25 September — 16 December 2015
Japanese cinema is regarded as one of the most important film cultures in world cinema, with figureheads such as Yasujirō Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. However, there are many more directors who contributed to the surprising versatility of Japanese film. Among them, for example, Mikio Naruse, still virtually unknown in the Netherlands, who - like Ozu - shows himself to be a master in depicting seemingly ordinary lives.
Those curious about what makes Japanese film so unique is in for a treat at Eye this autumn. With an overview of more than forty titles, we provide insight into more than ninety years of fascinating film history, from the early twentieth century to the present day.
Mūbii Japan (“Mūbii” is phonetically Japanese for “movie”) proves that the scope of Japanese film is wider than the list of household names. The programme - with the theme of tragic love as its leitmotiv - is a voyage of discovery through Japanese film history.
As a prelude to an independent retrospective taking place in 2017, Eye pays attention to the films of Mikio Naruse (1905-1969), whose main theme is that of tragic love. Like Ozu, Naruse was fascinated by the lives of ordinary Japanese people, whose stories he told in sober, poignant films. His stories mainly focus on the role of women in modern Japan and are still of interest to contemporary Japanese directors. “His films show that people are fallible, but Naruse does not condemn them,” says Hirokazu Kore-eda (Like Father, Like Son) of the director he admires.
In recent years, a number of Japanese film companies have energetically opened up their treasure troves. For example, Shochiku - the studio for which Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kinoshita worked - restored of a number of Ozu's colour films and his classic Tokyo Story (1953). Eye screens 4k digital restorations of The Story of The Last Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939), Nagisa Ōshima's Naked Youth (1960) and Ran (1985) by Akira Kurosawa (Dutch premieres).
Those who want to know more about Japanese cinema can follow a series of lectures in Eye, spanning eight Monday evenings. The lectures provide an overview of the history of Japanese cinema from the early twentieth century to the present day. Lectures are followed by film screenings from the Mūbii Japan programme. Lectures are by Ivo Smits (Leiden University) and Dick Stegewerns (University of Oslo).
This fall, Eye will present several premieres of Japanese films such as Hirokazu Kore-eda's Our Little Sister and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Journey to the Shore. Kurosawa is considered one of the most prolific contemporary Japanese filmmakers; he previously directed the psychological horror films Cure (1997) and Kairo (2001) and the atmospheric Bright Future (2004).
To accompany the premiere of Our Little Sister, Eye will screen a selection from the work of one of the most important contemporary Japanese filmmakers, Hirokazu Kore-eda (1962). Kore-eda studied literature and made several (award-winning) documentaries for Japanese television. His first feature Maborosi (1995) won awards at the Venice and Chicago film festivals. The director likes to work with non-professional actors and sometimes mixes fiction with documentary recordings. Family, in particular the absence of relatives, is an important theme in his work, also in his latest film. Kore-eda is often compared to Ozu, he himself considers his work more related to that of Mikio Naruse and the English director Ken Loach.
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