(A Lone Scalpel) The Choice - Samson

Today is the final day of the Sydney leg of the 14th Japanese Film Festival. 18 films have come and gone, but some of the best have been saved for last. We have very different films on the final day of the festival. The historic adventure film about scaling Japan's last uncharactered mountain in "The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones". A Teen romance for the ages in the long Sold Out screening of "Hanamizuki (Flowering Dogwood)". A period samurai epic in "Sword of Desperation". And the closing film, based on one of the most popular Japanese novels ever, "A Lone Scalpel". Spend your Sunday at the festival, before its too late!

"Imagine this: You are in a situation where you could save someone’s life, but in doing so you risk losing everything (and I mean everything) that you have. Would you do it? ‘Perhaps not’, I hear you say. How about if you are a doctor and that person you could save is your patient, would you be prepared to carry out your duty by performing that life-saving operation despite the possibility that you may lose your medical licence and be sent to jail? This is the dilemma the main character of "A Lone Scalpel" is faced with.

Dr Toma, a skilled surgeon, starts work at a regional hospital in Japan. After performing an operation to remove a patient’s liver cancer, something that normally would not be done at this hospital, he quickly gains a very good reputation amongst the town’s people. Some of his colleagues become so jealous they are resentful and waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to crucify him. Soon they get their chance as Dr Toma considers performing a controversial operation...

This central character initially comes across as eccentric and humourless, but as he spends more time at the small hospital, his colleagues (as well as the audience) come to learn that he is noble, humble and capable. In other words, he is a damn fine doctor and as a human being would possibly qualify as a saint. So it does not take long for him to find his own supporters and admirers. The movie’s title may give the impression that he is all on his own, but while he is the one who makes the key decision, there is also a good team who is happy to stand by him whatever that decision happens to be.

The always brilliant Shinichi Tsutsumi (Always: Sunset on Third Street – opening film JFF 2006, Maiko Haaan!!!, Suspect X) plays Dr Toma. His performance is most credible, and what stands out is his portrayal of the doctor’s determination to give his best to his patients, as well as the intense concentration given to every step of each operation. The other performances are also excellent. Yui Natsukawa plays Dr Toma’s competent theatre nurse Nakamura, while Akira Emoto plays the funny and likeable Mayor Okawa. The younger cast members are also fantastic. Especially impressing me is the young actor who plays Toma when he was a child and has just one single scene in the entire movie. Managing to steal the show though is Kimiko Yo (Departures – closing film JFF 2008, Dear Doctor – JFF 2010), who gives an exceptional performance as a loving mother who has to endure a great deal of sadness.

The fine cast has certainly made the job of director Izuru Narushima easier, but he deserves much credit of his own for his handling of this emotion-filled drama. He has made a film that is touching without being over-sentimental. I was (only) just able to hold back my tears, but viewers who have active lacrimal glands are encouraged to take some tissues while watching "A Lone Scalpel". My only slight criticism is Narushima’s rather clichéd portrayal of the bad guys in the movie as completely heartless characters who do all kinds of terrible things and are always annoyingly smoking like a chimney.

Overall, "A Lone Scalpel" is one fine film. The heart-warming story and wonderful performances are what make this film so immensely likeable. It is one of the best medical dramas I have seen in recent times, and I give it my highest recommendations. I just hope more people will get the chance to watch this film. It is in a word: beautiful." by Samson Kwok

(The Summit) The Mountain Of Death - Samson

Welcome back to the JFF Blog! Today we have a great review of The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones from Samson Kwok. If you subscribe to our newsletter you would have read about the project in our latest issue. It is the debut directorial piece by Daisaku Kimura, one of the greatest cinematographers of our time, and has been picking up awards left, right and centre.

You can subscribe to the newsletter via our website, in which we will be hosting some great competitions in the lead up to the Sydney leg of the 14th Japanese Film Festival. For now, you can get a taste of what will be on offer as Samson takes us on a journey to the edge of the world!

