Tokyo P71 FILM 22/10/2013 15:38 Page 71
Film Language options English-speakers are well catered for in Japan’s alternative cinema scene. Take some consummate direction from Alex Dudok de Wit on the best arthouse venues
Beyond Kurosawa Want to delve a little deeper into Japanese cinema than ‘Seven Samurai’? Start here… ‘A Page of Madness’ (‘Kurutta ippêji’) by Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926 Eerie set design, maddeningly fast editing and a touch of German expressionism bring this hallucinatory tale of mental decline to life. The first masterpiece of Japanese cinema. ‘Profound Desires of the Gods’
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The Big Meowski Shibuya’s Uplink is a cinephile’s paradise
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ead anything by Donald Richie, the late critic responsible for introducing Japanese cinema to the West, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the country stopped making good films around 1975. Richie had little time for contemporary directors, opining that the advent of TV had all but killed off innovation in Japan’s film industry. While this view unfairly downplays the rise of indie filmmaking in the ’90s, from which sprang the likes of Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike, the stagnation of once-mighty studios today certainly suggests an industry past its prime. A handful of venues scattered across Tokyo are doing their best to dispel this notion. Leading the fight is Uplink, whose 40-seater cinema (billed as the smallest in Japan) hosts eclectic cultural events and arthouse screenings such as J-rock gigs and workshops for budding filmmakers. Its yearly Uplink Factory Selection festival is aimed at the expat looking to get stuck into Japan’s contemporary cinema – a selection of films, many unavailable on DVD, are screened with English subtitles. Around the corner is the Image Forum, bastion of Tokyo’s avant-garde screen culture, which specialises in experimental and animated films (some of Richie’s rare shorts have even been shown here). Also worth a
‘Profound Desires of the Gods’ (‘Kamigami no fukaki yokubo’) by Shohei Imamura, 1968 A strait-laced civil engineer heads to the Okinawan archipelago on business and falls in with a strange crowd of local shamans. A sort of Japanese ‘The Wicker Man’.
visit, for international indie films, is Cinema Rise – where foreign students (with ID) enjoy a discount. If Shibuya is the hub of cutting-edge Japanese cinema, the National Film Center in Kyobashi is the industry’s old custodian. This is where film fans flock to see retrospectives from all eras (check ahead for subtitles). From here it’s a hop to Yurakucho Asahi Hall, home of the wonderful Tokyo Filmex festival (NovDec), where the emphasis is on contemporary East Asian cinema in general (all subtitled in English). For the adventurous, a ride on the Chuo Line from Shinjuku to Kichijoji is a must. At almost every stop there is an offbeat little cinema –Laputa in
FUMIE SUZUKI/TIME OUT
Uplink’s auditorium is the smallest in Japan
Asagaya and Theater Pole-Pole in Higashi-Nakano are our favourites. And if you still need convincing, ride the train on to Mitaka, where the everpopular Ghibli Museum is a reminder that, as far as animation goes, Japanese cinema still leads the world. Uplink, 2F, 37-18 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya. www.uplink.co.jp. Theatre Image Forum, 2-10-2 Shibuya, Shibuya. 03 5766 0114. Cinema Rise: 13-17 Udagawacho, Shibuya. www.cinemarise.com. National Film Center: 3-7-6 Kyobashi, Chuo. www.momat.go.jp/english/nfc. Yurakucho Asahi Hall: 11F Yurakucho Mullion, 2-5-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda. www.filmex.net/2013. For upcoming events and showtimes see timeout.com/tokyo
‘Minamata’ (‘Minamata: kanjasan to sono sekai’) by Noriaki Tsuchimoto, 1971 In the ’50s, toxic wastewater pumped into the Minamata sea by a chemical factory led to thousands of cases of horrific mercury poisoning. This guerrilla documentary follows the victims’ quest for compensation. ‘Shara’ by Naomi Kawase, 2003 The films of Japan’s foremost female director throb with a quiet spirituality. It’s in this movie, about a family’s reaction to the disappearance of their son, that her Buddhist worldview is most apparent. Contemporary Japanese cinema at its most subtle. ‘Mind Game’ (‘Maindo geemu’) by Masaaki Yuasa, 2004 This ambitious animated feature came out of nowhere in 2004, making a star of director Masaaki Yuasa. The plot is typical gangster anime fare, but the rough aesthetic and random fusion of animation styles are completely fresh.
For your full, up-to-the-minute guide to Tokyo visit www.timeout.com/tokyo 71
