Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

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After the success of the Russian Hall of Fame, I figured it was just a matter of time before another country should do a Hall of Fame and I couldn't think of one with better support on these forums than a Japanese Hall of Fame. Lots of great ones to pick from and thanks everyone for showing interest in this.

I'll take the noms until Friday, again the constraints will stay the same as all other HOFs go. I believe Sansho the Bailiff is the only ineligible film as it has won a previous HOF but correct me if I'm wrong. Let's have fun with this!

More than likely this will be a smaller Hall of Fame as well but again please don't join unless you have intention on reviewing all films and also not waiting until the last minute to do so. There will be ample time allowed to complete this however.

Nominations


A Hen in the Wind
https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/w...nthewind1.jpeg
1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Nominated by Rauldc14

Harakiri
https://i0.wp.com/kungfukingdom.com/...ize=1280%2C720
1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Nominated by Edarsenal

High and Low
http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/...3/highlow3.jpg
1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Nominated by Siddon

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
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1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Nominated by Ahwell

Hana-bi
https://alphabeticalfilm.files.wordp...hana-bi-11.jpg
1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Nominated by Pahak-

After Life
http://sensesofcinema.com/assets/upl...fe-750x400.jpg
1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by ScarletLiob

Kamikaze Girls
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/wp-co...kaze-Girls.jpg
2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Nominated by Guaporense

The Third Murder
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....bL._SY445_.jpg
2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by CosmicRunaway

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Siddon- nomination received
Edarsenal- nomination received
Rauldc14- nomination received
Ahwell- nomination received
Scarlet Lion- nomination received
Pahak- nomination received
CosmicRunaway- nomination received
Guaporense- nomination received

CosmicRunaway- 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
The Third Murder
High and Low
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
A Hen in the Wind
Hana-bi
Harakiri
Kamikaze Girls
After Life

Siddon- 7/8
A Hen in the Wind
Kamikaze Girls
The Third Murder
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Hana-bi
Harakiri
High and Low

Pahak- 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
Hana-bi
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
High and Low
Harakiri
The Third Murder
A Hen in the Wind
After Life
Kamikaze Girls

Ahwell 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
After Life
A Hen in the Wind
Hana-bi
Kamikaze Girls
High and Low
Harakiri
The Third Murder

Guaporense 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
After Life
The Third Murder
A Hen in the Wind
Hana-bi
Harakiri
High and Low
Kamikaze Girls

ScarletLion- 7/8
Kamikaze Girls
A Hen in the Wind
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
The Third Murder
Harakiri
Fireworks
After Life


Rauldc14- 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
A Hen in the Wind
Harakiri
Hana-bi
Kamikaze Girls
After Life
High and Low
The Third Murder
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Edarsenal- 8/8 LIST RECEIVED
Harakiri
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Hana-bi
High and Low
A Hen in the Wind
Kamikaze Girls
The Third Murder
After Life

Spirited Away and Raise the Red Lantern are also ineligible

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Raise the Red Lantern is a Chinese film.

hence, ineligible

;):)

sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Sent my nomination in

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I watched a handful of potential nominations this past week, but had pretty mediocre reactions to all of them, so the search continues. I'm not sure what my problem is lately. Maybe my taste is changing, or I've just had a really bad run of luck picking films.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

We need you Cosmic. Yes, Spirited Away is ineligible.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Ooooooh, now then. I could be in for this.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Definitely in, and excited to see what the other noms are.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

We have 5 now. Coolio.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I'm really excited about this now. I'm hoping a few big guns turn up that I haven't watched so can tick them off the list.

therefore...it's doubly ineligible



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I'm pretty happy with my nomination as it looks like all four of you haven't seen my pick (I checked your lists)

What lists?

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Lists section of MoFo. Do you fill those out?

I've only just remembered about those, no I haven't updated them for a few years - but I see there are a few Japanese movies on there - which is great as they are mostly ones I haven't seen anyway. :up:

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I think I'm going to sit on the sidelines, but I am very interested in everyone's nominations. I have only seen a few Japanese movies and would like to expand that. I'm glad this is up.

I think I have a nomination now, but I'll have to sleep on it and see how I feel about it tomorrow. It has an actor and director in common with the film I watched yesterday, but the tones are pretty much exact opposites so it might've been better to watch them in reverse order haha.

*channeling my inner Chypmunk*
Gosh! I imagine a DVD case would be quite the challenge to rest comfortably on! Even more so if it's a VHS cassette. Prayers that it's not a Betamax and that you are able to sleep well all the same.





