Japanese Film

[sprout3391]

Spirited Away

              Despite calling myself an anime fan, I have only watched one Ghibli movie, so I am happy to have experienced another one. It’s easy to see how influential this movie, and Ghibli in general, have been to both Eastern and Western media. Like Godzilla, much of the film is already familiar. Seeing the soot sprites instantly made me understand that the dust sprites from Stardew Valley were directly inspired by this movie. It explains why the dust sprites drop coal as well. Characters like No Face and the Moomin looking mouse I have seen countless times. Several shots like when Chihiro and Haku run through the garden of flowers, Chihiro by the bridge, and No Face washed by the waves are all iconic. I’m pretty sure there was a Twitter trend for drawing Yababa’s room as well. It would be difficult for such a movie to reach my high expectations, but I’m honestly not disappointed.

              I love animation as a media. It is my favorite as it allows much more creativity and flexibility than in live action. I think Spirited Away does an amazing job in utilizing its medium. The setting is so vivid and would be difficult to express another way. Animation and art style are pleasing too and aren’t as exaggerated as in other animated movies, which helps it stay grounded. It also allows the horror aspects to hit harder. Seeing Chihiro’s parents turn into pigs scared me more than anything Ringu or Pulse did and triggered unpleasant memories of Animal Farm. Greed seems to be a running theme in this film. Chihiro’s parents suffer their fate due to eating the spirit’s food. No Face greedily eats anything and everything offered to him, and the workers at the bathhouse scramble for the gold that leaks from No Face. This is even more obvious when contrasted with Chihiro, who steadfastly refuses the gold offered to her. She even states that she doesn’t need the gold, which makes me wonder why the other employees were so desperate. I wonder if it’s a subtle way to criticize capitalism. People act irrationally when faced with large amounts of money. It’s part of the reason why the environment is so damaged, which is reflected through the two river dragons.

              One of my favorite aspects of this movie was the character designs. Chihiro’s color palette helps identify her with Haku, Lin, and Bo. The salmon color is incorporated into Bo and Lin’s clothing. Chihiro’s green shirt and purple hairband associates her with Haku, who has green eyes and hair and a purple belt. Yababa seems to be inspired by Baba Yaga, which also seems to be the inspiration for Howl’s Castle. This might explain Kamaji’s bird feet even though he evokes the image of a harvestman. No Face is also incredibly simple yet iconic, sort of like a mascot. This makes me think part of Spirited Away’s popularity can be attributed to No Face and the Soot Sprites, kind of reminding me of Sanrio and its mascots.

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While I did not exactly think that the theme for “Spirited Away” was greed, my interpretation for the theme is similar as I thought that it is about capitalism. In my opinion I thought that it was about capitalism as the workers under Yubaba not only become money-hungry when they see the gold, they essentially sell their life away once they sign Yubaba’s contract. As the workers are desperate for money they go to work for Yubaba but under the condition that Yubaba gets to change their name. Once that happens Yubaba basically takes their life away as they forget their previous life making them unable to go back and be free from Yubaba’s grasp.

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Spirited Away

Due to my interest in anime, I was really excited to watch “Spirited Away” in addition to it being one of the many Studio Ghibli films that I haven’t watched. However, I will admit that it was hard for me to analyze the film while watching it as I was more drawn in by “Spirited Away”’s story and art.

The main theme that I noticed about the film is its message on capitalism. People want money and will do whatever it takes for the money even if it takes their life. One main instance of capitalism that we can see in the film is when Kaonashi replicates gold after seeing the workers go crazy for it. As Kaonashi replicates infinites amounts of gold, the workers all gather to receive the gold. The workers state that they should use everything and to not be stingy with the food and ingredients as Kaonashi is a “rich” customer. When Kaonashi finally gets to see Chihiro after becoming the bathhouse’s “richest” guest, Kaonashi replicates even more amounts of gold just for Chihiro. Two workers then quietly go to pick up the gold crumbs, not waiting for Kaonashi to first leave the spot. This shows that although Kaonashi is their biggest guest and supplies them with the gold, instead of serving Kaonashi with the utmost hospitality as long as there is money involved, it doesn’t matter to them. 

Another aspect of capitalism that I noticed in the film is that the workers are all working under Yubaba with her contract. Since the workers need money, they signed a contract with Yubaba that takes away their name as Yubaba gives them a new one. This can allude to how work contracts feel to Japanese workers. They work many hours with little pay and the constant work that they do can feel like a chore. They way that Yubaba takes away the workers names as they are under her can signify how work can take over one’s life.

While this may not be a theme, another interpretation that I have for the film is the relationship between Yubaba and her twin Zeniba. Zeniba mentions that she and Yubaba are two halves of one whole. This relationship can represent the balance that is required in one’s lives. While one may be better than the other, we need both to maintain harmony.

