Midnight Eye. Indies.

The indie theme (for momentary lack of a better name; more below) runs throughout the three main features of the new issue of Midnight Eye:

• Jaspar Sharp interviews Kunihiko Tomioka, a former screenwriter and now a producer and co-manager of Planet Studyo +1 in Osaka, something of a launching pad for a generation of filmmakers currently breaking through internationally.

• That interview segues nicely into Sharp's overview of "the field of jishu eiga, or to give it its full term, jishu seisaku eiga. It's tempting to describe these films as 'independent' productions, though the term literally means 'self-produced,' or self-made... Though cynics might find these 'home movies' unworthy of their interest, it is worth remembering that many of today's name directors emerged from this scene, either through their early experimentations with video or, during the 70s and 80s especially, 8mm or 16mm." Kunihiko Tomioka has a hand in two events vital to the scene, Cineastes Organization Osaka EX and the Cinetribe Festival; the PIA Film Festival is "arguably one of the most important events in the jishu eiga calendar."

• And it's the offerings there that shape Sharp and Jason Gray's roundup of eleven short reviews.

Other reviews:

• Sharp on Sadao Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons, "one of the most important" DVD releases of the year.

• Sharp on Masaki Mori's Barefoot Gen, surely one of the most important re-releases of the year.

• Tom Mes on Yoshimitsu Morita's Umineko (Inseparable), but also on the wave its riding of "pure love" sagas.

• Mes: "All things considered, Outlaw Masters of Japanese Films offers a handful of good introductory pieces on overlooked directors, fourteen very fine interviews and plenty of pointers to tantalising titles, but it does leave you with a lingering sense of unfulfilled potential."

Posted by dwhudson at September 23, 2005 10:38 AM