*scampers off giggling like a Japanese anime school girl* (to try to keep in theme, somewhat)
:D

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I just sent a nomination as well. It's time to get back on this HoF business.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Nomination sent. Hope nobody else nominated it

My nom is in your profile top ten, hope it wasn't that:p

I've been giving a lot of thought on what people will nominate and I wouldn't be surprised if two films from that top ten would make it. And mine isn't one of them ;)

I have a feeling you won't like mine for some strange reason :rolleyes:

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

When is the nomination reveal? I'm busting for this now.

I think rauldc said Friday, or at least that's the deadline for nominations.

I don't know. I have a strong feeling what your nom might be and I don't necessarily hate it (assuming I'm right, that is).

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Oh yeah. prediction time. Based on current 8 members.

Anime - 2
Samurai - 2
Yakuza/Police - 1
Others - 3+

Bonus guess: 3 b&w films

mine is neither

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

So we have 8 nominations now! I think it will be a cool little Hall of Fame.

I've begun to write the review for my nomination because I'm excited for this HoF to get started. There's an embarrassingly large number of Japanese films I saw years ago that I don't remember (or never even knew) the names of, so there's a chance that I might rediscover something here haha.

Please can we have the

I'd never seen a sponsored ad for movies on Facebook before, but it just gave me an ad for a Japanese film from 2011, and if it turns out to be one of the nominations, it would be a pretty funny premonition coincidence.

Yeah, wanna prepare for it.

It has been like 5 years since I been in one of those and back then we didn't have to re-watch the movies we already knew, only watch the ones we never watched before.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I'll have then up Sunday as I'm out of town now! Look forward to it!

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Since we have another day, anyone want to guess the breakdown by decade, or how many Kurosawa films will be nominated?

I'm expecting half the films to come from the 50s and 60s, since there's a number of great Japanese films from those decades. I'm going to guess that we'll see at least 2 of Kurosawa's films as well. I think my nomination will be the most recent one.

I still think we're getting little more modern films so I keep my 3 B&W prediction (not exactly the same as 50s and 60s but close enough). I actually think we'll have at most one Kurosawa (in my predictions I have 2x Anime but to be more specific my prediction is 2x Anime or Anime + Kurosawa).

60s or older - 3
70s - 1
80s - 1
90s - 2
00s or newer - 1

I don't know if we'll get a samurai film...not including my nomination if I were to guess...


Ikiru (1952)
Tokyo Story(1953)
Godzilla (1954)
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Kwaidan (1964)
Branded to Kill (1967)
Sonatine (1993)
Princess Monomoke (1997)
Battle Royale (2000)
Paprika (2006)

It is written "Mononoke", ;) which means ghost in Japanese. I have not watched Branded to Kill yet. Looks fun.

My nomination is a live-action movie from the 2000s by the way, but it contains some animated segments.

I think that Japan has produced a ton of great live-action movies in the last 20 years, although it is true that the quality of direction is lower on average than in Mizoguchi, Naruse, Ozu, and Kurosawa's movies.

Love Mononoke and hope it gets nominated. I've seen zero... yes, zero Japanese live action films, but I'm looking forward to watching some good ones hopefully!

I thought of joining for a short time but decided against it. I would have nominated Shura aka Demons (1971)

The reason I didn't join is limited time and not wanting to watch a bunch of movies I've already seen with that limited time. Those nomination guesses up above, I've seen all of them. If something does get nominated that I haven't seen, I may watch it.

Just watched this for the October horror challenge. Despite of the tags I wouldn't really call it horror but it definitely was a good movie. Would probably have been pretty high on my ballot.

I really hope the nominations are not that cliche.

Hoping for some high quality, refined, timeless gorgeousness. Just like this:

https://dekanta.com/wp-content/uploa...amazaki-18.jpg

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

The first four nominations:

A Hen in the Wind
https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/w...nthewind1.jpeg
1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Nominated by Rauldc14

Harakiri
https://i0.wp.com/kungfukingdom.com/...ize=1280%2C720
1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Nominated by Edarsenal

High and Low
http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/...3/highlow3.jpg
1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Nominated by Siddon

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
https://i0.wp.com/www.tor.com/wp-con...&type=vertical
1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Nominated by Ahwell

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

The second four:

Hana-bi
https://alphabeticalfilm.files.wordp...hana-bi-11.jpg
1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Nominated by Pahak-

After Life
http://sensesofcinema.com/assets/upl...fe-750x400.jpg
1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by ScarletLiob

Kamikaze Girls
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/wp-co...kaze-Girls.jpg
2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
Nominated by Guaporense

The Third Murder
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....bL._SY445_.jpg
2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda
Nominated by CosmicRunaway

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Haven't seen except my own, as expected. Looking forward to watching all of these!

