Spreading the Transforming Power of Improvisation
JAPAN UNWRAPPED Vol.2 Cinema
Cinema
Cinema gives us the vision, culture and lives of other country as lively as possible. Japan has had a vibrant film industry and gained international attention since the mid 1990s for not only the artistically traditional films, but science-fiction, horror and monster stomping films such as Godzilla.
In the 1920s, Japanese directors started producing films in two distinct genres. Jidaigeki (period drama film) and Gendaigeki (modern film). Most Jidaigeki are set in the Edo period and Gendaigeki are set to our modern life. Two of these genres grew slowly and by the 1950s a golden age arrives in Japan, by the release of Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon. Rashomon receives the award of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice International Film Festival and an Oscar for the best foreign film, this film brings Japan to the entrance of the world stage.
Three years later, Japan’s two of most famous influential films are released, Kurosawa’s masterpiece Shichinin no Samurai (Seven Samurai) and Ishiro Honda’s anti-nuclear horror film Gojira which was translated in the west as Godzilla. The Hollywood version of Godzilla out in 1998 is still new to our mind, though I would say it was a totally different Godzilla from what most Japanese think. The Seven Samurai is about a band of hired samurais who protects a village from a gang of thieves. This is a must watch film.
Japan continues developing their films, some making to the awards, and in the 1980s comes the animation films by Hayao Miyazaki who is now famous for Tonari no Totoro (my neighbor Totoro), Mononokehime (Princess mononoke), Sento Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) all including elements of Japanese history and mythology were introduced in most of the cinemas around the world. Also Katsuhiro Otomo followed Miyazaki by Akira in 1988, story set in a corrupted neo Tokyo city in 2030.
In the 1990s arrives “Beat” Kitano Takeshi, who was awarded the Golden Lion in Venice for the film Hana-bi, a tale about how life and death, and violence and honour link them. Kitano have recently become famous for starring and directing his films, but is also famous for newspaper columnist, author, artist, poet, and above all thing as a great comedian in Japan. In 2002, releases Dolls, a meditation of love and sadness of love, this is one of my favorite films from the deep colors by Kitano and the costumes by fashion designer Yoji Yamamoto. The movie Zatoichi, tale of blind swordsman set in the Edo period, is a film by Kitano which is hard to miss too.
Movies made by non-Japanese such as Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola with Bill Murray, has a point of view which most Japanese could not see, same with Babel, one of the recent films showing Japan. These are movies, which you might feel the same in your stay in Japan.
If you have chance to check out some of these films before coming check it out!! These films will surely give you some new perspectives while your stay in Japan!
Yuki Murai Planning Team in Japan
Yuki first toured Japan on his mother’s back by the age of one. Every childhood summer was spent in Japan by his grandmother’s house. Soon after graduating high school in New York, Yuki started attending to Keio University in Japan to study environment. Now lives in Yokohama since 2006. Has great passion in eating and drinking.
Cinema gives us the vision, culture and lives of other country as lively as possible. Japan has had a vibrant film industry and gained international attention since the mid 1990s for not only the artistically traditional films, but science-fiction, horror and monster stomping films such as Godzilla.
In the 1920s, Japanese directors started producing films in two distinct genres. Jidaigeki (period drama film) and Gendaigeki (modern film). Most Jidaigeki are set in the Edo period and Gendaigeki are set to our modern life. Two of these genres grew slowly and by the 1950s a golden age arrives in Japan, by the release of Kurosawa Akira’s Rashomon. Rashomon receives the award of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice International Film Festival and an Oscar for the best foreign film, this film brings Japan to the entrance of the world stage.
Three years later, Japan’s two of most famous influential films are released, Kurosawa’s masterpiece Shichinin no Samurai (Seven Samurai) and Ishiro Honda’s anti-nuclear horror film Gojira which was translated in the west as Godzilla. The Hollywood version of Godzilla out in 1998 is still new to our mind, though I would say it was a totally different Godzilla from what most Japanese think. The Seven Samurai is about a band of hired samurais who protects a village from a gang of thieves. This is a must watch film.
Japan continues developing their films, some making to the awards, and in the 1980s comes the animation films by Hayao Miyazaki who is now famous for Tonari no Totoro (my neighbor Totoro), Mononokehime (Princess mononoke), Sento Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) all including elements of Japanese history and mythology were introduced in most of the cinemas around the world. Also Katsuhiro Otomo followed Miyazaki by Akira in 1988, story set in a corrupted neo Tokyo city in 2030.
In the 1990s arrives “Beat” Kitano Takeshi, who was awarded the Golden Lion in Venice for the film Hana-bi, a tale about how life and death, and violence and honour link them. Kitano have recently become famous for starring and directing his films, but is also famous for newspaper columnist, author, artist, poet, and above all thing as a great comedian in Japan. In 2002, releases Dolls, a meditation of love and sadness of love, this is one of my favorite films from the deep colors by Kitano and the costumes by fashion designer Yoji Yamamoto. The movie Zatoichi, tale of blind swordsman set in the Edo period, is a film by Kitano which is hard to miss too.
Movies made by non-Japanese such as Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola with Bill Murray, has a point of view which most Japanese could not see, same with Babel, one of the recent films showing Japan. These are movies, which you might feel the same in your stay in Japan.
If you have chance to check out some of these films before coming check it out!! These films will surely give you some new perspectives while your stay in Japan!
Yuki Murai Planning Team in Japan
Yuki first toured Japan on his mother’s back by the age of one. Every childhood summer was spent in Japan by his grandmother’s house. Soon after graduating high school in New York, Yuki started attending to Keio University in Japan to study environment. Now lives in Yokohama since 2006. Has great passion in eating and drinking.
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