A team of explorers risk their lives to reach the peak of Mount Tsurugidake also known as “The Mountain of Death” in order to complete a map of Japan in 1907.

"Movies about mountain climbing are usually epic tales of human survival, and The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones is another fine example of this genre. We live in an era when every peak of every mountain has been conquered, but it is not uncommon for even today’s mountain climbers to run into trouble during their expeditions, despite having available to them sophisticated equipment, greater understanding about the human body’s functioning at high altitudes, and knowledge passed on by previous generations of mountain climbers. So if you think it is tough these days, think about the mountaineers of the past who did not have any of those things and had to rely instead on instincts, determination and luck.

Watching The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones, I have a complaint. It is a positive one though (yes, a positive complaint, if there is ever such a thing), and this relates to my viewing of the film on  a small screen. OK, let me explain. The film was directed by veteran cinematographer Daisaku Kimura, and his past experience really shows here. The cinematography is truly breathtaking, so much so that if you randomly take a screen shot, chances are that it will be beautiful enough to be made into a postcard. So Kimura really deserves the Japanese Academy Award for Best Cinematography that he won. I was just disappointed that my television screen isn’t big enough to allow me to fully enjoy the film, but I guess no TV screen is big enough for something this grand. Hence my advice is: catch this on the big screen if you can!

Kimura also won the Best Director Award for this film, which is not bad at all for a directorial debut. He has certainly done a fine job, but the stellar cast have no doubt helped him a lot. Asano Tadanobu (Villon’s Wife - 14th JFF, Ichi the Killer), Aoi Miyazaki (Solanin - 14th JFF) and Nakamura Toru (Oppai Volleyball, The Kiss, K-20: Legend of the Mask - 13th JFF) are all solid, while Teruyuki Kagawa (Dear Doctor - 14th JFF, Memories of Matsuko - 12th JFF) is outstanding in his award-winning role as the humble mountain guide. The cast playing the members of the mountain climbing teams in particular deserve much respect for their fearless portrayal of this extremely difficult journey. The narrative is at times a bit slow (which will be frustrating for some viewers), but this does add to one’s appreciation of the magnitude of the challenges faced by the film’s characters.

In the end, this story of mountaineers of the past risking their lives and trying to survive the most extreme weather conditions to achieve their goals is both touching and humbling. The audience is treated to a wonderful and stunning journey to a place most of us would never get to go to. There is a message from the film that I find particularly meaningful, which is ‘nature is eternal but life is fleeting.’ So let us cherish every moment of the journey and be not afraid to fulfil our dreams, just like the mountain-climbing teams in The Summit.

Of the 5 films nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Japanese Academy Awards, 4 will be showcased at the upcoming Japanese Film Festival in Australia, and The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones is one of them. There are also heaps of others to choose from in a particularly strong line-up of films at this year's festival." -  Samson Kwok, Heroic Cinema

Samson will be covering more films from the festival over the next week, which you can catch on this blog so be on the look out. Meanwhile we are still after more people who are passionate about Japanese cinema to get involved with this blog. If you want to be a part of it please get send your blog idea to assistantcoordinator@jpf.org.au

See you at the festival!

(Confessions) Nakashima Confesses - Joseph

Welcome back to the JFF Blog! We have been so busy in the office that it's taken a while to update here, but we promise you lots of content over the next 2 weeks as we lead up to the festival. Here we have another entry from a JFF volunteer, this time its Joseph who takes a look at the creative works of Tetsuya Nakashima.

"This year’s Japanese Film Festival brings to audiences in Sydney and Melbourne the most recent film by award-winning director Tetsuya Nakashima, Confessions. Nakashima-san adapted Confessions (Kokuhaku) from a best-selling and critically acclaimed mystery novel written by Kanae Minato.  The premise is irresistible: a teacher, on the verge of retiring, confronts her class with the revelation that two students among them murdered her young daughter, triggering a slow-burn cycle of revenge and retribution.  The movie moves swiftly from a whodunit, to a psychological thriller to a full-blown, heart-stopping, revenge tragedy.  

Confessions will put you on the edge of your seat.

It will make you squirm.

It will affect you.

It will impress you.

 "Confessions"

Confessions stars the brilliant Takako Matsu, who is also featured in Villon’s Wife, playing in this year’s festival and who some readers may have seen in K-20: Legend of the Mask at the 13th JFF.  A crop of talented young actors are also cast in Confessions and Nakashima wrings incredible performances from his entire cast.  The film has been submitted as Japan’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film for 2010, and it may well follow the path of Departures (12th JFF) which won in that category in 2008.

Cinemagoers from previous years’ Japanese Film Festivals may recognise Nakashima as the director of other brilliant and moving features, including Memories of Matsuko (12th JFF).  Matsuko, like its predecessor in Nakashima’s filmmaking oeuvre, Kamikaze Girls (10th JFF), showcased the director’s talent for merging the stark reality of gritty and confronting issues with a fairytale-like quality. 

 "Memories of Matsuko"

Kamikaze Girls achieved this synthesis by means of the distinctive appearances of its lead actresses, the gorgeous Kyoko Fukada (yes, here the writer betrays his bias) and Japanese-American Anna Tsuchiya, the fantastic costume designs (including fully realised rococo trappings) and mix of animation with live action storytelling.  The animation featured less heavily in Memories of Matsuko, which used creative musical numbers, clever cutaways and editing, skilled lamp-shading of character tropes and elaborately stylised sets and costumes to imbue the movie with a dark fairytale quality.  Then, of course, there are times when all of the stylistic cues are briefly stripped away, making the emotions and tensions onscreen suddenly hit the audience with a very visceral thud. 

"Kamikaze Girls"

Confessions is a very different sort of movie.  In a sense, Nakashima is playing against type, subverting the expectations of his viewers by presenting the hardboiled, emotionally exacting elements present in his previous work, without much of the overt whimsy seen therein.  Nevertheless, the figurative and the fantastic which are the hallmark of Nakashima’s work find their way into Confessions by other means.  Some scenes are slowed down and the point of view is inverted, making otherwise mundane events and occurrences take on a significance and importance that reminds the audience that the surreal is never far removed from the reality.

Much of the film is shot with heavily saturated light pouring through the frame, unconventionally focused, slowed down or with unusual framing devices, such as mirrors, the display on a camcorder or (I kid you not) a refrigerator.  As well as again creating a dreamlike environment, it makes it hard to find a reliable perspective as an audience.  These techniques and this effect lend themselves handily to a morality tale in which the moral and the side of right are almost impossible to divine.  In this way, a visual ambiguity reflects the thematic ambiguity of the story’s compass. 

Nakashima Tetsuya 

If you are looking for clarity and a strictly defined sense of right and wrong, madness and sanity, you will not find easy answers in this film.  Each and every major player is at once possessed of each of these things and their individual pain and instability makes them ricochet against one another with devastating effect.  Overall, viewers have to struggle to maintain their bearings, with the result that you will question until the end just what each character is truly capable of doing.

Confessions challenges its viewers to think and to look deeper into the interactions and motivations evident onscreen. Confessions manages to say a lot about contemporary society, not just in Japan, but globally.  It neatly portrays issues of bullying, prejudice, viral fear, familial breakdown and criminal responsibility in the space of 105 minutes." - Joseph Sampson

Thanks to that wonderful analysis by Joseph, dont forget that if you want to contribute to the blog you can go in the running to win some cool prizes, so get in touch with us at assistantcoordinator@jpf.org.au if you are interested. Don't forget tickets for the Sydney leg of the festival are now on sale, and if you need any questions answered look out for our festival info booth located at Event Cinemas. We will be there every afternoon during the weeks running up to the festival.  