What I really enjoyed about the film is the character Bo. Bo is Yubaba’s child and is isolated from everyone as Bo gets “sick” once he is in the outside world. He gets turned into a mouse by Zeniba and stays in that form even though the Zeniba’s spell has worn off, to change back it has to be through Bo’s own will. The fact that Bo refused to change back until Chihiro was leaving showed that Bo liked his mouse form better as he had fun with Chihiro, including finally being able to be and experience the outside world.

[saran-bar]

Sukiyaki Western Django

I was very, very confused throughout the film, but I still enjoyed it. First of all, I have never seen a film where the entire cast is speaking only in a language that isn't their mother tongue (with the exception of Tarantino). I can't help but compare this aspect of the film to Swallowtail Butterfly. However, while Swallowtail Butterfly's non-Japanese speakers were raised out of Japan, all of the characters here are meant to be Japanese, or at least that's what I assume because they have Japanese-sounding names. They also incorporated Japanese tales into the plot. Why, then, were they using English?

We've discussed a lot in class about how the "New New Wave" of Japanese cinema were making films that were aimed at receiving international acclaim. Although the film is perhaps not the typical festival-winning film style we are used to, the fact that they could put together a fully English-speaking film showcases their ability and universality of the Japanese film industry.

I’m not familiar with Westerns, Django, or Tarentino at all so I don’t know for sure if the film would have been easier to understand for those who did. But like I said before, whether or not the film was successful in making a film of its genre (Western/drama), its innovative ideas and commitment to the idea throughout is something to applaud. Like my classmates, I couldn’t tell if the film was trying to be serious or if it was self-aware of its ironic take the entire time. I find it hard to believe that the film I’m watching isn't a dark comedy when a guy’s head is cut open and he continues to clap his hands over his heads. Gunshots, stabs, and bleeding all follow a different biological rule than the one in our reality. However, any scene involving the son would draw me back in again. The fact that a child had to see and hear both his parents die horribly seemed like a plot that was too traumatizing to be put in as a mere comical scene.

Perhaps the film was trying to do both by telling the American Western story through the lens of a Japanese—someone who is an outsider. Elements like dragged out dying moments and amazing tricks with guns are things I associate with American westerns. These things aren’t realistic, but they’re filmed in a way to make us suspend our disbelief and enjoy them on screen. Sukiyaki Western Django, however, challenges us to see the ridiculousness of these classic film elements, yet asks us to appreciate them at the same time. It seems to be a great blend between the cultures that results in a uniquely wild product of entertainment.

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Although I view the film as more comedic, it being self-aware of its ironic take, I agree with you on how traumatizing Heihachi witnessing both of his parents can be. It could be due to the fact that although the filmmaker wants "Sukiyaki Western Django" to be ironic, they would still want the film to be high quality and have substantial plot. I mean might as well since they have the budget and Tarentino.

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Sukiyaki Western Django

My first impressions of “Sukiyaki Western Django” before watching the film was honestly not that great due the fact that I don’t really enjoy cowboy/Wild West type films. In addition, I had read the synopsis of the film with my friend as I was talking to them about this course and oh boy was the synopsis confusing. As I tried to understand the synopsis to be able to explain to my friend about the film in case they couldn't understand the wording used, my brain eventually turned off and all I could read were the names mentioned and the sheer multitude of the different characters named.

However, despite the negative first impressions, although I don’t think this is a great film, I found “Sukiyaki Western Django” very enjoyable. In my opinion, I found the film to be very comical and funny. So instead of viewing this as a serious film that I need to really analyze and deconstruct to understand the hidden meanings, I viewed it as a film that was created for the viewers to just back, relax, and watch for fun. Which means that I honestly don’t have anything analytical or critical to say about this film. I felt that this film was just something to take lightly and to not be serious about. Maybe this was the intention of the filmmaker, to create such a cliché Wild West film that it can be laughed at, kind of poking fun at the lack of depth in its films. Then again I watched this at 2x speed so the voices and actions will always be more comical due to its unnatural speed. 

One aspect that I found interesting about the film was how the majority of the film was in English. Instead of “Swallowtail Butterfly” where it had a mix of languages being spoken all throughout the film, “Sukiyaki Western Django” was all in English except for the character’s names and one line. Although, the beginning of the film was out-of-the-line as a character who spoke a perfect American accent suddenly switched to a Japanese accent while still speaking English.

Another aspect that I really liked about the film was the scene when the main character/lone gunman jumped out the window on the second floor. I really liked how the scene was edited with the camera flash on the screen and the still shots in between the flashes. The scene genuinely impressed me with how it was edited.

Overall, despite the negative first reactions I had on the film, I enjoyed watching “Sukiyaki Western Django” as I found it to be comical. Especially at the “final battle” between the lone gunman and Yoshitsune as it went by really quickly and ended in 4-5 moves.

[jessiepinkmanlover]

Sweet Bean - Kawase

 Everyone cooks in their own unique manner, and how you go about preparing a meal says a lot about your personality. Anyone can cook and this universality is what makes it such a fascinating act. It can bond or differentiate anyone and it is so integral to our humanity that it is truly an extension of the soul. It involves handling and transforming natural aspects of our world into creations of our imagination. It is the true embodiment of art. A transformation of the natural to the man-made for others’ enjoyment. Sweet Bean understands the impact cooking can have on someone by showing its ability to inspire love in someone. 

