The Generous Range of Variety and Richness in Contemporary Japanese Films.

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Byline: Shinada Yukichi

In 2003, a host of events were held around the world to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the film director Ozu Yasujiro, whose popularity and esteemed reputation overseas rival those of Kurosawa Akira. The screening of Ozu works and a symposium hosted by the New York Japan Society were said to be quite a success. In Japan as well, symposiums were held on the subject of Ozu's work, and the 30-some films still extant were shown at screenings and aired on television.

Japanese directors including Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi Kenji and Naruse Mikio have been critically acclaimed internationally. They have all passed on, but when calling to mind film directors that are professionally active today, one cannot fail to mention Kitano Takeshi.

Kitano directed and starred in Zatoichi, a samurai film about a blind warrior, and took the Special Director's Award at La Beinnale di Venezia in 2003. Under the stage name, "Beat Takeshi," he is among the celebrity elite in Japan as both a stand-up comedian and TV personality. In 1988, he made his directorial debut with Sono Otoko Kyobo ni Tsuki (Violent Cop) and created a stir with his depictions of ruthless violence. Over the past 15 years, he has directed 11 films, including his most recent work Zatoichi. He was awarded the Golden Lion at La Biennale de Venezia in 1998 for HANA-BI. In 2001, he directed BROTHER, a collaborative work by Japanese and British production companies, filmed on location on the West Coast of the United States.

As one can easily guess from his record of commendations, Kitano is a renowned Japanese director in Europe. Whatever the reason, be it the success of Zatoichi at Venice or the film's popularity in Japan, an article on Kitano appeared in the Asian edition of Time magazine. (A Time magazine writer came from Hong Kong to interview me at length, and I explained the distinguishing characteristics of Kitano's movies.) The problem for Kitano, who had directed 10 works prior to Zatoichi, was that although his movies were critically acclaimed, they were not commercially successful. Zatoichi, however, would become Kitano's first box office hit. It is said that investors' confidence in Kitano will rise substantially from now on. Last year, in the Nikkan Sports Movie Award film competition sponsored by the Japanese sports daily, Nikkan Sports, Kitano was awarded the grand prize in the director's category. He said at the award ceremony, "Because this movie was a hit, I think it will be easier for me to make movies in the future."

Japanese movies have maintained an upward trend in the past decade. Ten years ago, the number of moviegoers was about 130 million annually, but in 2003, that figure rose to around 160 million.