Himizu / Land of Hope

johnny_ultimate

Finally out Friday in the IFI, yo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMo_T9_LPEs

New film from Sion Sono (Love Exposure, Cold Fish, Suicide Club). A surreal, challenging tale of Japanese society falling apart. Although based on an existing manga, it's been adapted to reflect the March 2011 earthquake / tsunami. It's a provocative and shocking film, and admittedly a bit all over the place (would it be a Sono film it wasn't?), but it's easily one of my favourite films of the year. More emotionally engaging than Cold Fish, and shorter than Love Exposure! It's dark material, but the rare, fleeting glimmers of hope make it much more powerful.

Discussion of the film may get lost in the Japanese film thread, so worth dedicating an individual thread to it. Looking forward to hearing some opinions on it. If you're suffering blockbuster fatigue, this should sort you out nicely.

Kess73

Had only pre ordered the blu ray of it last night. Is a film that is high on my must watch list. Not a hope in hell of it being shown anywhere in Limerick, so unless I get wind of it being shown in Cork, I shall be waiting until my blu ray arrives in August.


I quite enjoyed Cold Fish and Love Exposure, especially the former, so have high hopes for Himizu.

Have this, Love Exposure and Tetsuo films preordered on Blu and cannot wait to sit down one weekend and watch all four films.

Sad Professor

I've never seen so many beatings in a non-action film. Sono really puts the characters (and the audience) through an emotional wringer and then some. I was worn out by the end. Very powerful film.

Unfortunately the impact of the final scene was hurt somewhat by the fact that the lights in the IFI come up too bright and too quick. You need a minute to take in what you've just watched before feeling like you are being rushed out of the cinema so they can squeeze in a showing of another film.

e_e

Saw it earlier today. The film's anger and urgency is really something to be admired, but the elements of hope and and joy stop it from being simply a depressing experience. Another worthwhile Sono entry, and I also like how it felt like a Cold Fish cast reunion at times.

johnny_ultimate

That's a real shame about the lights. The ending for the film is extraordinary, really beautiful stuff. Like all Sono films, there are times when you question where exactly the plot is heading, and whether it needs to meander quite as much as it does. But in Himizu the ending really does pack an emotional wallop, and that ever so slight hopefulness in the sight of hopelessness is what completely justifies the violent intensity on display elsewhere.

Shame the IFI only has it for a week. Must go and see it again tomorrow, actually.

e_e wrote:

and I also like how it felt like a Cold Fish cast reunion at times

Apparently Megumi Kagurazaka is his wife, which partially explains why she shows up in all his films rather than certain... assets of hers (she's in the upcoming Land of Hope, too). I got to meet Denden at the premiere of this, which was awesome, even if he's only in the film for a handful of scenes :pac:

One thing that does bother me about Sono films is the soundtrack choices. Always the same classical pieces! Hopefully he won't indulge in the same with LoH.

Sad Professor

This and Love Exposure the other night was my first introduction to Sono. I was very impressed and I'm going to order some of his other films soon. Any suggestions on what ones to get first?

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

This and Love Exposure the other night was my first introduction to Sono. I was very impressed and I'm going to order some of his other films soon. Any suggestions on what ones to get first?

Cold Fish is probably the next best. It's a very dark comedy, but is a lot of subversive fun. Denden is fantastic in it.

Guilty of Romance is very good, although slightly less so than the others. It's still quite a thematically complex and ambitious piece of work. It's a shame the director's cut isn't available over here, I'd like to see it. Must try and import one of these days.

Suicide Club and its semi-sequel Noriko's Dinner Table haven't quite reached the consistency of his later works. Worth a watch, but they're much messier (literally and figuratively - the opening of Suicide Club is a doozy). Check them out of you're curious to see how he's evolved.

Strange Circus is the only other one I've seen. Looks amazing, although again is a bit rough around the edges. Haven't got around to Exte yet.

e_e

Cold Fish is easily my favorite of his, thoroughly deranged black comedy at its best, and a lot more focused than Love Exposure too.

It's now become like a bi-annual thing for me to see a Sion Sono movie in screen 3 in the IFI. Love Exposure, Cold Fish, Guilty of Romance and Himizu all since 2010, hope this interesting routine continues in the future!

johnny_ultimate

Went to see it again today, I'm not usually one for seeing films twice in the cinema but I feel obliged to go to see any Japanese films the IFI get in the vague hope they'll show more!

Still love it. Still think the first half of the second hour drags, but aside from that I was much more appreciative of the overall themes and trajectory of the film. Really picked up on the sound design for some reason too - very clever use of noise throughout.

Fumi Nikaidô is just fantastic as Keiko. A very promising young actress.

Sad Professor

Japanese films always seem to get such crappy releases. By the time I hear about them they are already gone. I don't know why. I remember going to see Confessions on the last day of a one-week release and the cinema was packed.

johnny_ultimate

Yep, only new Studio Ghibli / Sion Sono films and Takeshii Miike samurai remakes seem guaranteed to receive a theatrical release these days. At least there's a handful of distributors still keeping the DVD market ticking over, even if it would be nice to see a bigger variety on the big screen. I think it's forever destined to be more successful as one-off events or festivals. Hopefully next weeks big Children Who Chase Voices... premiere will be a positive precedent for that sort of thing.

Still, Japan has it good next to Korea. I'm still baffled at how I Saw the Devil never got a Dublin release.

johnny_ultimate

A heads up for the curious: Himizu is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now. I really cannot recommend it enough.

Also, an extended trailer for his upcoming Land of Hope. Out in Japan in October, I'd say an early-mid 2013 release over here. Third Window are actually co-producers in their first foray into financing, so at least it should be guaranteed DVD / BluRay distribution fairly promptly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nnt6yFyPrM

Waiting on my Blu-Ray, was posted last Tuesday so expected it by now. Really looking forward to watching it.

