Legend of the Forest Part 2 Dark Side of the Sun

It was snowing Saturday when I went to the Japan Society for Tezuka shorts

Saturday I went to the Japan Society to catch the special screening of Osamu Tezuka's LEGEND OF THE FOREST  along with his son's Part 2. I figured this was going to be my best shot at not only seeing the film on the big screen but also getting to see the new addition.

Before the film they ran two other Tezuka shorts-

JUMPING which is the world seen from the POV of someone who can jump very high and does so as they leap around the world. Its a very funny film and it was great to hear the few kids in the audience roaring with laughter.

The second film was BROKEN DOWN FILM which is a western cartoon that suffers from scratches, misframed images and broken film. Its a wickedly funny film thats a reminder of the bad old days before digital projection. Its a great film and one that strangely even non- Tezuka fans seemsto know. I say this because I once was explaining who Tezuka was to someone and they stopped to ask if they did BROKEN DOWN FILM.

The main portion of the program was LEGEND OF THE FOREST. I previously wrote up the original film (here) calling it a work of art and a masterpiece and all of that sort of stuff so there is no point in going over it again (if you want to read it it's here).

I do want to talk briefly about the new part which was done my Tezuka's son Macoto Tezka-Simply put its quite lovely.

Done in a computer animation that is slightly more realistic, the film is essentially the romance between two fairies. It begins as the male faerie rescues the girl from a spider's web, which leads into more rescues...and what happens is the film.

At first the style and and the subject matter seem out of place with the earlier two parts but very quickly the film falls in line and you realize it fits perfectly. I would love to see it in the order where it belongs (second) instead of at the end of the piece. Actually what I really would love would be for the final piece to be animated so we could see what Tezuka was aiming at.

The screening was a lovely way to spend a snowy afternoon.

Dark Side of the Sun- The short films of Osamu Tezuka at the Japan Society

As part of the Dark Sun John Zorn series the Japan Society is running 8 short films by Osamu Tezuka on the 20th and A Tale of the Forest on the 21st. Both screenings have additional material running with them, in the case of the short films they are running It’s Me Here, Bellett which is a promotional film for Bellet cars. On the 21st they are running Macoto Tezka’s Legend of the Forest, Part 2. sequel to A Tale of the Forest.

I have not seen the additional materials, however I have seen all of the Tezuka films and if you know what’s good for you you should make an effort to see them.

If you don’t know Osamu Tezuka odds are you’ve run across one or another of his creations. He was the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is considered the Godfather of Japanese comics. He was a filmmaker who made a good number of short films over the years, some of which were independently produced by himself.

His films are very much their own things and I know people who are big fans of his comic work being thrown by the short films. Its not that they are bad, rather it's because they are not (for the most part) the epic tales that you find in his comics. Most of the films run a few minutes and just seem a bit odd if you only know Tezuka’s major works.

Personally I like the films. I like them so much that I have them on multiple DVDs because each release has differing extras including commentaries.

The films that are screening at Dark Sun are as follows:

MALE- in a darkened room a male cat complains to the human he shares the room with that he is making too much noise and that he would very much like quiet so that he can get it on with his lady love. The story is a net little black-out story with a sting in it’s tail.

SELF PORTRAIT is a 14 second long film made as part of a project that was put together by various film festivals. Each animator was to make a film about themselves and all of them would be joined up to make a longer film. This brief little ditty was Tezuka’s contribution.

MEMORY- is a comical explanation of how memory works and how memory is different than reality

THE DROP was made by Tezuka alone over the course of a week.It concerns a shipwrecked sailor trying to get some drops of water on the mast of his woe begotten ship. Its a very silly four minutes

MERMAID concerns a boy who rescues a fish, which turns into a mermaid that only he can see... its a lovely fantasy

THE GENESIS- a picture card parody of John Huston's THE BIBLE. More silliness with a fleeting cameo by a certain boy robot.....

