JAPANESE FILMS

We Will Fight Until Hell Freezes Over… (Part 1)

“Eiga Gijutu (Cinema Technology)” Cover, March 1943 According to Japanese Movie Database, total of 23 movies were released between January 1st and August 15th of 1945. That is the last seven and half months of Great Japanese Empire and its militaristic endeavor. In the same seven and half month in 1935, the ten years prior, the total of 289 movies were released. Thus, the leaders of the Empire miraculously reduced its cultural output by the factor of twelve within a decade, it seems.>The filmmaking during the last days of the war faced serious setbacks. The materials, such as film stocks, …

 
'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

Fusen (1956)

Izumi Ashikawa and Tatsuya Mihashi Almost all movies – and stories, for that matter – rely on conflicts. Conflicts between a man and a woman. Conflicts between civilization and nature. Conflicts between love and hate. Between courage and weakness, old and new, mighty and poor etc. These conflicts casually employ archetypes of many sorts, to reorient audience to the familiar path of narrative development. It helps to pose ethical theme, metaphysical theme, something meaningful without going into complex discourse of human interaction. One of the most popular device of conflict is that of generations. Teenagers look and act like bubble-headed …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Chi Wa Kawaiteru (1960)

In the dystopian world of Sidney Lumet’s Network (1976), the death of the once-popular TV personality in front of camera is considered to be the best way to preserve corporate integrity in the face of fierce competition. The price of ‘virtual’ persona sometimes exceeds the price of person’s physical life itself. The idea of a life insurance company exploiting a sensational image of death for marketing their products sounds very promising, but Yoshishige Yoshida’s Chi Wa Kawaiteru (血は渇いてる, 1960) abandons the credibility and nuances in exchange for visual impact.