Lost In Translation

A Cruel Story of Youth

Nagisa Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth (1960) is usually seen as Oshima's cinematic breakthrough. It is a political film that makes statements about the consumer society that Japan was becoming during the economic miracle recovery of the post war years. He does this by also using the "sun tribe" film tropes like motorcycles, motorboats, and the sea side. A young girl Makoto (Miyuki Kawano) and her student boyfriend Kiyoshi (Yusuke Kawazu) set up an extortion scam where they find wealthy middle aged men who and extort money after they make passes at Makoto. Kiyoshi also has a middle aged lover who gives him money so that Makoto can have an abortion from her sister's ex-lover who does abortions on the side to make ends meet. It is a cruel and sordid tale of the frustrations of the new up and coming generation.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

I believe that Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) directed by Nagisa Oshima was one of the first Japanese films I ever saw on recommendation from Roger Ebert on "At The Movies." I recently read a book about Oshima and was in the process of creating a syllabus of Japanese films for a class I was planning to teach on Japanese film. I thought it was probably the most accessible, even though I am a fan of The Realm of the Senses and Empire of Passion, however, both have some explicit sexual scenes that I was wary of showing in film class. So I decided to screen Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and even though I hadn't seen it in probably 20 years, I realized it has held up exceedingly well. I had forgotten about the homosexual subtext and the punishment of the Korean guard who had slept with a prisoner. It seems as though it was a precursor for Oshima's homosexual samurai film Taboo.  There are some very good performances from first timers like David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Takeshi Kitano. However, it is Tom Conti that carries the film since it is mostly from his point of view. Sakamoto's score is unmistakably from the 80s, but appropriate and nostalgia inducing for me. Oshima is not afraid to show some of the unfavorable aspects of a Japanese prisoner of war camp warts and all, as well as seppuku. There are lots of great Criterion extras: The Oshima Gang, a 1983 making-of featurette, a new video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, actor Tom Conti, and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Hasten Slowly, an hour-long 1996 documentary about author Laurens van der Post, whose autobiographical novel was the basis for the film, the original theatrical trailer, new and improved English subtitle translation, and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens and reprinted interviews with director Nagisa Oshima and actor Takeshi Kitano. I was fascinated by the documentary on the author of the novel in which the film was based on a novel by Laurens van der Post and I plan to read this novel, The Seed and the Sower, soon. It was also interesting to hear that Kitano first thought about directing while working on the set of this, his first film, and Kitano would go on to become an internationally recognized director in his own right several years later. In addition, first assistant director Lee Tamahori would go onto make the critically praised film Once Were Warriors. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is a classic film and has stood the test of time.

Empire of Passion

After reading Maureen Turim's book length study, The Films of Nagisa Oshima, last year I realized there were several films of his that I still needed to see. Oshima died at the beginning of this year incidentally. At the top of that list was Empire of Passion (1978). It is essentially the companion piece to his best and most (in)famous film, In The Realm of the Senses (1976), which gathered accolades and was censored in Japan and elsewhere for it's graphic depictions of sex. However,  Empire of Passion is a radically different, as pointed out by Tony Rayns in his informative essay by noting opposites: urban/rural, shameless/guilt stricken, artifice/nature, exposure/concealment, female voyeurs/one frustrated male voyeur, male narrator/female narrator, etc. This story focuses on the defiance of Seki (played by Kazuko Yoshiyuki) a married mother of two and Toyoji (played by In The Realm of the Senses lead Tatsuya Fuji) a discharged soldier 26 years her junior. They conspire to murder Seki's husband Gisaburo, a rickshaw driver in a rural village during the Meiji era. Oshima incorporates a ghost story into the film as Gisaburo haunts Seki and the villagers in their thoughts, dreams, and supposed sightings. The films takes place after the Sino-Japanese War and shows how the central government begins to affect people's  lives for the first time, this is seen in the police inspector who comes to the village to solve the mystery of Gisaburo's death. Oshima employs a number of visual themes and motifs to great effect such as circles, the changing of the seasons, and long tracking shots. There are many striking visual images throughout the film. The artistry of the film reflects the selection of a veteran and proven cast with the likes of cinematographer Yoshio Miyajima (Harakiri and Kwaidan) and composer extraordinaire Toru Takemitsu (Woman in the Dunes and Pale Flower). The Criterion extras include: Double Obsession: Seki, Sada, and Oshima, a video essay by film historian and critic Catherine Russell, interviews with actors Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji, an interview from 2003 featuring production consultant Koji Wakamatsu and assistant directors Yusuke Narita and Yoichi Sai, the U.S. trailer, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic and historian Tony Rayns and a 1978 interview with Nagisa Oshima.

