Scenes (情景, 2012)

Since winning the Oscar prize for Best Animated Short in 2009 for La maison en petits cubes (つみきのいえ, 2008), Kunio Katō (加藤久仁生, b. 1977) has been relatively quiet on the international festival circuit.  At home; however, he has been busy making animation in his capacity as an animator at the commercial and graphic design company ROBOT.  In 2010, he made a beautiful series of animated shorts as part of the promotion of the 40th anniversary of the Japanese housing company Sekisui Heim (セキスイハイム).  In 2011-12, an exhibition of his work went on the road starting with the Towada Art Center in Aomori, followed by the Hachioji Yume Art Museum in Tokyo (Feb. 10 – March 25, 2012),  the Kariya City Art Museum in Aichi (April 21 – June 3, 2012), and the Nagashima Museum in Kagoshima (July 21 – Sept.  17, 2012).

The centrepiece of these exhibitions was a new work created by Katō called Scenes (情景/Jōkei, 2012).  Reviews of the exhibition indicated that this new work consists of seven animated vignettes, with each vignette animated in a different style.  According to animeanime.jp’s review of a Kunio Katō screening event at Ebisu Garden Place last fall, the vignettes (or “omnibus”) are called: Holidays (休日 / Kyūjitsu), Snow (雪 / Yuki), Potage (ポタージュ / Potāju), Them (あいつ / Aitsu), Morning (朝 / Asa), Nap (昼寝 / Hirune), and Curtain Call (カーテンコール/ Kāten kōru) (my title translations and transliterations).  The press screener that I saw had only 5 of these 7 vignettes, so my review is based on those. 

Each of the vignettes has a minimalist style.  Instead of the fully coloured foregrounds, mid-grounds and backgrounds of The Diary of Tortov Roddle (2003-4) and La maison en petits cubes, Scenes looks more like an animated sketchbook with backgrounds either non-existent or merely hinted at.  As is typical for Katō, each of the vignettes, or “scenes”, feature a mix of the familiar and the playfully surreal. 

The “scenes” have no dialogue, only sound effects accompanied by music composed by frequent Katō collaborator Kenji Kondō (近藤研二, b. 1966), who also composed the soundtracks to The Diary of Tortov Roddle and La maison en petits cubes.  Although I couldn’t spot them in the rather sparse credits, I am pretty sure that the soundtrack was performed by Kondō’s band, the Kuricorder Quartet (栗コーダーカルテット).  The screener that I have gives four options for the soundtrack.  Three rotate the music between different “scenes”, which changes the mood of each “scene” from playful to reflective, while the fourth soundtrack option is without music (ie sound effects only).

I have already used the adjective “playful” twice in this review because that is my overall impression of Katō’s approach to these animated “scenes”.  Rather than present a fully fleshed out story, as he did in La maison en petits cubes, these vignettes are more about hinting at stories and characters and allowing the audience to make their own connections.  It has a much more spontaneous feel to it than his earlier work, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Katō took a free-form, stream-of-consciousness approach instead of storyboarding as he usually does (I will update when/if I find out how he planned the film). 

Holidays / 休日 / Kyūjitsu

Opening with clouds against a blue sky, this “scene” is a series of mini-scenes of people on holiday.  There is an over-arching mini-story about a father and son who create a puddle at a water tap (the kind one might find in the backyard or a Japanese playground) then pick it up (the “playfully surreal” that I mentioned earlier) and play with it until finally releasing it into the sea like a captured fish.  Interspersed with this mini-story are scenes of other people enjoying their leisure time: girls playing jump rope, a couple flying a toy remote control plane, a father and daughter kicking a red ball, all culminating in a wide shot incorporating all the people as if they are in the park together. 

Snow / 雪 / Yuki

The snow in this “scene” looks more like autumn leaves, but then it is difficult to draw white against white.  This vignette suggests the feeling of winter with the crunch of snow underfoot, the activities people do indoors and out to keep warm on a cold day, people having a snow fight, tinned fish, and other associations the artist has made with his wintry theme.

Potage / ポタージュ / Potāju

Potage comes from the French and refers to thick soups, stews, and porridges that have their origins in medieval French cuisine.  Potage, particularly corn potage, is quite a popular dish in Japan.  This “scene” explores associations surrounding this homey meal: girlfriends hanging out together, family meals, a couple with their backs to each other reading, and a surreal sequence with a fish that leads to an image of typical potage ingredients (fish, onions, potatoes, etc).  The vignette evokes a feeling of togetherness and shared experience.    

Them / あいつ / Aitsu

It was quite hard to translate the title of this “scene” because the word “aitsu” is a very colloquial one that depends on the context.  It most often means “that one” / “him” / “her”.    This vignette is once again a series of associations, but the background has a yellow hue (my guess is that it has been painted onto different paper than the earlier vignettes) and it looks more like watercolours than pencil on paper.  There is a summer theme to this vignette (cicadas on the soundtrack, the drinking of Ramune soda, the playing of baseball).  I interpret this mini-story as concerning a schoolgirl’s friendship with a yellow creature, and a schoolboy’s jealous reaction to this relationship. 

Morning / 朝 / Asa

This vignette begins in a style associated with experimental films: a black background thickly painted with white onto which Katō has overlaid a series of pencil sketches of breakfast items.  There is a wonderful sequence in which a liquid poured into a glass metamorphoses into a series of different drinks associated with breakfast.  This is followed by montage of the diverse array of breakfasts available in Japan from the western influence of toasts and pancakes to traditional Japanese breakfasts of fish and rice.  From the minimal to the decadent, this vignette is a feast for the eyes. 

Not yet screened:

Nap / 昼寝 / Hirune

Curtain Call /カーテンコール/ Kāten kōru

This is a fascinating collection of animated short-shorts.  I would imagine that the overwhelming success of La maison en petits cubes put a lot of pressure on Kunio Katō to follow that project up with something spectacular.  Scenes is not a film designed to wow, instead it feels like the work of an artist who is looking inward.  It is a reflective and observant piece that subtly explores the craft of animation and its ability to express the inner workings of the human mind.  Instead of presenting a fully formed story, it unfolds like a piece of music with a theme and variation pattern.  It will be interesting to see where Katō’s creative mind will lead him next.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

Wagorō Arai: His World of Silhouette Animation

Wagorō Arai: His World of Silhouette Animation

荒井和五郎～影絵アニメーションの世界～, 2013)

At Hiroshima International Animation Festival 2014, I had the pleasure of meeting the famous train photographer and animation expert Masatoki Minami (南正時, b. 1946).  He gave me a screener of his short documentary Wagorō Arai: His World of Silhouette Animation (荒井和五郎～影絵アニメーションの世界～ / Arai Wagorō – Kage-e Animēshon no Sekai – , 2013) which he made with the support of the JAA (Japan Animation Association).  The 16-minute film screened at JAA’s Into Animation 6 event in August 2013.

Wagorō Arai (荒井和五郎, 1907-1994) was an early Japanese animation pioneer and contemporary of Noburō Ōfuji (大藤 信郎, 1900-1961).  Inspired by the films of German animator Lotte Reiniger, whose  pre-war films were shown extensively in Japan (Donald Richie, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, p.247), Arai and Ōfuji each developed their own brands of silhouette animation in the tradition of Japanese shadow plays and 19th century utsushi-e (写し絵 / magic lantern shows).

Minami first encountered the work of Arai at the 2^nd Hiroshima festival in 1987.  He saw a screening of Madame Butterfly’s Fantasy (お蝶夫人の幻想, 1940), a 12-minute silhouette adaptation of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (1904) and was moved by the experience.  Speaking to Arai at the festival, he discovered that the elderly gentleman was working on a new film and on October 15, 1987 he traveled to Arai’s atelier in Shinmachi (today incorporated into Takasaki-shi) in Gunma Prefecture for an interview.

For the next 2 decades, this VTR material stayed in storage and was not publicly screened.  It wasn't until Minami showed the footage to a fellow animation expert that he learned just how rare and valuable the material was, and so plans were set in motion to turn the footage into a documentary with the support of the JAA.  The screenplay was planned with the assistance of the late Prof. Masahiro Katayama (片山雅博, 1955-2011) of Tama Art University. 

The documentary uses the VTR footage of Arai in his atelier in 1987 answering Minami’s off-camera questions and intercuts it with National Film Center footage of his original films.  Salient details about his life and career are also given through the use of title cards and other onscreen text.  The footage is not of the highest quality, but this really does not matter because the fact that footage exists at all of Arai talking about his craft is remarkable.  I have looked for years for information about Arai and his career and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Minami’s short documentary illuminates many details I previously had not known about Arai from why his career as an animator was so short to how he made his films. 

