joining the American military as a way to start a life he can be proud of. The youngest son leads a secret life himself by taking on piano lessons to break away from his reality, with hopes of finally fitting in somewhere.

A major theme in the film which Kurosawa addresses is the diminishing need for a Japanese workforce due to the growth of the Chinese economy. The story begins with Chinese representatives in Ryuhei’s company encouraging management to lay off their employees as it will be cheaper to hire three times the amount of employees in China for less the amount of labor costs. Throughout Ryuhei’s journey to find work, Kurosawa allows the audience to see how devastating this has been to the patriarchs in many Japanese families through the introduction of the men that come into his and his family’s lives. In the scene where Ryuhei unexpectedly meets an old friend in a food line for impoverished people, he discovers that his friend is also unemployed and hiding it from his family. After finally surrendering and accepting a janitorial job, Ryuhei becomes more jaded as he is scolded on what type of cleaners he must use by his new co-worker. At the end of his shift he dresses in his business attire to maintain his charade, and then the camera pans over and reveals his co-worker dressing in a similar suit. Here, Kurosawa implies the co-worker is experiencing the same turmoil that Ryuhei is going through. Kurosawa foreshadows the outcome of their situations through the man who breaks into the family’s house and kidnaps Ryuhei’s wife. He has been without work for so long he must resort to crime to make a living. These men become so disillusioned and lose hope that they begin to contemplate whether living is even an option at all.

Kurosawa further implies the negative effect of the Chinese economy on Japanese employees and highlights how expansive this issue by use of his long shots in scenes. In the shots where Ryuhei waits in the job placement line, Kurosawa opens up the shot to reveal several flights of stairs of other men waiting in line for jobs as well. In the free-food scenes, the line is full of destitute people with sporadic placements of men in business suits in it. In the scene where Ryuhei is on his first day unemployed he finds a library to loiter all day, Kurosawa uses a wider shot to show the place filled with other business people loitering around him.

Kurosawa also uses long shots to indicate the moods of the characters in the film. At the breaking point of Ryuhei’s wife, Kurosawa centers her in a background of a stormy ocean in the black of night. After a long night of revelations, he subtly uses the background of the calming of that ocean and the sun shining on her to indicate her new start in life.

Kurosawa’s ability to deliver a strong message in society through his subtle use of shots allows the audience to view the film on deeper levels.  The title, Tokyo Sonata, gives the film justice as it takes the viewer through a seemingly perfect melody in the beginning, and then journeys through a beautiful chaotic tune trying to find that perfection it started with. In a world of increasing economic troubles worldwide, one must watch Tokyo Sonata, as it is an eye-opening film that delves into universal issues felt by those affected by these troubles not only in Japan, but on a global scale.

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Uncategorized

Hardwired Love: A Love Story Between a Man and a Cyborg

Boku no Kanojo wa Saiboogu (My Girlfriend is a Cyborg) is a movie by South Korean director and screenwriter Kwak Jae-yong. The movie earned its fame in Japan when it was released in 2008, allowing Kwak to briskly march into the foreign Japanese movie industry. At the time, Kwak had already established himself in the Korean movie industry through his previous works such as My Sassy Girl (Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo, 2001). Kwak seems to play on the theme of love in many of his works and takes it to another level with his work, Boku no Kanojo wa Saiboogu, painting an impossible love between a human and a cold-hearted robot. This seemingly impossible event is brought to life by Ayase Haruka who enacts as both the girl from the future and the cyborg who falls in love with the protagonist Koide Keiske, as Jirou.

The movie begins by introducing the audience to Jirou, a lonesome university student, and the flashback of his twentieth birthday on November 22 of 2007. Jirou is on his way back from buying his own birthday present, when a cute girl who remains nameless in the movie, suddenly shows up and follows him. At the restaurant, the girl tells Jirou that it is her birthday as well and the two share an eventful night. Shortly after, the nameless girl insists she must leave to return to the future. Jirou is left clueless and the movie resumes exactly one year after on Jirou’s twenty-first birthday. Jirou recalls how much fun he had on his last birthday with the nameless girl and hopes of meeting her again. Jirou goes to the same restaurant in high hopes and the girl from the future appears again to surprise him. When they return to Jirou’s house, however, the girl explains that she is a cyborg who had been created and sent by the future Jirou, in order to save him from getting shot by a drunk man. Jirou’s and many others’ disastrous fate is altered thanks to the cyborg’s help. In the meantime, Jirou is faced with a doubt that perhaps his love cannot be felt by the cyborg. However soon after the Tokyo Earthquake, Jirou realizes that the cyborg girlfriend can feel his love.

One could only imagine whether a man and a cyborg could share any human interactions. However, Ayase’s masterful interpretation of a cyborg is sufficient to win the audience’s approval of the genuineness of the love that could exist between a human and a cyborg. Also, Kwak made sure even the tiniest detail such as cyborg’s blinking; as opposed to the natural and rapid of humans, which might destroy the image of a cyborg one might have isn’t overlooked. But instead, Ayase performs a perfect imitation of cyborg-like behaviors. In the film, it is evident that she rarely blinks and moves her joints awkwardly. Moreover, VFX or Visual F/X is used to help visualize and push the human limitation boundaries even further. For instance, Ayase’s cyborg look is more professionally refined and enhanced in scenes where she is required to show holograms through her eyes and turn her neck 360-degree. Such technique also enhances her superhuman strength and speed and makes her stronger than a truck and faster than wind. The combination of VFX and her efforts in performing the appropriate cyborg look is what makes the audience to appreciate the optimistic possibility of love between human and a Cyborg.

Cultural diversity is not disregarded in the film, Boku no Kanojo wa Saiboogu. Kwak incorporates different cultural aspects from different parts of Asia. The first is a scene where Jirou and the girl from the future are forced to hide in a Chinese Opera Theatre located inside the China Town. The particular scene last a couple of minutes, which is quite long, because Jirou and the girl actually run through the crowded dressing room and head on to the opera stage in traditional Chinese opera costumes to run away from a policeman and restaurant manager who are chasing them. Besides the obvious Chinese cultural aspect, the film also contains some Korean cultural aspects. Toward the end of the film where the future girl’s classmate informs the girl of a dead cyborg, which looks just like the girl, they converse in Korean rather than in Japanese. Although the film’s main audience is intended for Japanese, the multi-cultural aspects in the film could definitely go along well in the plot development considering the population of Korean and Chinese descendents as the most visible minorities of Japan. These examples suggest that harmony can exist in the form of multiple cultures where Jirou and the girl from the future live.

Boku no Kanojo wa Saiboogu is an excellent example of a compound genre, sci-fi-rom-com, which combines elements of scientific, romance and comedy. Kwak’s flawless work combined with delicate yet decisive and meticulous acting by Ayase allows for the heartless cyborg to be a heartfelt character. After watching the movie, I was moved by the love between Jirou and the cyborg and definitely made me believe in a possibility of such kind of love if I ever had a cyborg for myself. Over all, I truly enjoyed watching the film and have no doubt that those who have not yet watched will also enjoy it too.

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