Film: overview

Hollywood remakes have planted Japanese cinema firmly in the global consciousness, and added murderous videotapes and vengeful houses to the register of cinematic icons. But Japan’s film industry stretches way back to the nineteenth century and a documentary entitled Geisha no Teodori (‘Geisha’s hand dance’). Mass viewing of film began in the early twentieth century with imported foreign silent movies. Since the audience could not understand the foreign language inter-titles, a narrator (or benshi) was employed to explain things. Benshi soon became valued artists who narrated both Japanese and foreign work. A film of particular note from this early era is ‘A Page of Madness’ (Kurutta Ippeiji, 1926) by Kinogasa Teinosuke, about a janitor in a mental asylum. Its images and techniques remain gripping today, testament to Kinogasa’s vision, as well as to the sophistication of early Japanese film.

THE‘GOLDEN AGE’

The 1930s marked the dawn of the ‘golden age’ of Japanese cinema. Gifted directors such as Ozu Yasujiro, Mizoguchi Kenji, Naruse Mikio and the less-heralded Shimizu Hiroshi produced work that exhibited a remarkable mastery of the craft. Although Ozu is best known for his post-war films, such as the famous ‘Tokyo Story’ (Tokyo Monogatari, 1953), his pre-war work is edgier, more varied and equally accomplished. This period also saw the rise of the Japanese studio system. Much like their Hollywood counterparts, large studios such as Shochiku, Toho, Daiei and Nikkatsu started to put directors under contract and control the content of their work. Filmmaking was a thriving and extremely profitable business, and the studios ruled with an iron fist.

The hiccup of Word War II limited film production to mainly jingoistic dreck, but the industry recovered its poise afterwards. General consensus holds that the golden age continued into the mid to late 1950s with Ozu, Mizoguchi and Naruse still active. In addition, new stars such as Kurosawa Akira - a man who would define Japanese cinema for the next 40 years - were rising fast. This period saw the emergence of talented auteurs Ichikawa Kon, Masumura Yasuzo and Teshigahara Hiroshi.

NUBERU BAGU

In the late 1950s and early ’60s the studio system thrived as never before, but it was challenged by youthful and radical directors of the ‘nuberu bagu’ (from the French term nouvelle vague, or new wave) movement, despite the fact that major studio Shochiku had launched this movement to attract younger fans. Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, Hani Susumu, Yoshida Yoshishige and others made films exposing Japan’s social problems, questioning the assumption of Western values and materialism, and addressing taboo subjects like sexuality. In addition, they broke the studios’ grip on directors, eventually venturing out on their own and also forming the artistically noteworthy independent production company Art Theatre Guild (ATG).

The tapering-off of the nuberu bagu in the mid ’70s triggered a crisis in Japanese cinema. Attendances had been falling for years, and there were few new acclaimed directors appearing (although Kurosawa, Oshima and Imamura, among others, were still active). The situation continued in this vein for much of the 1980s. Although nearly half of Japanese box-office receipts still derived from locally made fare (a claim that few countries could make), the studios continued to churn out formulaic, melodramatic pieces and were suffering financially - in 1972 Daiei went bankrupt and Nikkatsu turned to making soft-core porn.

REBIRTH

Japanese cinema underwent an energetic rebirth in the 1990s with the arrival of young and/or fresh directors such as Kitano ‘Beat’ Takeshi - the most internationally successful of contemporary Japanese filmmakers - Iwai Shunji, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Tsukamoto Shinya, Shinozaki Makoto and Ichikawa Jun. In addition, Japanese anime (animation), led by the genius of Miyazaki Hayao, started to conquer foreign markets and take huge profits at home - Miyazaki’s ‘Spirited Away’ (2001) is the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. His more recent film, ‘Ponyo on the Cliff’ (2008) also took the Japanese cinema by storm. Hollywood has also jumped on the bandwagon, winning box-office success with remakes of a number of domestic hits, such as Nakata Hideo’s horror mysteries ‘Ringu’ (1998), ‘Ringu 2’ (1999) and ‘Dark Water’ (2002), and Shimizu Takashi’s ‘Ju-on: The Grudge’ (2003).

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Visiting a cinema in Tokyo is expensive, with most cinemas charging a standard 1,800 for on-the-day admission (1,000-1,500 concessions). If you want to save money, you can buy advance tickets at convenience stores and ticket agencies for around 300-500 less (or go on the first day of the month, when admission is usually 1,000). The problem with this system is that tickets are sold for the film, not the cinema - so in theory any number of people can arrive to catch the latest blockbuster. Seats are not allocated, so people regularly arrive an hour in advance and then charge in as soon as the doors open to grab the best places. The cluster of Japanese cinemas in Shinjuku, Ginza, Shibuya and other busy areas all operate this system. Seats can be reserved through agencies such as Pia, but this adds an extra 200-1,000 to the price. Some cinemas are cheaper; we’ve given ticket prices for those below. Hope also comes in the form of the new breed of multiplexes, which offer allocated seating at point of sale for no extra cost.

Most Hollywood or other foreign films are screened in their original version with Japanese subtitles. Cinemas occasionally screen a Japanese film with English subtitles (usually the last showing on a Sunday). If you visit in the autumn, you may catch one of the two international film festivals such as the Tokyo International Film Festival and Tokyo Filmex (www.filmex.net) - both of which show Japanese films with English subtitles. Times and listings can be found online with Time Out Tokyo.

Tokyo City Guide (Edition 5)