JPT3391 - Intro to Japanese Film

I think it’s easy to consider this thing a work of art. The animation is beautiful, the art direction is stunning, all of the character designs are incredibly inspired and imaginative, the music is wonderful, and the voice acting sells everything that’s happening on screen. When it comes to productions that work well to introduce people to the medium of anime, I think this is a solid option despite its extremely fantastical setting and premise. Everything here just works, and there’s really not much to criticize for what it sets out to achieve in my eyes. I think just about anyone could enjoy this film if they’re a bit more open minded to exploring different mediums and stories.

As for what’s going on in this film, there’s a lot. But I can still boil it down to a few sets of themes that stand out to me at least. An obvious one is supernaturalism, this tale is inspired by Japanese Shinto-Buddhist folklore, as showcased by the wide variety of spirits that Chihiro encounters, plenty of which I can pick out individually. The setting of the bathhouse is a pretty literal interpretation of solstice rituals, in which villagers would call forth various spirits and kami and invite them to their baths. Chihiro’s place in all of it is that of a child going through their rite of passage into adulthood. She’s somewhere between child and adult in this rather upsetting point in her life, and in this world of spirits she also stands outside of societal boundaries. The literal translation of the title reinforces this idea further, 千と千尋の神隠し (Sen to Chihiro no Kamkikakushi) or “Sen and Chihiro’s Spiriting Away” where 神隠し (kamikakushi) can also be read as hidden (kakushi) by gods (kami). In this way, I can see Chihiro passing through this world of spirits while moving on from her status as a child in her old home, to a more grown individual who’s embraced her past and accepted moving to a new home.

Other themes I can notice more now are ones that seem to be more critical of modern aspects of society, such as consumerism and environmentalism. Greed is a major motivation and pitfall for many characters in this movie, with varying obsessions over gold and food. I feel like this greed is mostly rooted in westernism, with Yubaba having a distinctly western-inspired dress and having much of her furnishings in her room look very European compared to the much more traditional Japanese styled architecture and furnishings of her workers. I think this ties into the influence the west had over Japan during the Meiji restoration, where in the process of modernization and “catching up” with the rest of the world, much of the traditional Japanese culture at the time may have been overwritten. Yubaba’s act of literally taking Chihiro’s name from her and turning it into Sen (which is the Japanese character for one thousand) can also be looked at as a commentary on employers’ fixation on sheer value even when it comes to living beings. Chihiro’s parents also turn into literal consumerist pigs, which is incredibly subtle and took me many viewings to understand this incredibly nuanced metaphor. Haku himself also gets his name stolen from him, albeit in a somewhat different manner from Chihiro. He exists as a manifestation of what was once a river in the human world, but the river was destroyed and had apartments built over its place, causing him to lose his home and his sense of self and identity. A pretty blunt commentary on both consumerism and the destruction of nature through urban expansion, which continues to be a concern for many in Japan to this day.

As far as Japanese cinema goes, I feel that animation should probably viewed from a separate perspective when comparing it to other films. The production is intense in its own ways, dealing with an almost entirely different set of hurdles under a pretty distinct medium, so comparing Spirited Away with other works that we’ve watched should be an interesting experience. While other Miyazaki films still win out for me, this viewing reminded me of how absolutely solid this movie is. A strong story with a lot of good commentary and a superb audiovisual experience makes it clear why this is considered by many to be the best animated film of all time.

Can’t beat Howl though, love that guy.

Thoughts/First Impressions:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie in a room with other people. I don’t think it would have been as fun without a live audience. This movie was so off the rails and campy that I was audibly screaming and confused everytime something happened. I was initially excited about the film because of screenshots that I saw online. The idea of a movie set in the Japanese Wild West was so insane to me that I was surprised that I had never heard of this movie before. I also saw that Quentin Tarantino was in the movie, so that also piqued my excitement. The plot is kind of loose and it feels like random action scenes just happen, but the basic gist is that there are two rival gangs fighting in a western town and a drifter arrives and puts a stop to the fighting. This movie was just so crazy. I honestly didn’t know the character motivations for half the characters and felt almost nothing for most of them, save like two, but that wasn’t the point of the movie. It was just an epic tale of violence and action set pieces, and I was all for it.

