Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

168 SPECIFICITIES OF GLOBALIZATIONLook at Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who directed WonderfulLife. For Wonderful Life, Kore-Eda, who was trainedin documentary production, sent his assistants out ona five-month mission to capture on video “the bestmemories” of about five hundred elderly people. Helooked at the rushes, did the casting and then contactedthose he had chosen to appear in the film.Or look at Aoyama Shinji. His feature Eureka, deals witha recurrent theme in 1990s Japanese cinema—that of anew life, a transition to an alternative state of existencefollowing a traumatic experience. It shows three people,a man and two children, who have escaped from abloody hostage-taking episode and struggle throughoutthe film to find their way out of a maze of misfortune.Last but not least, I have to mention Takeshi Kitano,who played an essential role as “big brother” to this newgeneration of filmmakers.All of these new generation directors from the 1990swere celebrated internationally with many award andprizes, but did they change Hollywood dominationlocally? No. Look at Takeshi Kitano, for example. Hiscompany, Office Kitano, produced a steady stream ofindependent films, but this company made most of itsmoney by selling movies to television. The Japanesebox office was still not too generous with this talentedfilmmaker.My travel to several cities in Japan during my fellowshiprevealed how strong the Hollywood presence is in localcinema. As I met with people, I noticed that theirknowledge about Hollywood films, actors or directorswas much better than their knowledge about all of“the new wave of the 1990s” directors. I had similarexperiences, not only in the big cities, but even inmedium-sized cities like Yamagata.For me, this is interesting, because a Japan ExternalTrade Organization (JETRO) report said that theJapanese film industry entered a steady recovery phasein 2004. JETRO is convinced that constant increases inmovie attendance and box office revenue indicate thatfull recovery is underway. In 2004, box-office revenueswere split 62.5 percent for foreign films and 37.5 percentfor Japanese films. After so many years of Hollywooddomination, even this small share is considered a signof Japanese films’ promising future.Another optimistic figure came up in the Japan Timesnewspaper. Japan Times journalist Yoshio Kakeoreported that, in the first quarter of 2007, Japanesefilms outperformed Hollywood because, for the firsttime in 21 years, Japanese films held more than 50percent of the market share. Therefore, if the JETROand Japan Times numbers are true, how can we explainthe “unpopularity” of Japanese directors?We have to look closely at those optimistic numbers. Yes,it is true that Japanese films have started gaining a biggerattendance lately. However, as I mentioned earlier, theJapanese films that are receiving a large attendance aredifferent than the ones that receive many awards frominternational film festivals. The Japanese films that areattracting many viewers mainly do not came from all ofthose challenging directors I mentioned earlier.Anime, as always, is the most popular film genre inJapan. Then came a genre that has lately been calledJ-horror. Hits like Hideo Tanaka’s Ringu and anotherJapanese horror movie Ju-on are the record holders atthe local box office. Other popular genres are action andteen flicks. Interestingly, except maybe for the Anime, allof those hits have one thing in common: they somehowmimic Hollywood in terms of narrative structure.Most commercially successful Japanese films are notconcerned with the exploration of national themes andstyles. Like Hollywood films, their basic formal concernis merely story telling or narrative. Stories are routinelydesigned along a precise temporal dimension and spatiallines: look at successful films such as Bayside Shakedown2 or Always—Sanchome no Yuhi (Always—Sunset on theThird Street).Even though these films can beat Hollywood blockbustersin term of box office revenues, we can say that bothfilms fall strongly into Hollywood conventions. It isnot that those films were bad. Aside from its successin commercial distribution, Always, for example, wasawarded with 12 prizes at the annual Japanese filmawards. However, watching this film will take you toplaces where Hollywood films have gone before.Always has very good computer graphic special effects,almost perfect. However, in the words of Japanese filmcritic Kenichi Okubo when we talked about this film,“the depiction of emotions by the characters in Alwayswas hardly Japanese.” If watched carefully, we will findthat Always is very disciplined in following Hollywoodnarrative conventions, like the simple balance-destructionresolvestructure that makes audiences passive.As a result, despite the recent “revival” in the local boxoffice, Japanese films still suffer defeat from Hollywood.Look at the case of the J-horror blockbuster Ringu. Thesuccess of this Hideo Nakata’s film made Hollywoodoffer him a contract for a Hollywood remake. ManyAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows