The Blog Project

I love this movie. I have a fascination with animation. While watching this film, my love for animation was reassured.  The bright colors, magical characters, and consistent pace of the film were just some of the factors that made this film a hit.

Everything happened so fast. One moment Chihiro is with her parents wandering in an “abandoned amusement park” to then a contract bound worker at a spa house for unimaginable creatures. 

Her named is change to Sen and she begins to forget who she is. That is how one would get trapped in this world, like Haku. It is Chihiro’s kindness and selflessness that saves her. She does so many wonderful things for different people on accident. She frees that dragon that was trapped in all that muk. She saves Haku when he is a dragon. She takes Boh on the greatest adventure of his life by simply taking a train. She helps Haku remember his name by the power of love. She finds No-Face a home. 

I believe that this film resonates more with Japan. I am not fond of Japanese culture, legends , or stories so I could be assuming completely incorrectly; but; the film definitely deals with Japan’s complex cultural identity. 

Man, I am so tired. I wish I could be “Spirited Away.” I think about what I would do if I was in Chihiro’s situation. I’d probably get turned into a frog. The film touch many genres for it was funny and scary at time. No-face creeped me out but now I get the references from all the memes about him. I thought the use of two identical witches was genius for it changes the perspective of leadership. In one “world,” its busy and chaotic. Hustle and bustle with a grumpy, mean boss. In the other “world,” with the nice sister, its relaxing and welcoming. Like the lantern even waved goodbye when Chihro and gang were leaving. It reminds me of Good Witch, Bad Witch. 

All in all, great film. I hope to create an animation film like that in my lifetime. This being the last blog post for this class (and me needing to reach that word count) I would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye. This has probably been my favorite class in my entire college experience. I graduate this semester so this is it for me! Not only has this class been valuable and benefitting my interest towards Japanese, I have met so amazing individuals and these are the people I wish I had met earlier. Thank you classmates and thank you professor for a class I will forever cherish.

Sukiyaki Western Djangofeels like the movie that happens when you lose a bet and the penalty is you have to make a movie BUT it has to star Quentin Tarantino.

For as simple as I think this movie is supposed to be, I had a difficult time keeping up with the characters aside from their allegiance to the Genji and Heike clans, which was usually obvious enough through their clothes as to not bear mentioning. Other than that I had a difficult time keeping tabs on everybody until later in the movie, at which point most of them were dead so it’s kinda a moot point. Also I wasn’t able to keep tabs on the sheriff very well sot it felt like he came out of nowhere in the final fight scene.

Carrying that into action, I feel like the action scenes were the best part of the movie. For the most part the action felt kinetic with shots and brawls appearing from many different angles so you don’t feel like the action is restricted to a single plane. The action is a bit campy at times; I don’t care how strong you are, nobody can carry a Gatling gun like that, but I don’t think that overall detracted from a good set of scenes and about the only part of the movie I remember with any fidelity, a criticism that overshadows most other impressions I had walking out of this movie.

I had to actually think about what to say about the choice of making the entire movie English here. Because calling that out on principle for not being the native language of the audience draws an obvious parallel to how we’ve spent an entire semester watching movies in Japanese with subtitles, and I’ve also spent a good portion of high school and college watching anime with subtitles as well, so I can’t criticism it purely on not being in the language of it’s intended audience at home. However, considering that farther, when we’ve watched movies in Japanese it’s been from people who are mostly native speakers or otherwise well versed in the language, so even if I can’t understand the words they’re saying, by reading the subtitles and hearing tone I can get a very good idea of the character’s intent in that moment. Instead of conveying strong tone and emotion, lines here frequently feel disjointed. Of course, I had an enjoyable time watching anyways and frequently the room burst out laughing, but I feel like the enjoyment I had was either the campy action scenes or laughing at the delivery of voice lines. This does help serves the movie’s campy-ness in a way but I think it also leads to the movie’s biggest fundamental flaw.

I absolutely loved this movie, it has such a simple but heartfelt story with gorgeous scenery and shots sprinkled throughout the story; ngl I cried for the entire last 30 minutes of this movie.

I think that the main message of this film is that you have to look beyond the surface of things or rather look into something in order to understand and appreciate it; I would describe this film as a story of interiors and exteriors, that are seen in both people and places. This idea is first expressed in the dorayaki itself, as it is only once Tokue uses her An in the dorayaki that Sentarô actually enjoys it. 

