FILM: Andrew Worsdale
THE Japanese Film Festival, now in it’s third year, opened last night at the Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg, the place where third secretary of political affairs Yasushi Nato says, “the cinema gourmet stays”.
The programme is a little dour, featuring classics from the past. They may be masterpieces of cinema, but there is no exposure of more recent Japanese cinema like the ironic black comedies of Juzo Itami. His film Tampopo is a masterful exploration of food and sex that’s lensed like a Western. And A Taxing Woman is a brilliant satirical examination of the patriarchal nature of society in the land of the rising sun.
Similarly, the films of “Beat” Takeshi Kitano have never been exposed to the South African public – he is the master of the modern gangster genre, infusing his films with a deep-seated melancholy that undermines your usual skiet-and-donner. Besides that, he’s also the most popular entertainer in Japan.
Also there’s no manga or anime on show, so the festival is sadly lacking the feel of contemporary Japanese culture. The reason being, Nato explains with polite charm, that they have culled the films from the Japanese Diplomatic film library in Nigeria and the Western Cape film library, which both hold classics in their store and insist that any screenings of the films should be for cultural reasons and thus admission to all shows is free. Great news for cinephiles!
Nato’s personal favourite in the line-up is Kon Ichikawa’s 1956 film Burmese Harp, a stylishly dark and claustrophobic tale of a soldier-musician who becomes a Buddhist priest after witnessing the horrors of war. Criticised in its home country for portraying the enemy in a sympathetic light it is a classic that preaches undistilled humility.
Other pictures worth catching are: Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece and winner of the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival. It tells the story of a woman’s rape from four conflicting but equally credible accounts of the crime. Quentin Tarantino wasn’t a speck in his mother’s eye yet, but he obviously learnt loads from this film’s brilliant narrative inventiveness. Kurosawa’s 1961 classic comedy-satire about violence Yojimbo, is also on show. The tale of a master Samurai warrior, it’s an entertaining actioner with much of the feel of a grand American Western.
Ugetsu Monogatari, (loosely translated as Story of the Rainy Month) is Kenji Mizoguchi’s exquisite 1953 picture about a modest potter who is lured away from his family by a noblewoman who turns out to be a ghost. Hotaru No Haka (Tombstone for Fireflies) is a 1988 animated film based on the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka and is a hard- hitting and tragic tale of a young boy and his sister trying to survive war-torn Kobe after the Pacific war. If you’re into the pageantry of Japanese stage design don’t miss Sen Rikyu, Ken Kumai’s 1989 film about a 16th century master of the tea ceremony who is ordered by a Shogun to commit suicide.
Due to popular demand at last year’s festival the infectious comedy Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t is being re-screened. The tale of a hapless wrestling team who eventually gain confidence and success, it stars one of Nineties Japan’s most popular screen idols, Motoki “Mokkun” Masahiro.
Despite the fact that you might feel you’re attending a university drama and film seminar, as there’s a distinct lack of anything modern or funky, with every screening at no charge, you can save your well-earned bucks for some sushi, sake and sashimi in between the feast of classics.
Call the cinema for programme details on (011) 880 2866
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