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In 1992, shortly before the centennial
anniversary of cinema,
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a surviving part of A Diary of Chuji's Travels
was discovered in the archives.
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00:00:45,175 --> 00:00:48,052
This film has long been thought lost.
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00:00:48,752 --> 00:00:53,412
The film's director, Daisuke Ito,
died at the age of 82,
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certain that his masterpiece had been
lost without any chance of recovery.
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00:01:21,940 --> 00:01:26,889
Cinema reached Japan very quickly,
merely one year after its invention.
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The Japanese started to shoot
their own cinema originally relying...
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on Kabuki theater traditions.
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00:01:40,620 --> 00:01:46,340
Shozo Makino is called the first Japanese
film director, and he was the first one...
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00:01:46,375 --> 00:01:49,677
to employ live action shooting
for filming Kabuki performances.
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00:01:50,465 --> 00:01:54,848
Finally, a new trend boosted
cinema out of the theater realm.
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00:02:08,424 --> 00:02:11,938
Daisuke Ito was Kaoru Osanai's pupil.
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00:02:14,567 --> 00:02:20,434
On September 1, 1923, a strong earthquake
struck Tokyo and the Kanto region.
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00:02:20,469 --> 00:02:23,529
The sentimental melodramas which
sprang in the wake of the disaster...
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00:02:23,564 --> 00:02:26,528
were a great success
in the grief-stricken city.
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00:02:27,329 --> 00:02:31,089
Daisuke Ito scripted one of
these melodramas, Boatman's Song.
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A Diary of Chuji's Travels was at the heart
of young Ito's dreams and tribulations.
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For many years before, he had been
a scriptwriter-for-hire,
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unable to choose independently
the subjects of his work.
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It was in this way that the Japanese cinema
produced its first independent film-maker.
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00:03:00,660 --> 00:03:05,540
Around the same time, Teinosuke Kinugasa,
a director of the same generation as Ito...
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who started as a female part performer,
completed two motion pictures.
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00:03:08,815 --> 00:03:11,005
His work displayed a
strong European influence.
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The subsequent period was marked
by the so-called "biased films".
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It was an era of strained economy,
working class unrest,
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aggressively protesting farmers and a strict
repression of revolt by the government.
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00:03:22,095 --> 00:03:26,025
The "biased film" genre
attempted to illustrate...
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the contradictions and hardships typical
of life in a capitalist society.
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00:03:30,495 --> 00:03:35,072
However, censorship and the complications
preceding the war on China...
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caused a rapid change in the goals
pursued by this type of film-making.
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What do you think, whose father
is more important, mine or yours?
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Yours is more important.
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No, I think your father is more important.
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00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:23,700
As a result, Japanese cinema finally
succeeded in departing from the constraints...
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imposed by stringent theatrical conventions
or ideological agenda, and started...
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to explore objectively the very foundation of
Japanese society: personal life within a family.
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This was the dawn of the
First Golden Age of Japanese Cinema.
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Father, why aren't you eating?
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Well, how is it going, brother?
I thought you were already in Tokyo.
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You're always so good-looking.
Sachi-chan, how is it going?
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Sakiyaki, right?
It looks delicious!
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Why haven't you called me?
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00:05:10,489 --> 00:05:14,335
It's so nice here.
Home is the best place on earth!
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00:05:21,260 --> 00:05:26,050
I am so happy!
I haven't eaten at home for so long!
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00:05:27,940 --> 00:05:31,899
Father... you must be very happy now!
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00:05:32,980 --> 00:05:37,714
You've found a job,
brother is almost done with his studies.
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Now he is almost ready for adult life.
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There is still Sachi-chan.
Sachi-chan, how's your exam?
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Can I have some rice?
What's wrong?
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Why isn't anyone answering?
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00:05:59,546 --> 00:06:02,939
There is no place in our family
for criminals like you.
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What are you saying?
- I'm saying you're a criminal!
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I can't believe it...
- Shut up!
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What are you doing in such a place?
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Just taking a stroll...
I am not sure what I'm doing.
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You must be ill.
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You're right, I'm ill.
Crime is a terrible illness.
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Doctor...
- Yes?
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Can a girl be cured of crime?
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I have no idea.
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Kenji Mizoguchi completed Osaka Elegy
and Sisters of the Gion in 1936.
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00:07:02,654 --> 00:07:05,530
At this time a few young officers
attempted a coup d'etat,
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the notorious February 26th incident.
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00:07:07,610 --> 00:07:10,935
Even though their attempt failed,
it has certainly contributed to the rise...
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of the Japanese militarism.
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00:07:13,721 --> 00:07:16,305
It's interesting that the
Directors Guild of Japan...
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was formed a mere day before
the attempted coup d'etat.
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Well, am I surprised!
You're always so early!
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It seemed that the Guild
became a success very quickly.
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One year after the Guild was formed,
Tomu Uchida filmed Endless Marching.
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It was based on an idea of Yasujiro Ozu,
even though they worked at different studios.