Born in 1909, Arai trained as a dentist.  His passion for silhouette animation led him to make his first film, The Gold Key (黄金の鈎 / Ougon no Kagi) in 1939.  He continued to work as a dentist and made the animation in his spare time.  His next project, Madame Butterfly’s Fantasy (お蝶夫人の幻想 / Ochōfujin no gensō, 1940) together with Jack and the Beanstalk (ジャックと豆の木 / Jakku to mame no ki, 1941) and Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫 / Kaguya Hime, 1942) solidified his place as one of the top independent animators of the early anime period.  He is unique in Japanese animation history for his dedication to silhouette animation.  The only other animator to experiment with the medium at this time, Ōfuji, also made animation in other styles, most notably cutouts using washi paper (See: Song of Spring, The Village Festival). 

Minami’s interview reveals that two of his animation staff, including assistant director Nakaya Tobiishi (飛石仲也), died during World War II and their deaths were what caused him to stop making animation. In the late 1980s, he decided to make an animation called Mukashi-banashi Nagori no Futomeno (昔噺名残之太布).  This story is better known as Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し), “The Crane Returns a Favour” or Tsuru Nyōbō (鶴女房), “The Crane Wife”, a popular folktale about a man who rescues a crane from a trap and the crane repays him by coming to him in the form of a beautiful woman whom he marries.  This is the project that Arai was working on when Minami went to interview him in October 1987.  In the documentary, Arai sits in a wheelchair at his animation table with various silhouettes prepared for filming and others in envelopes within easy reach.

On Madame Butterfly’s Fantasy:

• 3 people, including Arai himself, made it over the course of 1 year
• Arai’s animation crew were either students of dentistry or working actively as dentists, they weren't people looking into becoming animators full-time, it was something they did in their spare time
• Wilhelm Plage (ウィルヘルム・プラーゲ, 1888-1969), the notorious German copyright hound, made it difficult for Arai to get the rights to use Puccini’s music, because the music was not yet 50 years old.
• fortunately, the soprano Tamaki Miura (三浦環, 1884-1946), celebrated for her international performances as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, lived in his neighbourhood and supported his efforts and even performed on the soundtrack. 
• critics praised him for his depiction of the evening light in the film.

On his New Work Mukashi-banashi Nagori no Futonuno and his Techniques: 

• Arai vociferously declares his dislike of colour in silhouette films.   Fascinatingly, he gives the example of Ōfuji’s The Phantom Ship (幽霊船, 1956) as an example of the style of silhouette animation that he does not like.   This is particularly fascinating as not only has Ōfuji received high praise internationally for The Phantom Ship – it received an Honourable Mention for Experimental Film at the Biennale in 1956 (learn more in my discussion of the film) – but Lotte Reiniger, who is said to have been Arai’s role model (she is not mentioned in this documentary), used colour in her films – though I believe it was mostly colour tinting (at least for her films of the 1920s) not cellophane cutouts as Ōfuji used in The Phantom Ship and Whale (くじら, 1952). 
• Arai laughingly says he wants to submit Mukashi-banashi Nagori no Futonuno to some world competition for animation
• he puts heavy lead on the paper so that it doesn't move easily
• he uses a multi-plane animation table to create depth of space
• his animation table is 40 years old – in the documentary he is using his original animation table
• everything is handmade
• the camera is placed looking down from the ceiling
• the tiny figures for walking from a distance have no movable parts.  He makes a series of small cutouts and keeps replacing them for each shot
• he is using the exact same methods as he used to
• he finds it difficult to make the cutouts exactly identical, but on that day they got the face exactly the same (his hands look as though he is suffering from arthritis so I am sure this was no easy task for him)
• he puts the kimono on top of the naked body, so that when they walk you can see the gap opening in the kimono –such realistic details are important to him
• he wants to express the softness of the kimono material, wants it to look natural
• Arai discusses with Minami his negotiations with a shop in Asakusa for Kabuki music for the opening title sequence – he seems particularly interesting in the distinctive Kabuki percussion sounds 
• Arai likes cute or beautiful faces, not rough faces
• he wants to improve his techniques from the past and has been looking to Ningyō jōruri, also known as Bunraku, for ideas about how to handle his figures
• Minami concludes the interview by encouraging him to finish the animation as soon as possible

In the afterword, Minami writes that Arai did indeed complete the film and submit it to Hiroshima

Arai died of a heart attack on 4 January 1994 at the age of 87.

Although the film is brief –  it would have been wonderful to hear more about Arai's life and times – it gives a rare insight not only into Arai's career, but also into his personality.  He comes across as someone who takes his craft seriously, but also has a sense of humour.  If it hadn't been for the tragic deaths of his animation team during the war, I feel sure we would have had many more delightful silhouette animations from this early master.  

