Click the poster to buy the DVD and open up Japan!
Kikujiro Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
Want to experience Japan without paying the expensive flight tickets? Then watch Kikujiro. You’ll travel the cities and country of Japan with little Masao and Kikujiro and do things that probably aren’t in the guide books, like betting on bike races and having fun at a local fair. You’ll also get a beautiful soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi to go with it all!
Why Watch Kikujiro?
If you like coming-of-age films or road trip movies! This one is inspired by The Wizard of Oz!
For some cool camera shots. Look out for one shot from the inside of a glass, and another shot from a car hub-cab.
For another Kitano classic (check out his gangster flick Hana-bi for something different)
It’s a postcard tour of Japan – watch this if you want to go to Japan!
The Breakdown
Kikujiro starts with a slow motion shot of a young boy running across a pedestrian bridge. He is smiling and is wearing a backpack with little wings attached to it. The camera follows him as he runs from one side of the bridge to the other.
The young boy, Masao, is described as a ‘gloomy kid.’ His parents left him when he was a baby and he has grown up with his grandmother ever since. You start to feel sorry for him as soon as his school finishes for the summer holidays. He runs home by himself, he lets himself into the house by himself, and eats a plate of food left for him on the table by himself. He’s all alone with no parents. The next morning, he walks to football practice but the instructor tells him that the session is cancelled because of the summer vacation. He plays by himself for a bit before going home. Poor Masao! He just wants a friend!
He doesn’t get a friend, but one of his grandmother’s friends (Kikujiro) reluctantly takes him to find his mum. Their journey takes us through a diverse range of life in Japan. First, Kikujiro takes Masao to the cycle races as a good luck totem for his betting. After he strikes a bit of luck, we are taken into a strip club and a Japanese diner. Later we are taken to a local fair, a hotel resort, and even end up at a bus stop in the country which is reminiscent of the bus stop in My Neighbour Totoro. Watch Kikujiro to experience Japan!
Conclusion
Just like The Wizard of Oz, Masao comes across a rabble of people from different walks of life. They all allow Masao to escape his loneliness for the summer holidays. Kikujiro shows the versatility of director Kitano as he ranges from Yakuza gangster film Hana-bi to this endearing coming-of-age film.
If you talk about Japanese film it is impossible to avoid talking about Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has been one of the most influential film-makers in the history of film. He inspired Star Wars (Hidden Fortress), made the original Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai), and influenced many American westerns, therefore it was no surprise that he was given a the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1990.
More reasons why you should pay attention to Kurosawa!
He’s an artist first and foremost! He was infamous for waiting weeks for the right cloud formations!
His Samurai epics are, well, EPIC!
His admirers include Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki, Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, Spike Lee… (probably easier to mention the non-admirers if there actually are any).
If you want to get into Japanese film you must have seen at least one Kurosawa film!
what’s great about Ran?
Ran is the film that Kurosawa always wanted to make. He even said that the character Hidetora was himself, a director nearing the end of his career trying to end it well. The film translates roughly as Chaos or Turmoil which reflects Kurosawa’s life preceding it’s release in 1985. He had faced loads of trouble trying to get financial backing for his ‘perfectionist’ films and many of his younger rivals boasted that he was finished. A suicide attempt was evidence of Kurosawa’s fall from grace. Ran and the massive $12 million budget granted by French producer Silberman (biggest in Japan) became Kurosawa’s curtain call.
Tribute to Shakespeare?
As many viewers have commented, Ran is the Japanese version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. However, Kurosawa only noticed the similarities between his story and Shakespeare’s when he realised the similarities between King Lear and the story of Mori Motonari (the Japanese warlord that originally inspired Ran). After noticing the similarities, there can be no doubt that Shakespeare influenced Kurosawa – the evidence is permeated in many of the characters. However, Kurosawa definitely adds a lot of grit to Shakespeare’s version.
Firstly the addition of new characters bring new dimensions to the story. Taro’s wife Lady Kaede for example is one of the most interesting characters in the story, playing a revenge crazed wife to both Taro and Jiro. She can whip out some knife skills just as well as she can manipulate those she draws close to her. There is also the religious Lady Sue (wife of Jiro) and her brother Tsurumaru, who was blinded by Hidetora years ago in war. Lady Sue, Tsurumaru, and Lady Kaede are symbols of the world that Hidetora has created through violence. A world that is slowly returning his evil deeds.