PUSH drawn in a style that looks more like Sergio Aragones or Mad Magazine then Tezuka this is the story of a man who buys everything from vending machines...its a wicked satire

MURAMASA- the most detailed, most complex and most beautiful of the films running on the 20th MURAMASA looks like a graphic novel come to life. Its a cautionary tale of a samurai who finds the straw men he cuts turning into real ones. Its supposed to be a an allegory about nuclear proliferation but I don't quite see it. The film is however a masterpiece and a must see.

On Saturday the 21st of February the Japan Society will be running the three completed parts of  LEGEND OF THE FOREST.  Planned as a four part film Tezuka only finished  the first and fourth part (this is Part 1).  Tezuka died before completing the film. However the film was picked up and another segment (this is part 2) was finished by Macoto Tezka, who is actually Tezuka’s son. Part 2 is actually intended to appear between the first and fourth parts that Tezuka completed.

Set to Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony LEGEND OF THE FOREST is a very beautiful piece of animation,at least the potions I've seen, which are the Tezuka completed pieces.

Movement One is about life in the forest told in a manner that reveals the entire history of animation. If you know your  animation history you'll have a blast watching the story unfold with references to great animated films of the past. It follows various animals living in the forest and ends with the arrival of man.

Movement Four has Mankind destroying the forest and the attempts by the magical creatures in the wood trying to save it. Its a real kick in the ass.

The two pieces are truly some of the greatest animation you'll ever see. It will simply blow your mind and seeing the films you will really understand just what Osamu Tezuka was really capable of producing.

I have not seen his son's piece. I'm hoping to get to the Japan Society to see the film. It is my understanding that the work is something special and a piece of art worthy to be inserted into the work his father had started.

For tickets and more information on Friday the 20th's screening go here.

Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) Dark Side of the Sun John Zorn on Japanese Cinema

I owe an apology to the Japan Society.

We had been planning on covering the entire run of the John Zorn residency called Dark Side of the Sun John Zorn on Japanese Cinema but things got away from us after the initial screening. I even had a spy at the screenings of Crossroads,and Top Stripper but the pieces that I had hoped for ended up getting dissipated in long conversations about the film and differing versions.

However I’m going to try and rectify the problem by reporting on the final two selections Matango or Attack of the Mushroom People this month and a collection of Osamu Tezuka short films next month.

If you’ve never seen Matango  people you have to. Seriously no lover of film should go through their life without having seen it. It’s a singular work of cinematic art made by Ishiro Honda who probably had no clue what he was doing or how it was going to seem fifty years on.

The plot has a bunch of peopl shipwrecked on an island. Struggling to survive they run into problems with the mushrooms on island which seem to turn anyone who eats them into a giant walking fungus.

Trust me it gets even weirder

Based on Story by William Hope Hodgeson, the greatest horror writer you’ve never heard of, this is a bleak black story that can be read any of a number of ways. I have read any number of pieces on the film and everyone has mentioned the various ways the film can be read, and each threw in their own twist. The two reads of the film that most people take is as either n anti-drug film or as a look at the outsider’s place in society. I have no idea which is right or wrong.

I’m equally unsure if the film is a satire or a straight on horror/science fiction film. Admittedly uncertainty is due to the dubbing that the film was saddled with for its US release (according to Wikipedia the film may never played US theaters only TV-except perhaps Japanese language theaters on the west coast). It the typical job that most Godzilla films got and resulted in the films instantly being seen a crap by a lot of people. Seeing the film in the original Japanese the film is decidedly creepier than it plays dubbed but there are some moments where you can’t help but chuckle even as you’re wincing at the horror of it all.

I’m a huge fan of the film. Not because it’s a great film, I don’t know what I really think of the film itself, rather because the film forces you to react to it. Watching it you feel something. You aren’t passive, the film doesn’t wash over you, it kicks you in the shins and makes you consider it not only what it’s doing but also how you feel about it. Few films ever force you to engage with it the way this film does.(hell few films force to to engage at all). Good bad or indifferent odds are once you get to the end you’ll be like “what the hell was that?”