The Films Of Oshima Nagisa

Nagisa Oshima is one of Japan's most well-known directors and one of the harbingers of the Japanese New Wave film movement. His films tend to deal with issues like politics, identity, gender, and sex, thus, he has been a great favorite of critics and academics. In The Films Of Oshima Nagisa: Images Of A Japanese Iconoclast (1998) Maureen Turim mines the films of Oshima to study the different levels of meaning found throughout his body of work often with the aid of theorists like Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucalt, and other postmodernist favorites, as a result, the book is sometimes overly academic and turgid in places. However, I do think that there is a lot going on in the films of Oshima, however, some of them are difficult to watch because of his avant garde approach or the fact that the films are fully loaded with messages.

In "Cultural Iconoclasm and Contexts of Innovation" Turim discuses auteur theory, authorship, and meanings that can exist outside the author's intent. She identifies Oshima as an iconoclast seeking new icons to replace old ones. Turim discusses Oshima's claim to hate all Japanese cinema. In the second chapter, "Cruel Stories of Youth and Politics" looks at Oshima's first films which focus on "sun tribe" stories and are overtly political. These include the following: A Town of Love and Hope (1959), Burial of the Sun (1959), Cruel Story of Youth (1960), and Night and Fog in Japan (1960). I found this section overwhelming with theoretical applications of post modern theorist. However, I think it is important to note that Oshima employs characters whose politics diverge from his own. This is followed by "Rituals, Desire, Death." In this section Turim looks at Death By Hanging (1968), which she sees as his most Brechtian film, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969), which shows avant garde fragmentation, Boy (1969), his most humanist film, The Battle of Tokyo, or the Story of the Young Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970), one of Oshima's most challenging films, and The Ceremony (1971). The next section, "Signs of Sexuality In Oshima's Tales of Passion" looks at two of his most infamous and well known films. Realm of the Senses (1976) which explores the history of the seduction of a serving girl by her boss and had to filmed outside of Japan due to the graphic sex portrayed in the film. The companion piece to this is Empire of Passion (1978), which is a ghost story also about sexuality. "Warring Subjects" presents a contrast between two films form different periods of the director's body of work for contrast, The Catch (1961), an adaptation of a Kenzuburo Oe short story, and Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence (1983), an adaptation of a novel by South African Lauren van der Post. These films are critical of the Japanese sense of victimization by their war leaders during WWII which absolves them of individual complicity.The next section, "Popular Song, Fantasies, and Comedies of Iconoclasm" examines these themes in the following films:  A Treaty on Japanese Bawdy Songs (1967), Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968), Dear Summer Sister (1972), and Max Mon Amour (1987). I found the section on Oshima's documentaries, "Documents of Guilt and Empire," especially fascinating. This includes three films with a Korean focus. Forgotten Soldiers (1963) about the protests for compensation of Korean nationals recruited to fight for Japan in WWII. A Monument to Youth (1964) about a Korean woman, Park Oh He, who lost a limb in the opposition protest against Syngman Rhee, and tries to move from prostitution to working in an orphanage. Also, Diary of Yunbogi (1965) which is about street kids in Seoul. Turim then discusses four films related to war. The Pacific War (1968) is made up of clips from propaganda films made during the war. In The Battle of Tsushima (1975) Oshima interviews survivors of the Russo-Japanese War. The Dead Remain Young (1977) is a memorial of civilian victims or a torpedo attack in WWII that was mostly Okinawian children. The final film was Human Drama: 28 Years of Hiding in the Jungle (1977) that looks at Yokoi Shoichi was lived in isolation in Guam. Oshima was an early critic of China's cultural revolution which can be seen in his film Mao and the Cultural Revolution (1969). The other two films discussed, Joi Bengla! (1972) and The Golden Land of Bengal (1976), celebrate and examine a new Asian nation, Bangladesh. In the concluding section, Turim mentions two documentaries that he had made, Kyoto, My Mother (1991) and The Century of Cinema for the British Film Institute and that Taboo (1999), his final film, was in pre-production.

To date I have seen Shadows and Fog in Japan, the Criterion box set Oshima's Outlaw 60s: Pleasures of the Flesh, Violence at Noon,Sing a Song of Sex, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, Three Resurrected Drunkards, Realm of Senses, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and Taboo. I am inspired to see any of the documentaries I can find, perhaps Criterion could bring out a box set? Turim sees Empire of Passion as a companion piece to Realm of Senses and a work of high merit, which inspires me to see it. This book is a comprehensive look at one of the most challenging Japanese directors.

Three Resurrected Drunkards

The last film in Criterion's Eclipse Series 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties was Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968). It is probably one of his strangest films about three students who go for a swim in Kyushu and have their clothes stolen by two AWOL  Korean soldiers who were trying to escape fighting in Vietnam for the US. Almost halfway through the film it restarts and the story unfolds in a different manner than the previous run through. Oshima is making statements about the treatment of Korean immigrants, global policies of the US in a manner that is far from conventional. (I had previously seen Sing A Song Of Sex (1967) and choose not to re-watch it this time).