Seen the first 4 but not the last 4. Harakiri and High and Low are big favorites and the other 2 are terrific as well. I already wanted to see Fireworks; I'll have to look up the other 3.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Good set of noms! If I would've joined I would've went with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, love that film. I'll try to watch some of these but I doubt I can find them. If anyone has links give me a PM or post comment, I'd appreciate it:)

A Hen in the Wind
1948, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu Nominated by Rauldc14 This could, very well, be my first Ozu. Since, while I recognize a couple of his films, I cannot, for the life of me, remember if I have viewed them. Making this an intriguing introduction. Especially after reading up on it on IMDb. Loved the description in the first review. I'm pretty d@mn excited about this one.

Harakiri (aka Seppuku)
1962, Directed by Masaki Kobayashi Nominated by Edarsenal This one is mine. Discovered it when searching for a nomination, and it called to me. Watched. Loved it. Excited for a secondary.
I have an excellent link for it from a very safe site. I'll message it out to everyone for any who may end up wishing it. Including you too, CR.. :)

High and Low
1963, Directed by Akira Kurosawa Nominated by Siddon A Kurosawa I have not seen, so doubly happy about this. So, YAY.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Nominated by Ahwell And now, an Anime that I indeed SHOULD have and have not seen - quickly turning this into a list of "F@ckin AWESOME!" aka YAY.

And continues. . .

Hana-bi
1997, Directed by Takeshi Kitano Nominated by Pahak- and kicks up a serious notch into F@CKIN YAY!!! with a Kitano I've been aching to see since seeing the comments regarding it in the 90's Countdown, along with Sonatine. I had my fingers crossed someone would nominate one of these. God bless YOU, pahaK!!
I f@ckin LOVE Kitano, and this was a top desire to have here.

After Life
1998, Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by ScarletLiob First off: who's ScarletLio"b"? And what happened to ScarletLion? Are they a surrogate? :D
I may have seen this. And IF it is that one - The Yayying-thing-a-ma jig is a-dancin!

Kamikaze Girls
2004, Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima Nominated by Guaporense This is completely new, and the description has severely captured my attention and imagination of where such an organic scenario and unique characters explore. Add to the fact that this from Guap -- that imagination is excited as all f@ckin get out!
Deserving another holler out: YAY

The Third Murder
2017, Directed By Hirokazu Kore-eda Nominated by CosmicRunaway And we end with another unknown but equally enthusiastic to check it out.
Here endeth a pleasantly delirious YAY session with a Cosmic film. YAYYYYYYYYY

A truly, truly, fantastic set of nominations! I am SO going to enjoy this HoF. A remarkable diversity of high-quality films. Kinda feel like throwing in another YAY. . . lol

That a record number of Yays from you? I counted 8:eek:

omigod, it IS!



YAY :D;)

I guess I was off with my guess that half the films would be from the 50s and 60s haha. I'm glad there are a number of (relatively) newer films nominated, since everyone's aware of the classics. Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai was the ad I got on FB the other day, so it wasn't a crazy premonition, but was close to one of the nominations haha. Anyway, here are my initial thoughts on the films:

A Hen in the Wind - This is a new watch for me. I haven't actually seen any of Ozu's films, except for about half of Tokyo Story. I expected that one to get nominated, but I'll just watch it on my own time.

Harakiri - I think this is one of the films I saw many years ago that I've never figured out the name of. I've been meaning to watch/rewatch it for awhile, but haven't gotten around to it. Definitely looking forward to it!

High and Low - This is one of the three Kurasawa films I watched over the past week. I already wrote out some thoughts on this which I'll finish up after work today.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Another film I've been meaning to watch for awhile, however the more Miyazaki films I saw, the less I wanted to see this one because I dislike far more of his work than I like. This is however much closer to my interests than say, The Wind Rises, so I'm still cautiously optimistic about it.

Hana-bi - When looking for films to watch for this HoF, this kept coming up but I didn't watch it. Looks like I'll get the chance now!

After Life - I enjoyed Maborosi, Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, The Third Murder, and Shoplifters well enough, so I imagine I'll like this one as well.

Kamikaze Girls - I don't think I've heard of this film before. The images that come up on a google search look interesting, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the film's actually about.

The Third Murder - This is my nomination. It's a slow-paced courtroom drama that doesn't really have many courtroom scenes in it. This is not as popular as some of Kore-eda's other work, but I find it quite interesting. I've got my write-up ready to go, so I'll just post that now.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

A Hen in the Wind (1948)
I know Ozu by name (thanks to these forums, I think) but I'm quite sure I've never seen his films. Seems potentially interesting.

Harakiri (1962)
Seen this as a kid and tried to watch it again few years ago but didn't like it at all. I'm hoping it was just completely wrong day for this but a potential dislike all the same.

High and Low (1963)
I don't think I've seen this before. Kurosawa's samurai films have been OK but I've never been a huge fan. Interesting to see what he does in more modern setting.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
I'm quite sure I've only seen one Miyazaki (Spirited Away) and I kinda liked it. So yeah, I rarely watch animated films but I honestly expect this to be at least OK.

Hana-bi (1997)
My own nomination. I watched several Kitanos around the 2k and this was the one I remembered liking the most. Rewatch couple of days ago was very positive as well and I knew what my nom would be. I also need to rewatch other old Kitanos at some point.

After Life (1998)
Never heard of this before. Premise sounds quite silly to be honest and my expectations aren't too high. I'll to try to keep an open mind.

Kamikaze Girls (2004)
Never heard of this either. Premise doesn't really give away much so I don't know what to expect. Lets call this a wild card of this HoF.

The Third Murder (2017)
A courtroom drama, eh. Definitely not my favorite type of movie and also not what I expected from Japan HoF (I've always though these are mostly a US thing). I really hope @CosmicRunaway is correct when saying there's not many courtroom scenes in it.

--
Some of my predictions were pretty close. I was sure that @ahwell goes with Miyazaki. @Siddon was the "anime or Kurosawa" in my predictions so that was correct as well. Decade split was almost correct (no 70s but two 00s+).

Genre predictions weren't that accurate though. Updated anime prediction was correct (2x anime or anime + Kurosawa). I expected one more samurai film. Yakuza/Police is the one I'm not sure. I expected Hana-bi to be the only one of those but seems like both High and Low and The Third Murder may fall into that category as well. If those two are police films then the "other: 3" was correct again.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Wow. I can't wait to watch these. I've seen Hana-Bi but can't remember much, and was going to revisit it anyway as I like Kitano. All the others are more or less on my watchist any way, so I'm excited that this gives me the kick up the rear.

I wanted Tokyo Story to be nominated because I really need to see that but will settle for A Hen in the Wind. High and Low is one of the many Kurosawas I haven't seen so happy about that. And I'm a huge fan of Kore-eda (as my nomination proves), so I'm really happy The Third Murder is nominated.

Kamikaze Girls is a film I heard about around a month ago - so that's another yay. And am always please to tick another Miyazaki off the list.

Can't wait to get started.

There are only a couple of scenes that actually take place in the courtroom, and the ones that do are quite short and to the point. It's not about emotionally pleading a case in front of a jury, because that's not the way the Japanese legal system works. So if it's only the court scenes that turn you away from these types of dramas, then you shouldn't worry about that.

A lot of the film is the attorney in his office, at the jail house, and following up leads to help him come up with a way to avoid the death penalty for his client, while coming to terms with what Japan's definition of justice really is. So if that's also not your cup of tea, then you'll probably find it boring anyway.

https://d3uc4wuqnt61m1.cloudfront.ne...jpg?1468266864




Well that was the longest 83 minutes I've had to sit through...must be an Ozu film. Ozu basically strips his film of all the trappings of typical cinema, showing less of an interest in giving us action and more attempting to show an issue through conversation in as many different angles as possible. A Hen in the Wind feels agonizingly long conversation after conversation, characters are introduced and discarded.


The film has a unique feature in that first we get Tokiko's story (the wife and mother who has to make an unfortunate choice) and then the second half of the film is Shuichi's story where he has to deal with what Tokiko did while he was away at war. It's hard to say where your empathy lies with the characters. Shuichi proves to be somewhat of a passive aggressive manipulator and how he treats a different female in the story Fusako. I'm dancing around the plot points to avoid spoilers because spoilers will definitely take one out of the film. The whole situation leads to climax where the film really shows it's age and limits, I don't know if I would recommend A Hen in the Wind, but I was able to make it to the end which is a problem I have with many Ozu films.