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The film relates the story of
an office worker, who serves...
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a single company with selfless
dedication for his entire life.
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00:08:33,368 --> 00:08:38,036
The same year, the Japanese government
launched a full-scale invasion in China.
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This event marked the beginning of
"endless marching" towards self-destruction.
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The same year, Sadao Yamanaka filmed
his last film, Humanity and Paper Balloons.
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This work was permeated
with death-related themes.
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Thereafter, he was drafted in the army
and sent to China, where he...
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died of an illness one year later,
when he was only 28.
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God... it's a double suicide!
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Hurry! Out of the way!
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I wonder why the master isn't coming.
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00:10:21,460 --> 00:10:24,054
Hey you!
Be a nice boy, call the master!
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Hey! Where are you going?
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I want to find the master.
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All right... run.
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This photograph was made when
sergeant Ozu, drafted at that time,
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was visiting first class private Yamanaka,
shortly before Yamanaka's death.
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00:10:55,460 --> 00:10:59,185
During this period, Japanese
filmmakers continued to create...
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inspired works - despite of the deplorable
toll inflicted by the war, the government,
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the military operations... And this
affected not just individual artists...
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but also cinema as a whole.
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00:11:18,806 --> 00:11:21,506
The situation worsened in 1939,
when the Law on Cinema was enacted.
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It was an implementation of
the Nazi rules for cinema practices.
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00:11:24,779 --> 00:11:27,375
Within a year, films that did not
conform with the governmental guidelines,
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like Fumio Kamei's documentaries,
were not distributed anymore.
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00:11:33,532 --> 00:11:36,905
But, as comedy has always been
playing a role in Japanese cinema,
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the parodies directed by Kajiro Yamamoto
with the comic actor known as Enoken...
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helped the nation to persevere
through this dark period.
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In December 1941, Japan joined
World War II and turned into an enemy...
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for the US, the UK and
most of the other countries.
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It's ironic that this movie
meant to call for victory...
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and to inspire fighting, was filmed
by Yamamoto, a well-known liberal.
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But instead of inciting the population for
further military endeavors, this epic work...
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related the personal struggle of a young man
to pursue genuinely Japanese sensibilities...
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and to become a perfect warrior. It has rather
stimulated the interest for special effects...
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which ultimately resulted in the
after-war Godzilla series.
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Get up everyone!
Get up everyone!
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Go!
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Attack!
Attack!
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00:13:22,780 --> 00:13:27,580
And, speaking of tears, here is a film which
has likely caused more sympathetic sobs...
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than any other movie shot during the war.
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It's a story of a rickshaw man and his attachment
to an army officer's widow and her son.
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The censors were outraged that
an ordinary rickshaw man could dare to
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dream of an officer's widow.
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The film was cut in pieces,
but still moved the hearts of the people.
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This was the first time I saw him
being so loud and excited.
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I think he has never been
so excited in his life.
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Perhaps he is developing
a new personal trait.
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I'm really grateful to you.
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I am not sure if I deserve your gratitude,
but, if he is happy, so am I.
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I think I should go.
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Matsugoro-san!
Don't forget your prize!
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I don't need it. Perhaps it will be of use
for your son, when he grows up. Good bye!
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But...
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No-no... I don't need it...
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00:15:13,420 --> 00:15:20,123
October 21, 1943. The farewell ceremony for
drafted students proceeds under a cold rain.
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The draft deferral for students
has been discontinued.
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They march with rifles, still
dressed in their student uniforms.
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00:15:29,322 --> 00:15:32,361
And the mud they are marching through
seems to foretell their imminent fate.
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It seemed that the unstoppable slipping
of the country towards self-destruction...
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was finally terminated by the
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Among more than 140.000
victims was Keiko Sonoi,
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the actress who played the
charming widow in The Rickshaw Man.
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She was 32, when the candle of her life,
and the lives of nine more members...
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00:15:56,290 --> 00:15:59,931
of the theater troupe Sakuragun
were blown out by the attack of Hiroshima.
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Since he started to work as
an assistant to Kajiro Yamamoto,
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it's not surprising that Akira
Kurosawa's first film after the war,
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No Regrets for Our Youth, was filled with
indictment of the government policy...
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as well as hopes for a better
life in the postwar Japan.
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You've got something, right?
A secret...
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Tell me, please.
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I've gotta know it.
It must be really beautiful.
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00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:18,612
What's wrong with you?
You're taking me for some dreamer?
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Please don't treat
me like this anymore...
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Look at the past without regrets.
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00:17:30,180 --> 00:17:32,250
Look at the past without regrets...
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00:17:48,460 --> 00:17:52,300
In the same year, Keisuke Kinoshita, another
director who started to work during the war,
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turned to very similar subjects
in his Morning for the Osone Family.
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00:17:56,733 --> 00:17:59,822
In those years, censorship was still
enforced, but the occupation forces...
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already overpowered the Japanese government
and military, and the country faced...
