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Changing Tastes Puts Column on Hiatus
I cannot express how many emails I’ve received asking
me why my weekly updates are becoming monthly updates
for Asian Film. Well in truth I’ve received no emails
but the lack of columns fills me with guilt. Every
week it is difficult to write about Asian film not
because I’m lazy or out of ideas but rather I’ve
discovered that my huge interest in Asian film is
slowly receding. For the past 2 years, I’ve been
intensively going through Japanese films from
1950-1980 with the occasional contemporary Japanese
film as well as films from other parts of Asia. For
much of that time, the amount of Asian films that I
watched weekly greatly out numbered those from
America.
Its was beautiful to spend such a long time with
Akira Kurosawa, Seijun Suzuki, Kinji Fukasaku, Takeshi
Kitano, Wong Kar-Wai and so many other Asian
directors. I really got a feel for these directors’
artistic intentions and outlook on living.
OUT WITH THE OLD... IN WITH THE NEW... I remain compelled and inspired by Herzog for now, I
shall return once more to this column when I seek
escapism from the cinema.
Unfortunately, my column began after already watching
most of these directors’ films or at least those that
are available in the United States. I could watch
their films again each week to re-inspire the love I
had for the films I saw, but my desire is to move on.
I don’t buy every film I see and even those I buy I
often do not re-watch for many months and some
viewings are over a year apart.
Recently my gaze has turned to the directors of the
New German Cinema specifically R.W. Fassbinder and
Werner Herzog. How long I plan to stick with their
extensive body of work I cannot say, perhaps I may
even return my focus to Asian film in one month’s
time. However, right now I cannot even pretend to want
to watch a Japanese film, Werner Herzog is to blame
for that. This is not to say that I am dismissing the
entire output of films from Japan throughout the
existence of film but right now I have no desire to
accept their motives of filmmaking and thereby
undertake the act of viewing a Japanese film. Perhaps
I am naïve and there is a filmmaker just like Werner
Herzog in Japan’s long list of directors. In fact, I’m
sure that I am overlooking someone but here I remain
absolutely apathetic towards watching Asian film. The
Japanese new wave represented for me a break from the
focus on optical and computer generated special
effects that film making has unfortunately only
continued to focus on more with each passing year.
These Japanese directors seemed more interested in
creating illusion through the camera and on sets
alone. They would modify sounds to create an emotional
effect (Yasuharu Hasebe), violent tilt and shake the
camera to create the gut wrenching impact of violence
(Kinji Fukasaku), create lush and colorful sets filled
with extreme characters (Seijun Suzuki). It was very
recently that I seriously delved into Herzog’s work
and I found the absolute truth represented in his
films. I could believe what I was seeing and realized
that these new wave directors may have been using
different and more believable tricks than the effects
of today but it was still all deception. Through
Herzog, I felt completely confident that if he were to
show me a hypnotized chicken that he had figured out
how to actually do this and capture it on camera. If
Herzog shows me tens of thousands of windmills all
nestled within a valley then he had gone out there and
found this on foot. The effort and preparation and on
occasion danger that are brought to a Herzog film are
felt simply through the viewing of the film. This
feeling is fulfilling in a way that no other style of
the cinema can match. Herzog’s body of work has sent
me this one simple message: truth beats tricks any
day.
"Asian Film Update" is ©2005 by Peter Card. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2005 by Nolan B. Canova.