The backstory of Hidetora is also much more complex than King Lear. Hidetora won his fortune and fame in violent conquest, whereas King Lear’s background is undisclosed. Therefore whilst King Lear has done no evil, Hidetora is a monster. We witness his destruction through Lady Kaede and Tsurumaru, through his forces, and later through his regret at what he has done. This extra dimension to the lead character makes Kurosawa’s version even more epic. We witness the downfall of the once feared Japanese Warlord into a insane peasant.
Lastly, Hidetora’s Kyoami is an interesting addition. Whilst King Lear does have the company of a fool in King Lear, Kyoami is different. As written on Jim’s Reviews, Kurosawa ‘made a fascinating decision to make Kyoami sexually ambiguous. The character is played by transgender Japanese pop star Peter and becomes the healing opposite of the chaos of the film by balancing both masculine and feminine energy, great courage as well as flexibility and tenderness. As we see, those qualities are especially important in a rigidly hierarchical society, founded on machoism, like the one disastrously promoted by Hidetora.’
2. Landscape is Divine
The Landscape in Ran plays a central role in the film right from the start. The landscape is the television for the Gods above, they watch everything that happens from the sky.
Starting on the plains of Japan’s wild Southern Island Kyushu, Kurosawa cuts between still horseman surveying the vast landscape. The deep green grass of the plains contrasts with the light blue sky, marking the divide between the earth and the heavenly realms. The use of a telephoto lens (zoomed in from a point far away) also emphasises the division between the horsemen on the earth, and the gods watching in the sky. The telephoto lens therefore offers the same point of view as the gods in the sky. The clouds gathering indicate that the Gods are getting restless, an ominous sign for those horsemen, lit up by sunlight, that something may happen to them.
As in the opening scene, there are many scenes filmed from far away. We are given the viewpoint of a fly on the wall. We don’t sympathise with the characters as they always appear distant. Even Saburo (the only son that loves his father) is deliberately made to appear like a spoiled child so we do not sympathise with him. Our role is to view this film as if we are Gods. Only then can we see the selfishness, greed, and violence of humanity as if we are looking in the mirror.
One of the most powerful scenes in the film is the first battle. The entire battle is filmed without diegetic sound (sound where the source is visible on screen). Instead the entire battle is accompanied by Toru Takemitsu’s haunting score. In the same way the telephoto lens detaches us from the characters giving us a God-like perspective, the lack of diegetic sound detaches us from the battle on screen. The violence appears both shocking and inevitable, we cannot hear it, but we can see it and feel it’s devastation in the orchestral score. The view point again emphasises human violence and destruction.
Kurosawa’s use of long camera lenses (to zoom in from afar), division of the sky and earth, and silence in the battle puts the audience in a god-like perspective. We see humanity how the Gods would, without sympathy and attachment, showing humanity as greedy, selfish, and violent.
3. Kurosawa’s use of BIG casts
Obvious in Ran as much as any other of Kurosawa’s films, Kurosawa has become a master at exploiting movement in film. Just think back to the battle scenes in Ran and think of how the impact of the battle might have changed if there had only been 20 extras on each side.
As a break from reading, I encourage you to watch this excellent video from Every Frame a Painting showing you how Kurosawa exploits movement in his films.
What’s Next for Week 3?
Next week we will delve into another Japanese master, Hayao Miyazaki. This master of animation has won global acclaim for his highly imaginative films which have stretched the boundaries of animation and storytelling. Whilst his most famous animation may be the incredible Spirited Away, I’m excited to share with you my favorite next week. It’s beautiful, emotional, and must have helped inspire Avatar, bring on Princess Mononoke!
See you next week for more analysis and our next assignment!
Set in a dystopian future where society is crumbling, Akira is the anime equivalent of The Matrix. Pay attention to the superbly animated setting of ‘Neo-Tokyo,’ a city which resembles a mix of Bladerunner’s Los Angeles and the Hunger Games’ Panem. See the original before a Hollywood studio remakes their live-action version (which has been in the works for years at various Hollywood studios).
Ever heard of a Yakuza film? The Yakuza are the Japanese gangsters much like the Mafia in Italy or the Triads in China and Hong Kong. Intrigued? Hana-bi is a Yakuza film with more than the usual violence. You’ll meet a former cop who turns to the Yakuza for loans to help his dying wife. Watch the film to find out if he manages to pay of his debts whilst learning about his own life.
Why Watch Hana-bi?
It’s a sophisticated Yakuza film
To see one of the best gangsters on film in some kick-ass sunglasses!
Takeshi Kitano won the Golden Lion for this film, establishing him as one of Japan’s top film-makers
Kitano even painted all the paintings seen in this film!
