Curtain Raiser: Japan Society presents The Most Beautiful: The War Films of Shirley Yamaguchi & Setsuko Hara

This week: the eclectic and compelling work of two major stars of post-war Japanese cinema are spotlighted in the 2015 Globus Film Series, part of the Society-wide series Stories from the War. The work of actresses Shirley Yamaguchi and Setsuko Hara — both huge in Japan, nearly unknown in the West — chronicled the transformation of Japan from Axis nation through its defeat in World War II. The nine-film series begins on March 21 with China Nights (1940), the controversial film whose dramatically different endings for the Chinese and Japanese markets polarized the Chinese against Shirley Yamaguchi and contributed to her death sentence following the war.


Other films in the series include Akira Kurosawa's 1946 anti-fascist drama No Regrets for Our Youth (with Setsuko Hara) and his 1950 satirical romance-comedy Scandal (with Yamaguchi); Setsuko Hara's break-out star piece in 1937's The New Earth — a film co-directed by Nazi film director Arnold Fanck and admired by Adolf Hitler and a propaganda score for the German/Japanese alliance; Samuel Fuller's gorgeous American but shot-in-Japan 1955 noir thriller House of Bamboo (with Yamaguchi); plus several more.


Also: Japanese film historian Inuhiko Yomota presents the lecture An Actress with a Thousand Names, covering Shirley Yamaguchi’s multi-faceted life and legacy.

Go east, film buffs, and immerse yourself in the worlds of the war films of Shirley Yamaguchi & Setsuko Hara.


The Most Beautiful: The War Films of Shirley Yamaguchi & Setsuko Hara runs March 21-April 4 at the Japan Society in New York City; see the full schedule and details at the BAM website.

JAPAN CUTS 2014: Cross Generation Communications From .5MM, GREATFUL DEAD, TALE OF IYA Screenings

Tetsuichiro Tsuta, director of THE TALE OF IYA

Living up to its reputation, the leading festival of films from Japan Japan Cuts brought a diverse offering of topics and points of view in its presentations of films from 2013 and 2014 to New York City audiences at this summer's event. This year’s slate was enriched by a number of strong independent films offering critical looks at society with no easy answers but plenty of intriguing questions. Standouts include .MM from director Momoko Andou, who adapted the story from her debut novel, GREATFUL DEAD by Eiji Uchida, and THE TALE OF IYA by TETSUICHIRO TSUTA. These films represent the promise of three assured and innovative voices arising in the Japanese film industry.

On an interesting note all three of the directors worked with a cast featuring both young and aged actors in order to wave stories that look at the relationship between different generations of Japanese. At times it speaks of reverence (TALE OF IYA), of both lack of understanding and awestruck fascination (.5MM), and in the case of GREATFUL DEAD, there is allusion to a conflict that is ruthlessly adversarial. In each case, these relations are navigated in such a way that suggests a complex situation at work.

In the realm of filmmaking, however, it can be viewed as a triumph of collaboration, with brilliant performances across generations being invoked by each director.

Below are a few communications between the talent involved in these provocative films and the audience, either in person, via video, or by letter read prior to a screening.

Prior to the screening of .5MM Japan Cuts programmer Joel Neville Anderson read a letter from Sakura Andou (LOVE EXPOSURE, PENANCE) star of the film and sister of director Momoko Andou, to the audience. I was unable to stay for the Q & A via skype with director Momoko Andou after the film.

Director Eiji Uchida prepared a video introduction before the screening of his film Greatful Dead, in which he talks about the film’s shift from serious societal critique to genre hit, and the inspiration behind religious themes in the film.

Director Tetsuichiro Tsuta appeared at New York’s Japan Society in person to introduce his film and discuss it afterwards with Joel Neville Anderson. Below are photos followed by videos of the introduction and q & a.Apologies for the video’s abrupt beginning and end, which captures only a part of the Q & A. At the outset, Tsuta answers a question about his ambitions to make even longer films (IYA ran an impressive 3 hours) using traditional filming methods. Here he speaks on directing the physicality of his leads Rina Takeda, action film favorite and martial artist, and Min Tanaka, a long established actor whose repetoire includes traditional dance.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

JAPAN CUTS 2014: The Not-So-Secret Lives of Third Graders in HELLO! JUNICHI

Say ‘Hello!’ to a viewing object that is an enigma in itself.  What you behold on screen will seem for the most part straightforward and entirely logical. But think about it for a moment and its existence is a marvel. What could bring this uncharacteristically ecstatic work into being? It’s hard to imagine it being possible anywhere except perhaps another galaxy, and then of course Japan.