Sad Professor

I see Love Exposure is out on Blu-ray soon as well. I only bought the DVD a while ago, grrr!

Will Land of Hope definitely get a theatrical release here?

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

Will Land of Hope definitely get a theatrical release here?

Well Third Window have said they're stopping theatrical releases after the (depressing) failure of Himizu at the UK box office. So I wouldn't hold my breath. They might make an exception for this, and the IFI always seems quite eager to show his films, so maybe.

Sad Professor

That's a shame.

There seems to be a perception that Japanese cinema is culturally too different for western audiences. This was the reason Ozu was basically unheard of in the west until the '70s. They didn't think westerners would appreciate his films. Which I find extraordinary given the universality of his themes. It seems to be a lazy excuse that distributors fall back on whenever a film doesn't do well.

EDIT: actually it seems things are bit more complex than I suggested. Very good letter from the MD of Third Window explaining the difficulties of theatrical distribution. He says a lot of the blame lies with the arthouse cinemas.

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/06/third-window-films-stops-with-theatrical-distribution-and-this-is-why.php

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

EDIT: actually it seems things are bit more complex than I suggested. Very good letter from the MD of Third Window explaining the difficulties of theatrical distribution. He says a lot of the blame lies with the arthouse cinemas.

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2012/06/third-window-films-stops-with-theatrical-distribution-and-this-is-why.php

Yeah that article kept popping up when I was researching my thesis on this topic, and I find the back and forth in the comments just as fascinating, including someone from Curzon weighing in. It's a really complex issue. The reality is there doesn't seem to be a major market for these films: I was trying to find the actual gross for Himizu, but I found the Arirang (Kim Ki-duk's latest, who is quite a high profile auteur as far as these things go) one instead: £190. Ouch.

The real question is: why isn't there a market? All manner of complications. As said in the articles and the comments, arthouse cinema in England is largely confined to London and to companies like Curzon (who own Artificial Eye), mostly commercial companies. Of course they have to show stuff like Moonrise Kingdom to make money. Look at the Lighthouse: they have to show Brave and The Dark Knight alongside their 'arthouse' programming to keep themselves ticking over, and we can't really blame them. But should they be actively supporting the much more offbeat fare alongside them? Or is it the job of government funded cinemas like the IFI (where Sion Sono films actually seem to do pretty well) or BFI? It's an uphill battle for people like Jasper Sharp or the small distributors to keep promoting it with their limited resources, so how can they reach out to a non-enthusiast audience to raise awareness of these films? Many of these are questions without answers, alas.

I genuinely think the Asian cinema market is there, but (and this is mostly what my thesis is about, so I struggle to condense it into a managable forum post :pac:) it's largely confined to festivals and special events at the moment. I was at the Terracotta festival in London a few months ago, and there were plenty of sold out screenings - including Himizu. Same with the Children Who Chase Lost Voices... screening here in Dublin a few weeks ago. But the same films struggle to justify dedicated theatrical releases. It's slightly depressing, when several of these films are genuinely fantastic - the few people I know who've seen Himizu count it amongst the best of the year, easily. So I think those of us who truly love Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc... cinema really need to support in every way we can, and get the word out there when these films do get released in cinemas or on DVD.

In conclusion: come to the Asian film festival I'm going to try and run next year :P I'll try and get Land of Hope :pac:

johnny_ultimate

Said I'd bump this rather than starting a whole new thread: Land of Hope is following an unusual pattern of being premiered on Hulu from Monday (second anniversary of Japan tsunami) - http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweblandofhope/dmr/prweb10512832.htm

Still no real word on its UK / Ireland release, which is strange considering Third Window part-financed its production.

Mickeroo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Said I'd bump this rather than starting a whole new thread: Land of Hope is following an unusual pattern of being premiered on Hulu from Monday (second anniversary of Japan tsunami) - http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweblandofhope/dmr/prweb10512832.htm

Still no real word on its UK / Ireland release, which is strange considering Third Window part-financed its production.

Hulu is free right?

johnny_ultimate

Mickeroo wrote: »

Hulu is free right?

Not sure, I think so? Plus must be the paid 'premium' package.

Sad Professor

Basic Hulu is free with ads.

johnny_ultimate

Just watched Land of Hope and thought it was superb. It's more conventional than Sono fans might be expecting - at its heart it's an old fashioned Japanese family melodrama about two different families emotionally and physically separated after the disaster (set in a fictionalised Prefecture sometime after Fukushima). In those terms, it's works really well: there's some genuinely devastating scenes, and the relatively straightforward direction is enlivened with a couple of particularly haunting sequences of both chaos and strange tranquility. There are a few moments perhaps too melodramatic, but mostly it's genuinely powerful stuff.

But it's more complicated than that too. The film acts as an intelligent, passionate critique of both nuclear power and governmental incompetence in the face of disaster. The film's title reveals itself to be one laced with irony: while there are some moments of hopefulness in the face of overwhelming odds, even 'victories' are bittersweet and threatened by a constant uncertainty.

Also nice to see Sono step back from some of his overfamiliar quirks - a new soundtrack and a less 'revealing' role for Megumi Kagurazaka are welcome changes. It's still distinctly a Sion Sono film though, not least through its extended running time

I can see some being disappointed by the film, but personally I thought it was a very poignant and intelligent film and a worthy addition to Sono's increasingly rich filmography.

johnny_ultimate

Insane, amazing teaser for Sono's next film, Why Don't You Play in Hell?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtRfHTOT1M

Apparently an action movie about the greatness of 35mm film! If it's half as good as that description and trailer suggest, it will be ****ing spectacular.

Third Window have also confirmed a BluRay / DVD release of Land of Hope for August.