Of course the film then shows that gaining a better understanding of things is not always easy, as Sentarô and Tokue have to rise early and spend hours preparing the An. However, this process is what allows Tokue to impart her ideas of stories to Sentarô even if he doesn’t realise it a first. 

The other way that the film explores this idea of interior and exterior is through Tokue herself. Although the only part of her appearance that is physically changed by the leprosy is her hands, she is still discriminated against and literally cast out from society. Yet despite this, she is a very kind and caring person who holds no anger towards the world or society. Similarly, the neighbourhood in which she lives is given negative connotations because of the people living in it, yet it is arguably one of the most scenic locations in the film. 

It is interesting, that this is the only place in the film that is dominated by nature rather than by the city. Perhaps this is done to highlight the way Tokue is more in tune with nature than the other characters, as she weaves stories from all parts of nature. I think this also links with her ability to see into people as well, as she did with Sentarô, she empathised with him and saw that he had a story to tell. 

Sentarô’s decision to leave the shop and have is own smaller stand is not only a way for him to escape his situation and the interior he was stuck in but also as a way to find his passion for dorayaki and become closer to Tokue. It is significant that his stall is outside, as it shows that he is now free from his burdens and is able to tell his own stories now. 

Colors & The Garden

The movie relied heavily on it’s selective use of colors to allow the audience to learn more details about what was occurring with each individual in the film, which later becomes apparent as an even larger symbol having to deal with plant life. 

First the movie starts off in a garden, as the protagonists are surrounded by green. In this color they are healthy and undisturbed. However, when the first victim disappears we see a shift in all of the character’s clothing to yellow. Each person has at least some form of a yellow garment or accent that they wear showing that something isn’t quite right - no one is as healthy as they were before and they are showing warning signs of distress much like plants do. After the second victims death, the character’s accent colors shift to orange showing that they are moving forward on the process of becoming dead (much like fall leaves). Anytime a character is on the last scene or day before they go to the forbidden room or they have an experience with the ghosts, they will have red accents. When the lead female protagonist discovers the red taped room but does not enter, she is seen as having red shoes. Meanwhile, her friend who busts in there sports an entire red dress. 

Once a character has gotten to this point, there are a few possible ways they could go, depending on how they handle their interaction with the supernatural. In the case of the male botanist, he becomes instantly possessed and only wears dark grey and black until he eventually fades out of existence. Whenever a character is possessed by a spirit in this film they wear dark colors or all black. Yet in the case of the female friend, she goes through a state of panicked behavior which has her dressed in white as if she were an empty shell of herself - the transition from the empty white to the possessed black shows that the spirit has filled her empty shell. 

Kawashima is an interesting character for these color analysis points since he at one point wears green on yellow on red to show that he is rapidly changing between phases. Likewise, the computer research lady also shows early hints at being connected to the supernatural through her black and white dotted dress - a direct reference to the dot screensaver shown in the film that also ties to her feelings of emptiness that she believes can only be filled by the supernatural.

Metaphors

Ringu is a horror/thriller film from 1998 directed by Hideo Nakata. From what I’ve heard about it before watching it’s one of the big horror movies, and is generally regarded as a must see. I’m not a huge fan of horror movies myself, I tend to find them a bit silly and the protagonists tend to always make really stupid choices. Wow was this movie no exception. 

I was bored for the majority of the runtime of Ringu. I couldn’t get very invested in the story for some reason. This may be because it is such a famous movie I already knew the general plot or it may be because I hate the characters. For real, Asakawa really made me hate her so early on and so easily. I get it, she’s a journalist and she wants to find out about this mysterious tape that killed her niece. So what does she, the single mother do? She watches the tape that killed her niece. How dumb are you? In my opinion, even if you don’t believe in superstition, that’s dumb as hell. After that, what does she do? Shows it to Takayama. Why? They want to solve the case, but I just can’t get over how dumb this is. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that she just left his tape lying around the house apparently? Like, dude, you have a CHILD. I’m starting an Asakawa hate group, you’re all welcome to join. 

I thought the flashbacks and Takayama having some weird PSI powers was strange, but it didn’t take me out of the movie. If there’s a killer tape with someone’s rage trapped in it, I guess I can believe that people can have psychic powers. After all, that’s kinda what got the Shizuko and Sadako in their situation to begin with. The flashbacks themselves felt kind of weird, especially since Asakawa seemed to get transported into them instead of them just seeing them, but this wasn’t a major issue for me. 