HELLO! JUNICHI drops in on the lives of a band of third graders: their love interests, their hang-ups, their dreams and the hardships they bear. Although wrapped in some good-natured zaniness and baring the hyperactivity that comes with such an age, it’s an uncondescending, thoughtful portrayal, continuing a tradition of taking kids seriously that we often see in the films of Kore-eda.

Imagine if you will who would take on such an endeavor in the West? It’s not so much of a stretch to see realistic on-screen enactments of adolescents. It’s a time period close enough and relevant to adults’ experiences for them to be willing to return to.  And adolescents themselves are forming tastes and have a vested interest in seeking out stories about characters they can closely relate to. But children right in the middle of their elementary school days? I’m trying to imagine a scene of 8 and 9 year old mumblecore fans getting walked to or dropped off at an arthouse cinema in Shimo Kitazawa or perhaps Koenji. I can’t quite picture it. Nevertheless, JUNICHI exists, thanks to eccentric visionary director Katsuhito Ishii (FUNKY FOREST, THE TASTE OF TEA) for third graders, should they come across the opportunity to see it, and grown up fans of unadulterated merriment alike.

The scenarios the kids face arise with the subtlety of a week’s worth of afterschool sitcoms crammed into the length of a movie. They range from central character Junichi’s inability to muster the confidence to return an eraser to a girl he likes to another boy, whose family faces financial hardships, considering shoplifting in order to get birthday present for his overworked mother, to a child actor’s desire to woo a young woman working as a shop clerk who also models and has been in commercials with him. The kids have a range of economic situations and personality types, and the fact that this does not affect their friendships is evidence of a wonderfully idealistic sentiment at work. So too is the ambition and sense of achievement we get among the kids, particularly Tanaka, a tough girl who won’t take guff from anyone including the older neighborhood bullies, determined to be a successful pop singer. When she sings her heart out over the requisite musical number, it’s both a charming and profoundly uplifting moment.

Meanwhile the acting is remarkably genuine. At the outset and several times throughout, they appear to have been given a scenario and asked to improvise. It’s conceivable that they did sometimes and not others since two people are credited as co-directors along with Ishii.

 

Adding quite a bit of flair is Hikari Mitsushima’s (similarly electrifying in ‘mean girl’ roles in LOVE EXPOSURE and VILLAIN) performance as a student teacher whose garishness and straight from the hip talk is far opposed to the expected nurturing teacher role. Is she employing clever psychological techniques to help the kids find their way or just being 100 percent true to her audacious self?

HELLO! JUNICHI is absolutely peppered with instances of singular strangeness too: impromptu pro wrestling matches break out between classes,  refereed by lucha libre mask wearing individual who suddenly appears; a duo of an African gentleman and free spirited Japanese woman rides a bicycle past Junichi on his way to school, greeting him with a hearty ‘hello!’ in English. Perhaps the latter is a symbol of boldness and embracing a friendly spirit toward all? Then there is the infectiously silly and simple dance shown repeatedly over the closing credits that will have audiences dancing in the aisles…or at least wishing they could return to a time of youthful innocence when they could actually do so.

HELLO! JUNICHI plays at the 2014 JAPAN CUTS festival of contemporary cinema at 3 pm on Sunday, July 20 at Japan Society. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

JAPAN CUTS 2014: Distant Desires and Broken Bonds for MY LITTLE SWEET PEA

After the dust has settled from the extreme and fantastical variety of the opening weekend of Japan Cuts that is co-presented with the New York Asian Film Festival, the festival takes a turn toward films that are often more grounded in reality, though one that is seeped thoroughly in the more singular aspects of Japanese culture. MY LITTLE SWEET PEA is the perfect representation of this. It is a drama centered around a young adult with hopes of going to a specialized school to learn how to be a voice over actress. It shifts from the not so glamorous outskirts of Tokyo to a remote village in Yamanashi prefecture, and its focus is on individuals living entirely unglamorous lives (although the desire to do so is there, always seemingly just out of reach).