Themes/Interpretation:

I don’t see this movie as a film trying to send a message. It knew what it wanted to do, and by God, it accomplished what it set out to do in spades. It was just a loud, ultra-violent film about greed and bloodlust. There was plenty of gore and action to go around. The duel in the snow at the end was an especially cool scene. The addition of the mini gun was also extremely ridiculous. The movie was just a turn-off-your-brain kind of film, and if you watch it this way, it is pretty great. Don’t think about it so much.

Final Thoughts:

Initial Reaction

I have got to say that watching a relatively slow-paced film that’s both heart-warming and heart-wrenching was a good change of pace from the horror and avant-garde films we’ve been watching recently. Prior to watching this film, Sweet Bean (あん), I was completely unaware of how those with leprosy were and still are facing discrimination in Japan and in the rest of the world. While this social issue is the focus of the film, I think Kawase did a spectacular job of incorporating different generations and bringing them (young, middle-aged, and elderly) all together with one commonality they shared: dorayaki.  

*Going off on a tangent: This film reminded me of the YouTube channel “Grandma’s Recipes” that features Japanese grandmas’ recipes and their life stories. If you haven’t watched it before, here’s a link to the most popular video (ENG SUB) on their channel with 8.5 million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGqFFcAaTn8.

Social Commentary

Leprosy and How It’s Misunderstood

Before I delve into my analysis of leprosy and this film, I will briefly talk about the misconceptions that people hold around those with leprosy. To begin with, leprosy is a chronic but curable, infectious disease that is caused by a slow-growing bacteria which can affect the nerve, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (CDC, 2017).

To bust some myths surrounding leprosy:

You cannot get leprosy from a casual contact like:

- Shaking hands or hugging

- Sitting next to each other on the bus

- Sitting together at a meal

Also, leprosy is NOT passed on from a mother to her unborn baby during pregnancy and is also not spread through sexual contact.

In most cases, prolonged contact with someone with untreated leprosy over many months is needed to contract the disease. Doctors think that contraction occurs through airborne droplets (coughing, sneezing) in which someone with active leprosy passes it on to a healthy person who breathes it in, but the cause is not clear yet. Even then, contracting leprosy is HIGHLY UNLIKELY, because MORE THAN 95% OF ALL PEOPLE HAVE A NATURAL IMMUNITY.

Now, taking all this into consideration and assuming that the film is set in 2015, we can better understand Tokue’s pain of being labeled an “untouchable” by Japanese society in which an overwhelming majority have an unwarranted fear of those with leprosy.  

From the start of the film, it is obvious that Tokue desires to be part of larger society – not an outsider. Such can be seen from her not caring about Doraharu, the dorayaki shop’s, low wage. Rather than being hung up on the salary which matters most to many when taking a job, she cares more about being able to interact with people and being viewed as “normal” for once. The difference in what she places importance on and what people that are part of larger society place importance on show how many of us take what we view as “normal” for granted.

It’s interesting to see that the other main characters, Sentaro and Wakana, are also social misfits. Though, they are to a lesser degree than Tokue. We learn that Sentaro started working at Doraharu (dorayaki + haru), because he was indebted to the shop’s owner after having gone to prison for trying to stop a brawl in a pub and having disabled the person fighting. Similarly, Wakana comes to Doraharu out of necessity to escape her family situation in which her single mother is never there for her. The interweaving of these three stories – Tokue, Sentaro, Wakana – is captivating, because it shows how three different generations overcome their given circumstance through interacting with each other. Specifically, Tokue represents the wisdom that comes with old age as she believes that everything in life has meaning; Sentaro represents how those in their middle-age have had to come to terms with reality and lost their naiveness and optimism of when they were young; Wakana represents the youthfulness of not yet being able to see the dark aspects of society and being able to try anything head-on. Their generational gap along with their different stories makes this film relatable to anyone watching, regardless of their nationality and ethnicity.    