That sounds somewhat encouraging. And yes, my issue with American courtroom dramas is exactly the court scenes where charlatans are trying to convey the jury with word plays and emotions and circus tricks. And fortunately most legal systems don't work like that (which is why I've always considered courtroom drama a US specialty).

Yeah, it's not the same type of courtroom drama that you'd expect from North America, but it's a drama that does deal with court and the legal system, so it was the best description I could think of. It sounded better than my second choice, "legal drama".

It's a Kore-eda film.

It's going to be good.

Hana-bi (1997)
aka Fireworks


Hana-bi is a tale of a cop who's trying to cope with tragedies of his life. It's about loss and guilt, and how they can change a person. It's sad and melancholic story but it's never really depressing. Kitano's history as a comedian shows in his ability to use humor in a minimalistic drama. He doesn't make you laugh out loud but he makes you smile; it kinda reminds me of Chaplin.

Just like everything else in the film acting is minimalistic but brilliant. Kitano himself speaks little and for the most of the film he wears the same expression but still it's really hard to imagine anyone else doing his role. His ill wife is equally (or even more) quiet but her smile speaks more than words. A great example of less is more done right.

I didn't like how the start of the film jumps so much ahead in time without telling. Eventually some flashbacks are shown and the passing of time comes more clear but that kinda messy first act is for me the biggest flaw in the film. Other than that Hana-bi is great mixture of melancholy, fleeting moments of happiness and occasional brutality.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Won't post ratings on my reviews before the end to make it little less obvious how I'll vote :D

Also will look one of the films today (not sure which yet but I have Harakiri, High and Low and Nausicaa available now).

Kore-eda has quickly become one of my favourite living directors. Definitely looking forward to your nomination, and when I finish this HoF I'll probably track down the rest of his filmography haha.

I have no idea where to start, but I might go with Nausicaä, partly out of convenience as well, since there's a copy out in the living room. My room mates love Miyazaki so we have every one of his films on either DVD or BluRay, with a couple also on VHS.

I'm slowly going through them. I've seen about 60% of his films. Thankfully he's relatively young so will have loads more films in him.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I'll be watching A Hen in the Wind first, it'll be my first Ozu so I'm excited.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

This was my second Miyazaki after seeing Spirited Away years ago on TV. My memories of that are quite positive and because of that Naivety Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a disappointment. There's no huge stylistic difference between the two and both surely have their share of naivety but unlike Spirited Away that style doesn't fit the story here.


I guess I'm bit of a cynic and the stories where love and pacifism triumph in battle always irritate me. It doesn't help when the necessary kills are written in a way that preserves the halo of our protagonist. It always feels like these values and philosophies dictate the story too much and force the writers to bad decisions. Water World tells almost the same story far better.

Speaking of values and philosophies the ecological message is way too preachy here. I just kept waiting for Nausicaä to yell "How dare you?"

Technically the film great. I like its artistic style, voice acting in anime is almost always excellent and there are some really nice set designs. Nausicaä is likable enough character but perhaps little too perfect (and too much child's faith triumphing in a film that doesn't feel strictly children's movie).

Not bad but pretty far from being good as well. The contrast between preachy naivety and harsh setting just didn't work for me.

Those are fair criticisms, I guess. I like at least 4 Miyazaki movies more than it, including Spirited Away. But that's not saying much, I love basically everything Miyazaki has done.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I didn't feel the message to be preachy at all really

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Nauiscaa of the Valley of the Wind

What a truly beautiful film. And it's become cliche now almost to call a Miyazaki "beautiful" and "visually stunning." But it's so true of every film he did. There's so much art, craft, and care that goes into his work. The result is magnificent. This is a great movie just to look at. But it doesn't stop there. Miyazaki ties complex themes in with a fantastic story and one of his best characters - Nausicaa. We get powerful imagery and thematic material, all packed into a PG "kids" movie.

This is not Miyazaki's best work by any means. Spirited Away is paced better, Princess Mononoke - which is essentially a remake of this movie - is somehow better looking and has more believable characters. That's hardly a criticsm though. Hayao Miyazaki is an animation legend and in my top ten directors of all time. Nausicaa I'm sure was a special film for both him and for Studio Ghibli. It's not a Studio Ghibli, but you get the sense this is the movie that Takahata and Miayzaki looked at and said - "this kind of stuff needs a studio." And then they made history.

