Aaron Gerow's Blog, page 15

2010 Film Industry Statistics

The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) released their statistics for the film industry for 2010. You can compare them to those from 2009.

The results are again good for Japanese film, and a bit better as a whole for the industry compared to last year. Total box office went up 7.1% to 220.7 billion yen (a record), with attendance climbing 3% to 174 million. Japanese films again beat foreign films at the box office 53.6% to 46.4%, their lead declining slightly again but still winning in four out of the last five years. The box office for Japanese films rose only 0.8% to 118 billion yen, which means that the expansion in the industry was largely in foreign films. The total number of films released declined again, from 762 to 716, with the number for Japanese films also declining from 448 to 408. The average ticket price increased by 49 yen to 1266 yen (probably due to 3-D), while the number of screens continued to increase (to 3412 from 3396).

15 Japanese films earned more than 20 billion yen at the 2010 box office, less than the 18 from 2009. Of the top 20 films, 15 were distributed by Toho, with Arrietty, Umizaru 3 The Last Message, Bayside Shakedown 3, One Piece, Pokemon, and part one of Nodame Cantabile being the six to top 40 billion (all were distributed by Toho except for One Piece). Unlike last year, the top film at the BO was not Japanese: Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, and Toy Story 3 all beat Arrietty (though in part through 3-D prices).

The increase in total attendance and BO is a good sign given the economy (and the rise in attendance signals that the increased income is not just coming from overpriced 3-D films). The total BO was the highest on record and attendance the best figure since 1974. The question remains whether this rise is sufficient to satisfy the continued increase in the number of screens. The BO in 2004 was 210 billion, but there were about 600 fewer screens, meaning there is now less income per screen. Income per screen probably increased over last year, but it was likely the multiplexes showing 3-D that took in the bulk share of that increase. In 2004, 1766 of the 2825 screens were in multiplexes (about 63%), but now it is 2774 of 3412 (81%). 2010 saw many reports of mini-theaters specializing in independent or art movies closing down. Multiplexes can spread income per screen over several screens or the larger theater chain, but mini-theaters cannot. Many feel these are dire times for indie and art cinema in Japan, especially since the multiplexes are not showing those films as they once promised to.

The fact that Toho continues its almost monopolistic dominance remains a sign of concern. Shochiku had only 3 films in the top 29 and Toei 5 (Warners had 2). Eiren also noted that sales for DVDs and videos went down about 7.2% (a continuation from last year). DVDs are just not providing that extra income they promised. 

So it was a good and bad 2010: a record-setting year, but with the bounty not being evenly distributed.

Beginning Japanese Film Theory

My current project is to write a book on the history of Japanese film theory. It is a rich and vibrant history, but unfortunately little known not only outside but even inside Japan. I've already published a number of pieces (such as in the Iwanami series) and given talks about it (including one at McGill last week--thanks for the great turnout and the great questions!). 

One of these pieces is another perspective on Gonda Yasunosuke, the early thinker who is also featured in Visions of Japanese Modernity, that I published in an Italian catalogue which arose out of several conferences in Udine. There is actually now a world-wide effort to rethink the history of film theory, one that is spearheaded by the Permanent Seminar in the History of Film Theories, and led by Jane Gaines of Columbia and Francesco Casetti, author of Eye of the Century and my new colleague at Yale. It is trying to move away from film theory history in the singular, and seek out different and alternative histories. The Udine seminars were coordinated by the Permanent Seminar.

The book that was published, Dall'inizio, alla fine, is massive: 592 pages and includes dozens of articles in a variety of languages (most are in English, but there are a lot of French and Italian ones too). It features pieces by many of the great film scholars, especially from Europe: Marc Vernet, Frank Kessler, Trond Lundemo, André Gaudreault, Angela Dalla Vacche, and Roger Odin.

I have an article in it, alongside ones by two of my graduate students at Yale: Naoki Yamamoto and Ryan Cook. Our three articles constitute a mini-introduction to problems in Japanese film theory, and hint at the rich research that will be coming out. (Naoki is working on a dissertation on realist film theory in Japan; Ryan on cinephilia in Japan). Here are our pieces:

Aaron Gerow, "Japanese Film Theory, Gonda Yasunosuke, and Another Film Civilization," pp. 553-560.

Ryan Cook, "A Feeling for Endings: Inagaki Taruho's Miroku as a Memoir of Cinephilia," pp. 561-570.

Naoki Yamamoto, "Experiencing the World through Cinema: Nagae Michitaro and the Bergsonian Approach to Film in Wartime Japan," pp. 571-576.

Here is the bibliographic info for the book:

Dall'inizio, alla fine. Theorie del cinema in prospettiva / In the very beginning, at the very end. Film Theories in Perspective

Edited by Francesco Casetti, Jane Gaines and Valentine Re

Udine: Forum, 2010. ISBN 9788884205988

It seems that only Italian web bookstores are offering it for sale, but here is one in English: DEAstore.

Eiga Geijutsu Best 10 for 2010

I reported on the Kinema junpo Best 10 and on the Mainichi awards, so for an interesting contrast, here are the results of the poll conducted by Eiga geijutsu (Film Art). I used to be one of the selectors, which is enough to tell you the people that vote for their best ten can be an eclectic bunch, including not only film critics, but filmmakers (including some whose films are up for contention!). They sometimes end up picking films of friends or people close to the magazine, but there also a genuine dedication to more independent films compared to the KineJun and Mainichi awards. They also pick the worst films, which actually affects the best poll since "worst" votes are subtracted from "best" votes in the best ten poll. 

Here are the results for 2010:

Best:

1. Heaven's Story (Zeze Takahisa)

2. Doman Seman (Shibata Go)

3. Kore de ii no kashira (Okishima Isao)

4. Partners (Shimomura Masaru)

5. Yellow Kid (Mariko Tetsuya)

6. Sawako Decides (Ishii Yuya)

6. Sankaku (Yoshida Keisuke)

8. 13 Assassins (Miike Takashi)

9. Sketches of Kaitan City (Kumakiri Kazuyoshi)

9. Time Traveller (Masaaki Taniguchi)

9. Boys on the Run (Miura Daisuke)

Worst:

1. Confessions

2. Caterpillar

3. About Her Brother

There's more to the worst list, but I decided to be nice to the filmmakers. You can check out the results in English on Wildgrounds.

Mainichi Film Awards 2010

The Mainichi newspaper has announced the results of the 2010 Mainichi Film Awards (aka the Mainichi Concours):

Best Japanese Film: Villain (Lee Sang-il)

Award of Excellence in Japanese Film: Haru's Journey (Kobayashi Masahiro)

Best Foreign Film: Breathless

Best Director: Miike Takashi (13 Assassins)

Best Screenplay: Sato Yuki (Heaven's Story)

Best Actor: Tsutsumi Shin'ichi (A Lone Scalpel)

Best Actress: Terajima Shinobu (Caterpillar)

Best Supporting Actor: Inagaki Goro (13 Assassins)

Best Supporting Actress: Natsukawa Yui (A Lone Scalpel)

Best New Face Award: Endo Kaname (Yellow Kid), Tokunaga Eira (Haru's Journey)

Tanaka Kinuyo Award: 

Best Cinematography: Kondo Ryuto (Sketches of Kaitan City)

Best Art Direction: Kondo Nariyuki (Abacus and Sword)

Best Music: Jim O'Rourke (Sketches of Kaitan City)

Best Sound: Nakamura Jun (13 Assassins)

Best Technical Award: none

Best Documentary: none

Animation Award: Colorful (Hara Keiichi)

Ofuji Noburo Award: none

Fan Award: Umizaru 3: The Last Message

Special Award: Takamine Hideko

The Mainichi tends to be fairly conservative, but they are one of the few major awards that also focuses on the technical staff and other genres like documentary and animation. This year, however, they seemed reluctant to give out documentary and anime awards. 

You can compare their results to that of Kinema Junpo.

Kinema Junpo Best Ten 2010

The papers and other sites are reporting the results of the Kinema Junpo poll of critics of the best ten films of 2010.

1. Villain

2. Confessions

3. Heaven's Story

4. 13 Assassins

5. Sawako Decides

6. Caterpillar

7. Sword of Desperation

8. The Hero Show

9. Sketches of Kaitan City

10. A Night in Nude: Salvation

11. Abacus and Sword

Here are the individual awards:

Best Director: Lee Sang Il (Villain)

Best Screenplay: Lee Sang Il, Yoshida Shuichi (Villain)

Best Actress: Terajima Shinobu (Caterpillar)

Best Actor: Toyokawa Etsushi (Sword of Desperation, A Good Husband)

Best Supporting Actress: Ando Sakura (A Crowd of Three, etc.)

Best Supporting Actor: Emoto Akira (Villain)

Best New Actress: Sakuraba Nanami (Last Ronin, etc.)

Best New Actor: Ikuta Toma (No Longer Human, etc.)

The KineJun Best Ten list is the oldest and in general the most respected film award in Japan. It tends to be rather middle-of-the-road, however, since it is chosen by established and in general older and more conservative film critics. The Eiga geijutsu Best Ten, which I used to help select, tends to be more radical, and the Japan Academy Prize very suspect, since it is structurally biased towards the major studios. This year's KineJun list, however, has some surprises, especially Zeze Takahisa's very long and very independent film Heaven's Story.

Takamine Hideko

Deko-chan has passed away (here's one story), and with it, a brilliant life in cinema.

Takamine Hideko was always one of my favorite Japanese actresses. As a child star, she was as adorable as could be, as a teenager, as cute as could be, and as an adult, as beautiful as could be. She was a remarkably versatile actress, one who quickly transitioned from precocious children in films by Ozu Yasujiro (Tokyo Chorus), to cute girls in Makino Masahiro (Awa no odoriko or Hanako-san), to dramatic powerhouse in Yamamoto Kajiro (Tsuzurikata kyoshitsu or Uma) -- all before she even hit age 15. As an adult, she was most famous for the dramatic works of Kinoshita Keisuke (Twenty-Four Eyes) and Naruse Mikio (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs; her face at the end of Midareru is one of the most powerful visages in film history and graces the front page of Catherine Russell's The Cinema of Naruse Mikio), but we should not forget her great talent for comedy (playing a stripper in Kinoshita's Carmen Comes Home or a conniving housewife in the satirical Fuzen no tomoshibi) and for singing (Ginza kankan musume). She seemingly could do everything, and do it with resolve and bright inner strength. After retiring as an actress, she even excelled as a witty essayist, publishing nearly a dozen books. 

She will be missed, both publicly and personally.

This is Deko-chan singing "Ginza kankan musume":

Three New Japanese Film Books

I was glad to recently receive in the mail some excellent books on cinema from colleagues in Japan. They represent some of the best work being done on film or image theory, so I wanted to introduce them here.

Gendai eiga shisoron no yukue 現代映画思想論の行方

Edited by Yamada Kohei 山田幸平

Koyo Shobo 晃洋書房, 2010.

This is an anthology featuring some of my colleagues from the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences, including Yamada Kohei, Kondo Kojin, Toyohara Masatomo, Nagata Shozo, and Sasagawa Keiko.  The book features essays on a wide variety of topics, including Benjamin, Joyce, Okamoto Kihachi, Ozu, Hanada Kiyoteru, Kurosawa Akira, Japanese art animation, Oshii Mamoru, Miyazaki Hayao, Woody Allen, Angelopoulos, Indian mythical cinema, and film music.  

You can order it through the Japanese Amazon. 

Eiga to iu tekunoroji keiken 映画というテクノロジー経験

By Hase Masato 長谷正人

Seikyusha 青弓社, 2010

This is collection of some of the articles by a good friend at Waseda University, Hase Masato. (He is currently supervising the Japanese translation of my Visions of Japanese Modernity.) It starts with an archaeology of cinema focusing on the Lumiere Brothers and then continues thinking about technology through the films of Yamanaka Sadao, Makino Masahiro, Miyazaki Hayao, Howard Hawks, and Chaplin. Another section focuses on the issue of fiction, first from the perspective of censorship and then through D.W. Griffith. A final section considers the issue of time and memory in Ozu, Coppola, and others.

You can also get this through Amazon.

