Tomorowo Taguchi at Nippon Connection

The screening last night of Oh, My Buddha! (Shikisoku Zenereishon, 2009) at Nippon Connection was a big hit. We were joined by the gregarious director Tomorowo Taguchi (田口 トモロヲ, b. 1957) who both introduced the film and answered questions afterwards.

The film is set in Kyoto in the 1970s, and Taguchi spoke of the great lengths that his film crew went through in order to find appropriate filming locations. The geography of Kyoto, like most Japanese cities, has been transformed by development in the past thirty years, so Taguchi said that it was a real challenge to find authentic locations. His continuity people did a great job. I had my eyes open for any continuity errors, like the odd keitai straying into the shot, but didn’t spot any. Taguchi also managed to avoid making the film nostalgic or sentimental, as many directors do when making films set in the years when they were young.

Oh, My Buddha! is a candid portrayal of male adolescence shown from the perspective of Jun Inui (Daichi Watanabe, b. 1990). Watanabe, with his infectious toothy grin, nailed the role of Jun. During the question and answer period I asked about his age, and Taguchi explained that when casting the film they deliberately set out to find a teenager for the role who had no previous film acting experience and he also had to be a ‘cherry boy’. Taguchi stressed how important it was to him to create an authentic picture of Jun and his friends, teenage boys who are desperate for their first sexual experience. In fact, the first kiss that Jun experiences in the film was also Watanabe’s first kiss in real life. 

Watanabe was really the perfect casting choice for the role of Jun because he has on the one hand the naïveté and gawky awkwardness of a teenage boy, and on the other hand when he sings and plays guitar he has the swagger needed to perform live in front of an audience. This swagger comes from the fact that he belongs to a punk rock band called Kuro Neko Chelsea (黒猫チェルシー) who released their first album “All de Fashion” in 2009.

All de Fashion
Kuroneko Chelsea

The movie depicted those teenaged years so remarkably well that many in the audience thought that the film must be partly autobiographical on the part of the director. Tomorowo Taguchi, while admitting that the film does depict his own generation, was quick to give the credit to his good friend Jun Miura, who wrote the novel on which the film was based and to screenwriter Kōsuke Mukai (Linda Linda Linda) who did the adaptation. Taguchi described the film as the joint visions of the writers, himself and his producer, Masaki Kai (Fine, Totally Fine).

I will do a review of the film some time later (hopefully in the next week?), as I have to head back to the Festival in a little while. In short, though, Oh, My Buddha! is a delightful film that had the audience roaring with laughter throughout. The cast were superb – in addition to Watanabe, Kazunobu Mineta as the hippy Hige Godzilla (Bearded Godzilla) and Lily Franky (author of Tokyo Tower) as Jun’s father gave brilliant performances.  The film is already on DVD in Japan (see links below).

Shikisoku Zeneration [Regular Edition]

Japanese Movie

Shikisoku Zeneration [w/ CD, Limited Edition]

Japanese Movie

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

The Chef of the South Pole (南極料理人, 2009)

Nippon Connection got off to a delicious start last night with Shūichi Okita’s The Chef of the South Pole (Nankyoku ryōrinin, 2009). The film is a visual feast for the eyes and joins the likes of Babette’s Feast (Babettes gæstebud, Gabriel Axel, 1987), Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate, Alfonso Arau, 1992), Tampopo (Juzo Itami, 1985) and Eat Drink Man Woman (Yin shin an nu, Ang Lee, 1994) as one of my top ten food themed films of all time.

The film is adapted from the autobiographical writings of Jun Nishimura (b. 1952), a chef from Rumoi, Hokkaido. Nishimura served with the Japanese Coast Guard and was a member of both the 30th Antarctic Exploration in 1989 and the 38th Antarctic Exploration in 1997. His essay Omoshiro Nankyoku Ryōnin received high critical praise for its wit in depicting the everyday life of a group of men living in close quarters cut off from civilization for more than 400 days.

Life at Dome Fuji is filled with equal measures of hard work, good times, heartache and homesickness. Throughout it all, Nishimura’s cooking sustains, and at times confounds, the men. The character of Nishimura is played by Masato Sakai (b. 1973), who won my respect at Nippon Connection last year for his brilliantly understated comedic performance in Two in Tracksuits (2008). Sakai is the master of subtle expression, and his comedic talents are balanced by an amusingly diverse cast of characters who deal with their isolation from home comforts in a variety of ways: the doctor (Kosuke Toyohara) decides to train for a triathlon in undershorts, mittens, and boots in the freezing cold on a bicycle, taichō (Kitarō ) goes hilariously balmy when the station runs out ramen, and the chief of the station (Kanji Furuda) longs for long hot times in the bathroom due to the rationing of water.