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00:18:02,975 --> 00:18:05,323
social unrest caused by
the discontent of workers.
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00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:09,131
Nevertheless, the directors who
started working during the war,
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succeeded in liberating the formerly
repressed creative energy...
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and producing a series
of genuine masterpieces.
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00:18:19,660 --> 00:18:24,140
The prize received by Akira Kurosawa in Venice
for his Rashomon served as an encouragement...
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for the elder Japanese directors at the time
when their mastery reached its peak.
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Few would contest the opinion that this period
was the Second Golden Age of Japanese cinema.
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Tomiko, who are you to
ignore the school rules?
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Miss Takioka! Why don't you obey
your teacher? Stand up!
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What is it that you want me to obey?
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I have the right to
hate what I hate!
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How should the school care whether
I go home for the holidays right away?
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What did I do wrong?
I am not a child anymore!
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You've broken the dormitory rule!
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00:19:29,783 --> 00:19:31,311
It's a stupid rule!
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00:19:38,180 --> 00:19:43,718
Perhaps it should be changed! You always talk
about the honor and traditions of the school.
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00:19:43,775 --> 00:19:47,360
Rather than be concerned about what the others
would think, perhaps you should first...
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00:19:47,395 --> 00:19:50,432
start to treat the people around you
with a little more respect!
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00:19:51,982 --> 00:19:53,501
Who is it? Who is applauding?
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00:19:53,903 --> 00:19:56,630
Is it all you can say? Very good...
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Then, I know for sure
what kind of student you are.
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Mr. Hirato, please go back to your office.
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00:20:05,635 --> 00:20:09,249
In the end, we can't make her obey us.
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What pushed Yoshi Izushi to suicide...
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I saw this film in early spring of 1954.
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I hope you'll forgive me this sudden
change to first person narration.
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That year, I became a part
of Japanese cinema myself.
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00:20:28,999 --> 00:20:32,385
The truth is, I was not making films yet
back then, even though I passed an exam...
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to become an assistant director at
Shochiku Ofuna studio, but I wasn't sure
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00:20:37,285 --> 00:20:39,761
whether that really
was what I wanted to do.
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00:20:40,615 --> 00:20:44,410
At that time, I didn't see
filmmaking as a serious occupation.
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But I made my decision
after I saw this film.
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00:20:49,710 --> 00:20:51,593
"Look what this film can do!"
That's what I thought.
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00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:53,162
"But what is it?"
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Six years later I got an answer.
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00:21:00,700 --> 00:21:03,985
At the time when crowds of students and
workers besieged the National Diet and
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00:21:04,020 --> 00:21:08,700
protested against the extension of the Japan-US
security treaty, my second film was released.
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00:21:08,735 --> 00:21:11,373
It was called The Cruel Story of Youth.
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I cannot swim!
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00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:54,665
Can you calm down?
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00:21:55,175 --> 00:21:56,569
Certainly not!
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Then you can't get out of water.
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00:22:15,460 --> 00:22:17,291
Why wouldn't you calm down?
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00:22:32,900 --> 00:22:34,936
Why did you come at all today?
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00:23:01,860 --> 00:23:03,398
Interested in men...
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00:23:03,433 --> 00:23:04,937
curiosity, sex...
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00:23:05,380 --> 00:23:06,813
I can satisfy you!
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00:23:23,940 --> 00:23:28,260
I felt that the Japanese films up to that
point were overflown with the subjects of...
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00:23:28,295 --> 00:23:32,460
national suffering during the war,
poverty and the feudal nature of relations...
201
00:23:32,495 --> 00:23:34,505
within the Japanese family and society.
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00:23:34,966 --> 00:23:38,940
For common people, it was usual to
consider themselves as victims at that time,
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00:23:38,975 --> 00:23:43,340
but I thought it was very important for
the directors to avoid this line of thought.
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00:23:43,375 --> 00:23:46,210
Is it not that film directors must be
looking for ways towards liberation?
205
00:23:46,329 --> 00:23:48,161
Even if it's difficult or painful...
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00:23:51,340 --> 00:23:55,540
The term Japanese New Wave was first
employed for me and my colleagues,
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00:23:56,069 --> 00:23:59,417
all of which started at
the same studio in 1960.
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00:24:00,175 --> 00:24:03,254
I've always detested this tag, borrowed from
the French movement whose name was similar.
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00:24:04,109 --> 00:24:08,065
But the "new wave" movement quickly receded,
when, following the defeat of the protests...
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00:24:08,278 --> 00:24:12,638
against the Japan-US treaty extension, the
studio pulled my film Night and Fog in Japan
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00:24:12,823 --> 00:24:16,902
out of distribution. It was partly
based on my personal experience...
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00:24:16,982 --> 00:24:20,113
as a student in 1950s. The film's distribution
stopped 4 days after its initial release.
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00:24:20,468 --> 00:24:23,659
I left the studio and set up
my own film production company.
