Wednesday 22 January 2014

Confessions




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   
 
 
Apologies, not quite a review of the book as of yet, but I couldn't resist getting more acquainted with the story of Confessions, the novel, Minato Kanae's debut, Kokuhaku, originally appeared in 2008 and the film adaption was released in 2010 directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. Third Window Films in the U.K released the DVD with an additional disc of extra's including a short programme of Q & A's with the child actors cast as the class along with original trailers and a more lengthy programme which features an interview with director Nakashima in which he describes his process of adapting the novel to film. During the interview Nakashima and the production crew talk through among other processes, the unique lighting approach as well as the layered sound recordings used, the film was awarded Best Film for that years Japan Academy Prize, along with Best Screen Play, Best Director, and an award for the film's editior Yoshiyuki Koike.

The film opens with a classroom scene, the class are rowdy and are largely ignoring their teacher, Moriguchi, as she explains that she is intending to resign as their teacher, Moriguchi's narrative develops into describing the events leading up to the death of her daughter, Manami, which the police believed to have been caused through an accident, although Moriguchi believes that her daughter was murdered. As Moriguchi talks through the clues surrounding and leading to her daughters death they begin to point to two of the boys in her class, whom she names as student A and student B, as the film progresses we learn that the boys are named Shuya and Naoki. Pointing out that as they are children they will be exempt from prosecution, Moriguchi begins to describe the method of her revenge, by infecting the two boys milk ration with the blood of Manami's biological father who is dying of HIV, from this moment the film begins to open up into telling each of the characters own confessions or perspectives and motives relating to the death of Manami. The film is far from being a straight forward crime story, underneath each character's motives and involvement a differing number of issues facing society arise and their results are depicted, child abandonment, bullying, a girl's involvement with a deadly teenage cult,  behind these themes it very much feels that the story carries a social commentary. The film is impressive with its slick visual style and soundtrack, it'll be interesting to see how it measures against the translation of the book.

In his interview Nakashima mentions the inclusion of some scenes in the film which don't appear in the original novel, these were added, he mentions to give more insight into Moriguchi's character, aspects that are hinted to in the book are given a fuller interpretation in the film. Many modern films I find sometimes suffer a little from dipping into being extensions of rock or pop videos, maybe this happens on occasion in Confessions but maybe not to a distracting degree or to the extent that it relies upon it, the soundtrack is very impressive, featuring among others Radiohead, Last Flowers is the film's swansong, and also the song Arco-Iris/Rainbow from Boris/Michio Kurihara's album Rainbow.

The film at Third Window Film

film critic Mark Kermode's take on Confessions.

Kokuhaku soundtrack at CD Japan

The Snow White Murder Case, Kanae Minato's 2012 novel is due out in March in a film adaption directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura.

    
 

Monday 13 January 2014

Tiny Tokyo - The Big City Made Mini

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/tiny-tokyo.html


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A book I'm keen to flick through is Australian artist Ben Thomas's Tiny Tokyo - The Big City Made Mini, 18 months in the making, this looks like an intriguing way to get to know the city.
 
flick through some of the images over at Ben Thomas's blog
 
at Chronicle Books  


Sunday 12 January 2014

Japanese Literature Online Translations - Part Three

Amalgamating some older posts with some newer links, (apologies - in no particular order!)  -


Spirit Summoning by Sakumi Tayama tranlsted by Mark Gibeau at Words Without Borders, for more.
Tonight, in All the Bars by Ramo Nakajima translated by Sayuri Okamoto and Sim Yee Chiang at Asymptote Journal
Samsa in Love by Haruki Murakami translated by Ted Goosen at The New Yorker
A Walk to Kobe by Haruki Murakami at Granta Online
Waiting by Dazai Osamu translated by Angus Turvill at web.archive.org
Heading For Moscow by Nakano Shigeharu translated by Annika A. Culver winner of William F.Sibley Memorial Prize
Skin of the Pike Conger Eel by Kamizukasa Shoken translated by Andrew Murakami-Smith winner William F.Sibley Prize
Celan Reads Japanese by Yoko Tawada translated by Susan Bernofsky at The White Review
Soul Flight by Yoko Tawada, translated by Sim Yee Chiang at Asymptote Journal