One has to suspend one’s disbelief a little at some of the outdoor behaviour at temperatures ranging from highs in the -50s (Celsius, of course, for any Americans reading) to lows in the -70s. I didn’t get a chance to examine the credits thoroughly to see exactly where in Hokkaido the film was shot, but Hokkaido, while heavy on the snow, does not get such extreme temperatures. As the dialogue points out, it’s even too cold for any kawaii doubutsu (cute animals) like penguins and seals. It is most likely that scarves would have been worn over faces at such temperatures, but of course that would not really be ideal cinematographically, and the men all look quite cute bundled up in colourful snowsuits with only their faces showing.

The slow scenes, often unaccompanied by any music, are contrasted with amusing outdoor scenes. Particularly amusing is the scene in which the researchers pose against brilliant blue skies to the score of Ride of the Valkyries (see example in the trailer). Cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa (Loft, Tokyo Sonata) has a great eye for framing. The food scenes were arranged by Nami Iijima, who also worked with Naoko Ogigami on Kamome Shokudō (2006) and Megane (2007).

If it were any other film, I might criticize it for its slow pacing; however, in this film I believe that Okita was trying to convey a sense of what the characters are feeling as their countdown to going home to their families slowly ticks by. Okita has managed to finely balance comedy with pathos, times of harmony with times of discord, and moments of stillness with moments of action. With this being only his second attempt at a feature film, one has the sense that the future is bright for this graduate of the Japan University College of Art.

Directed by Shūichi OKITA

Written by Shūichi OKITA

Based on the writings of Jun NISHIMURA

Cast

Nishimura-san = Masato SAKAI

Moto-san = Katsuhito NAMASE

Taichō = Kitarō

Niiyan = Kengo KOURA

Doctor = Kosuke TOYOHARA

Miyuki Nishimura = Naomi NISHIDA

Shunin (Chief) = Kanji FURUDA

Bon = Daisuke KURODA

Yuka Nishimura = Karin ONO

Shimizu-san (the KDD Operator) = Kiori KOIDE

Nankyoku Ryorinin (Antarctic Chef) [Regular Edition]

Japanese Movie

Nankyoku Ryourinin Soundtrack

Original Soundtrack (Yoshiharu Abe & UNICORN)

Nankyoku Ryorinin (Antarctic Chef) [Limited Edition]

Japanese Movie

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010

Animal Dance (アニマルダンス, 2009)

 Opening titles

Nippon Connection is starting tomorrow and I’m excited about all the animated shorts I will be able to watch at events like Digista Vil. VIII, DOME Animation Special, and Open Art Animation. Thanks to NHKOnline and YokohamaArtNavi, I have already seen a number of the shorts, including Ryo Okawara’s Animal Dance (アニマルダンス, 2009), but nothing beats the pleasure of seeing films projected on the big screen together with an audience.

Okawara (大川原亮, b. 1986) is a graduate of Tamabi’s Graphic Design programme. Together with Masaki Okuda and Yutaro Ogawa, Okawara co-directed the short animation Orchestra (オーケストラ, 2008, 6’40”) which is also featured at YokohamaArtNavi. He has also directed another short film called Insomniac (2009, 2’30”).

 The visuals are beautiful in their simplicity & attention to detail.

Sometimes student works seem clumsy, but Okawara’s films are all very professionally crafted. One does get a sense of an artist at the beginning of his career through the way in which his films play with combining visually intriguing animation with music. Animal Dance is a hand-drawn animated short (black charcoal on an orange background) synchronized with a piano score composed by Ayoan Igokah (アヨアン族イゴカー).

The black flecks that dance on the orange background give the film the appearance of being an old 16mm handmade film, but the film was edited using Photoshop and Aftereffects. In its design, Okawara’s animation gives a nod to early experimental animation. This is created through a combination of a minimalistic black on orange graphic design with the playful music inspired by Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 14. The film score is very similar to the kind of piano scores that would accompany early Hollywood and European movies.

 

The visual themes of the film are that of transformation and evolution. One of my favourite moments is when a black dot transforms into an egg, which then develops a small fish inside it, which then comes out of the egg and joins to others swimming in a river. The scene wipes to a new one using the mouth of an alligator. This short sequence is just one example of how expertly Okawara transitions from one concept to the next throughout the film.

Okawara captures the same visual simplicity and dynamism of 

McLaren's Hen Hop (above) in Animal Dance (below).

I see this film as a nod to the early animators – like Norman McLaren, Len Lye, and Oskar Fischinger – who transformed our understanding of the relationship between music and animation. I was particularly reminded of Norman McLaren’s Hen Hop (1942), which also uses minimalistic animation against an orange background (though the reverse orange on blue is also used) set to a song. . .  and even featuring an egg (albeit that of a chicken). For me, Animal Dance, is animation pared down to its basics. A real visual treat.

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2010