I don’t know, and I’ve seen it at least a dozen times over the years.

The film plays Friday the 23rd at the Japan Society. Go see it. For tickets and more information go here.

John Zorn Opens a Portal to Japanese Film's Forbidden Zone: 'The Dark Side of the Sun' at Japan Society

When speaking about the influences that have led to my strong interest in many things Japanese, not the least of which involves film, I usually lie. Well it’s a lie of omission, at least. My mentioning Tetsuo the Iron Man and even the anime Akira draws enough blank stares, so I usually shift from there to more familiar ground. My exposure to John Zorn and his subversive cultural imports from the east end up being left out of the picture, not only for this reason but it’s been some time since getting myself back in touch with his highly immersive body of work.

A brief history of my encounters with the cult of Zorn goes something like this:

Early 90's. thanks to older sister with adventurous listening tastes, get a glimpse and an earful of John Zorn squalling away on a saxophone, evincing sounds unimaginable. The old Knitting Factory. On Houston street.

Devour as many CD’s as possible to make up for the legendary performances of his band Naked City that I narrowly missed out on. As well as recordings of various other projects. This would introduce me to Zorn’s penchant for collecting and presenting dark imagery from Japan by way of his album’s artwork, which gets to the heart of how essential a curatorial effort like the one Zorn has put together for the Japan Society is. Throughout I’ve sprinkled assorted artwork displayed in John Zorn’s CD’s, to give a sense of his eye for the extreme. Included are painted pieces by Maruo Suehiro, Japan-based English artist Trevor Brown, and photographs of finely crafted disquieting dolls.

Late ‘90’s. the Knitting Factory’s next incarnation. On Leonard Street.  I would watch, Zorn collaborate on cacophonous improvisations with Eye Yamatsuka, legendary screamer of Naked City and Boredoms; and set air raid siren screams spiraling amidst the plodding dirges of Painkiller, Zorn’s improv unit with bassist Bill Laswell.

Early 2000’s. Zorn’s relations with the Knitting Factory had deteriorated. He opens Tonic. On Norfolk Street. I experience Dizzyingly complex and deeply layered collaborations with vocalist Mike Patton percussionist Ikue Mori.

I would later spend a few years in Japan and Tonic would close its doors.

It was some 10 years later when I’d reconvene with Zorn’s work again. Part of a series of events to commemorate his 60^th  birthday. at the Anthology Film Archives. I sat, mesmerized, as he led a group of his peers through live scores of rare archived experimental films. I saw a collection of short animated works he had provided soundtrack work for, including The Cynical Hysterie Hour anime.

And now, we have this new series at Japan Society, The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema. A revival, in a sense, of irregularly held screenings that brought Zorn's film discoveries made while residing in Tokyo to the once thriving scene of East Village small venues. Leisurely paced at one film per month between now and February of 2015, it offers a singular glimpse into the shadowy nooks and crannies of Japan’s cinematic past, some more rare than others. All selected by Zorn. All being shown the way cinema should be seen: In a darkened theater. Of particular note is CROSS ROADS (jujiro) a silent experimental film from 1928, worth attention the fact that there will be a live shamisen accompaniment alone; MATANGO, a seemingly straightforward social commentary thriller from the ‘60s that bursts into a vivid Technicolor color bomb of psychedelic imagery; and a screening of 8 short animated films by Osamu Tezuka masterful creator of a wide range of historically renowned manga from Black Jack to Buddha. Up first is the provocatively titled INFLATABLE SEX DOLLS OF THE WASTELAND (still images directly below), a noir-ish looking black and white film from 1967, which plays this Saturday, October 18^th.   

For schedule information and a note from John Zorn about the event, visit the Japan Society website. Check back here for more updates.