Mugiko lives with her older brother Norio (Ryuhei Matsuda channeling an entirely different spirit from that of his role in THE GREAT PASSAGE), with him seemingly taking care of all of the finances. After a long estrangement, their mother Ayako (Kimiko Yo, famous internationally for her role in DEPARTURES) appears again in Mugiko’s life. She brings little with her save for a mysterious past and the impetus for her daughter‘s anger.

A mishap leads to Ayako‘s death, resulting in Mugiko making a trek to her mother’s hometown to bury her mother’s ashes where she encounters Ayako‘s unbeknownst past as a local celebrity with ambitions not entirely unlike her own.

Her time in the village brings her into contact with folks who are kind yet also in the midst of their own thorny domestic situations.  It brings about compassion and also resentment from Mugiko, as she tries to come to terms with her own regrets.

Issues are dealt with in genuinely Japanese fashion, never presenting black and white absolutes in behavior, but showing all of the factors motivating characters’ behaviors. Although a film about regret for not transcending grudges toward those that let us down, it never overlooks the difficulties of doing so.

It is also admirable for its steadfast portrayal of people living marginal existences in a star-driven society. Characters strive to be popular as they toil away at menial jobs or live mundane lives in small towns. Director Keisuke Yoshida’s choices of locations are rather effective at capturing the essence of banality and missed opportunity.

An ending with a disposition a bit too sunny can be excused when the drama leading up to it is so earnest and sensitive of the life’s adversities.

MY LITTLE SWEET PEA plays at the 2014 JAPAN CUTS festival of contemporary cinema at 2:15 on Saturday, July 19 at Japan Society. Click here for more details or to buy tickets.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry

Consequential Carnage in The Raid 2: Berandal

What does a director do after releasing a runaway hit, shaking audiences and critics out of unrealized slumbers while having virtually comes from out of nowhere? In the case of Gareth Evans, director of Indonesian martial arts thriller The Raid, which experienced a meteoric rise to success in 2011, there are a few things one doesn’t do: Rest on one’s laurels (or perhaps rest at all – it is an incredible feat to have completed this massive undertaking over the course of a couple years); play it safe and simply dish out more the same, despite that path’s guarantee of pleased fans.

Instead, Evans went big - ‘Epic’ is probably a more apt term - adding an engaging and often disconcerting level of human emotion to the already successful dance of devastation.

Berandal begins with an immediate desire to distance itself from its predecessor, laying out one of the most significant links to the original, Rama‘s shrewd brother Andi, after a deal with a budding criminal empire goes bad. Rama is now working with an internal affairs-like group of anti corruption cops. He is offered a chance to get at the group attributed to Andi‘s murder.  To do so, however, involves a virtual descent into hell, with Rama going deep undercover as a prison inmate to get close to Uco, whose father Bagun, controls a powerful criminal empire.  The goal of this dangerous game is for Rama to get in the good graces of Uco and his father, and become a high ranking member of the Bagun criminal syndicate, thus allowing him to gather evidence of their wrongdoing.

The Bagun clan has business dealing with the Yakuza, between which an uneasy peace exists. It’s a fact that a third power hungry group will try to exploit in order to create a war between Bagun and the Yakuza, using a restless Uco as a pawn instrumental in setting tensions off.

As a hostile coup lurches into motion, one bloody skirmish at a time, Rama finds his objectives further and further lost in murky waters. With a waning sense of purpose and faith in his department’s support diminishing ever day, Rama begins to realize that the clearest path ahead of him is a head on collision with the criminal organizations vying for domination.

While the story itself is bigger, the manner in which it is told also adds to the sequel’s grandiosity. Whereas the first Raid created an incredible physical space with elements essential to the battles that unfolded within, Berandal expands things outward into an actual world. The amazing battles are memorable for, and in part molded by, the different venues in which they take place: a single solitary prison cell (with slight echoes of the claustrophobic hallway fight in Oldboy), the muddy yard of the same prison, a seedy porn production studio, a suave multilevel nightclub…to name just a few. Within every one of these spaces, a unique and exquisite battle takes place.