Tokue is an elderly lady that has a sacred love and understanding for making bean paste yet must grapple with a condition that slowly cripples their physical faculties. It is a cruel twist of fate, yet she never once complains about her situation. She is full of wonder and the opportunity to continue to make bean paste is all she needs to feel satisfied. The dedication she has for her beans speaks to the impact love has on creation. Her bean paste is miles better than the store-bought ones Sentaro previously used because there is true love in her concoction. Her love is magnetic and the often closed-off Sentaro finds himself attracted to the pureness that is Tokue’s mind. She can not believe he would buy bean paste in bulk because it is an insult to the craft she has dedicated her life to and it is the exact cheapness and greed of modern society that she is appalled by. Tokue is infatuated with life itself and teaches Sentaro to find appreciation for the wholesomeness life has to offer. On several occasions, she expresses her love for the trees and the youthful whimsy of children. Sentaro, who expresses the kids as being noisy and has disdain for sweets, becomes infatuated with Tokue’s perspective on life. She invokes a love for life that was dormant within him and it is cooking the bean paste together that teaches him what true care for something can cultivate. 

This is now my favorite film we’ve seen in class and the best thing I have seen in a while. Sweet Bean reminds you just how beautiful life can be and how easy it is to take for granted. It leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling on your brain that manages to only grow after watching. It has so much beauty it can be blinding and it is easy to get lost in its overwhelming emotions. But maybe that is the point. Life is overwhelming and it can be easy to get lost in its sheer infiniteness, but that’s what makes it so spectacular. This movie goes exactly where you expect as it lacks any one aspect that serves to blow viewers away but its simplicity speaks volumes. 

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I agree with you on your statement on how Sweet Bean shows you how beautiful life can be and how easy it can be taken for granted. I think we can learn this the most from Tokue as she was confined within the sanatorium for most of her life. She tells the school girls that they are young and they should be happy with whatever they do. She also tells us to listen to nature and the stories that it can tell us. By doing this she shows us how beautiful life and nature can be.

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Sweet Bean

After not being able to watch the last two films due to my fear of horror, I was really excited to watch “Sweet Bean.” “Sweet Bean” was a great film to watch even with its slow pacing and little dialogue. Contributing to its little dialogue was its many peaceful nature shots.

One thing that I loved about this film was its theme of freedom and to live a happy life. Through Tokue we get to see and learn different life advice from her. One of the life advice that we gain from her is to live our life to the fullest. Due to Tokue having leprosy she was forced to be in quarantine ever since her middle school days, (near the end of the war), all the way until 1996. During her time there she had to stay confined to the sanatorium that she stayed in and had to make do with the life she lived there. We learn that we shouldn’t take our lives for granted especially when we’re young as we never know when our lives will become restricted due to life or any circumstance. This lesson we could also learn from Sentaro as due to his debts he is “forced” to live a life and run a shop from a food that he’s unable to stomach. Sentaro is forced to live with the confines of the shop and has no freedom to take on or find a job that he would enjoy.

Another lesson that we learn from Tokue is to listen. We learn that we need to listen to the Earth and nature. Nature sends us messages just like others and listening to them can benefit you. As Tokue is able to listen to nature she can listen to the stories that it tells her and learn my things from it. Listening to the beans is also what helps her to make very delicious an, as she hears its stories from where they’ve been and the journey that the beans have taken.

An aspect that I enjoyed about the film is when Sentaro and Wakana visits Tokue’s home. In serious cases of leprosy, one’s fingers, toes, and even nose can fall off even leaving one’s face to be deformed. Even while knowing this and knowing that Tokue has this condition they still entered the sanatorium. When they visited the sanatorium and saw others who had leprosy both Sentaro and Wakana didn’t seem to care and just went on trying to find Tokue. This is how it should be. People with leprosy are treated as outcasts and are ignored or even feared due to their condition. However, they should be feared or shunned instead they should just be able to be themselves and others shouldn’t care that they have leprosy.

[intro-to-japanese-film-blog-2022]

Pulse Kiyoshi Kurosowa

Post Y2K and in the midst of the internet explosion, Pulsedocuments the inherent dangers of new technology through the lens of the scariest and most expansive thing in the universe besides the universe itself: the internet. But wait! There are ghosts too! A more accurate moniker for these beings would be spirits, anywhere from amorphous blobs to humanoid forms with fleshed out faces. I enjoy the though that ghosts and the dead don’t need to be this whole big thing in Japanese horror. Pulse posits the question of what if the dead were all around you all the time? Ultimately, this becomes the downfall of society as the spirits realize that they can have real influence over the living.

