Directorama: Ozu, Ford & Kurosawa (and Ichikawa?)
This may be my favorite strip so far in Peet Gelderblom's comic "Directorama," which is being serialized at The House Next Door. In case you haven't been following it, and you should (see Webcomics Nation for the whole series), it's described as a weekly chronicle of "the afterlife of a pantheon of legendary directors.
Their mission: To inspire the film-makers carrying the torch back on Earth." After hearing today that Japanese director Kon Ichikawa ("Fires on the Plain," "The Burmese Harp," "An Actor's Revenge") had died today at age 92, I imagined him standing just outside these frames...
From Alexander Jacoby's essay on Ichikawa at senses of cinema"
Of the few Japanese directors who command an international reputation, Kon Ichikawa remains perhaps the least known and the least well understood.... While Ichikawa's work lacks the obvious integrity of Ozu's, Mizoguchi's or Kurosawa's, its outward variety belies an overall unity, revealed as one probes (in Tom Milne's phrase) “beneath the skin.”
In fact, Ichikawa worked under somewhat different conditions from the other acknowledged masters of Japanese cinema. The commercial pressures he faced appear to have been rather stronger: it is on record that several projects (including one of his most famous, "An Actor's Revenge") were imposed on him by the studio in revenge for the failure of his more personal works to make a profit. Yet he managed, at the same time, to stamp his personality on diverse material. An obvious comparison is with Howard Hawks, whose comedies, which focus on the battle of the sexes, are often described as the thematic obverse of his action films, about camaraderie in an almost exclusively male world. Ichikawa, similarly, divided his films into “light” and “dark”, a division which has some justice –- though my own preferred categories would be “ironic” and “sentimental”.
Comments
I'd been occasionally looking at those whenever they'd be posted on The House Next Door, but seeing that one yesterday inspired me to go back and read them all. They're really quite good, and Gelderblom also has another movie-centric comic he did last year, the INLAND EMPIRE one being a favorite.
I also didn't hear about Ichikawa until reading your post, but most outlets wouldn't find that news of interest of course.
Posted by: NTinsley | February 13, 2008 11:58 PM
Jim, thanks for the words on Ichikawa. NTinsley is right: there hasn't been as much heard about him upon his death as I would have expected, given that he is still held in high regard by most cinephiles who supposedly can tell the difference between Ozu and Kurosawa. My own favorite Ichikawa film is probably The Makioka Sisters, but what I wouldn't give to see Tokyo Olympiad on the big screen. Ichikawa was always a favorite in my in-laws' house too-- not that they were familiar with his films, but because he occasionally appeared as a judge on the very popular New Year's Eve competition variety program beaming live from Japan that we watch every year. Imagine my surprise, and delight, the first time I saw him introduced, with the occasional cutaway to him happily nodding his head at an outrageous costume or delightful enka performance.
And speaking of Peet, have you got your Directorama T-shirt yet?
Posted by: Dennis Cozzalio | February 14, 2008 01:43 PM
This post was also the first I heard about Mr. Ichikawa's passing. It's too bad too, perhaps if a blurb had shown up on CNN, few few people's interests would have been piqued and maybe they would have made a stop in the foreign section of their local Blockbuster. Probably wishful thinking. My introduction to Ichikawa came incidentally, not because of my interest in foreign films but because of my interest in the 10,000 meter finals of the 1964 olympic games. I bought Tokyo Olympiad for that sole purpose, and it remains one of my favorite documentaries and the most beautiful film about athletics I've ever seen.
Posted by: RBusse | February 14, 2008 03:28 PM
I love Directorama and think Peet's a great guy so no one (especially Peet) take this the wrong way, but am I the only who thinks Hank Hill is standing in for John Ford in the above strip?
Posted by: Jonathan Lapper | February 14, 2008 09:26 PM
And he loses me with the strip where Ed Wood is the devil. Bah, I say.
Posted by: Evan Waters | February 15, 2008 01:37 PM
Thanks for this honorable mention, Jim! (And sorry for this late reaction.)
Jonathan: Duh, of course Hill is standing in for John Ford! What was I to do? Revive the dead?
Evan: I didn't *actually* condemn Ed Wood to hell. Directorama is just a metaphor to investigate the filmic canon. Wether you and I agree with it or not, Wood is often referred to as the worst director of all time (just like Welles is often perceived to be the best). I would be a bad satirist if I didn't use that general assumption to point out a far worse example. I'm actually glad if people react the way you do. This strip should provoke reaction, not supply clear-cut answers.
Posted by: Peet Gelderblom | February 17, 2008 06:40 AM
Aaah, that's sad. I just recently discovered "The Burmese Harp". A beautiful film. "Fire on the Plain" is one that I have coming to me.
Go Peet - hilarious sir, hilarious. I love the Japanese cinema.
On a side note.
I did finally get "Sanshiro the Bailiff" in the mail. I really liked it, but the film felt strange to me. It felt torn. Like it wanted to show more of Sansho and less of the main characters' struggles. Then I watched some of the interviews. The one that interested me the most was with the 1st AD.
He spoke about how during the writing process the studio pushed the director's hand to make it more about the tragic tale of the brother and sister and less about Sanshiro. And the feeling that I had while watching the film was confirmed.
Great movie, but I think I was more affected by "Ugetsu".
Posted by: Phillip Kelly | February 18, 2008 02:01 AM