That being said, this film also shows how the collectivist mindset, most often associated with Eastern cultures, can be damaging. This can be observed in a number of scenes when we see how Japanese society fears people with leprosy, even though there is little reason to do so. Such scenes that immediately come to mind are: 1.) Sentaro’s manager sanitizing her hands after coming to talk to him about removing Tokue due to her history of leprosy, 2.) No one coming to buy dorayaki from the shop when rumors go around that Tokue has leprosy, and 3.) People with leprosy having to live in a secluded area on the outskirts of society. Another scene that was shown a lot throughout the course of the film was Tokue listening to the voices of the inanimate (azuki beans, trees, etc.) and animals. All of these scenes show the danger in taking things at face-value and not questioning society’s (unspoken) rules for the “greater good.” Tokue is the antagonist to such customs since she tunes in to those that do not have voices. The final scene also reinforces this value of withholding judgement and listening to all perspectives with Sentaro and Wakana being able to forge a happier life, after finding what makes them happy - not what society deems necessary to be happy. Fortunately, in doing so, their “spring” (haru) finally comes.

Bonus:

If you want to see real dorayaki craftsmanship, watch the linked YouTube video from timestamp 6:25-8:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wljx_KuN8u0.

Initial thoughts:

This is probably my favorite film we have watched so far. The two simultaneous plotlines that meet in the end was really interesting to watch and I haven’t seen it too much in the movies I have seen. I do think that the beginning of the film was notably better than the latter half though. The first 40-50 min expertly used horror elements and pacing to where I was both intrigued and creeped out (which is hard because I don’t really find these things creepy or scary). I still enjoyed the second half a lot but the supernatural elements became a bit redundant for me. Additionally, I did have a bit of confusion regarding the disappearances, which I would like to note I liked that this ‘haunting’ was more than just the two protagonists and their friends but rather it was global. I was a little confused that some people like Junko, Yabe and Kawashima just turn into the black stains while others like Taguchi and Karasawa killed themselves before also becoming black stains. It just left me a bit confused on how exactly the ‘curse’ worked, though in the end I suppose all of them succumb to despair of some sort. 

Why it worked:

I think what made this more unnerving as a techno-horror film than ring for me, was that there was not an escape. With Ring, you could either not watch the tape or copy it after. But in this film, anyone with internet access (so everyone) it seemed would eventually be affected by the ghosts. It wasn’t just one ghost either, it was multiple different people who we saw were tormenting the characters, and eventually the ghosts aren’t what kill you, its yourself. I think your own mind turning against you, your own solitude and despair going beyond control is what is scary about it all.

My (maybe dark) take:

You can analyze this film more from the technological standpoint and speak on how this is a message of the corruption technology has had on people and how it has made us less human and deterred us from making true human connection. And go on about how we crave human connection and tha technology which was meant to connect us more than ever only pushed us apart. But I think this movie does more. I think it shows us we were ALWAYS like that, the presence of technology just exacerbated it. Karasawa spoke about something similar when she first went to Kawashima’s house, we are all lonely and afraid of solitude, yet we are fake in our connections. I think we all are so terrified of death because we think it will be even lonelier than what we are now so we cling so desperately to living without any real conviction. We are just afraid of the unknown and of being alone. But in truth, we are always alone. We are born alone, we die alone, and in death like in life we will be alone. And even with technology connecting us to every corner of the earth, to a point where almost every other person is only a click away. We are still alone. The machine with the dots really intrigued me as it showed this point visually. We are like little specs of dust that cross paths but don’t touch. I think this not only refers to our connections to other people but our connections between life and death.