Kurosowa, in interviews, was very open about Ringu and its subsequent success being a major catalyst for his creating Pulse.Again, highlighting the importance of Ringu for Japanese horror and horror in general. Both dealing with ghost and curses, just in different ways. Kurosowa goes on to highlight the fear of the unknown, whether that being about new technology, the future, or the world at large. Pulse in my opinion is more worldly and depressing than Ringu. Kurosowa wants the viewer wallow in their self and come to terms with their own loneliness.

Much of the eeriness of Pulse comes from Kurosowa’s shot composition and sound design. Kurosowa creates frames within the frame by using a lot of negative space throughout the film. Forcing our focus onto the sole light part of the frame adds to our inherent fear of the dark and unknown by not allowing us to see the rest of the image. I think some of the creepiest shots are those of the soon to be spirits standing stoically next to their computers. The whole idea of putting someone next to an object that is associated with work and activity is extremely unsettling throughout. Inaction juxtaposed to an action-oriented object creates confusion, couple this with the sound being removed for many of these scenes of scrolling through bedrooms and you create horror. It is always a bold move to remove all sound from a scene regardless of context, it not only makes the audience hyperaware that they are watching a film, but it forces them to focus in on the image. Now, Kurosowa plays with this very well by bringing in the creepy robotic voice or perhaps a lone muffle gunshot, to break this silence and rocket us back to the apocalyptic terror that ensues.

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I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that much of the eeriness from “Pulse” comes from Kurosawa’s shot composition. From an article that I have read, one of the aspects that makes a Kurosawa film a Kurosawa film is how he tries to crate a world outside from what we can actually see, in this case the frame. Based on the composition that he uses and one element of making a world outside of what we can see is a frame within a frame, by doing this Kurosawa traps the character into an even smaller space that they were already in.

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Pulse

“Pulse” is another film that I did not watch and will not watch due to its horror genre. However, I will say that I am sort of intrigued with this film as I am doing a presentation on the director Kurosawa Kiyoshi. By reading the article on Kurosawa I was intrigued to watch the film just purely on the sheer amount of films Kurosawa had produced in such a short time frame; however, the curiosity kinda died out as I was reading my other classmates' blog posts about this film.

Since I had read synopses about “Pulse” and my classmates' blog posts about this film, I think I’m better off not having watched “Pulse” at all due to the classmates' reactions towards it as most of them say that this film wasn’t that great and how some aspects weren’t done well. My first initial reaction of the film when I had first read only synopses made me intrigued by the film as the plot looked interesting to me due to its dual plotlines and how they interact afterwards. However, based on the other classmates' reactions the film seemed to not have done well in conveying its messages or also not liking Kurosawa’s stylistic choices.

By preparing for my presentation on Kurosawa I learned that Kurosawa has his own distinct style and way of filmmaking. A lot of Kurosawa’s films have his stylistic of making the characters go through their own “apocalypse” in one way or another by either purging them from their previous life into a whole new environment or in “Pulse”’s case, a burning plane(?). From other’s reactions, the apocalyptic ending seemed unnecessary or even drawn out; however, as I learned from the article it actually ties in together or explains the final shot of his previous film “Charisma”.

In a way though, judging from the plotline the beginning premise of the film was already in an apocalypse. The characters get “haunted” by the ghosts/sprits through the internet and commit suicide. In a way once the characters access the internet they go through an apocalypse ad can never recover or have no hope in changing themselves as they are destined to commit suicide as they wallow in their own loneliness.

Another thing about a key aspect that makes a Kurosawa film a Kurosawa film that the classmates critiqued is the genre of the film. Although Kurosawa says that he focuses on genre cinema a lot of his works are considered to be abstract from others. Based on the classmates' reactions Kurosawa’s abstractness has definitely hit as some classmates would not even call this film a horror film and would maybe classify it as a thriller, if even. 

[eclectichottubnut]

Ringu

Thoughts/First Impressions:

Prior to the viewing session, I was pretty excited for the movie. I’ve seen Ringu referenced and parodied in different media all of my life, but never really got the chance to actually sit down and watch it. I always just knew it as that movie with the video tape and the girl from the well. Now that I’ve watched it, I can say that it was actually really good and I can understand why it is constantly referenced when talking about horror movies. The plot is pretty straightforward at first. There is a videotape that will cause the viewer to die several days after viewing it. A journalist watches the tape after her niece is killed by the tape, and investigates the origins of the tape and its curse alongside her ex-husband. What follows is a journey down a bizzare rabbit hole that involves mysterious events from years past, ESP, and murder. The backstory behind the tape was pretty unexpected to me. It was just something totally different to what I imagined prior to watching the film. I guess the whole plot was pretty surprising to me. Prior to watching, I thought the film, like a lot of other horror films, would focus on teenage main characters who happened upon the tape. It had me thinking this at the first scene, but I was surprised by the shift in characters in the next couple scenes after.

Themes/Interpretation:

In Ringu, I don’t really see a main theme from the story. I feel that we watched it more for its influence on the horror genre as a whole. I mean, the idea of facing an unescapable doom from something as menial as watching a video tape is a pretty scary idea. This movie was so popular that many other films have referenced and paid homage to it. If I had to reach for a meaning or theme, I would say that despite the advances in technology presented in the film such as VHS and phones, there is no escape from the past? I mean Sadako is able to reach her victims through a literal VHS tape despite that not even existing in a somewhat older looking time period. Again, I don’t really see a blatant message for the audience, but a movie like this doesn’t need one. It told a solid story and was pretty chilling at times. 