Anyways, Nausicaa is such a fun watch. It's not perfect by any means, and the ending is indeed rushed, which annoyed me. But the opening hour is probably perfect, and the rest is great if not spectacular.

It wasn't preachy, but it was obvious. Which of course isn't a bad thing. Princess Mononoke is even more obvious and it's my second favorite Miyazaki.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Fantastic start of reviews with some interesting takes on these films.

I honestly have NO IDEA which film to start with; I will be waiting a bit to write about mine (Harakiri) because it's impossible not to tread spoiler ground when writing about it. So I'll wait for a few others to see it first.

Runtime order for me...


A Hen in the wind 1h 24m
Kamazi girls 1h 42m
Fireworks 1h 43m
Nausicaa of the valley of the wind 1h 57m
Afterlife 2hrs
The Third Murder 2hr 5m
Harakiri 2hr 13 minutes
High and Low 2h 23m

I watched half of Nausicaä this afternoon, but my "short break" turned into a really long one, and now I don't have enough time to finish it this evening haha. The opening was new to me, but I've definitely seen the following scenes before, at least up until I turned it off. I must have caught part of it on tv years ago and forgotten.

I'm glad I haven't had a tv service in...about 12 years now, because the amount of films I only partially saw (or watched really close together to similar films and now I can't distinguish them any more) is ridiculous. Since then, if I only catch part of a movie, it's because I hated it and abandoned ship, not because I was late tuning in, or couldn't stay up to see its conclusion.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

When I first watched Nausicaa in 2011 I did not have very high expectations. While I have been well aware that there is a lot of anime that enjoys an adult fanbase since the 1990s I actually was not aware of Miyazaki's masterpieces until I decided to check them out based on the IMDB top 250. Nausicaa, in particular, is a special case since it remains the gold standard in terms of epic science fiction anime. When I first watched it I expected it to be a science fiction anime genre representative on the top 250 list but my expectations were completely blown away. I became a hardcore anime fan essentially because of Nausicaa.

Combining a marvelously epic atmosphere with fantastic direction, and effectively integrated new-age/neoclassical soundtrack, and Miyazaki's eye for direction and detail, Nausicaa is still without the shadow of a doubt the masterpiece in terms of science fiction anime, the ultimate yardstick of the genre. It also features one of the greatest and most memorable fictional characters in Nausicaa. She is the quintessential Miyazki heroine but also a larger than life character kinda like Jesus from the New Testament, her dignity and morality is situated well above those around her.

What impressed me the most about the movie was how silly it was. Yes, silly: Nausicaa is completely and uncompromisingly sappy and the seriousness in which the movie takes its fantastical setting by itself is indeed impressive. Western genre movies are not so uncompromising, this dramatic intensity is a feature of Japanese culture, here applied to an absurd fantasy setting. Miyazaki is said to often cry when he is working on his movies as he gets very emotional and his passion certainly has reached my heart. I consider Nausicaa a strong contender for my favorite movie of all time (the other contenders are also other Miyazaki's movies, Spirited Away and Totoro), so it certainly is among my top 3 favorites.

Of course, this movie is a movie that appeals to specific audiences: it is Miyazaki's most otaku-aimed movie in the sense that it appeals mainly to an audience of young straight Japanese nerdy males with Nausicaa as an obviously Japanese-nerd sex symbol (kinda like Mila Jovovich's characters in western sci-fi movies), while other Miyazaki's movies have a broader appeal. Kinda like the eastern equivalent to D&D. In a way, it is Miyazaki's most Miyazaki movie since all his obsessions (environmentalism, flying, innocent and pure girls*, military equipment, nerdy steampunk-like technology) is on full and uncompromising display here.

Still, the movie has some flaws but these flaws add to the charm: the relatively poor animation quality as well as the lower level of detail of the background paintings (if compared to later Miyazaki movies). But these details are a perfect fit for such a post-apocalyptic desolate world.

I don't need to say how I rate it. ;)

*Innocent and pure characters as opposed to nihilistic and dishonest characters. Girls seem a natural fit for this kind of character archetype, at least in Miyazaki's conception. ;)

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

Great review!

I second that.
I remember reading your old reviews and the details and knowledge I garnered regarding Anime was a joy to meander through and this is a shining example of it.

very nice! THANK YOU!

