CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE CINEMA IN TRANSITION

Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Spring 2009 by Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo

INTRODUCTION

The main objective of this special issue is to examine Japanese cinema in its post-studio developments, taking into account the industrial and technological conditions of transition. The impact of new media on Japanese cinema (digital cameras, computer editing, alternative distribution via DVD and the Internet, digital projection, etc.) has been enormous. Meanwhile, academic discourses have failed to produce a cohesive collection or anthology that reflects the surprising speed and uncertainty of these changes. Digitalized and multi-media-formatted cinema is now a dispersed phenomenon, ubiquitous and transnational, yet it is also regional in the economic, industrial, and cultural contingencies of its implementation, a situation exemplified by contemporary Japanese cinema. The contributors to this special issue of CJFS/RCEC attempt to map, however tentatively, this changing topography, addressing three central questions regarding current Japanese cinema: What has been the result of the intersection of global technology and regional cinematic conditions? What has been the impact of digital production and distribution on film style? How have new technologies affected the construction of identity within and through cinematic mediation?

In 1997, following a series of successful Japanese films, a number of mass media outlets rather hastily proclaimed a cinematic "renaissance" in Japan.1 In that year Kitano Takeshi's Hana-bi (1997) won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival, Kawase Naomi's Moe no suzaku (Suzafeu,1997) won the Golden Camera Award at Cannes, and Miyazaki Hayao's Princess Mononoke Mononoke hime, 1997) broke Japanese box office records by grossing nearly 19 billion Japanese yen ($182 million U.S.).2 These successes notwithstanding, the number of productions by major Japanese studios has steadily decreased, and some studios have even sold off their property (e.g. Toei and Shochiku in 1999 and Nikkatsu in 2000). At present, so-called independent filmmaking has become the common practice in Japan, and the percentage of independent films has increased dramatically from eighteen percent in 1992 to thirty-two percent in 1997. 3 The independent filmmakers are now "major" players, producing films with much tighter budgets and under more constraints due to their producers' unwillingness to shoulder significant financial risks.

The impact of this new cinematic environment is most apparent in film production and distribution. The increased use of digital cameras and computerized editing has helped to reduce costs and speed up the process of production and post-production. In place of 35mm film, high definition digital video is often used in order to bring down production costs and is then blown up to 35mm for theatrical release. With lightweight cameras, less equipment, and smaller crews, filmmakers have developed a new aesthetic that is both Japanese and transnational. With the studios being largely dysfunctional, filmmakers shoot and make films much as the American cin�ma-v�rit� filmmakers did with 16mm cameras in the 1960s. As a result, new filmic styles, such as feature films incorporating formal aspects of documentary, have appeared in contemporary Japanese cinema. These methods emphasize ordinary Japanese locales, experiences, and identities more than had been the case with films produced in major studios. The new Japanese cinema shares aesthetic similarities with other cinemas created under parallel industrial conditions, such as the Chinese Sixth Generation films, especially Zhang Yuan's documentary and narrative feature films, Jia Zhangke's oeuvre including Still Life Sanxia haoren, 2006), and the Dogme 95 series, exemplified by Lars von Trier's The Idiots Idioterne, 1998). The director Kore'eda Hirokazu, with a background in television documentary, has created his feature films within this aesthetic tradition, and his film Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai, 2004) received high critical praise at Cannes.

A major transformation in filmic distribution began in the 1980s with the availability of film on video for home viewing, followed by DVDs in the 1990s.4 Within this transformation certain alternative film genres have achieved unparalleled success, notably anime (Japanese animation), action film series, horror films, and AV (adult video). With legions of enthusiastic fans, anime has been a purchase-oriented medium since the 1980s. Many anime auteurs are not only creating feature-length films for theatrical release but also television series and cycles of post-theatrical DVD releases, such as Ron Satoshi's Paranoia Agent (Moso dairinin, 2005). Action films such as the Dead or Alive series (Miike Takashi, 1999-2002) and horror film genres in V-cinema (direct-to- video film, now called DVD-cinema) have been promoted by some film studios due to V-cinema's low production cost and the certainty of revenue. The confluence of B-movie genres and DVD distribution since the late 1990s has led to an unprecedented boom in the production of J-horror (Japanese horror film) and Asia Extreme (a term coined by the recently defunct video/DVD distributor Tartan Video), with subsequent Hollywood adaptations in continuous production. A representative director of this period, Miike Takashi, has built his career on heterogeneous genres, prolific production, and working in both video and film.