Bedtime Eyes ベッドタイムアイズ (1987) / directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro

A few covers and screengrabs from the 80's adaption of Amy Yamada's controversial first novel, Bedtime Eyes, which I'm reading at the moment. It features a trio of mismatched relationships between black men (mostly G.I.'s) and Japanese women. The men tend to be simplified and infantile, but the women love them still the same. It's very racy content, so it makes sense that Kumashiro would be asked to direct. Also, I had the chance to view his Twisted Path of Love today, and love the way he employs a handheld camera in his features. Here's some media:

Dendera (2011) / directed by Daisuke Tengan

Trailer for Daisuke Tengan's new film, Dendera. It picks up where his father's (Shohei Imamura's) film, The Ballad of Narayama (1983), left off and depicts a group of elderly women, who, as according to village ritual, have been left to die atop a mountain, yet defy convention and create a settlement called Dendera where they resolve to continue their existence. The film is adapted from a novel by Yuya Sato.

Hakuchi: The Innocent (1999) / directed by Macoto Tezuka

Hakuchi (1999)

A little Eastern gem by Osamu Tezuka's heir, Macoto. He shows the same compositional eye as his father and has the love of the fantastic that permeates so much of manga. Yet, he stays true to cinematic conventions by aligning his story within classical structure and psychological believability.

Isawa (Tadanobu Asano) is a young journalist in a Japan plagued by war, and subsequently dumbed down by the flamboyant media broadcasts of the TV station that he works at. Ginga (Reika Hashimoto) and Sayo (Miyako Koda) are the two women occupying his life, one who's a mass media starlet, and the other who is loving yet mentally challenged. As he navigates this shattered world, he comes into himself as an individual, all the while not fully committing to either woman, by hiding Sayo in his room, away from his nosy landlords, and shunning the childlike and conceited advances of Ginga. On top of this is his draconian boss, played by an always-welcome Yoshio Harada, and the general living situation, where it appears that all, even so-called privileged people like Isawa, who don't have to fight in the war, live in a state of poverty. Of particular note are the scenes between Isawa and Ginga, and the power struggle that takes place between them. Reika Hashimoto ought to be commended for holding her own at age 19 against Asano, who had by then already made a firm place in the hip Japanese cinema, like this film.

Coda:

The picture works well as a "world-portrait" more than the Western convention of understanding the motives of one character. This is a very unique film among many, and for those who enjoy it, like myself, it should spur them on to visit more of Tezuka's work, and even read his father's comics to see how deep the heritage goes. He seems to have delved into genre film-making with 2004's Black Kiss, but judging by this entry, it ought to be more than a play on the expectations of a scare-picture.

Oniroku Dan, 79, RIP (Video NSFW)

Oniroku Dan, the celebrated author, well-known for his bondage-themed novels, many of which were adapted by directors such as Masaru Konuma, Koyu Ohara, and Katsuhiko Fujii, has died. His stories, and the films made from them will especially be remembered for bringing actress Naomi Tani into the spotlight. She was the most famous actress of adult-themed, "pink films" in the 70's.

More recently, after a brief retirement and business ventures, he has returned to the writer's chair, with more books in Japanese and the first English translation of his stories. Director Ryuichi Hiroki, who started out in pink cinema, made an indirect biopic of him, I Am an S&M Writer, detailing the problems his work must have caused with his wife. The author and the era, will surely be missed.

R.I.P.

(below is the film, Rope and Skin, uploaded onto Video Google by a user––it has adult content, NSFW)

Cherry Blossoms (1988)

The second film by HK director Eddie Ling-Ching Fong, husband and collaborator of Clara Law. This is a biopic of the youth of author Yu Dafu, whose stories also inspired Lou Ye's Spring Fever, released in 2009.

Farewell China (1990)

Clara Law's third feature film.

Trailer

Book Report: "Korean Film Directors: Jang Sun-woo", by Tony Rayns

Tony Rayns, the leading English-language critic on East Asian cinema, in collaboration with the Korean Film Council, has presented this introductory volume on the work of director Jang Sun-woo, the so-called Bad Boy of Korean Cinema. It is one of many books in the series "Korean Film Directors": slim volumes meant to introduce the English-speaking world to the best film makers in South Korea. Each volume is presented by a different critic. Rayns has separated the book into three distinct sections: his opinions, presented in the book's most lengthy single article; the opinions of Jang Sun-woo, being excerpts from interviews with Jang, taken from Rayns' documentary "The Jang Sun-woo Variations"; and the opinions of others, segments from English-language articles, and translations from noteworthy Korean critics, such as director Lee Chang-dong's insightful reaction to "Lies".

Even though we are very lucky to have these English translations of Korean film articles available, I cannot give it a 5 out of 5 because there really should have been more discussion on "Bad Movie", which is one of his very important works, the crux of his trademark nihilism. A lot more time seems to have been given to "Passage to Buddha", "To You, From Me", and "Lies". While I don't mind this at all, it would have been more enjoyable had it been balanced. Giving a little more analysis to "A Petal" would have been beneficial as well, since I think that an English-speaking audience would not have the background in Korean history to dissect it. But overall, this is a MUST-HAVE book if you are even slightly interested in Jang Sun-woo. The info and analysis on his early films, "Seoul Jesus", "The Age of Success", and "The Lovers of Woomuk-Baemi" is much-needed as well, since all but Seoul Jesus (which has recently turned up on the web) seem to be completely missing from market circulation. While I have been able to locate VHS copies of these films, including To You, From Me, sans subtitles, the sites which they are available on are unreliable.

In the introduction, and throughout the book, Rayns and others suggest that while this director may bring controversy everywhere he goes, he exists because he brings to light the many contradictions of modern Korea, which even the amnesiac consumer culture cannot ignore (the book's very self-critical tone of society and the individual within it are welcome and quite needed today). Yet, his real reason, of course, for being in the industry, and not an outsider in the underground/experimental realm, is the fact that his work is profitable. So, it is very understandable that he, like many Korean directors, it seems, is punished with silence when he is not able to make a commercially successful work (the new censorship). The financial failure of "Resurrection of the Little Match Girl" is reflected on in the book's most memorable article, an interview with Jang on his Elba, of sorts, the mythic Jeju Island, where he appears to be regretful of artistic mistakes (which I don't think are as grave as he or others believe), but hopeful to re-enter the industry with something better. He has yet to make another feature after his big-budget, wire-string sci-fi Match Girl, but is still trying.

* 4.5 out of 5