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I guess I have to emphasize that I'm not really into anime in general. I've watched only three or four series and up to a dozen films. There are things I appreciate in them but unfortunately even after so small sample they seem to be at least as cliched as Hollywood movies (cliches are little different though so at least the first series I watched, Zettai Karen Children, felt fresh).

I plan to watch more anime at some point but it's pretty hard to figure what. At the moment the only two on my watchlist are Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend (which I already have) and Elfen Lied (which I need to find somewhere).

It is tricky to pick through the cliches of any given genre and those cliches can, and do, cause aggravation. And should you be able to discover those sans-cliche, it is SO very worthwhile.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

I need a link for A Hen in the Wind.

Like in Japanese live-action film there is great variation in anime/manga. Actually manga has so much variation in style and theme that a Japanese scholar even said it was more varied than literature itself (there is manga ABOUT anything, they even adapted into manga a lot of western literature). Anime is more restricted than manga but still is quite diverse.

It is true that most anime is aimed at younger audiences and features young characters but there exists a lot of stuff exclusively aimed at mature adults that does not feature the tropes common in teenager anime. These series and movies below are good examples:

Hyouge Mono (2011) a very sophisticated series about a middle-aged lord in late 15th century Japan, Space Brothers (2012), about two brothers in their 30s who are pursuing a career as astronauts, and Monster (2004) about a divorced Japanese doctor who is living in Germany and is in pursuit of a serial killer that he had saved in a surgery 10 years before (and he didn't know he was "evil"). There is also March Comes Like a Lion (2017) a drama about a shogi (Japanese chess) player and Haibane Renmei (2002), an art-series that although features young-looking characters who behave in a "cutesy way" it mostly avoid any other cliches (and is my favorite anime of all time, over even Miyazaki's stuff).

There is a recent anime film called In this Corner of the World (2016), about the daily life of a Japanese housewife in WW2. It is the best-animated film that I watched since Spirited Away. Other nice movies are Millennium Actress (2002) and Tale of Princess Kaguya (2014).

I noticed from going to conventions that Western fans of anime tend to be young and they watch only the teenager stuff. So, in the West we get a very biased viewpoint of anime/manga. A huge amount of adult anime/manga that is very popular in Japan is not even translated because it does not appeal to teenagers or otaku.

If you have The Criterion Channel you can watch it here.

its on youtube

Oh, I already tried and didn't see that there were subtitles the first time. Thanks.

https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-...-Girls-036.jpg



Kamikaze Girls (2005) is an interesting film but I'm not sure if it's a good one. Perhaps you could view it as a hangout film in which case it's okay. The film just sort of meanders for the first hour, the director loved the world building but I'm not sure if the film has much in the way of a plot.



The films takes on these Amelie twists where we get all these side stories. The director uses color very well and it's constantly giving you something to think about which makes is a supposed comedy(I didn't laugh once). I think that the root problem with the film is that the drama comes from Ichihko's story yet the budgetary restrictions allow for Momoko story to be much more dominant.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

After watching all of Nausicaä, and discovering that I had indeed seen a majority of the film before (and not just caught a little of it on tv as I guessed yesterday), I suspect that I originally saw the controversial Warriors of the Wind cut, since the scenes that were new to me correlate to what Wikipedia says was edited out of that first English version.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

After Life

After Life is beautifully shot and directed. It has important things to say about life, death, and our memories, and packs powerful meanings into its two hour run time.

The problem is that it's deathly boring. It was basically a documentary, but a narrative documentary. And the "documentary" just wasn't interesting enough for me to love it, or even like it for two hours. I can appreciate its style and its methods, but it just was not my cup of tea. None of the characters felt real or interesting, except perhaps the girl (Shiori?). There were some "memories" relayed by characters that really clicked, and some that just didn't.

So basically several hits within this movie and quite a few misses for this movie. An interesting watch and fascinating concept, and even executed well to some degree, but not much more.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

A Hen in the Wind

My first experience with Ozu was definitely a positive one. I didn't love this movie, but I definitely appreciated it and liked it enough to give it a good rating. The characters for the most part felt relatable, and I definitely liked Tokiko (not so much Shuichi, her husband). The dialogue was often sparse yet effective and we are given space to connect with and try to understand the characters.

Which got a little tiresome by the end to be honest. I kept on hoping the plot would pick up at some time and it never did, until Tokiko gets pushed down the stairs. And then the movie started to annoy me. Shuichi, her husband, showed his inner ***hole and after pushing her down the stairs asked her if she was okay for three times and then went back upstairs to pout. Then Tokiko "nobly" apologizes to him and... well... they make up. But it's not satisfying.