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00:24:24,303 --> 00:24:26,985
Though, for a while, I did not have
financial resources necessary to film,
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00:24:27,238 --> 00:24:31,013
I though that the general tendencies
in filmmaking were working in my favor.
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00:24:33,582 --> 00:24:37,420
One reason was that, even before my decision,
some directors working in large studios...
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00:24:37,455 --> 00:24:40,385
began to display an
approach to film production...
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00:24:40,420 --> 00:24:44,055
completely different from the one
that used to have currency before.
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00:24:56,516 --> 00:25:01,020
Another reason was that cinema made in inde-
pendent studios was taking some new directions.
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00:25:01,055 --> 00:25:07,543
Kaneto Shindo completed Naked Island
under completely unusual filming conditions.
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00:25:10,299 --> 00:25:13,489
Neither Susumu Hani nor Hiroshi Teshigahara
experienced work in large studios.
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00:25:14,205 --> 00:25:20,794
Basically, everything was pointing towards a
beginning of a new era, when cinema will be...
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00:25:21,097 --> 00:25:24,002
made by individuals and not companies.
224
00:25:28,227 --> 00:25:33,097
Nobuko? Nobuko!
Are you done?
225
00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:40,573
Father, I need your help again.
226
00:25:42,724 --> 00:25:47,380
Nobuko doesn't drink almost at all,
it's all swollen... It's painful.
227
00:25:58,420 --> 00:26:02,025
Father, I must find a job...
228
00:26:02,925 --> 00:26:09,079
Before and during the war, sex was
a taboo subject in Japanese cinema.
229
00:26:09,944 --> 00:26:14,305
Even kisses were not allowed on-screen.
230
00:26:15,805 --> 00:26:21,746
In the middle of the 60s, the interest
for the topic of sex had become universal.
231
00:26:23,140 --> 00:26:25,096
But intercourse is deeply private.
232
00:26:25,660 --> 00:26:28,900
How can it be truthfully depicted
by anyone other than...
233
00:26:28,969 --> 00:26:30,721
an independently working artist?
234
00:26:32,820 --> 00:26:36,520
The same period witnessed proliferation
of companies working in the area...
235
00:26:36,555 --> 00:26:38,241
of low-budget erotic films.
236
00:26:38,393 --> 00:26:43,180
Known as "pink films", these movies
attracted a rather large number of viewers.
237
00:26:43,215 --> 00:26:47,740
On the other hand, the movie theater
attendance peaked in 1958,
238
00:26:47,775 --> 00:26:50,065
and started to decline
significantly thereafter.
239
00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:54,780
It was a shock for everyone, when Tetsuji
Takechi, a well-known critic and director...
240
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,702
working in the traditional Japanese theater,
suddenly decided to switch to pink films.
241
00:26:58,161 --> 00:27:01,730
His film Black Snow, whose backdrop was...
242
00:27:02,059 --> 00:27:04,233
a US military base,
was confiscated by the police,
243
00:27:04,333 --> 00:27:06,626
and the director was put
through an obscenity trial.
244
00:27:07,057 --> 00:27:08,580
What are you doing there?
245
00:27:09,362 --> 00:27:13,773
Hanging around at the cinema isn't
going to make anything happen.
246
00:27:14,740 --> 00:27:16,651
The screen's completely blank.
247
00:27:18,660 --> 00:27:24,210
Everybody here is just as sick
of waiting around as you are.
248
00:27:25,515 --> 00:27:28,574
You wonder if I know any jokes...
249
00:27:36,420 --> 00:27:40,220
"If the end of the world comes tomorrow,"
250
00:27:40,255 --> 00:27:42,211
"I will plant an apple tree".
251
00:28:15,229 --> 00:28:18,785
Shuji Terayama was known as...
252
00:28:18,820 --> 00:28:23,140
a poet, playwright, director and artistic
leader of a theater troupe, a novelist,
253
00:28:23,175 --> 00:28:26,800
a short film director, and even an
occasional horse-racing broker.
254
00:28:27,309 --> 00:28:30,065
His first feature film was financed
by a tiny distribution company...
255
00:28:30,100 --> 00:28:34,413
called Art Theatre Guild, as well
as Terayama's own film company.
256
00:28:35,489 --> 00:28:40,513
Other films produced along these
lines started to appear in 1968.
257
00:28:41,013 --> 00:28:43,235
The first of them was my own Death by Hanging.
258
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,137
The director's company
contributed 5 million yen.
259
00:28:46,572 --> 00:28:48,224
Art Theatre Guild
contributed the same amount.
260
00:28:48,557 --> 00:28:51,586
Even though, with such a low budget of
10 million yen, or $30000,
261
00:28:51,621 --> 00:28:54,400
it seemed difficult to make a movie,
surprisingly many film directors...
262
00:28:54,435 --> 00:28:57,217
working in different genres, decided to
pursue this approach to funding. Those were:
263
00:29:02,221 --> 00:29:04,096
Directors who left their studios.