But we are resilient, so we keep going and we try to make those connections that make everything seem like it meant anything. That’s why we humans are cool, and annoying 😊

Initial Reaction

I was quite scared to watch this film, Ring (リング), at first as I didn’t know what to expect. Overall, it exceeded my expectations: 1.) It wasn’t that bad in terms of horror, and 2.) there was much more to analyze than I expected of (which wasn’t much) from a horror film.  

It’s always interesting to see an older film with a cast of which many are still active actors in the present-day, since they look so young. Sadly, Yūko Takeuchi who played Tomoko in this film died of suicide on September 27, 2020. There was a string of suicides in the entertainment industry at the time with the most famous incident being Haruma Miura, one of the most prominent actors of his generation, who died of suicide only a few months before Takeuchi.

Social Commentary/Cinematography

Cyclical Nature and the Patriarchy

The title, Ring, cleverly alludes to the film’s cyclical plot which we later learn that the only way to “break the curse” is to show someone else a recording of the cursed tape. Interestingly enough, Reiko, the protagonist’s name also alludes to this cyclical nature as part of her name, “Rei”, means zero (0) in Japanese. Additionally, the death sentence of someone who has watched the cursed tape is one week which can be thought of as one cycle (i.e., this Monday to next Monday).

I believe this reappearance and emphasis on a cycle represents Sadako’s sorrow and anger of her mother committing suicide at the hands of her own father, her partner, and the media – more specifically, male reporters. I would like to point out that Sadako and her mother’s unfortunate outcome of their life is primarily determined by the actions of men around them. Sadako’s mother dies of suicide due to her father’s decision to take advantage of her supernatural powers of being able to read people’s minds by selling her story to the press. As a consequence of his actions, Sadako’s mother is used as a test subject by Ikuma who holds a public press conference. Unfortunately, this results in negative press release of her being “abnormal” which ultimately pushes her over the edge. It should go without saying that the actions of the men who caused her mother to die of suicide had a direct effect on Sadako. Combined with the fact that her life is put to an end by her own father, Ikuma (which could be a play on words of “akuma” – devil), who is later revealed to have had an affair with her mother and feared his daughter’s supernatural abilities that surpassed her mother’s by being able to kill someone with a simple thought.

*It is worth noting that although Ryuji-san is loving and kind to his ex-wife Reiko - for the most part - he still embodies traditional, patriarchal values. This is demonstrated when he forces Reiko to stay at home with their son Yōichi, because she supposedly doesn’t have much time left. Keep in mind that he’s also Yōichi’s parent and only has an additional day to live than Reiko. The patriarchal values are further demonstrated when he slaps Reiko on the face when she seemingly “gives up” on trying to find Sadako’s body, which they mistakenly believe to be the key to ending the curse. Unnecessary much? Additionally, when Reiko goes down in the well to try to find Sadako, she superimposes Ryuji-san with Ikuma – one of the catalysts to Sadako’s curse. Interestingly enough, Ryuji-san is the only one that dies in this film, if we consider the starting point of Reiko’s story as being after the death of her niece, Tomoko.

A wonderful mess, that’s how I could describe this film. A world that is dirty, cruel, unforgiving, and beautiful all the same.

The movie went on for quite a bit, but it used all of that time pretty wisely to really flesh out the world they were trying to depict, a world showcasing a wide breadth of humanity, extending past nationality, race, class, gender, and language. Really, characters were speaking Japanese, English, Mandarin, or Cantonese, so I’m very impressed with the dialogue and how it was handled here. Language is played around with quite a bit as well, in particular with the name of the city and the immigrants, the city has the nickname of Yen Town (円都, en to), and the immigrants are referred to with a loose homophone Yen Thieves (円盗, en tou) which is anglicized as “Yentown” in dialogue and subtitles. Many different characters clung and clashed with each other in this bizarre but inspiring plot, and if this film did anything well, I think it allowed every character to have their chance to shine.