See you at the festival!

Nakashima-san makes movies which are complex and topical but he is smart enough to provide a buffer for the audience along most of the ride.  The surreal composition of the movie can cushion the audience, distracting somewhat from the sometimes painful events of the story.  They function like a visual and aural equivalent of ‘Nadsat’, shielding the audience to some extent from the confronting reality of what is happening.  At the same time, though, the merging of fairytale aspects with gritty and tense narratives occurs without the surreal elements seeming forced or lacking in integration with the overall work.

Behind The Scenes Of JFF14 - Jes

Welcome back to the JFF Blog which is starting to get some great attention and hopefully will provide you with a healthy sampling of pre-festival content. Today's entry comes from our new Japan Foundation intern Jes, which covers her first day in the office and much more!

"With the Japanese Film Festival less than a month away, preparations are already underway to make this year’s film festival our greatest festival to date! Whilst most of you are preparing to buy your tickets and mark the dates in your diary, we here at The Japan Foundation are busy making sure that we’ve planned for everything and anything, and getting everyone pumped and excited for this year’s festivities!

So for this blog entry, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the people here and the preparations they’re doing in the lead up to the festival.

Firstly, allow me to introduce myself to you all. My name is Jes, and I’m an intern here at The Japan Foundation. I’m a third year Macquarie University student, and today is my first day of a two week internship. I’ve had no previous experience in an office environment, and had no idea what to expect.

The Programs Arrive!

Turns out, my stay here is a timely convenience, with only 4 weeks left, preparations for the festival have top priority. Today’s task was getting the information out there and getting everyone excited and pumped at the same time. In order to do this, a group of volunteers and myself have gone through boxes upon boxes of promotional Japanese Film Festival programs and fliers, then addressed, sealed and stamped them ready to be mailed out.

 

So Cute and yet Informative!

Members of The Japan Foundation can expect theirs in the mail within 2 to 3 days. If you’re not a member but would like one, check your local Japanese restaurant, cafe, book store, library or media outlet where you are bound to spot them.

With such a big event that is the 14^th Japanese Film Festival, we’ve enlisted some volunteers to help the staff and myself here at the Japan Foundation with some of the preparations. I interviewed JFF volees Danni and Nicole who were lucky enough to be the first people to get their hands on the program! I asked them why they were volunteering and what they were going to see at the festival.

Why are you volunteering for the 14^th Japanese Film Festival?

‘For fun, and because we have an interest in Japanese culture because we’re learning Japanese.’

‘I like to participate in anything related to Japanese culture’

What tasks have you done so far?

‘Last week we contacted different businesses to ask permission to send them our promotional booklets'

‘Today, we’re mailing out the fliers’

How did you find out about volunteering?

‘On the Japanese Film Festival website’

Will you be going to the festival?

‘Yes, for both volunteering and to watch movies as well’

What will you be watching? Do you have any movie recommendations?

‘I’ll watch Hanamizuki because I like the actor, and also Confessions, because I read the novel and it was interesting’

‘I’m going to watch Precious, the picture and the description is attractive. But I’ll watch anything’ 

Our Sydney volee roster is now full, we've had an amazing 90+ applications to be a part of the festival! Thanks to Danni and Nicole for their time and hard work in the office. 

For more information about the festival schedule and for ticketing details, check out our website. Remember to keep watching this space for updates on what we’re doing here behind the scenes of the 14^th Japanese Film Festival!" - Jes, The Japan Foundation, Intern.

Thanks again to Jes for this entry and hopefully this has enlightened you to a bit of the crazy office happenings here at The Japan Foundation. 35,000 JFF Programs will be heading out around Sydney this week, so make sure you grab a copy! Don't forget tickets for the Sydney leg of JFF go on sale this Friday, in the meantime make sure you sign up for our festival newsletter for the chance to win free tickets!. 

See you next time on the blog!