Final Thoughts:

I’m glad that I was finally able to watch Ringu! I can finally say that I have watched it and feel like I’ll appreciate when other media references it more. I am really looking forward to Pulse, though. I saw a creepy clip from that movie on Youtube, and I can’t wait to watch it soon. 

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I had the same thought as you in where I thought that the film would focus more on the teenagers and thought that the teenagers were the protagonists of the film. When it turned out that Reiko was actually the main character I thought that it was a surprising plot choice. I disagree with you, however on your statement on how the film had no meaning/theme. I think the meaning of the film is that Sadako represents past grievances. People try to forget the mistakes that they make and on, however others who were involved will remember your past mistakes and Sadako is a representation of the others memories.

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Ringu

“Ringu” is a film that I never want to watch and will never watch unless you were to kill me if I didn’t. Instead of watching the film, I read a lot of synopses to grasp what “Ringu” was about and what goes on during the film. So if my analysis is incorrect due to my fear of watching horror films please understand.

Before reading about “Ringu” all I knew about this film was that it fit into the horror genre and in one of its famous scenes it has a girl with long black hair in a white dress crawl out of a t.v whose name is Sadako. 

However, I do think I have a better grasp of the film now, as the synopses I read helped me grab a better understanding of what was going on. Since I don't watch any horror films, I thought the plot would follow the girls at the beginning. Learning that they died and passing the main role of the film to the aunt was surprising. I honestly thought that Reiko would die, but it turns out she survived in the end.

Speaking of her survival, I found the method that she unintentionally uses to survive to be weird, as it seems it can be heavily exploited to fit the needs of whoever wields the copied video. You can even see her use the copied tape to save her son at the end of the film. 

I do think that the use of the video is interesting. It sets up a pattern, and it can foreshadow what happens next to characters that see it. More and more characters get pulled into the plot, it slowly reveals more and more about the tape. In the end, it is revealed how the video of the girl came to be. Sadako was sadly beaten and put in a well, and her body comes out of a TV for the other characters because she was stuck in the well. 

One interesting thought I had after reading the synopsis was how Sadako was used to represent the past. Sadako could be used to represent past grievances, used as a reminder to others about the mistakes they made. People constantly try to move away from the mistakes they make, but remnants of those mistakes remain in the memories of others. Sadako may be a representation of that memory, especially since she is no longer alive to share those grievances. “Ringu” is like an otherworldly way of someone's hatred seeping into the lives of other people who stumble across it. 

Some aspects of this film are unique, but I still will not watch it. I understand that there are interesting elements that make it popular for viewers and it is cool how film directors approach the horror genre as with other genres.

[bigsconesjones]

Swallowtail

This movie is what people should think about when they think of a “rollercoaster of emotions.” Swallowtail is a long drama about a group of disenfranchised people referred to as “Yentowns” that ranges from bringing you to tears to making you laugh from absurdity. Overall, I’d probably put this movie right outside my top-ten, it was pretty good but seemed a bit long, especially with a subplot that I think was completely unnecessary and filled with plot holes.

Initial Reactions

This movie is a trip and a half. I wasn’t really invested in the character of Fei Hong, even during his weird redemption arc because it seemed too little too late, especially since selling Glico out felt so long ago in the context of the story (and plus, Glico wanted to be in the music industry? Exclusivity is a weird thing to sell when she’s not exclusive). I did however, pretty much like everybody else in the movie: Glico finding her footing as a music idol was uplifting, and the scene where Ageha finally gets her namesake butterfly tattooed on her was emotionally compelling.

The subplot I didn’t like that was referred to earlier though was the interaction between the reporter and Glico. For starters, why would the reporter initially trust someone clearly cracked out and not in the right mental state? On top of that, how did the prostitute and reporter know it was Sado (or whatever his name was) who was killed? It’s not like his body was reported in the news with a name since it was buried with no indication of being found. And why wasn’t Glico’s room cleaned out in that timespan? That scene occurred so early in the movie that the room being in the exact same state seems to be impossible; someone should have cleared it out for the sake of destroying evidence.

And to top it all off: What was the whole point of this? The only thing that this whole subplot established that couldn’t be written around was the introduction of the reporter character, who is completely useless in the larger context of the story. This added unnecessary time to a two-and-a-half-hour movie that really hurt its overall enjoyment.

Themes/Analysis

I think the major theme of this story is metamorphosis. This is best seen in the characters of Glico and Ageha: Glico goes from a hooker scrapping for extra cash to a music star, and Ageha’s transformation can be visually seen, as she goes from having a caterpillar drawn on her chest to a Swallowtail Butterfly tattoo, emblematic of her growth into a Yentown. However, one thing to note is that despite these transformations, they don’t forget their roots. Glico ends the movie back in the junkyard, and Ageha, in the process of getting her tattoo, has a flashback of her times when her mom was alive.