It's like multiple genres are belnding together to tell this tale. Characters start off mostly supporting one another until they all gain a path to fortune that allows them to realize their various dreams, but this comes at the cost of their solidarity with one another. With Glico we have a distinct musical element, with Ryo Ranki and Fei Hong we have a crime drama, and with Ageha we have something of a social realist journey. While Ryo certainly has some antagonistic qualities, I couldn’t really pin him as the villain, just another character in the film, and in a way the protagonist of his own story, just as any of the central characters were. Everyone is finding their own way, living the lives they want to live the way they want to live them.

One thing that was always shrouded in ambiguity was Ageha and her actual heritage, we never find out if she was Japanese or an Asian immigrant, and this was certainly by design. Her actual bloodline is not important here, she is from Yentown, that is her home and something she learns to hold onto with pride. It’s a bold statement that stands against the stubborn ideology of Japan surrounding racial purity and only valuing a specific birthplace. She manages to find a path forward in life that is fulfilling for herself and allows her to hold those she cares for close to her, and it has nothing to do with her race or nationality, but the resolve she gains from her experiences. She was forced to confront her own set of issues on her own and managed to help the people close to her along the way. Despite how wild the events got, I think her growth and resolve was great to witness, and she ended up being a wonderful protagonist.

Those damn shades, pretty cool.

I really enjoyed viewing this one, and I think it’s the actual viewing experience that’s key here, rather than the narrative itself which felt mostly peripheral. What was really keeping my attention throughout the film was the atmosphere that was being established, very melancholic and almost surreal at times, certainly in its depiction of violence with the amount of blood getting thrown around. Some of the violence does feel a little absurd, like the amount of blood a guy spits up after a single kick to the face with no other visible bruising or scarring from it, or the jarring cuts from a lunge with chopsticks to the guy being stabbed with them in his eye. While I think it was a bit heavy handed, I’m thinking now that it may have been an intentional effect meant to really draw attention to the moments of violence and death, and these moments felt like they were mirrored by the splash of red paint on Horibe’s suicide painting, showing what all these moments of violence were building up towards. The violence stands in stark contrast to the moments of care and tenderness. Nishi is a main who is haunted by his past, but still feels no greater desire than to see his sick wife happy in her final days. The ways scenes are depicted show his mentality and resolve perfectly, minimal dialogue and obscurity, and all of the motivations are shown through actions rather than words.

As for the ending, I think this was the least ambiguous part of the film, and it’s obvious what actually happened here: Nishi and his wife end their own lives on their own terms. It’s heavily symbolized by Horibe’s last painting at the end of the film, which on one hand shows his abandonment of the desire to kill himself with the splashing of the red paint, while also showing what Nishi and Miyuki are about to do. There’s no point in Nishi continuing his struggles since his wife is already on death’s door, and the Yakuza are set on tracking him down while the police have him pinned for the robbery he committed. He was able to enjoy one last trip with the woman he loves, and the last thing he’s going to do is kill 2 people that still clearly care for his well being and have done nothing to wrong him or the people he cares for. It’s a somber ending, but ultimately one that left me at peace knowing that him and his wife could both see the end together in mutual happiness. I have to admit, the 2 lines from Miyuki really hit me like a truck, and my eyes got a bit misty in it all. I also want to mention that I think it’s pretty clever that a man who was painting surrealist art has his final painting of the film directly foreshadow the reality of the ending.

The film itself had a distinct rhythm that helped everything flow together, and this was all punctuated with a fantastic score, making what could have been otherwise dull scenes really mesmerizing for myself. A couple of things I read up on that I thought made this film much more personal for the director was that the pointillist paintings that Horibe made were made by Kitano himself in reality, in particular while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident that left his face partially paralyzed, and that Kitano’s own daughter shows up in the film as the girl flying the kite at the end.

