しあわせ » film

Kon Satoshi 1963 – 2010

ロバート — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:31:30 +0000

I was sad to see the death of animator Kon Satoshi 今敏 reported on Boing Boing today.
He was one of my favourite film-makers. He made animated films with serious themes aimed at adults.
I remember thinking “They broadcast this on TV?!” when watching Paranoia Agent with it’s storylines exploring bullying, prostitution, and Internet suicide pacts. Indeed the episode concerning the suicide pact had cuts made to it in the UK. He depicted a modern Japan much darker than I’ve seen portrayed in other anime. It could have been live action but somehow by being animated it is hyper-real in an odd way.
I thoroughly recommend, Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ (great Christmas movie!), Millennium Actress 千年女優 and the series Paranoia Agent 妄想代理人.

––update 05Sep10––
His last words (posted online by his family) have been translated into English by Makikoh Ito on her blog. (as well as some notes on her translation). They’re very sad in many ways. My thoughts go out to his wife and parents.
I’m of a similar age to Kon Satoshi and will never have even a fraction of his talent or accomplishments…
In rely to his おさきに　I offer お疲れさま　and 　ごきげんよう
(My Japanese Father-in-law died from cancer last year. I never really got to know him because my Japanese was never good enough, but language and cultural gulf notwithstanding he welcomed me into his family. I doubt I will ever have a fraction of his talent and accomplishment either.)

———————————
おはよう
This is a one minute short part of the Ani*Kuri15 project for NHK.
It’s a good example of his style.

D.T. Suzuki Documentary screenings

ロバート — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:05:49 +0000

If you have ever read about Buddhism you are certain to have come across the writings of D.T. Suzuki.
I was recently contacted by a director of a film about Suzuki’s life. There are screenings in the UK in November. While the film isn’t in Japanese, I think it will be of interest to people interested in Japanese culture and Buddhism. I’ll let Michael Goldberg tell you himself after the jump.

There will be 3 free public screenings of “A ZEN LIFE – D.T. Suzuki” at universities in the UK next month.

“A ZEN LIFE – D.T. Suzuki” is a 77-minute documentary in English about Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966) the Japanese lay Buddhist, prolific writer and teacher credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the West.

With an excellent grasp of English, Daisetsu Suzuki was highly successful at getting Westerners to appreciate the Japanese mentality, and Japanese to see the merit of Western logic. He earned widespread respect for his deep insights into Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. The effect he had on Western psychology, philosophy, religious thinking, and the arts was profound.

A variety of excerpts from Dr. Suzuki’s talks about Zen and Buddhism, Christianity, and psychoanalysis punctuate the film. Inter-faith dialogue and mutual respect were, in his mind, keys to peace. Interwoven with film footage, photos and audio recordings of D.T. Suzuki are interviews of many people who knew him, including Huston Smith, Gary Snyder, Robert Aitken, William Theodore de Bary, Donald Richie, Mihoko Okamura, and Dr. Albert Stunkard, with rare historical footage of Fr. Thomas Merton, John Cage, Erich Fromm, and the voice of Christmas Humphreys.

A pioneer in improving East-West relations, his numerous writings in English and Japanese, translated into many languages, serve as an inspiration even today. Daisetsu Suzuki’s message is all the more important now, in light of contemporary conflicts stemming from divergent ways of thinking.

SCREENINGS IN THE UK

Glasgow
Monday, 23 November, 6:30 pm
Interfaith Chapel, University of Glasgow, West Quadrangle
Screening followed by Q&A with director
No reservation necessary
For further information about the Glasgow screening,
please contact Joan Keenan, Interfaith Chaplaincy,
on 0141 330 5419 or joan.keenan@admin.gla.ac.uk

Manchester
Tuesday, 24 November, 5:15 – 7:30 pm (doors open 5 pm)
Arts Lecture Theatre, Lower Ground Floor, Samuel Alexander Building
University of Manchester
Screening followed by Q&A with director
No reservation necessary for the Manchester screening

London
Thursday, 26 November, 6:30 – 8:30 pm (reception afterward)
Brunei Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Russell Square
University of London
Screening followed by Q&A with director and panel discussion
Please reserve in advance for the SOAS event by contacting
info@azenlife-film.org, ts@soas.ac.uk, or tl3@soas.ac.uk
or call 01442 890882

These events are sponsored by
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

2 preview clips can be found on YouTube:

Very truly yours,
Michael Goldberg
Executive Producer / Director
The DT Suzuki Documentary Project
Japan Inter-Culture Foundation
www.azenlife-film.org

Nagisa Oshima season at the BFI

ロバート — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:16:30 +0000

A season of films by Oshima the director of the infamous Realm of the Senses (愛のコリーダ), and the notable Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (with a famous soundtrack) is playing at the NFT London from today until the end of October. Details on BFI’s website.

Children Full of Life – 涙と笑いのハッピークラス

ロバート — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:33:02 +0000

I came across this film today on Japan Probe. It reminds me a bit of “The Queen’s Classroom” except this is a real look inside a classroom in Japan’s primary school system.
The original 涙と笑いのハッピークラス―4年1組命の授業 was made by NHK in 2003. It follows a year in Mr. Kanamori’s 4th grade class. It is very different from the western classes I know of. Not least because of the teacher’s relationship to the children, the discussion of matters such as death, the group solidarity, and the willingness of children to write.
The video on YouTube, Children Full of Life, is CBC’s version that is subtitled and has an English commentary. It’s well worth watching before it inevitably gets taken down.