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

Friendship (友達, 2013)

In an oft-quoted line from As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote “All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages.  .  .” (II.vii).   This summarizes the conceit behind Mikihiro Endo’s debut feature film Friendship (友達/Tomodachi, 2013), which was runner up for the Nippon Visions Jury Award at Nippon Connection.  

The central character, Shimada (Takeshi Yamamoto), is a second-rate actor struggling to make it in a competitive film and TV industry.  Despite throwing himself whole-heartedly into countless auditions, Shimada is barely eking out a living on bit parts.  So when fellow actor Fukuchi  (Yusuke Oba) recommends that Shimada try out for a role with a company called Friendship, he jumps at the chance.

 

Fukada and Shimada in earnest discussion - Endo waits before showing us Shimada's face

It is only after he gets hired that Shimada discovers that this is no ordinary acting job.  Friendship hires actors to create real life situations as requested by their clients.  The company meticulously creates a space according to the client’s wishes and the actor interacts with the client in that space while the company monitors the room for the actor’s safety.  On the CCTV cameras, Shimada watches as Fukuda sits at a bar drinking with an elderly man, pretending to be the man’s absent son. 

Shimada is initially reluctant to take on the job himself, but Fukuda challenges him, asking “Does your acting benefit anyone?” and suggests that “actors are worthless off stage.”  Shimada’s first role requires him to play a demanding boss, so that the client can muster the courage to confront his boss and speak his mind for once.  Long-simmering frustrations boil to the surface and the client explodes into near violence – terrifying for Shimada but therapeutic for the client who immediately books another session. 

The main rule at Friendship is that the actor should keep things professional and not “get involved” with his clients.  Shimada finds this difficult with a beautiful high school student, Mio, who uses her sessions to indulge in her fantasy of planning a terrorist attack against girls she holds a grudge against at school.  The fact that someone so young and attractive could be dissatisfied with her life, intrigues Shimada and he finds himself clouding the lines between fiction and non-fiction by seeking contact with Mio outside of work.  Parallel story lines involving Shimada lying to his mother about landing a good role in a movie and Fukada lying about having a wife and kids further blur the distinctions between acting and “reality”.

Endo skilfully draws us into the personal lives of the central characters of Friendship with his cinematography.  Key scenes of dialogue or interaction between characters begin with a typical long shot establishing the location, but Endo holds off a moment or two longer than usual before moving into a shot reverse shot, increasing our curiosity to see the expressions on the character’s faces.  Instead of the typical medium shot of a shot reverse shot, Endo also prefers intimate close-ups on faces that force us to contemplate the characters’ innermost thoughts.  Cinematographer Erika Shimizu also imbues these scenes with warm colours that increase the feeling of intimacy.  The stillness of the contemplative scenes is contrasted by the handheld camera when Shimada is following Mio. 

 

subtle comedy: Shimada in the role of Ortega the terrorist for hire

Although the subject matter is quite earnest, Endo and his co-writer Hiroshi Okada, have injected some subtle humour into the script to keep it from getting too heavy.  For example, one of the auditions that Shimada and Fukada go out for is for a Sci-Fi movie called Jurassic Love.  Later, in the Mio scenes, Shimada seems blithely ignorant of the fact that his costume is a stereotypical Hollywood “terrorist” look complete with a checkered neckerchief and a Latin American name (Ortega).  Needless to say, his ignorance ends up coming back to haunt him when he takes the scenario too far.  

Under the guidance of his Tokyo University of the Arts mentor Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Charisma, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata), Endo has managed to avoid the common mistakes of many first-time filmmakers.    Friendship neither indulges itself with length – running at a comfortable, well-edited 75 minutes – nor with showy cinematography.  Doubtless influenced by his experience with the Marebito Theatre Company, Endo’s film shines with its emphasis on excellent acting and a cleverly written script. 

Mikihiro Endo (遠藤幹大, b. 1985) is from Mie Prefecture.  Upon graduation from Kyoto University of Art and Design he joined the Marebito Theatre Company.  After making a number of short films, he entered the Graduate Programme of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa.  Friendship is his graduate work from this programme.  Check out his official website or follow him on twitter.

CAST

Takeshi YAMAMOTO

Hana MATSUMOTO

Yusuke OBA

Yoshiyuki KUBOTA

Tomomi MIYASHITA

Mutsuo YOSHIOKA

Yozaburo ITO

CREW

Director/Writer: Mikihiro ENDO

Producer: Ryuichi OGATA

Writer: Hiroshi OKADA

Cinematographer: Erika SHIMIZU

Sound Designer: Taro NISHIGAKI

Production Designer: Hinako KASUGA

Editor: Yoko IZUMI

2014 Catherine Munroe Hotes