Yukisada’s GO! is an interesting look into the discrimination Korean-Japanese citizens experienced stemming back to post-war Japan, but felt like a generic coming-of-age story. Despite all the fun action scenes, I still felt the runtime of just over 2 hours was a bit too long, and the story could have progressed a bit quicker. It’s a good movie, but I don’t think it’s necessary in the great pantheon of impactful Japanese movies if we look at it from a thematic standpoint.

Initial Reactions

For starters, I think the parallelism with Romeo and Juliet was neat. In fact, this movie reminded me of my favorite rendition of this tale: Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet. The jumpy shots and the goofy action scenes, as well as the lighting gave this movie a very campy feel, and it was much appreciated. Also, the “rose by any other name would smell as sweet” motif was very appropriate, as it really harked back to this general idea that discrimination primarily runs through labels, especially since Sakurai had no idea Sugihara was Korean until he said so.

However, I do feel that this movie was a bit long outside of the action scenes. I can’t pinpoint a specific scene that made me feel this way, but I think it’s because Sugihara always talked in this dull, bored tone that made me feel the same way. I understand the reasoning behind this narrative choice, but that doesn’t discount the fact that if there weren’t punches being thrown, this movie was kind of a slog.

Themes/Critiques

A major theme in this film is discrimination and overcoming it. Throughout the story, Sugihara has to overcome the discrimination hurled toward him as a Zainichi, from the tension brought on by his girlfriend, to the insults of “selling his soul” from his own Korean acquaintances. The way he rejects both these identities to forge his own really speaks to this idea that identity is much more than just a label, that a “rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

However, hot take incoming: I think this theme is a bit overplayed, making this movie kind of a non-factor. It’s an incredibly important message, that you aren’t your label, but there are so many of these films that you can watch with this exact theme that I don’t think this one was needed. I will concede however, that many of these movies that I think about were made after GO!, so this might have been a pioneer in that sense. All in all, I think it’s just that I feel a bit fatigued watching movies like this, so it didn’t feel fresh in that sense.

Final Thoughts

An extremely original and refreshing film, Tampopo uses tropes from American westerns to form what many critics dubbed the “ramen western.” This film is very lighthearted and was full of joy from my perspective. Seeing how all the characters were able to come together in a very traditional western sense to defeat the somewhat non-existent villain of other ramen shops was a great hero’s journey. There were also some great references to French cuisine and French film which were very nice to see in a post-new wave period. With this I was surprised to see that this was not a Franco-Japanese co-production but I do not know how frequent those were after the new wave era ended.

Probably the most intriguing character in the film is only referred to as the “Gangster in the White Suit.” Drawing from elements of film noir and the ever-popular yakuza genre, Itami crafts this strange subplot which serves to bookend the film. During the surreal and fourth-wall breaking opening, the gangster, accompanied by his extremely affectionate girlfriend, talks to the audience about food etiquette during a movie. Not only is this sequence jarring and surprisingly intense, but it also sets the quirky and comical tone for the film. The extreme close ups with the direct-to-camera reminded me a lot of some of Brad Pitt’s direct-to-cameras from Fight Club.

The other aspect that the Gangster provides to use in the film are the dare I say, awesome sex scenes. Demonstrating the different relationships that each individual character has with food, clearly the Gangster and his lover have an untraditional relationship. Shocking and somewhat grotesque, the sex scene that Itami presents is something I’ve never seen the likes of before. The most interesting section for me was the swapping of the egg yolk while they kissed. Since this is the most vital and nutritious part of the egg it represents the importance of not only sex but food in their relationship. There is also the idea that the yolk is what supports the embryo and in them swapping it back and forth, solidifying their co-dependence. Furthering the idea of eggs as a symbol for fertility and life, from a western perspective, the use of eggs during the films only sex scene help to create a physical and symbolic connection between our two mysterious characters (see In The Realm of the Senses for more eggs in sex scenes).