(But for the gold standard in fly-on-the-classroom-wall documentaries search out Etre et Avoir)

Terracotta Film Festival London

ロバート — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:20:45 +0000

As part of the Terracotta Film Festival at the Prince Charles cinema over the bank holiday weekend, there are three Japanese films being screened.

After School Saturday 23 May 16:15
High Kick Girl Sunday 24 May 18:40
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Friday 22 May 20:45

Details at the festival site. There are also films from Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia if you are a fan of Asian cinema.

Thanks to Paul at London Japanese Language Meetup for the heads-up!

Reality Fiction: Japan Foundation touring film programme

ロバート — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:49:43 +0000

The Japan Foundation is sponsoring a film programme of Japanese films inspired by actual events.
In London they will be screened at The ICA from the 6th to the 12th of February.
Tickets are £8 / £7 Concessions / £6 ICA Members.

The programme features six films

- A Chain of Islands (Dir: Kei Kumai, 1965)
- Live Today, Die Tomorrow! (Dir: Kaneto Shindo, 1970)
- Face (Dir: Junji Sakamoto, 2001)
- Chosyu Five (Dir: Sho Igarashi, 2006)
- Now, I… (Dir: Yasutomo Chikuma, 2007)
- Who’s Camus Anyway? (Dir: Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 2005)

The programme will also tour to four other venues in the UK during February and March 2009.
7 to 21 February 2009 – Watershed, Bristol
2 to 5 March 2009 -QFT, Belfast
9 to 19 March 2009 – Showroom, Sheffield
11 to 19 March 2009 – Filmhouse, Edinburgh

Japanese Gems season at BFI Southbank

ロバート — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:33:10 +0000

Throughout July the BFI Southbank London are showing classics of Japanese cinema in a season called Japanese Gems. 24 films by eight Kawakita Award-winning Japanese directors are showing.
The films include Ikuru by Kurosawa, Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill by Seijun Suzuki, and Onibaba by Kaneto Shindo.
The listings and details from BFI are better than anything I can provide.

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SCI-FI London Festival

ロバート — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:17:28 +0000

There’s always some Japanese films at this festival.

This year it’s running from the 30th of April until the 4th of May, and these films are showing:
Dai Nipponjin
Vexille and an
Anime All Nighter (9 hours, 4 films, including Tekkonkinkreet and The Girl who Leapt Through Time)

All films are showing at the Apollo Cinema Regent Street.
Films are £10, the all-nighter is £25, booking details are here

There are goody bags with the Anime All Nighter, and before every screening T-shirts and DVDs are usually thrown into (at?) the audience.

I’d really like to see The Girl who Leapt Through Time but I don’t think I can do an all-nighter anymore. Maybe it’ll get a DVD release. . .

Kurosawa Retrospective at the Barbican London

ロバート — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:08:57 +0000

There is a short retrospective of Akira Kurosawa films at the Barbican in May, commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death in 1998.

The films are

Rashomon on 4 May
Throne of Blood on 11 May
Seven Samurai on 18 May
Dersu Uzala (this one is in Russian) on 25 May
Kagemusha on 1 June

The only one of these films I haven’t seen is the Russian one, Dersu Uzala.
If I were to only recommend one it would have to be Seven Samurai. This is a rare chance to see these films on a large screen. Although if you miss them you can find them all on DVD as well.

Thanks to Paul-san for telling me about this.

Also at the Barbican next month on the 29 April is the Anime Patlabor2 directed by Mamoru Oshii, better known for Ghost in the Shell. Darker than the original which was apparently even darker than the original TV series. From what I remember my favourite character Noa Izumi doesn’t feature much in this film.

Upcoming films at ICA London

ロバート — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:11:27 +0000

I missed the screening of Sakuran at the ICA last week and that prompted me to check the listings.
(Sakuran is on DVD with English subs in Japan so I’ll probably get it there before any release in the UK)

There are two films screening in the next months.

White Light/Black Rain
the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at the ICA this is a documentary about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings. It is told through interviews with surviving Hibakusha as well as Americans involved in dropping The Bomb.

I’ve visited Hiroshima so I think it will be interesting to see this film. However the last documentary I saw about Hiroshima, Hiroshima by the BBC, made me quite sad at the complete and utter waste and destruction of ordinary people’s lives who were powerless compared to the military governments of America and Japan.

(My own view on the dropping of the bomb is that it was a live fire experiment to make the Russians wary. It wasn’t targeted on a military site, which would have been the harbour not the centre of the city. It was targeted on a city deliberately spared earlier bombing raids so the effects could be easily seen. Japan was already defeated; given the smallest amount of time they would have surrendered. Okinawa was the last gasp of their Army and Navy. An invasion should not have been necessary. It was an act of revenge and an experiment. Japan committed many atrocities in China and elsewhere but that was no excuse for America to commit their own; they were meant to be the good guys.

All we can hope for is to learn from it so such things don’t happen again. Unfortunately I don’t really have that much faith in humanity and think it’s only time before something far worse will happen.)

HBO website

White Light/Black Rain is screening on the 19th March only. Tickets £8

and

Death Note

A drama based on the manga and anime of the same name.
This is a good film. The basic premise is “what would you do if you could kill anyone at will, and get away with it?” When a schoolboy finds a Death God’s notebook and discovers that by writing someone’s name in it he can kill them, we find out the answer to this question.
This is actually part one of a two part film. Death Note: The Last Name will be showing at the ICA in the summer.

I prefer the anime myself but these films are a faithful re-working of the original story. I’d recommend it.

Death Note article on Wikipedia

Death Note is screening from the 25th to the 30th of April. Tickets £8

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