The Breakdown
Hana-bi starts with Joe Hisaishi’s film score (he’s the guy that produced most of the sound of Studio Ghibli) playing over a few pictures of saints (which Kitano starts with in a few of his films). In the opening scene, two men in blue boiler suits are staring silently at a guy in a suit and sunglasses in a half empty parking lot. The soundtrack stops as one of the guys in blue slaps a wet cloth onto a car bonnet and starts cleaning. The guy in the suit watches him clean for a minute before kicking him off of the car.
The guy in the suit and sunglasses is Nishi, a violent former cop, and the main protagonist of this film. We learn about his past in his flashbacks. Nishi has segmented flashbacks to the same event multiple times throughout the opening 30 minutes, but the whole flash back is not shown until later in the film. Early on, it shows two people being shot multiple times on the floor. It is not clear who is shooting them or why they are being shot but it obviously pains Nishi. We learn that he was held responsible for their deaths and relieved of his job.
Without a job, Nishi spends most of his time with his wife who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He brings her cakes and puzzles but they never talk. He obviously cares for his wife, but his dead pan face makes it appear like he is begrudgingly keeping her company. As stated by his former colleague ‘work is all they have ever known’ so this unexpected free time to spend with their wives and their hobbies is unfamiliar. Without work they are lost.
Conclusion
Hana-bi is a stripped down Yakuza (Japanese Gangster) film. Instead of focusing on violence and gangs, Kitano chooses to focus on the impact of retirement. Nishi and his colleague are both forced out of their police jobs because of a tragic accident. Both of them cannot forget the accident and both of them do not know what to do with their free time.
Do you want to travel to Tokyo? Well here’s your ticket to Japan’s highest grossing anime since Spirited Away. You’ll see the tradition and ritual of life in the country as well as the fast paced life in Japan’s capital city. All this packaged in a romantic body-swapping high school flick. But don’t let the genre put you off, allow yourself to be awed by the magical skies, fascinated by the culture, and intrigued by the plot.
Why Watch Your Name?
You’ve watched all the Studio Ghibli films and don’t know where to find more anime
If you can’t afford a trip to Japan and want to experience Japanese culture
To see some beautifully animated skies!
It’s the 4th highest grossing film in Japan of all time! Only Spirited Away, Titanic, and Frozen have generated more money!
The Breakdown
Your Name starts with a meteor blazing through a twilight sky. The camera rotates as our protagonists say:
“The day the star fell. It was almost like seeing something out of a dream, nothing more, nothing less.
And then some Japanese pop-rock starts, reminiscent of the introductions of the anime TV shows.
Right from the start you can see the beautiful skies, particularly the beautiful twilight and magic-hour lighting that Shinkai is known for. The comet is always shown during the twilight hours to conjure a magical set of colours much like the Disney Intro. This aids the body-swapping fantasy of Mitsuha to Taki, our two protagonists, as it sets up the film as something magical (much like the Disney intro does for Disney films).
Shinkai also contrasts Tokyo city life with life in rural Japan. Whilst Mitsuha lives in a town on the bay of a lake high in the Japanese Alps, Taki lives in Tokyo. In the country, Mitsuha’s life is dominated by tradition and ritual (learn how to make spit-fermented sake). Also, the only cafe in the country is a vending machine that sells canned coffee! As said by the director;
“Mitsuha is pretty much me. Her character is based on my own upbringing. I loved Nagano but I was dying to go to Tokyo. However, the Tokyo you see in this movie is a stereotype, the image that Mitsuha dreams of and that I dreamt of when I was younger. [they both fell in love with the dream]
Conclusion
Your Name is a beautiful looking animated high-school movie that is perfect for fans of anime and John Hughes. Whilst is doesn’t have the fantastical creations of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli it does have entertainment and fun. For a dive into authentic Japanese life, I highly recommend watching this.
If you talk about Japanese film it is impossible to avoid talking about Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has been one of the most influential film-makers in the history of film. He inspired Star Wars (Hidden Fortress), made the original Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai), and influenced many American westerns, therefore it was no surprise that he was given a the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1990.
Ever heard of a Yakuza film? The Yakuza are the Japanese gangsters much like the Mafia in Italy or the Triads in China and Hong Kong. Intrigued? Hana-bi is a Yakuza film with more than the usual violence. You’ll meet a former cop who turns to the Yakuza for loans to help his dying wife. Watch the film to find out if he manages to pay of his debts whilst learning about his own life.
Your Name Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
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