Final Thoughts

One last thing to write about the movie was how fun the standoff/bazooka scene was. It was incredibly over-the-top, and drew me back into the film. With that being said, I still feel that this movie was too long and could have been cut in many areas that would’ve metamorphosed this movie into a much better one.

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I agree with you on the fact that when Ageha finally gets her tattoo it was emotionally compelling. I think that it's solidifies that fact that when she has a bond with someone, she keeps it and holds its dear to her. Another instance of this happening is when she tries to buy the Yentown Club back. By doing this she tries to bring everyone back and go back to the point in their lives where everyone was happy and content.

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Swallowtail Butterfly

“Swallowtail Butterfly” was certainly a fun and enjoyable film to watch. Even though the film was a whole 2 and a half hours long, I would sit through and watch the whole film again just due to how enjoyable the film was.

The film touches on the topic of capitalism as immigrants come to Japan and try to make a living out of themselves to earn money even if it costs them something. They talk about using your head and doing anything to try to earn some money. As they are immigrants, earning money from the ground up is extremely hard to do so the immigrants are driven into poverty and are outcasts, driven into living in one area. The immigrants, or Yentowns, although are outcasts and driven into poverty they still can find connections between each other and make a family; however, as soon as money is introduced those connections are shattered and it becomes every man for themselves. We can see this in the beginning of the film when Ageha’s mother dies and Ageha gets sold to live with others, even Glico had sold her before coming back to protect her from the drugs that the others were doing. This shows the reality of capitalism as ties can and will be broken once money is involved especially if you’re desperate for it.

One part that really resonated with me was when Fei Hong was being interrogated by the police for counterfeit money. My heart broke by just how violent the police were beating him up like that to the point that he died. When interrogating Fei Hong, Fei Hong answers to the police that Yentowns are all they talk about and is their motherland.  Yentowns and the town Yentown itself are all what the Japanese police investigate when searching for crime. Yentown is the motherland to the police as it is all what the police look towards/for during their days and nights and all they associate towards and surround themselves with.

An aspect that I really liked about the film is how multilingual it is. The film uses and includes many different languages, by doing this it adds into the discussion of the characters nationality and their choice of belonging. We can see this topic being touched on when the manager talks about how his parents are both American but he was raised in Japan and doesn’t speak any English due to Japan’s education system. The manager identifies himself as Japanese; however, due to his looks the Japanese do not consider him as one of theirs and he is left not belonging anywhere.

Overall, this film touched on a lot of topics that are relevant to today. Although, it was on the longer side for films it was such an enjoyable film that I would definitely recommend this film to someone and even rewatch it as well.

[jpnfilmblog]

Takeshi Kitano: Hana-bi

Initial Reaction

It was interesting to see a film directed by Takeshi Kitano, more well-known as Beat Takeshi. Before taking this class, I did not know that Kitano produced films as he is more famous in Japan as a comedian/commentator. That being said, I did not know much about him prior to watching this film, because I haven’t really watched anything he’s in. After taking a look into his background, he seems to be as violent as the films he produced with Hana-bi (花火) being no exception. This comes as no surprise, since he is considered to be one of the most controversial celebrities in Japan. Two of his most famous violence-related incidents are 1) raiding Friday (1986), a tabloid, with 11 other men which he received a 6-month prison sentence for and 2) driving a motorcycle under the influence (1994) in which some of his face remains permanently paralyzed. While I imagine that it would be beneficial to analyze Hana-bi with consideration of his life events and character, I will not be doing so in this post.  

Cinematography

My first impression of this film was that there’s a lot of fluidity in the cuts. From Nishi smoking a cigarette when visiting his wife at the hospital to the swift cut of the close-up of the pistol that fires Horibe, and from the injured Horibe opening the car door to the cut to a nurse opening the door to Miyuki’s ward. This fluidity from Nishi’s cuts to Horibe’s cuts from the start allows the audience to focus on the juxtaposition between two men who both lead a similar life of having had a “normal” family at one point, having worked as a police officer, and coping with the loss of losing their wife and child. Despite life throwing similar hurdles at them, the two choose to live in completely different ways. Horibe chooses to live a life of non-violence and expresses himself through art, while Nishi chooses to live a life of violence and expresses himself with his hands. Considering the ending of the film, perhaps Kitano is trying to depict how “living” means something different to every person. Horibe chooses to live, despite feeling empty and full of despair at losing his family and his ability to walk, while Nishi who is healthy in comparison chooses to live his life to the fullest and die alongside his sick wife, because he sees no meaning to live without her. It is worth noting that Horibe figuratively seems to die as can be seen from his paintings of the animals and flowers with the creatures losing their facial recognition progressively until the whole flower becomes their face. Additionally, Horibe’s wish to die can be seen from his painting of snow with the words of “suicide” hidden, but he ultimately chooses not to. I think the title of this film, Hana-bi, sums up the nature of this film well. It is said that Kitano was planning to simply call the film “Takeshi’s 7th film” at first, which his staff obviously didn’t agree to. Fortunately, he left it up to his staff to create the title which ended up being Hana-bi which signifies life (flower, “hana”) and death (fire, “bi”).

