Last year I attended the Kansas City Japanese Film festival for the first time, and with a solid lineup of films it turned out to be my favorite local film events, as well as one of my first articles for Cinapse. So this year I couldn’t wait to attend again but the timing conflicted with our own film event in Austin, NYC is Effed. As it turned out, weather kept me local. This was immensely disappointing but with a silver lining — I once again got to head to the Kansas City Alamo Drafthouse for an afternoon of Nihon-no Eiga.
As in previous years, proceeds from event admissions benefit the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund to create English reading rooms and educational programs in the tsunami-affected Tohoku region of Japan. The fund is named in honor of an American teacher in the JET program whose life was lost in the tsunami of 2011.
(Note: Due to time constraints I actually couldn’t attend the entire festival, managing to catch only the two middle entries. I have seen all four films in the lineup, though.)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
A pair of bumbling peasants caught up in a feudal war flee from battle and get pulled into a series of escalating adventures that they don’t understand. They cross paths with a fierce and mysterious warrior who invites them to join him, along with his female traveling companion, on a quest for gold bullion which was lost in the battle. What they don’t realize is that their new partners are the displaced princess and her most trusted general.
The film is well known for its influence on Star Wars, and is certainly required watching for fans. The peasants, one short and one tall, are peripheral to the events but caught in the middle of them, much like droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, and Leia can be traced to Kurosawa’s feisty rebel princess. Some other similarities include early scenes set in a rocky landscape, a friend returning to stage a last-second rescue, and a closing throne room scene in which the protagonists are rewarded for their efforts.
Pom Poko (1994)
Director: Isao Takahata
When encroaching urban development endangers wild habitat of tanuki (Japanese raccoon) colonies, they must forget their animalistic territorial disputes and band together against the threat of humans.
Those who are only familiar with Studio Ghibli’s films directed by Hayao Miyazaki may be surprised that Pom Poko’s visual style is much more eclectic. Rather than sticking directly to a consistently realistic look, it includes both ultra-realistic and very cartoony elements, in service to the imaginative plot. In Japanese folklore, tanukis are said to have powers of disguise and transformation (another pop culture example of this is Super Mario Bros 3’s Tanooki Suit, which allows the player to transform into a statue). In the film, this ability allows the tanukis not only to switch between realistic and cartoony forms, but to transform into objects and other animals. The most skilled among them can even live among humans.
The film is really quite a lot darker than I expected, with some melancholy themes and a resolution that’s bittersweet at best. While it clearly has some strong environmental themes, they serve the plot and are authentic rather than overtly preachy (unlike that stinker The Lorax).
Uzumasa Limelight (2014)
Director: Ken Ochiai
For many, this new film was likely the outlier in a group of well known classics — new in 2014 and unseen by nearly everyone. The film was selected by Michael Bugajski, President of the Heartland JET Alumni Association. Michael briefly introduced the film and mentioned its relationship to Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight. Both films feature an aging entertainer who takes on a young female protégé. In Uzumasu’s case, it’s Seizô Fukumoto who plays the lead: Seiichi Kamiyama, a veteran kirare-yaku (an actor who specializes in death scenes in samurai films). Appropriately, Fukumoto himself has been such an actor for nearly 50 years, and Uzumasa Limelight is his first starring role at 71. He plays the role with bruised dignity and quiet courage that makes him endearing to the audience.
The movie has a shot-on-video appearance that looks cheap and television-like, but what appears to be low-budget artificiality is actually an interesting stylization. The in-movie film scenes take on a more film-like appearance, creating two planes of fiction, each with their own look.
Rashomon (1950)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
When a man is killed, and his wife raped, the conflicting stories put forth in the ensuing hearing each tell wildly different versions of the events. Emphasizing the inherent bias of perception and unreliability of eyewitness testimony, the story has become such a common part of our film language that it’s constantly referenced and repeated in popular media. Courtroom dramas in particular bear Rashomon a great debt for setting the template for such storytelling. Generally considered one of Kurosawa’s masterpieces, the film is also notable for marking the debut of Toshiro Mifune, who would go on to become one of Japan’s most celebrated actors, collaborating with Kurosawa on many films.
For me, it’s not until the final moments of the film that it really all comes together. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but the final interaction of the woodcutter and priest moved me greatly and elevated a good film to a great one.
With another great lineup of film selections, the Japanese Film fest was once again a great time at the movies with a mix of classic and contemporary, live action and animated films. Thanks again to the sponsors who made this event possible:
Heartland JET Alumni Association
Kansas City Art Institute
Heart of America Japan-America-Society
Consulate General of Japan at Chicago
A/V Out.