Claus Mueller

Japanese Americans, with a population in excess of 1.4 million, are an important part of the fastest-growing multi-cultural segment of the Asian American population and share with the other Asian-American groups high educational achievements and the highest mean household income($90,000 in 2017). Japanese Americans have strong ties with their cultural heritage as expressed by their access to Japanese films through digital media in the United Sates. They are not, however, as well presented in theatrical distribution.  Data from Mojo covering 417 foreign language films with a box office of 1 million or more from 1980 – 2017 lists four Japanese films (Shall We Dance 1977, Kagemusha 1980, Departure 2009, The Blind Swordsman 2004), whereas Chinese language films, films from India and productions from France and Germany scored higher in theatrical distribution. Films from China and India do best by far outranking France and Germany.  The Japan External Trade Organization emphasizes in an overview of Japanese Film and Television that the content of Japanese productions influence the American entertainment industry through adaptations (Godzilla), source material from manga (Edge of Tomorrow), acquisition of rights to popular Japanese bestselling stories and live action content. Netflix is identified as an active player.  Whereas Japan’s films do not play a dominant role in the United States, the Japanese market is important for American productions since Japan is the 3^rd largest global film market after North America and China. In 2014 615 Japanese and 569 imported films were released generating a box office of $1.9 billion. Since 2008 more Japanese than foreign films have been shown each year yet US films retain their leading position. Of the 15 most popular films last year, ten were American.

Japan Cuts presented this year its 11^th edition from July 13-23, a program including 28 feature films and 6 shorts. None of the films had been shown before in New York City and 13 were international and North American premieres. An enthusiastic audience took advantage of a rare opportunity to encounter the best and boldest new Japanese cinema enhanced by long Q&A sessions for each production with participating directors, actors and special guests.  Several parties completed the viewing experience and a relatively large part of the audience had attended earlier editions of Japan Cuts and proved familiar with the Japanese visual culture and language.  The 2017 Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film was presented to Joe Odagiri the “remarkably talented box office golden boy and matinee idol of Japan”.

The 2017 Japan Cuts selection covered a broad range of themes and issues reflecting the complex layers of Japanese culture and the evolving identities as well as recuperating relevant stories from the past. Old master filmmakers such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Sion Sono presented their latest films tackling issues of anxiety and the supernatural and the subversion of the Japanese pornographic genre. Other features dealt with the complicated Japan US relationship and the quest for an LGBTQ identity in an oppressive urban environment. In the Classics: Rediscoveries and Restauration rarely screened productions were presented like The Ondekoza by Tai Kato, Once Upon a Time by Kei Shichiri and a gem of avant-garde cinema Sijun Suzuki’s Zigeunerweisen. The documentary section focused on Japanese Americans in WWII internment camps, dolphin hunting in Taji and idol culture in Japan. Two features in Experimental Spotlight explored cinematic forms and an unconventional impressionistic take on fantasy, memory and reality. The Short showcase by new and established film makers  was devoted to a  sexual triangle between a couple and a male lover and its absurd climax, the conflicts experienced by a production intern, an encounter of a white color obsessed t-shirt wearer with a contract killer, and the chase of an asthmatic young man after his deceased boyfriend’s ghost.

The festival was curated by Aiko Masubuchi, Kazu Watanabe, and Joel Neville Anderson who note that, ”…  JAPAN CUTS reveals a cinema contending with crisis and breaking boundaries of form and content, complicating   traditional gender roles and sexuality, addressing traumas of war and racism, uncovering buried histories, and revealing the potential for social resistance”

Daguerrotype, Kiyashi Kurosawa, France 2016 

As an international coproduction produced in France and co-funded by the European arte consortium Daguerreotype is for the festival program an unusual film. It is a French language thriller subtitled in English with a Japanese director and European actors. An established fashion photographer Stephane is obsessed with the daguerreotype process and with the image of his wife who killed herself. Their daughter Marie looks like his wife and he gets her image close to perfection in hour long sessions, as if to give immortality to his wife. A young assistant. Jean, helps but falls in love with Marie and designs a plot to sell Stephan’s house and elope with Marie, a plot with disastrous consequences for all evolved.  Supernatural elements such as Stephan’s visions of his deceased wife and the disappearance of Marie add tensions to this superbly executed thriller.

At the Terrace, Kenji Yamauchi, Japan, 2016

A night-time party is given by a company director and his wife for some friends and employees. Reminiscent of a piece of theater the action is confined to the terrace of the director’s home.  Rapid verbal exchanges between the guests and the hosts soon reveal characters hidden behind their normal appearance and socially expected behavior.  Keeping the action to one place with one set only and restricting it to seven actors permits revealing hidden motivations and desires. The result is a comedy with sarcastic overtones. We learn about sexual desires, the interest in the wives of others, rivalries, embarrassing and shaming behavior, secrets of the hosting couple as revealed by their son Teruo who is also attracted to the wife, of one guest, and homosexual desires by two men known to be straight otherwise. Hosts and guests consume more liquor and the social rituals, stratification and masks they adhere too in everyday behavior are abandoned. The unmasking and abandon of constraints so typical for Japanese society is convincingly conveyed by the performance of the seven actors.

Over the Fence, Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2016 

Introduced by Joe Odagiri who also plays the principle male role the film received the Tama Cinema Award for best film and best actor (Joe Odagiri) and best actress (Yu Aoi). Over the Fence is an accomplished character study of individuals living at the fringes of society and set in the decaying northern port city of Hakodate, a small city.  Unemployed Shiraiwa joins a vocational carpentry program to ensure getting continued unemployment benefits and meets numerous other young trainees facing the same condition. Recently divorced he left wife and a young child. He lives by himself and seems introverted and withdrawn. Through a co-worker he meets Satoshi, who seems to be his opposite. She is temperamental, extroverted and prone to emotional outburst. She works in a bar and has a job taking care of small animals in a zoo with a special sentiment for birds. No matter what the location may be, she enacts the animals’ behavior imitating mostly birds.  In spite of their differences they are drawn to each other.  Yoshio stays reserved not openly showing emotions while Satoshi seems unable to control hers. Both have insecurities and have been damaged by past experiences. Yoshio is traumatized by his marital experience and is beset by guilt and Satochi is distrustful of those close to her. Over the Fence is an outstanding example of minimalistic Japanese film making.

Claus Mueller

filmexchange@gmail.com