264
00:29:18,940 --> 00:29:21,010
Documentary film directors.
265
00:29:27,980 --> 00:29:29,618
And TV directors.
266
00:29:32,060 --> 00:29:35,480
Of course, we turned the low budgets
into our own weapons, and used...
267
00:29:35,780 --> 00:29:38,865
this concept to explore new subjects
and new approaches to filming.
268
00:29:38,900 --> 00:29:44,258
Thus, we could extend the boundaries not only
of Japanese cinema, but of cinema in general.
269
00:29:46,625 --> 00:29:50,351
At the same time, in 1968, Seijun Suzuki,
who was fighting for some stylized beauty...
270
00:29:50,451 --> 00:29:53,892
in the commercial movies made at Nikkatsu,
was dismissed from his studio work,
271
00:29:53,992 --> 00:29:58,000
because his film Branded to Kill
was found too "esoteric".
272
00:29:58,301 --> 00:30:01,784
The expulsion of Suzuki provoked a wave
of protests among other filmmakers.
273
00:30:09,060 --> 00:30:12,860
Police go home!
We didn't do anything wrong!
274
00:30:12,895 --> 00:30:17,775
Go! Go home!
Police go home!
275
00:30:20,980 --> 00:30:25,260
Though the development of Japanese documentary
cinema has been very stable due to the work...
276
00:30:25,295 --> 00:30:30,650
of such directors as Susumu Hani, Toshio
Matsumoto, Kazuo Kuroki and Noriaki Tsuchimoto,
277
00:30:30,949 --> 00:30:35,609
a few documentary films made in 1968,
caused a great shock to the Japanese society.
278
00:30:35,924 --> 00:30:38,945
One was Summer in Narita by Shinsuke Ogawa.
The film showed the protest demonstrations...
279
00:30:39,286 --> 00:30:42,262
by farmers and students against the
construction of the new Tokyo airport.
280
00:30:42,738 --> 00:30:45,780
Another one, Tsuchimoto's Pre-Partisan,
was centered on the leader...
281
00:30:45,815 --> 00:30:47,817
of a student revolt
at the University of Kyoto.
282
00:31:14,700 --> 00:31:22,095
Last will: "I am the only one who can
continue the Sakurada line".
283
00:31:24,860 --> 00:31:31,811
"By killing myself now,
I destroy the Sakurada family".
284
00:31:33,363 --> 00:31:38,713
Masuo, you'll be late for your ship.
You should go.
285
00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:47,980
You're in charge of the funeral
services in Tokyo. I'll stay here...
286
00:31:48,015 --> 00:31:53,715
Ritsuko... you intend
to die here, don't you?
287
00:31:53,840 --> 00:32:00,579
Yes... but I can take care
of everything by myself.
288
00:32:00,614 --> 00:32:01,877
Fool!
289
00:32:04,785 --> 00:32:08,266
You think I'll be able
to leave knowing that?
290
00:32:08,340 --> 00:32:12,970
Then you intend to stay
and witness my death?
291
00:32:30,500 --> 00:32:36,900
When I released The Ceremony in 1971,
Eizo Hori, a critic of the Asahi newspaper,
292
00:32:36,935 --> 00:32:42,286
wrote that it was a "premature
conclusion on the post-war democracy".
293
00:32:42,890 --> 00:32:46,735
Overall, he criticized me
for excessive pessimism.
294
00:32:47,460 --> 00:32:51,345
Nevertheless, a year earlier,
Yukio Mishima committed suicide.
295
00:32:51,380 --> 00:32:55,100
And, the next year, an ultra-left student
sect known as the Red Army...
296
00:32:55,135 --> 00:32:58,900
executed twelve of their own
members during a meeting...
297
00:32:58,935 --> 00:33:00,572
which they chose to
call "the conclusion".
298
00:33:00,982 --> 00:33:03,982
Afterwards, the remaining members
confronted the police and were captured.
299
00:33:04,395 --> 00:33:08,033
The broadcast about the fight attained
the highest rating in Japanese TV history.
300
00:33:08,806 --> 00:33:11,852
Since then, the young generations have
consistently failed to play any
301
00:33:11,875 --> 00:33:14,729
role of importance in the contemporary
historical developments in Japan.
302
00:33:17,866 --> 00:33:20,849
The first genre responsible for taking
Japanese cinema through the tumultuous 70s...
303
00:33:20,949 --> 00:33:23,836
was gangster cinema,
often depicting cruel street-fighting...
304
00:33:23,936 --> 00:33:25,536
of the young yakuza bandits.
305
00:33:43,895 --> 00:33:44,898
Tetsu-chan...
306
00:33:46,420 --> 00:33:50,553
Look what has been done for you...
307
00:33:53,220 --> 00:33:55,985
Are you happy now? No...
308
00:33:57,727 --> 00:33:59,170
Me neither.
309
00:34:05,694 --> 00:34:07,250
What are you doing?
310
00:34:37,060 --> 00:34:40,496
Hirono, I hope you
understand what it means!