Music is another area where surefire audience appeal –- The original Raid’s grooving hip hop hybrid score put together by Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda used in its international cut -- is traded in for something deeper and darker. Berandal makes use of Trent Reznor’s somber soundscapes with tracks from the Nine Inch Nails ‘Ghosts’ release, as well as a classical piece by Haendel, which truly mesmerizes with its sense of stoic grandeur. Perhaps it is not as catchy as the first Raid’ rallying battle hymns, but it helps elevate the film to one with far more emotional depth.

There have been some criticisms, unfavorable comparisons to the original Raid, sometimes citing a plot that is unwieldy or unevenly told, and other times complaining that the sheer amount of violence is numbing. They are valid points. But I would bet a large part of some viewers’ lack of appreciation for Berandal’s direction stems more from a subconscious turn off to the way it forces us to feel something for the amassing piles of broken bodies.

In a genre that way too often gets a pass for sticking to the same formula, gaining rather than losing points for delivering style over substance, Evans has insisted on stirring up dark and unsettling depictions of humanity that cut a bit too close to real to dismiss. The main attraction is still pencak silat, the beautiful fighting art that Evans has done so much to raise the profile of internationally. If you appreciate it, then you won't want to blink through a moment of the wondrous choreography. Yet, in between the most startling combat sequences are long bouts of time with fully developed characters. Their actions, however horrible, are always driven by motivations, or the results of some form of trauma or other. They may not be defendable, but are certainly understandable, even relatable at times.

That in itself is a pretty big departure from the original Raid, which has often been likened to a horror film. With its hordes of monstrous henchmen displaying all savagery and not an ounce of humanity, the film can be said to exude the quality of ‘video game movies.’ There is a very clear-cut battle waged by good against evil, and antagonists were so unsympathetic, they may as well be dematerializing into digital purgatory once conquered.

Compare this to Berandal, where a principle antagonist like Uco acts out of frustration and feelings of inadequacy in his father, Bagun’s eyes. Bagun shows an inordinate amount of loyalty and desire to do right by the Yakuza group he does business with, even if it means losing face. We also meet an assassin capable of terrifying savagery (played by “Mad Dog” Yayan Ruhian in a much welcome return) who is working to earn money for a wife and child whom he is shamed into staying away from. Then there are two assassins working for the rival gang, Hammer Girl and Bat Boy, whose shrouded comic book-like origin is reminiscent of Kill Bill’s Go Go Yubari, and suggests a past in which a terrible ordeal was endured.

To further complicate things, forces of good sometimes seem like they are anything but. The task force Rama is assigned to murders a target in cold blood at the very outset and hardly seems to have the undercover agent’s back. There is an instance occurring late in the film where Rama’s dispatch of an opponent is so excessively brutal, I was thrown by what I felt was an out of place portrayal of his character. Difficult to reconcile after considering him an archetype for a modern sort of hero when I wrote about the 1st Raid with a piece called A Much Needed Man From Nowhere. After letting the sum total of the film set in, I felt that it a well thought out and deliberate move on Gareth’s part, to shade everything and everyone with a touch if blackness. It says something distasteful concerning this character working undercover who’s gone so deep into his role as a gangster, he’s lost touch with what he is about. If nobody is so cut and dry evil as to completely deserve the wrath they suffer, neither is anyone completely heroic.

It makes for a strange sort of feel good/feel bad dichotomy. There are the same rushes of pure adrenaline that comes from watching the dizzying physical feats and amazingly complex orchestrations of carnage that those abiding by social contracts could only dream of taking part in. Yet these balanced out by the heavyheartedness that comes after these misguided, tragic figures being laid to waste. These highs and lows can be confusing, exhausting even. But they are an essential aspect of experiencing action-oriented filmmaking determined to achieve the next level. It truly makes you wonder what Evans and company will strive for with the Raid 3. I’d expect something no less thrilling or emotionally challenging than what he’s accomplished here.

The Raid 2: Berandal is currently playing in select cities.

Me on twitter = @mondocurry.