Itagaki Takaho: Kurashikku to modan 板垣鷹穂　クラシックとモダン

Edited by Omuka Toshiharu 五十殿利治

Shinwasha 森話社, 2010

This is not strictly a film book, but an anthology on an important Japanese theorist of modern art, Itagaki Takaho, who for a time also wrote a lot about cinema as a new machine art. Properly an art historian who specialized in the Renaissance, his visit to Europe in the 1920s prompted him to seriously consider the influence of machines like the motion picture camera on art. His activities went beyond thinking and extended to collaborations with modern photographers like Horino Masao. The essay by Iwamoto Kenji is the only one in the book directly on Itagaki's film writings, but all together the articles provide a fascinating view of an important theorist. 

Also get this through the Japanese Amazon.

Aoyama Shinji and Fifty Contemporary Film Directors

One of the few in-depth, analytical essays on Aoyama Shinji in English was my essay in Yvonne Tasker's Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers (Routledge, 2002). Recently Routledge decided to put out a second edition, so I had the opportunity to not only update, but also improve the essay. The first time around I was given a strict word limit and probably did not succeed as well as I could have in accounting in that short space for not only his films but also his theoretical writings. A few years' distance and an understanding Yvonne, however, provided me with the room to better explain the complexity of his ideas. I was very thankful for the chance to rewrite it. This is definitely a better account of his work. Finally the second edition is now available under the new title of Fifty Contemporary Film Directors. Check it out if you can.

Godzilla and Whaling

I caught this piece of news via AmericaBlog (the original article is here).

Apparently, the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group is now going to confront Japanese whaling ships using a boat called Gojira, after the big lizard himself (whom I've written about in the In Godzilla's Footsteps anthology). Now, I have problems with whaling myself, and think Japan's pursuit of whaling through "scientific research" is a crock. And perhaps using the Godzilla name - especially the Japanese version of that name - is one way of really thumbing your nose at Japanese hypocrisy. 

But I was really disturbed when I saw the image that emblazons the new boat: it is not that of the Japanese Godzilla, but of the American remake from 1998. If it was the Japanese Godzilla, it could serve as a sly reminder that Godzilla does not attack Japan simply because it's a radioactive beast, but because it's a Japanese god that goes after Japan when it has somehow strayed from its natural path (or so intimates the old islander in the original film). 

Maybe there were copyright problems, but we have to think about the meanings separate from that. With the American Godzilla on the boat, it is not only emphasizing that this is America (the Sea Shepherd group is based in the US, even if the ship is Australian) attacking Japan, it is asserting that it can appropriate Japanese ways, warp them to its own interests, and then force them down their throats. And of course along the way forget that Godzilla was originally also a critique of American power (and use of the bomb). It's a classic neo-colonialist mentality, one that here appropriates nature as something the West really values and imposes it on everyone else. No wonder most Japanese (who also dislike the US Godzilla) hate the Sea Shepherd. 

In the same way I talked about the controversy over The Cove, this is not the way to engage in real debate about the environment and conservation.

Studying Japanese Film in North America

It's that time of year when students are preparing applications for college or graduate school. Perhaps it is a bit too late for people to get started on the process, but I thought I would present an update of my old list of places to study Japanese film in North America. It is not complete by any means, and each university offers different programs. Some are specialized in East Asian cinema, some are just general film studies or Japan studies programs. Some offer doctoral degrees, some only masters, some only undergraduate degrees. Basically, the list is composed of those universities with a recognized Japanese film specialist. It can change as new people appear, and others move and fade away. In fact, there are a couple of places not on the list this time because of such faculty changes.

These are in alphabetical order, except that I put my program first.

Yale University (we have a separate PhD program in East Asian cinema)

Arizona State University (Sybil Thornton)

Carleton University (Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano)

Columbia University (Hikari Hori)

Concordia University (Catherine Russell,
Marc Steinberg)

University of Florida (Maureen Turim, Scott
Nygren, Joe Murphy)

University of Kansas (Michael Baskett)

McGill University (Tom LaMarre, Yuriko
Furuhata)

University of Michigan (Mark Nornes)

University of Minnesota (Christine Marran)

University of Oregon (Daisuke Miyao)

University of Rochester (Joanne Bernardi)

University of Southern California (Akira Lippit, Anne McKnight)

University of Toronto (Eric Cazdyn)

There are a number of universities that are in flux or currently running searches that could result in a Japanese film scholar being added to the faculty. Places like Chicago, Irvine, and Berkeley may thus also be worth a look.

I've also written about places to study film in Japan.