311
00:34:42,940 --> 00:34:48,139
You know, Mr. Yamamori...
I've still got some bullets left.
312
00:34:49,793 --> 00:34:53,025
The second was the series about Tora-san,
which continues to this day.
313
00:34:53,948 --> 00:34:58,020
Yoji Yamada, who joined Shochiku the same year
I did, was making these films...
314
00:34:58,055 --> 00:35:01,615
about a travelling salesman since 1969.
315
00:35:03,380 --> 00:35:07,985
Without any permanent address,
Tora-san periodically returns to his "home":
316
00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:15,081
an overpopulated district of Tokyo, where
the locals welcome him as a family member.
317
00:35:15,856 --> 00:35:19,095
This endless saga brings to the fore
such topics as being homesick...
318
00:35:19,130 --> 00:35:21,889
and nostalgic sentiments for
family and society.
319
00:35:22,010 --> 00:35:23,139
But where is Tora?
320
00:35:23,181 --> 00:35:28,603
I haven't heard anything about him,
ever since we parted in Otaru.
321
00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:31,648
You were in Otaru together?
322
00:35:34,327 --> 00:35:37,618
Otaru? Is it in Hokkaido?
Yeah, he must be really far!
323
00:35:41,540 --> 00:35:44,900
Idiot! He must have come back with us.
- You're right.
324
00:35:45,836 --> 00:35:48,460
Does he not know
how worried we are?
325
00:35:49,452 --> 00:35:51,737
Hey! Has Lily been here?
- Yeah.
326
00:35:52,940 --> 00:35:54,267
When? When? When?!
327
00:35:54,420 --> 00:35:57,459
In the beginning of
the last month, I think.
328
00:35:58,260 --> 00:36:00,690
And what about the last
couple of days? - No.
329
00:36:06,700 --> 00:36:07,705
Tora-chan!
330
00:36:07,740 --> 00:36:09,182
Hey! Don't scare me like this!
331
00:36:09,235 --> 00:36:13,420
Did I scare you? It's you who pops
out of nowhere all of a sudden!
332
00:36:13,455 --> 00:36:15,768
Welcome back.
We're happy to see you back home.
333
00:36:15,949 --> 00:36:18,777
We've been so worried.
334
00:36:20,300 --> 00:36:23,753
There were also the erotic Nikkatsu films.
They referred to these movies as...
335
00:36:23,876 --> 00:36:27,660
"roman porno", and that's
what they were shooting.
336
00:36:28,317 --> 00:36:32,220
However, in 1972, the Japanese authorities
confiscated four roman porno films...
337
00:36:32,255 --> 00:36:35,305
and charged nine of the filmmakers.
338
00:36:35,340 --> 00:36:39,540
But, despite of the prohibitions - or perhaps,
encouraged by the prohibitions - the directors
339
00:36:39,575 --> 00:36:41,225
continued to create splendid works.
340
00:36:41,666 --> 00:36:45,033
I think that the 60s and the beginning of
the 70s can be called the Third Golden Age...
341
00:36:45,082 --> 00:36:48,098
of Japanese cinema. In this period,
various gifted filmmakers,
342
00:36:48,198 --> 00:36:54,420
which were born during the war, but grew up
after it, had an opportunity to overcome...
343
00:36:54,455 --> 00:36:56,530
numerous difficulties and attain
a forceful creative expression.
344
00:37:02,622 --> 00:37:05,130
Does it hurt?
- Yes, it does.
345
00:37:07,780 --> 00:37:09,849
And like this, does it hurt?
- Yes!
346
00:37:10,030 --> 00:37:12,714
By developing the film in France,
347
00:37:13,086 --> 00:37:20,330
I could get around the prohibitions on
depicting sexuality enforced in Japan.
348
00:37:21,894 --> 00:37:26,116
The Japanese authorities were outraged and
confiscated the book based on the screenplay,
349
00:37:26,216 --> 00:37:29,400
as well as still shots from the film,
according to the Japanese obscenity laws.
350
00:37:30,118 --> 00:37:33,078
However, just as with Black Snow and the roman
porno movies, all the individuals involved...
351
00:37:33,178 --> 00:37:34,529
were ultimately acquitted.
352
00:37:34,629 --> 00:37:37,777
Nevertheless, when the film itself
was imported, it was censored by the customs,
353
00:37:37,877 --> 00:37:42,360
and it has not been screened in Japan
in its complete form.
354
00:37:45,860 --> 00:37:48,888
I'll do anything you want.
355
00:37:50,621 --> 00:37:52,994
Sorry that I wasn't with
you these three days.
356
00:37:57,700 --> 00:38:02,360
I've thought extensively about the
unique nature of the Japanese war film.
357
00:38:02,395 --> 00:38:07,020
This genre would only depict Japanese
characters, but never their enemies.
358
00:38:07,439 --> 00:38:11,940
I thought that it was very essential,
since wars are only possible...