[autumntank]

I agree with you on the juxtaposition of Nishi and Horibe despite their many similarities. To expand on Horibe’s suicide painting I think it give the greatest symbolism of their juxtaposition. Horibe wishes to commit suicide as we can tell from the painting but then ultimately chooses not to when he splashes the paint onto the painting. However, at that moment when Nishi was in the car with the yakuzas he ultimately committed his suicide when he pulled the trigger killing everyone in the car even the boss. Due to the shooting Nishi committed suicide due to it being the way that his former colleagues find him and the last straw before they decide to apprehend him.

[autumntank]

Hana-bi

“Hana-bi” was a film that was interesting but yet boring at the same time. While the film did draw me in at certain points, in others I had become very bored and my mind would wander somewhere else that wasn’t about the film.

One aspect that I found interesting in the film was how the artwork shown in the particular scenes represented what was happening or going to happen during the film. For example there was an artwork that showed two angry figures/gods(?) behind Nishi at the bar. Later on in the bar two yakuzas had come up to Nishi trying to collect money from him and then Nishi poked one man in the eye with chopsticks and punched another in the jaw, making him spit out blood. Before this scene we hadn’t seen a lot of emotion from Nishi and the fact that this is the first time we see Nishi’s violent side is shocking. The artwork in the film represents foreshadowing and viewers can see the symbolism between the artwork and the scenes that it represents to the film. 

Another interesting thing that I noticed was when Horibe had started his own paintings during the time that Nishi and his wife went on vacation. Horibe’s paintings reflected scenes and activities that Nishi and his wife were doing during the vacation. However, in Horibe’s paintings it includes a man and a woman along with a little girl. Due to this his paintings can be interpreted in two ways. One way is that the man and woman are Nishi and his wife along with their daughter who has passed away. It can reflect how both Nishi and his wife wish for their daughter to be alive so she can experience the vacation with them. Another way that the paintings can be interpreted is that these are activities that Horibe wants to do and wishes to do. Horibe’s wife and daughter left him after he became paralyzed, so his paintings can reflect that he wishes for his wife and daughter to come back to him and experience things that families usually do. 

Due to the symbolism that artwork has in “Hana-bi,” I think that artwork in the film represents a major plot device to the film and viewers can anticipate that something important is going to happen.

The film stands out to me personally as I found that there is a lot less audio in the film. Nishi barely spoke throughout the film and his wife only said three words: ”Sorry” and “Thank you.” There was one scene in particular where there was basically no sound and only quiet driving noises that weren’t that prevalent. There was no dialogue and no background music, just quiet driving. I think it was due to the lack of dialogue that we got from Nishi made me disinterested in some parts of the film.

[willow-the-wisp-13]

Go

This was definitely the most enjoyable movie we have watched thus far in class. I loved the film. I felt very invested in Sugihara’s development throughout the film and was genuinely excited to see what would happen next. 10/10 going to be one of my favorite films from this course. 

The Cult of Catcher in the Rye

The novel, Catcher in the Rye was not only a huge success in America but became hugely popular in Japan as well as a classic novel for high school education. While Sugihara isn’t actually reading the novel during the film, the mention of it does hint towards the final resolution of the plot. In the novel, the general arc of the plot revolves around the protagonist realizing that he has to let go of his childhood and move on into adulthood. Just like in the novel, Sugihara comes to the realization that he has to make a decision about his future and chooses to study and go to college.

Lighting in Confrontations

During the scene where Sugihara tells Tsubaki his real nationality and name, Sugihara is seen casting a dark shadow over most of Tsubaki’s face as he becomes a dark silhouette against the light from the window. Once he tells Tsubaki this, Sugihara faces the light since he no longer has anything to hide. The dramatic lighting in this scene not only heightens the emotion of the climax, but also lets the viewer see visually the feeling of coming into the light after hiding.

Crossing Boarders

My favorite detail with the set of this film is the gate to the playground that Sugihara and Tsubaki jump over on their date. The first time the boarder of the gate is present, both kids jump over it without thinking since at this point boarders and nationalities hold no importance to them. They are just kids being kids. Yet, in the final scene once both characters have “grown up into adults”, Tsubaki has already crossed the gate and makes no move to come back over the gate upon Sugihara’s arrival. Sugihara, on the other hand, doesn’t cross the boarder of the gate. Instead, he yells across until he confirms what Tsubaki thinks his nationality is. With this confirmed, he makes a show of crossing the boarder - this show of being able to exist in both worlds displays what Sugihara thinks of himself in regards to his nationality.