One thing I really didn’t get was the point of the whole “storm keeping them on the island” plot line that lasted for a total of 3 minutes, had no real impact, and just kinda felt like a filler bit. Yeah, I guess it showed the old mans change to be willing to help them, but like, ultimately it did nothing different then if they had just left easily. 

I do want to say that the scene with Sadako coming out of the TV was actually pretty good. It looked pretty good and was definitely creepy. But this also leads me to what I think was the ost annoying and frustrating thing about this movie as a viewer. Earlier in the film Asakawa interviewed a few young girls about the tape. We get some basic information about what happened and that’s it, not much we as an audience didn’t already know. HOWEVER, apparently there as more information that she got that we just didn’t, and it plays as voice over at the end when Tamayaka dies. It mentions that the only way to get rid of the curse is to copy the film and have someone else watch it. So it’s implied that ASAKAWA KNEW THIS? One, wtf, that feels like such a stupid copout. Two, Asakawa is an idiot. Three, now she’s gonna go kill her dad, so that’s fun. 

Swallowtail Butterfly by director Shunji Iwai  was an interesting movie to watch, it had many aspects that I was a fan of and other parts of the film I was just a bit confused by. I think most of the confusion stems from the fact that the film appears to have so many different plot points that putting it all together took some effort on my mind. There was the obvious main plot 

of Glico and Ageha and the bond that they built, both coming from what seems to be difficult pasts. However, throughout the film there seems to be other plot points which carry the same amount of importance which made the movie seem like it had multiple genres all at once. There was the journey of Ageha and Glico, then there was the band that was built which made Swallowtail Butterfly appear to be one of those films about a band going through the trial and tribulations that bands go through, and then there was the Yakuza like issues when it came to Ryo Ranki in which I felt was never really touched up on. It was clear that there were these groups of gang members who really wanted this cassette that had this tape which allowed them to make counterfeit money but I would have liked to see Ryo Ranki have more time in the film and maybe a scene where he connects with the rest of the cast.

   A major part of the film that I found really interesting was set in this near future environment where it seemed there was a blend of cultures all placed in Japan. I thought it was really interesting how it seemed the general consensus was that English was spoken by everyone so there could be a means of communication between everyone. I will say I think this made it a bit harder for the actors to act a bit more naturally. I don’t think the acting was bad at all by anyone but I did think there may have been a few moments where they came off a bit awkward, but it was mostly due to the language. This is totally fine of course, speaking a non native language is already not an easy task so I can only imagine having to juggle acting and speaking in a different language is not any easier. 

Hana-bi was the most action-packed movie we have watched. I was thoroughly enjoying myself throughout the whole movie. This movie felt like something my dad would watch with me. Nishi seemed like the classic silent yet strong character that every middle-aged man could fall in love with. He has a kind heart and a soft spot for his wife and partners. This is juxtaposed by his John Wick level of skill in taking down his foes. I enjoyed watching him batman his way through the Yakuza with ease. I was never really worried about Nishi when it came to facing the Yakuza.

Nishi’s entire life revolved around his wife Miyuki. The whole reason he took the money from the yakuza was her. When it all failed it broke his heart, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. He was resolved to make some memories with his wife before she passed. However, the Yakuza couldn’t get off his back. Honestly, I felt that Nishi would eventually murder his way through the Yakuza. My only concern was why he didn’t do it earlier. It was a little jarring realizing that he could have just shot them all from the beginning. I suppose it would have led to greater repercussions but clearly, there was not much to worry about. 

Some of my favorite scenes in this movie are when Nishi is having a flashback to the event where his partners were shot. It was interesting seeing when that happened and how it affected Nishi. You could tell from his actions that it was something that deeply affected his psyche. My favorite was when we got to watch Nishi shoot the guy that killed and maimed his partners. It was in slow motion, and you could see the surprise and pain on Nishi’s face. This scene was very hard to watch simply because we have only seen Nishi win up to this point. We know that he is an efficient violent machine. However, watching him fail so utterly and lose is very heartbreaking. 

Yukisada’s Gois a coming of age story that attempts to expose the plight of Koreans living in Japan.