359
00:38:11,975 --> 00:38:14,534
when there is someone to fight with.
360
00:38:15,740 --> 00:38:18,740
In Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,
for the first time,
361
00:38:18,775 --> 00:38:21,015
I depicted the Japanese
and their enemies on par.
362
00:38:22,114 --> 00:38:23,938
Stay back! Stay back!
363
00:39:37,940 --> 00:39:42,092
After that, I left for Paris
and filmed Max, Mon Amour.
364
00:39:42,980 --> 00:39:46,876
Even though that film was made by Oshima,
I am not sure if it should be called Japanese.
365
00:39:47,612 --> 00:39:50,574
Overall, I have the feeling that the
whole concept of national affiliation...
366
00:39:50,583 --> 00:39:52,683
is rather meaningless for a motion picture.
367
00:39:52,828 --> 00:39:55,722
But permit me to turn away from the
first person narration...
368
00:39:55,901 --> 00:39:58,490
and become an objective reporter once again.
369
00:40:41,500 --> 00:40:45,062
You know, I want to quit school.
370
00:40:45,097 --> 00:40:47,234
What? What are you talking about?
371
00:40:48,540 --> 00:40:50,974
Go on with your studies.
You should not quit!
372
00:40:51,660 --> 00:40:54,953
It's a good school. And, after that,
you can go to a state-run university.
373
00:40:55,053 --> 00:40:56,702
How can you not understand
such simple things?
374
00:40:56,901 --> 00:40:58,505
Well, I thought a bit...
375
00:40:58,508 --> 00:41:00,980
You shouldn't think.
I am here to think!
376
00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:04,044
That's why they beat people with baseball bats,
because parents say such things and...
377
00:41:04,144 --> 00:41:07,979
Oh, that's what it is?
So, try to beat me, you little idiot!
378
00:41:16,306 --> 00:41:17,691
What are you doing?
379
00:41:19,131 --> 00:41:20,665
What the hell are you doing?
380
00:41:21,580 --> 00:41:23,281
What are you doing?
Stop behaving like this.
381
00:41:30,663 --> 00:41:34,066
Are you alright?
How can you beat my husband?!
382
00:41:34,142 --> 00:41:36,074
Hey, a cockroach just went in there!
- Where is it?
383
00:41:38,631 --> 00:41:39,778
Shinichi!
- What?
384
00:41:43,220 --> 00:41:49,020
A dinner scene. 4 family members and a private
tutor, all sitting at one side of the table.
385
00:41:49,733 --> 00:41:53,189
We cannot see the kind of dinner table so
common in the films of Ozu and Mizoguchi.
386
00:41:54,068 --> 00:41:56,692
Since the beginning of Japanese cinema, many
film-makers glorified, criticized,
387
00:41:56,792 --> 00:42:00,601
or even tried to overthrow its
main subjects: home and family.
388
00:42:00,799 --> 00:42:05,034
But these notions no longer exist
in the form they used to exist.
389
00:42:05,605 --> 00:42:08,937
In modern Japan, one can only play
with whatever is left of them,
390
00:42:09,301 --> 00:42:11,793
as Yoshimitsu Morita has shown in his film.
391
00:42:18,660 --> 00:42:20,969
Death is a promise of life.
392
00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:36,894
But we haven't been promised a sacred death,
which gives a sacred life.
393
00:42:45,180 --> 00:42:49,731
Therefore, I will show you my death...
394
00:42:55,100 --> 00:42:57,375
so that everyone can live.
395
00:43:22,977 --> 00:43:27,186
Come... and take a close look!
396
00:43:31,620 --> 00:43:32,689
It is death!
397
00:43:37,420 --> 00:43:40,741
The sense of isolation and disappointment among
the young people who feel they don't have
398
00:43:40,841 --> 00:43:44,639
anything in common with each other and the epoch,
has been wonderfully portrayed by Shinji Somai
399
00:43:44,674 --> 00:43:46,648
through his unique approach to long takes.
400
00:44:02,660 --> 00:44:06,340
All the directors which arose after 1980
were born after the war,
401
00:44:06,375 --> 00:44:09,059
and never worked for the studios.
402
00:44:10,580 --> 00:44:12,677
Some practiced filming
while still at school...
403
00:44:12,777 --> 00:44:14,186
using 8mm and 16mm cameras.
404
00:44:14,604 --> 00:44:16,361
Some were assistant directors
for roman porno movies.
405
00:44:16,531 --> 00:44:19,586
Some started in TV commercials.
406
00:44:20,926 --> 00:44:27,494
Furthermore, many actors, authors and musicians
also tried their hand in film direction.
407
00:44:29,500 --> 00:44:33,830
Consciously or not, all of them depict
contemporary Japanese society...
408
00:44:33,930 --> 00:44:39,763
as suffering from the lack of communication
and failing human relationships.
409
00:44:40,170 --> 00:44:45,414
And they create interesting, contemporary works
through their critique of the modern condition.