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967) is one of the films in the Criterion Eclipse Series 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties series. It is a visually impressive film with great framing shots and something of an allegorical film, although I'm still trying to work out exactly how. There seems to be some obsession with the Japanese "death drive," but the lone female played by Keiko Sakurai is obsessed with sex and she cannot find fulfillment with the suicidal AWOL soldier played by Kei Sato. Several of the other characters of the gang that are looking for violence seem to represent certain aspect of the society-the aging yakuza with eh gun, the gun crazy 17 year old, Television, the bandit, the "oni." Then there's the troubling Caucasian foreigner who is randomly killing people which is referred to being like the assassination in Dallas by the commenter on the TV. It is a curious film-one that I'm not sure I fully understand. At some point I might have to give it a second viewing, but there's a stack of movies waiting in the meantime.

Violence At Noon

Violence At Noon (1966) from Nagisa Oshima's Criterion Collection of films from the Eclipse series Oshima's Outlaw Sixties is generally considered the masterpiece of the collection. It is inspired by a short story by Taijun Takeda about a true story from the 50s of the daylight demon who murdered and raped 50 women. Oshima has taken this story to express his highly stylized feelings on the failings of the left which resulted in some leading members committing suicide and other resorting to violence to as a means to an end. The principal characters used to work on a farm collective and are bound to each as victimize, ex-wife, and victim. Oshima used 2,000 cuts in 99 minutes displaying an impressive visual vision. 

Pleasures Of The Flesh

Pleasures Of The Flesh (1965) is one of the five films featured in the Criterion Eclipse Series 21:Oshima's Outlaw Sixities and something of a surprise. I guess I was expecting some sort of didactic "issue" film, however, it was more complex than that. This was the first film from his own company Soza-sha and contains many of his hallmark themes: self-destruction, moral turpitude, class oppression. It was adapted from Futaro Yamada's novel Pleasure Inside The Coffin. It is a curious film, in which a character is blackmailed into watching over embezzled funds to avoid a jail sentence. Atsushi (Katsuo Nakamura) decides to spend it on women to erase the memory of the woman he committed the crime for Shoko (Mariko Kaga who would go onto to play another pivotal role in Pale Flower for Masahiro Shinoda). It was more artistic than I would have thought coming from a film that was supposed to be presented as a so-called "pink film"-which I guess would be translated as a soft-core porn film(?).

In The Realm Of The Senses

I was quite impressed with Joan Mellen’s approach to film criticism after reading her seminal book, Voices From The Japanese Cinema, so I sought out some other titles. One of her other projects was a short book-length essay for BFI Film Classics on Nagisa Oshima’s taboo breaking film In The Realm of the Senses . It is a fascinating look at the infamous film. Mellen brings a storehouse of knowledge to the project about Japanese culture, history, film, and the life and career of Oshima. In the section “Oshima Nagisa Auteur” she states that Oshima sought to “look into the political perception in the minds of the Japanese” which is entrenched in the Tenno or emperor system in which his characters cannot escape Japan. She states that he was searching for away for his characters to break away from it. In the next section “Reverse Utopias” she looks at this film was made in a particular historical moment of liberated attitude toward sexuality of the late 60s and mid-70s. This included challenges to puritanical views of sexuality and connections between sexuality and politics found their way in several films of that era like  Bertolucci’s The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris. The following section “Mise En Scene” looks at the film scene by scene and explains what Oshima was trying to accomplish throughout the film. Mellen then discusses “Crime, Mortality and In The Realm of the Senses” by stating that the characters might come off as unsympathetic, but their adultery might best be seen in the context of a civilization where for many centuries male infidelity was not only acceptable but institutionalized with entire districts with an entire caste of women given over to the serving male needs. Thus, according to Mellen, part of Oshima’s radical stance is that of an emphasis on women’s pleasure. Mellen sums up the film in “Codas” by saying: “In the realm of the Senses is, finally, a revolutionary moment in the cinema of Japan, as innovative in its way as Bunuel’s Viridiana (1961).” It is a fascinating look at a controversial film.

Night And Fog In Japan

Nagisa Oshima’s Night and Fog in Japan (1960) is curious in its depiction of Japanese college students wrapped up in social causes and demonstrations. The political content is the most fascinating part of the film. It is pretty static in the camera work and drama like talking heads and flashbacks that dominate the action of the film, apparently there are only 46 cuts in the film. I realize that Oshima is taking the students to task for forgetting about their ideals and returning to more mundane issues like finishing their studies so that they can become good capitalist-in society by getting jobs, getting married and raising kids. The discussions of the factions within the factions and who betrayed who becomes confusing throughout. I feel that this is not one of his best films, but it seems to be a favorite among critics, to his credit he made three (!) in 1960.