Midnight Eye.

August is a bit early to start dropping loaded hints in the company of friends and family about a first draft of your Christmas list, but you might want to note now that October sees the release of book put together by Midnight Eye editors Tom Mes and Jaspar Sharp bearing the straightforward title The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film. Their recent newsletter promises, "In-depth chapters are devoted to such great names as Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike, Shinya Tsukamoto, Studio Ghibli, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and many, many more. Jasper and Tom also take a close look at more than 100 unmissable films by these and other great filmmakers." Which, of course, will lead to more and longer lists for years to come.

In the current issue, Katsuhito Ishii, whose new film, A Taste of Tea was screened at the Director's Fortnight in Cannes, tells Kuriko Sato about his influences and: "The animation sequence I did for Kill Bill was extremely violent and I put all my violent feelings and desires into it. So all of those feelings inside me were exorcised by Kill Bill and I think that's the reason why Taste of Tea became such a warmhearted film. I'm happy that things unfolded in this way."

Tom Mes:

Yusaku Matsuda is a phenomenon. His early death in 1989 at the age of forty has given him the kind of idolised immortality that the rest of the world bestows upon the likes of James Dean, Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee. The comparison with these giants is valid in more ways than one. Matsuda had a bit of all three: looks, acting range, cool machismo and a flair for action.

Yet, Matsuda remains a virtual unknown outside his home country.

Jaspar Sharp's "Round-Up" this issue is a sure-fire eyeball magnet: "Pink film (pinku eiga) is the name of the genre of independent softcore erotic program pictures that have been produced for the big screen in vast numbers in Japan since the early 60s."

Sharp also writes the book review, and his choice, consciously or not, resonates - particularly so soon after Hiroshima Day: Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: Japanese Film Under the American Occupation, 1945 - 1952.

Reviews:

• Tom Mes on Shinya Tsukamoto's Vital (screening in September in Toronto): "[H]is search is for our individual personality and where in our bodies we might find it."
• Roland Domenig on Akio Jissoji's This Transient Life, "the most controversially discussed film at the FIPRESCI conference about 'Eroticism and Violence in Cinema' in Milan in October 1970. However, for some unfathomable reason the film soon fell into oblivion and is still waiting to be rediscovered as one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema."
• Mes again, this time Yasuharu Hasebe's Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, also from 1970: "Impeccably stylised and undeniably cool."

Don't forget to check the Calendar for upcoming events and DVD releases.

Posted by dwhudson at August 9, 2004 1:45 PM