410
00:44:51,220 --> 00:44:54,785
In his Twinkle, Joji Matsuoka
approaches from a new angle...
411
00:44:54,820 --> 00:44:59,700
an unusual triangular relation of
an alcoholic, her gay husband and his lover,
412
00:44:59,735 --> 00:45:03,060
as they are trying to create
a new type of conjugal living,
413
00:45:03,095 --> 00:45:05,528
different from the traditional notion of home.
414
00:46:11,020 --> 00:46:13,329
You kill people just like this?
415
00:46:15,340 --> 00:46:20,414
If you're so calm killing people, you must
also be calm thinking of your own death.
416
00:46:21,780 --> 00:46:25,295
You're strong.
I really like strong people.
417
00:46:26,377 --> 00:46:28,441
If I were so strong, I wouldn't
have carried a gun with me.
418
00:46:28,701 --> 00:46:30,820
But you probably shoot just like this.
419
00:46:30,855 --> 00:46:32,378
I shoot because I'm afraid.
420
00:46:33,260 --> 00:46:34,932
But you're not afraid of death, right?
421
00:46:36,780 --> 00:46:40,693
If you're too afraid of death,
in the end, you start looking for it.
422
00:46:41,020 --> 00:46:42,214
What are you talking about?
423
00:46:47,020 --> 00:46:51,900
In addition to his highly successful
TV career, the comic actor Beat Takeshi,
424
00:46:51,935 --> 00:46:55,065
who had an episodic role in
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,
425
00:46:55,100 --> 00:46:58,465
also started to make movies under
his real name Takeshi Kitano.
426
00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:01,717
Before, he depicted contemporary society
through glimpses of compulsive cruelty.
427
00:47:02,297 --> 00:47:07,140
But, in Sonatine, he created a calm and
light-hearted image of a middle-aged gangster,
428
00:47:07,175 --> 00:47:12,542
who is prone to violence and unable to
find his place among humans,
429
00:47:12,863 --> 00:47:15,870
and who ultimately escapes
in his own dream world.
430
00:47:43,140 --> 00:47:48,101
In animation and documentary filmmaking,
new artists have also reached...
431
00:47:48,136 --> 00:47:50,810
some highly innovative forms of expression.
432
00:47:55,053 --> 00:47:57,460
But the main change observed
in the contemporary Japanese cinema,
433
00:47:57,495 --> 00:48:00,931
is the appearance of foreign
people living in Japan.
434
00:48:03,820 --> 00:48:06,129
A long time ago,
there was a huge war.
435
00:48:07,940 --> 00:48:11,123
Our fatherland was reduced to slavery,
we were treated like cattle.
436
00:48:12,980 --> 00:48:17,875
My mother came to Japan like you,
to support her family.
437
00:48:18,654 --> 00:48:21,425
She crossed a raging sea...
438
00:48:21,780 --> 00:48:23,330
Did she swim?
439
00:48:25,746 --> 00:48:27,453
It was a ship! A ship.
440
00:48:28,700 --> 00:48:31,817
I am not sure about back then,
but now she's got a lot of money.
441
00:48:32,460 --> 00:48:34,178
My mother worked a lot.
442
00:48:35,340 --> 00:48:39,731
My father was killed by Japanese soldiers,
and my elder brother died of...
443
00:48:42,220 --> 00:48:46,625
Among these so-called "residents",
the Korean population of Japan comprises...
444
00:48:46,660 --> 00:48:51,860
around three quarters of a million. It's
the largest non-Japanese group in the country.
445
00:48:51,895 --> 00:48:57,060
One of those "residents", Yoichi Sai, filmed
All Under the Moon, a bold depiction...
446
00:48:57,095 --> 00:49:01,372
of the uniqueness and universality
of the Korean experience in Japan.
447
00:49:02,500 --> 00:49:07,020
Because the number of foreigners in Japan
grows at a remarkable rate, these changes
448
00:49:07,055 --> 00:49:11,374
will quite certainly produce a strong
impact upon Japanese cinema.
449
00:49:14,300 --> 00:49:18,976
Koni, only I can understand you.
Listen.
450
00:49:21,380 --> 00:49:26,056
A long time ago,
there was a huge war...
451
00:49:26,420 --> 00:49:29,672
I don't want to listen to your
stories anymore!
452
00:49:46,660 --> 00:49:49,973
Where'd you like to go?
- To the Philippines. Manila, please.
453
00:49:50,460 --> 00:49:56,376
Thank you very much for using my services.
I am your driver. My name is Ga.
454
00:50:08,695 --> 00:50:11,487
The first hundred years of Japanese cinema
have been the period of its youth.
455
00:50:11,660 --> 00:50:14,771
It will certainly stay young
for the next hundred years.
456
00:50:15,526 --> 00:50:20,526
And in these hundred years, the Japanese film
will free itself from the spell of Japanese-ness,
457
00:50:21,090 --> 00:50:24,817
and will come abloom as pure cinema.
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