[autumntank]

I really liked your analyzation of the lighting in confrontations for Sugihara’s scene with Tsubaki. If I didn’t read your blog post on this scene all I would have thought about was “ohhh nice shot” and moved on. This lighting gives a physical representation of what Sugihara does when he finally tells Tsubaki his real nationality and the sort of “conflict” that he faces or has to eventually face when he’s with Tsubaki. As Sugihara confronts Tsubaki, with the lighting, he gets to finally show his true self in the light and be free from hiding “lies.”

[autumntank]

GO

“GO” was such an amazing film to watch and it became one of my favorites of this class. I was immediately sold when the first scene of the film was during a basketball game as I absolutely love to watch films and television shows about sports. Although this film was actually not about sports I still loved it nevertheless as the film went on.

The film touches on the topic of nationality and identity. Sugihara is half Korean half Japanese but grew up in Japan and went to a North Korean junior high school. Due to his bloodline Sugihara is called an Zanichi, in which they are discriminated against as they are so called “different.” Towards the end of the film Sugihara blames his fathers generation for being powerless as it has caused discrimination towards Zanichi. Due to Zanichi’s being the minority group in Japan other Zanichi’s like Sugihara have faced difficulty being in Japan. Sugihara makes a great point when he says that people can label him as an alien or a lion as it doesn’t matter. He will always be labeled as different from the rest of Japanese society, however, he knows that he will never be what they label him as, as he will just be him, Sugihara.

This problem is still prominent today as discrimination against other races and nationalities as still being felt even in America. It shows the reality that someone might face if they were born “different” than their peers. For example, Asian-Americans can have a hard time finding their identity as they grew up in America thinking and being treated as if they are different from everyone else. Americans would say that “oh they’re not American, they’re Asian.” Then when the Asian-American goes over to Asia, they are treated differently as everyone there says “oh they’re not fully Asian, they’re American.” This makes them feel as if they don’t belong anywhere as neither side thinks they belong.

One aspect that I did not enjoy in the film was Jong Il’s death. I disliked how quickly Jong Il died when all he was doing was protecting his fellow classmate. The way his death was played out was so abrupt and had no reason. I am also confused as to why the Japanese student who was hitting on the girl, was handed a knife for “good luck.” Like what would he do if the girl straight out directly turned him down, stab her? In front of everyone? It made no sense for his friends to give him a knife let alone for him to use it. In addition we were never given any context as to what happened to the Japanese student afterwards; did he regret it, does he have no remorse for what happened, and/or was he charged for anything?

Overall, I really did enjoy “GO” and would watch the film again; however, I am upset by the way Jong Il had died.

[saran-bar]

"Tampopo"

I really enjoyed Tampopo and I’m going to guess that many of my classmates enjoyed it as well. The film was incredibly charming and wholesome with everything from the characters, to the plot, to the visual presentations. The film does a wonderful job at examining and playfully poking at how food and culture intertwined with another.

The main plot follows Tampopo and Goro as they try to recreate Tampopo’s struggling ramen shop. Goro, who is a truck driver, surprisingly knows a lot about ramen and decides to help Tampopo out of goodwill. Their dynamic is one of the sweetest elements of the film. It was rather refreshing to see a male-female relationship that isn’t toxic and both parties seem to really be equal with the other. I loved seeing Goro’s character be cool and masculine without putting down his female counterpart, or even the other male characters. One of my favorite moments of his was when he talked about his wife and kids, saying he wanted to give them a warm home but he ended up not knowing how to act in a happy home. He showed an honest and vulnerable struggle that I believe many men in that time or even now have gone through. I think his interpretation of masculinity also shows in how he acts and talks in such a “manly” manner but is actually very sweet underneath.

The switching between the Tampopo storyline and the random scenes that weren’t related to them were confusing to me at first. Since the man in the white suit broke the 4th wall and talked to us in the first scene, I interpreted any scenes with him and random people to be reenactments of real-life. All those scenes depicted food’s involvement in all aspects of life, from birth (the mother giving milk to the baby), to sickness (the mother getting up to cook before dying), to death (the man in the white suit’s final words about yam sausage). The director also poked fun at “proper mannerisms” that accompany certain foods, especially foreign cuisine. Scenes like the group of associates ordering French food they don’t know or the ladies learning how to properly eat spaghetti introduced to the audience how ridiculous the idea of properness is when it comes to enjoying food. Later on in the film we meet the group of homeless people who have exquisite taste and are experts of gourmet food. According to their class in society, they should never have even had access to these foods, yet they’ve surpassed the barriers to becoming experts.

Japanese food is one of the most famous aspects of Japanese culture, and I think this film did a terrific job at capturing its beauty. There are many layers to how food came to be and there continue to be many factors affecting it as society grows and changes.

[autumntank]

Although, I did see that Tampopo touched on different topics through food I wouldn't have seen your interpretation if I didn't read your blog post. I didn't see that they touched on food through birth, sickness, and death. I think that it's really interesting as food is such an important aspect to everyone's lives and Tampopo showed it to us. One aspect that I did see is that they explored food through sexual intercourse. Although it isn't what people would typically associate food with Tampopo shows that food is related to important aspects of our lives.