The movie sees Sugihara going through both a North Korean and later a Japanese high school, meeting various people and falling in love. It’s a well rounded coming of age story that follows a wide range of coming of age topics through the lens of Korean nationals in Japan. Sugihara faces quarrels with his parents, being a juvenile delinquent, making choices about his future and going to college. Sugihara sees a varied journey throughout the film.

I had to google around more than usual this time, as I was completely unaware that North Korean schools would exist outside of North Korea, especially with how isolationist they treat themselves as. Digging into it however, apparently these schools were set up in the Korean War period as not everybody was able to or wanted to repatriate to the Korea they felt alignment with. These schools are taught in Korean, have unique curriculum from their Japanese counterparts. In the North Korean case, they also received substantial subsidies from the state to promote immigration to North Korea, although these subsidies have reduced in recent years down to nothing by the 2010s.

In Japan, these Korean who, for whatever reason, didn’t emigrate back to Korea have and continue to face discrimination in all aspects of society. One of the first ways this is shown to us, through Sugihara’s dad, who has presumably lived through the discrimination of being a Korean in Japan, and seeks to use citizenship – either to north or south Korea to create a sense of belonging and unlock opportunities, from travel to Hawaii to enrolling Sugihara in a Korean school to imbue him with a sense of belonging. However, this doesn’t work for Sugihara, the school seem to me to stifle him, he turns to delinquency with some friends and he doesn’t find belonging in his nationality there – where we see him and others feeling disinclined to use Korean because it’s not a natural language to them – they know Japanese. This draws a fine line under the unequal treatment Sugihara receives in the movie, because as far as I can tell, culturally he’s mostly Japanese and it’s just a tick-box on an ID card delineating him as Korean that causes the discrimination he faces. He faces this further from his girlfriend. In the film we see their initial relationship going very well – they have good chemistry and enjoy hanging out together, however the minute he reveals that he is of Korean descent, she recoils harshly and essentially cuts contact with him. Sugihara’s struggle with identity is also seen in his continual quarrel with his dad. At the core they both want Sugihara to have a fulfilling life and a sense of belonging in who he is, but due to different generational contexts their beliefs differ on the best way to achieve this, which is resolved to a point near the end when Sugihara decides to go to college

Food is such an important aspect of culture; it is a source of pride, a way to connect to people, and needed for survival. Tampopo reminds the audience how food is related to many aspects of our lives. It is simply inescapable. Food is also a defining quality of culture. In my family, holidays are celebrated through a feast. No matter what holiday, even Thanksgiving, we make dumplings. It is a way for my small family to spend time with each other, since we are all so busy usually.

I read a short summary of the movie beforehand, and it was referred to as “ramen western,” in reference to the Spaghetti Western genre. Though not about the American West, Goro still wears a cowboy hat, even in the bath. Tampopo faces her own battles as well. As she prepares the ramen near the end of the movie, the soundtrack utilizes timpani (I think), which is often utilized when showing battle preparations. An example I’m sure many people can recall is Evangelion’s “Decisive Battle.” Additionally, near the end Goro coolly walks away, like a cowboy. The way all the collaborators are recruited also reminded me of Seven Samurai. We have the leader, Goro, who is like Shimada. Similar to Shimada, Goro also uses personal connections to find people to help Tampopo, who is analogous to the village the samurai were protecting. There are also some coincidental happenings that led people to join the team. For example, Shimada witnesses a skilled swordsman who happened to be involved in a fight in the town they were at. He eventually recruits this samurai. In Tampopo, the group happens to save a rich man from choking, which allows them to recruit Shohei.

I also liked how the fourth wall was broken at the beginning of the film. It definitely scared me a little, since I was not expecting the character to address me directly, and then ask me what I was eating, especially since I was having dinner at the time. I also like how this character mentions a final film, which gets its payoff after he is shot several times. Just like in the beginning, this character hands off his hat to his lover and reminds her that he doesn’t want his final show to be interrupted with crying. I wonder if he knew about his impending death, and that’s why he mentions his own death, since he seems to know that he is in a film.

In addition to the main storyline about Tampopo, we see several unrelated scenes that involve food. I think these scenes convey how universal of a subject it is. We see food etiquette from foreign countries, in familial love, and in sex. These subjects don’t seem related at all on a surface level, but this film shows that they are by conveying how food is used in everything.