But besides the ending, for the most part I really liked it. Very solid nomination.

After Life (1998)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...998-poster.jpg

Now, this is what I would call a "critics bait". It is basically a cliche of a movie that a movie critic is "supposed" to like. Yes, it talks about the meaning of life: if you had to choose one event of your life, the one scene that you think was the "peak", what would be it? Well, life is complex and big and true happiness is not achieved in the moment but in the big picture. There is not a "best moment" in life.

The way the movie is acted and directed makes it fell like those uber boring Kiarostami movies. Although this is not as boring as those ones, it still is quite boring. The issue is that it felt a bit disjointed and so it lacked a proper sense of "groove". Overall though, the characters are interesting, the concept was interesting, and the setting was interesting. The rather bucolic setting actually reminded me of Haibane Renmei which was made 4 years later so it might have had some influence from it.

Overall, I would not say it is a bad movie. I would say it is a project of a good movie that did not reach its full potential. The disjointed way it was directed really made it hard to grasp.

Nakashima's fourth film is a bit of a pre-cursor to his 5th (Memories of Matsuko) - with lots of bright oversaturated colours, whimsical storytelling, offshoots and quirkiness. It's a farce fantasy comedy and has a rather soap opera feel to the aesthetic, which I'm not sure I bought into, but the costumes were great.

It follows the beautiful Momoke who insists she's not lonely but seems to have something missing in her life. All of a sudden biker girl Ichigo enters and changes her life through a series of trips, stories and anime segments we arrive at the fantastical end.

At it's core, 'Kamikaze Girls' is a film about finding a corner of the world you relate to, being yourself and learning what friendship is. It's quite beautiful in that respect and there is a long stitching sequence in the middle of the film that is quite emotive given that it's almost an analogy (Momoke is trying to stitch her life together, always searching for the fabled dressmaker, but all along she was happiest doing things herself). This ties in with the small theme of anti-consumerism and individuality in the film too, which is always a welcome bonus.

Overall, just the type of nomination I was wanting from this HoF.

Re: Japanese Film Hall of Fame
 

You guys are off to fast starts!

I'm not on the board yet, but I'm eyeing A Hen in the Wind rewatch first.

Just curious, how did you watch it? I know that due to deteriorated color, some older prints had a bit of an orange-ish overcast to the point that Nausicaä's hair, which is meant to be red, and eyes were the exact same color, other colors also became dulled, and yes, her pants were almost the same color as her skin - causing a rumor to circulate for years that Nausicaä wasn't wearing pants, which is why Miyazaki had the film remastered in 2014, the chief difference being that he had the colors re-balanced.

While I don't think the themes are overbearing at all, it's been 35 years since Nausicaä came out, and many people still don't take environmental concerns seriously. So we might actually need more films preaching about awareness haha.

Many children's films (particularly those from the 80s) have a darker setting, that by today's standards don't seem to fit with what we would necessarily consider appropriate for younger audiences. The tone of Nausicaä is much the same. These films work for that demographic because the characters with unsullied child-like innocence or hope prevail. Some adults may find that juvenile, but I feel as though that contrast provides a message which promotes optimism in spite of despair, which is definitely something younger viewers should see.

I opted not to use my room mate's DVD, and instead watched a digital copy that was reportedly of the BluRay edition. Nausicaä's hair was clearly red, and eyes brown.

I did look at screenshots comparing the supposedly altered colours later, and the correction didn't seem to make a huge difference. It does in the night-time scenes (which I noticed while viewing it), but in the daylight those pants are still very close to flesh tone.

Obersturmbannführer Hans Guaporenzky!

Found you at last! Any last words?

https://i.imgur.com/x6JtEHe.png

Okay, I'm gonna give you one last chance. I know you only like anime girls, but I heard you have some very tasty 3D videos on your HDD. If you give me the IDs, I will spare your life! Tell me the code! Tell me the freakin' code!

Also, you have to admit that Welcome to the N.H.K. is the best anime ever made. Don't even try denying this!

@thread: Some good nominations. Obviously, Japanese cinema is the best in the world, and anybody who denies this simply lying to themselves.

I was considering to mention this too. Especially during that first encounter with enraged ohmu I could have sworn she was flying without pants (I mean why wouldn't she, right) :D

South Korean is the best ;)