two older novels over at archive.org

The Reluctant Bachelor by Kuni Sasaki, translated by Kuni Sasaki and Jiro C. Araki at Archive.Org
Human Bullets - A Soldier's Story of Port Arthur by Tadayoshi Sakurai, translated by Masujiro Honda and Alice M. Bacon - Archive

links to -

Part One

Part Two

Thursday 9 January 2014

Gold Pollen and Other Stories by Seiichi Hayashi


Recently published by Picture Box, is this selection translated and edited by Ryan Holmberg, previously Drawn and Quarterly had published Hayashi's Red Colored Elegy, so this makes a much appreciated addition to Hayashi's appearance in translation. Collecting four stories these are also accompanied by an essay by Hayashi - Azami Light: Childhood Remembrances, from 1972, and also an essay by the translator Ryan Holmberg. At a first reading the stories have a fragmented feel to them, Hayashi's style mixes traditional Japanese art with a mixture of Western influences, from pop art to DC comics, looking at the lines of some his female characters you wouldn't be far off if you were reminded of the Taisho era artist Yumeji Takehisa, but many other influences intercede with this style. The first story Dwelling in Flowers, from 1972 tells the story of an artist trying to escape a past love and at the same time telling the strained relationship with his mother. Stylistically this is one of my favourites in the collection, the pace of how the story unfolds joins perfectly with the slightly enigmatic feeling that the story is unresolved, this feeling can be felt to differing degrees throughout the collection.  In Dwelling in Flowers there's the appearance of the origami paper cranes which feature in Hayashi's work. Without first reading Holmberg's essay Red Dragonfly from 1968 feels that it is dipping heavily into elements of the autobiographical, following again a mother/son relationship, not too distant is the passing away of the father whose portrait looks over them as they eat. It's a tale set in the austere post war years, where the mother has to rely on the generosity of a male visitor who comes to the house, but this comes at an emotional, (and physical), price for both mother and child, Red Dragonfly, I think is the shortest in the collection but has a deep emotional dimension to it. The last two stories, Yamanba Lullaby, from 1968 and the title story Gold Pollen from 1972, are laced with layered allegorical meanings, which Holmberg's essay fully elucidates on their meaning and definition.

The inclusion of Holmberg's essay Momoko and Manga: Seiichi Hayashi's Maternal Roots, (Momoko was Seiichi Hayashi's mother), and also Azami Light, the essay from Hayashi himself makes this book a fantastic document, in Momoko and Manga, Holmberg traces Hayashi's childhood and his first contact with children's literature through a neighbourhood friend, whom Hayashi nick named Uncle Pipe who would later be instrumental for Hayashi to move into the world of having his art published. Holmberg traces Hayashi's involvement with Garo and his work post Garo, provided within Azami Light is some examples of Hayashi's art from his self published magazines from the late 50's and early 60's. Holmberg's essay goes on to explore Hayashi's influences, notable those of classical Japanese art which can be seen referenced in some of the stories here, also Holmberg's essay fills in many of the biographical details which can be detected throughout the stories, giving the fuller picture to the more allegorical and hidden meanings within them.

Probably the only slight gripe is that I wished there was more of the stories to this volume, but the inclusion of the essays makes for a great addition in contextualizing Hayashi and his art within the alternative scene of the late 1960's, rather tantalizingly Gold Pollen and Other Stories is listed as Volume One in Picture Box Inc's, Masters of Alternative Manga Series, another name that is mentioned a number of times is Tsuge Yoshiharu, so here's to future volumes.

Gold Pollen and Other Stories at Picture Box Inc