Style and aesthetics in Asian Cinema

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Style and aesthetics in Asian Cinema

• counter-cinema to Hollywood
• local, traditional aesthetics?
• different production system
• David Bordwell filmmaker working within local
  constraints, historical analysis
• different styles within the same country
  historical change, studio productons vs.
  independent production, individual filmmaker
  style
• for ex. early Japanese cinema and live benshi
  narrator
• international film festival/art cinema style

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Genre in Japanese cinema

• Jidaigeki
• Samurai film
• Chambara (silent cinema)
• Any historical film with a topic of prior 1868
  (Meiji Revolution)

• Gendaigeki
• Any film situated in time after 1868
• Meiji-mono 1868-19
• Different genres within gendaigeki
• Yakuza film as a continuation of jidaigeki

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Japanese film industry 1960s

• Studios (most vertically integrated)
• Shochiku
• Daiei
• Toho
• Shin-Toho 1948-61
• Toei, est. 1951 gt double-bills, 1958-61 Dai-ni
  Toei subdivision
• Nikkatsu reopened 1954

• Indies
• ATG - Art Theater Guild 1961 co-prod. with
  directors
• Iwanami Productions
• Imamura Productions
• Etc.

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Ozu Yasujiro 1903-63Noel Burch counter to
HollywoodDavid Bordwell modernist art cinema

• Dragnet Girl
• Passing Fancy
• Tokyo Story
• Early Spring
• Late Summer
• Ohayo
• Equinox Flower

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Continuity editing

• http//classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/180
  .gif

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Ozu and 360 degree space low camera angle
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Japan Nouvelle Vague 1960s

• New post-war filmmakers Kon Ichikawa, Kihachi
  Okamoto, Kaneto Shindo, Kinji Fukasaku, Koji
  Wakamatsu, Juzo Kawashima
• youth culture 1950s Nikkatsus taiyozoku (sun
  tribe) for ex. Yujiro Ishihara films, Daieis
  sex films, Toeis yakuza films
• Production peaked in 1959 with 547 films/yr
• Political situation ANPO demonstrations 1960
  (also 1970) against The US-Japan Security Treaty,
  student movement old vs. new left

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Nagisa Oshima

• Town of Love and Hope/Ai to kibo no machi, 1959
• Cruel Story of Youth/Seishun zankoku monogatari,
  1960
• Death by Hanging/Koshikei, 1968
• Ceremony/Gishiki, 1971
• Empire of senses/Ai no koriida, 1976
• Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, 1983
• Taboo/Gohatto, 1999

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Contemporary Japanese cinema

• Family Game/Kazoku gemu, dir. Yoshimitsu Morita,
  1983
• Family satire

• Production
• traditional studios (Toho, Shochiku, Daei, Toei,
  Nikkatsu)
• film committee productions
• Tv channel backed up productions
• true indies
• (anime)

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Kore-eda Hirokazu

• Maborosi, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1995
• Wonderful life/After-Life, 1998
• Distance, 2001
• Still Walking 2008
• Air Doll, 2009

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New new wave of the1990s

• 1990s new directors
• Hirokazu Koreeda
• Shinji Aoyama
• Takeshi Kitano
• Takashi Miike
• Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Shinya Tsukamoto
• Nobuhiro Suwa
• Yoichi Sai
• Jun Ichikawa
• Makoto Shinozaki
• Akihito Shiota
• Toshiyuki Toyoda
• Shiori Kazama

• 1980s predecessors
• Yoshimitsu Morita
• Sogo Ishii
• Mitsuo Yanagimachi
• Shinji Somai
• Shun Nakahara
• Juzo Itami
• Nobuhiko Obayashi
• Kaizo Hayashi
• Shunichi Nagasaki
• Go Riju
• Shion Sono
• Hitoshi Yazaki

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New directors

• Kitano Takeshi, Sonatine
• new jidaigeki Ishii, Sogo Gojoe
• Tsui Hark, Blade
• Ishii, Takashi Gonin
• sentimental comedy Otoko wa tsurai yo (aka
  Tora-san series) 1970-1998, 48 films

• Ichikawa, Kon Makioka Sisters/Sasameyuki (Syksyn
  tuulet), 1983

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J-Indie vs. blockbuster

• Pia Film Festival PFF
• Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
• Skip City D-Cinema Festival
• Irie, Yu SR Saitama Rapper, 2009

• often TV channel bacup, based on a popular tv
  drama
• Aibo (TV cop drama)
• Otokotachi no Yamato (war)

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Korean new wave

• Society change
• Film industry change
• New filmmakers/new style/new audience?
• Global media scene - how to make new kind of
  commerical cinema? - planned filmmaking
• Film finance
• Standard of production
• 3. Film policy
• 4. Distribution and exhibition

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South Korea history

• 1910-45 Japanese occupation
• 1950-53 Korean war
• 1961-79 Park Chung Hee
• 1979 Park assassinated
• 1980, 1987 Brief democratic periods
• 1980 Kwangju massacre
• 1980- military government, Chun Doo Hwan
• 1988 Seoul Olympics
• 1993 First civil president Kim Young-sam
• 1996 Chun Doo Hwan Roh Tae Woo to court
• 1997 Economic downfall

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Film historical events

• Motion Picture Law, 1962, from artisanal to
  studio system, reduce studios to 16
• 1966 import quota all theaters have to show 146
  days Korean films (now 73) gt quota quickies,
  ended 1992
• Ban on Japanese films
• Censorship law
• 1960s-70s dir. Kim Ki-young Housemaid, Iodo

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Im Kwon-taek

• 99 films since 1962
• Mandala, 1980
• Gilsodom, 1985
• Sopyonje, 1993
• Taebak Mountains, 1994
• Chunhyang, 2000
• Chihwaseon, 2002

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Film industry

• 1980s, early 90s domestic film box office income
  20 1999 it was 50
• Early 1990s investments by chaebols (conglomarate
  companies) Samsung, Daewoo, LG, SKC etc. 1992
  Marriage Story (Samsung)
• Late 1990s mid-size media companies CJ
  Entertainment, Congyang Group
• CJ Entertainment, Cinema Service (these 2 60 of
  films) and Kang Je-kyu Film enter around 2000
  big budget films
• UNO Film, East Film, Free Cinema, Myung Film
  smaller budget films

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South Korea film industry

• 1980s new generation filmmakers Jang Sun-woo,
  Park Kang-su etc., film schools
• 1996 from pre-censorship to rating system
• Birth of blockbuster hit Shiri, 1999, dir. Kang
  Je-kyu
• 1990s 386 Generation
• Korean stars, stories with strong central
  characters
• Younger audience as the target grups
• 1998 first multiplex theater
• Film festivals Korean film at intl festivals,
  festivals in Korea Pusan (rt cinem, for ex. Kim
  Ki-duk), PIFAN Film Promotion Fund, Korean Film
  Commission
• U.S. remake rights bought

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