Sunday, March 10, 2013

希望の国 by 園子温


希望の国
監督園子温
脚本園子温
出演者夏八木勲
大谷直子
撮影御木茂則
編集伊藤潤一
製作会社『希望の国』製作委員会
配給ビターズ・エンド


20XX年、日本の長島県の東方沖で起こった大地震により、原子力発電所が事故を起こし、原発から半径20km圏内が警戒区域に指定された。酪農家の小野泰彦一家の家は区域から外れたが、道路を隔てた鈴木家は強制的に避難させられる。
かつての東日本大震災における原発事故時の政府の対応を思い出し、泰彦は息子夫婦を避難させた。原発の状況が刻々と悪化していく中、ついに小野家を含む地域も避難区域に指定される




砂入:二言で「FUKUSHIMA 101、そして感情の垂れ流し」

先ず、日本人はこの映画の様に感情の表現を垂れ流さない事に美学があると思う。別れ惜しくてもハグ等もしないし、別れ惜しいからこそ寂しさを噛み締め我慢し後ろを振り返らず背中で泣くと言う美学、このような日本の良さがなく、大げさで、感情的な出演者はほぼ「叫ぶ」感情でこの状況をのたうち回る。長島、広島と長崎とくっ付けた架空の町の文脈は本当に意味があったのだろうか?福島で撮ったなら切実にドキュメンタリーの様に福島を舞台にした方が良かったのではないか?背景は3.11後の福島、然り、廃墟や壊れた建物流された家等が出て来る。

長島というキーワードは知的なタイトル作りであるが、福島との関係性、そして福島原発の漏れが合った筈の文脈からすると市民の対処の仕方体験の仕方が全く曖昧。母の精神的な病の根拠が全く掴めず、主人公の夫婦が子供が出来たときの周りの喜び様は現実感全く無し。こんな大騒ぎで叫び合うか?見たいな様子。福島の今の問題のダイジェストをメランコリーックにセンチメンタルに大げさに感情垂れ流しで作った作品。

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Diary of a Pregnant Woman by Agnes Varda

小林政広が進めてたので見たが、予想していたものと全く違って驚いた。カップルのシーンはヴァルダ調の美化された物と比較的に日常に溢れるリアリティーたっぷりの時にはみすぼらしい叔母さんやら買い物をする狂気がかった人々やら、滑稽な動きと風刺と並んで美しい女性がスリムな男性とキスをする。ベタな妊娠した女性を観察するドキュメンタリーかと思いきや、愛を確かめるカップルが子供を持つことに夢を見るという内容。ダークな反面は皮肉を表現したのか?妊娠と日記という二つの日常のキーワードから最も夢に近いフィクションのような映画だった。まるで主題から遠く離れた星に旅したような。不思議に素敵な映画だった。

Shirin by Abbas Kiarostami

A hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and a French star: mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text -- long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East -- remains invisible to the viewer of the film, the whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show (IMDb)

As much as knew the content of the film in advance, I thought I may get bored watching countless close-up of faces, tears and feelings. The whole story of Khosrow and Shirin is told in subtitle along with music, sound of horses and sword fights, dialogues in Persian without any images. Thus, you understand and follow the story as you witness emotion to associate an imaginative journey of a foreign tale of love, betrayal and death.

Sometimes you see a same person a couple of times, but most of the times you see them for the first time striking intimate gesture while they gaze, look away, wiping tears and contemplating on the dynamic story. Sometimes the emotion seem self-conscious and sometimes they are really affected, moved and shocked by the sound of sword cutting the flesh.

It was a film that ends with epilogue with film credit and the audience sat through it to the end. As it happens when you watch a great film, people just stayed in their seats recalling, understanding or registering what they just saw. As I recall experiencing the film, "Shirin," I can hardly explain the whole dynamism of it. It is a film that demands viewing and the experiences can be interpreted in infinite possibilities.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

"10 ON 10" by Abbas Kiarostami

Kiarostami talks about his film, "Ten," digital filmmaking, film music, script, actors, camera and so on from his experience of making films while he is driving at the location of his film, "Taste of Cherry."


Very informative, philosophical, quoting Nietzsche, Rumi, a Scandinavian film with French subtitle he saw twice without understanding the language but came to create his own understanding of protagonists' relationship, an advice from his film industry friend telling him to adopt Hollywood filmmaking. His friend said Kiarostami's filmmaking is like planting vegetable in flower pots instead of planting on the ground. Kiarostami warns the Hollywood films are more threat to the world than the American Military. These Hollywood films are all about special effects, camera movement, super star actors, technical advancement of filmmaking and nothing about life.

As Kiarostami advice to young people of they want to become successful, they should not ignore Hollywood. Then, he goes out of the car with a camera rolling to shoot the landscape while he take a leak out of the frame. He comes back to the car, takes the camera and points to a Ceder tree. He says he is much more interested in making films about something of everyday, something of unheard moments of ordinary and zooms onto the ground where ants are bringing a grain of rice into a hole. There, such an insignificant but powerful life there is.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Abbas Kiarostami - the Wedding Suit


The Wedding Suits,、素晴らしい。名作とは言えないが、子供と言うか学校に行けず働く青年達の話。中が筒抜けの商店街のミゾンセンが最高。品やかなギーク、嘘つきの空手少年、テイラーで働く少年達のインティメートな社会。空手クラスでイラン人がイチ、ニー、サンと日本語で掛け声が笑える。働く少年達は売られる前に一夜だけ勝手に持ち出しデートに着る新しいスーツ。汚さないように見つからない様にこっそりと、話作りがもうキアロスタミ節。小さな出来事からリアリティーとスリルを。少年達が素人と思えい、愛らしく現実味。うまく切り抜け人生は続く。マンダム


A SUIT FOR WEDDING

LEBASSI BARAYE AROSSI

Iran

1976

54 Min
Color
Persian

A Suit for Wedding (Persian: لباسی برای عروسی, Lebāsī Barā-ye Arūsī) follows three Iranian teens, one of whom works in a tailor’s shop. A new suit is being made for a fourth, upper-class teen and his two friends both want to borrow it. Inevitable complications arise. For 52 minutes, Kiarostami follows his subjects through work and play, constantly shooting their mouths off and trying to avoid getting in trouble with their guardians. This is a fascinating look at life before the revolution with a generous dose of humor. —Judy Bloch

キアロスタミ Solution No.1


キアロスタミの「Solution No. 1」絶景の雪山の崖道でのタイアを転がす立派なパンタロンを履いた青年の姿はフランシスアリスのreel unreelを彷彿させる。と言うかアリスが多分コピーしただろう。しかし結末が驚きのトンチでユーモアたっぷり。クレバーとは括れずがアリスのクレバーさと違い愛がある。そこら辺が映画であり現代美術の文脈での映画と違うと感じた。愛があり、ひらめきが。ひらめきが愛を語るのではなく。

今日のキアロスタミレトロスペクティブの開始第一本だった。1978年の作品。


SOLUTION

RAH HAL-E YEK

Iran

1978

12 Min
Color
Persian


All that happens in the 11 minutes of this film is that a man, unable to hitch a ride back to his broken-down car with a new tire, pushes it back to his car while running. However, style quickly supercedes content; the man runs to stirring, mock-Western music alongside stunning scenery, giving Kiarostami the chance to show off various shots that must have been hell to pull off. Good fun. —onlinefilmhome.dk

キアロスタミ Homework

キアロスタミ、今日の目玉は1989年作のHomework。愛らしい子供の宿題についての質問が体罰、親の世代の文盲率の問題、社会のノイローゼが教育者を通じ子供を縛るなどという問題へと発展する。キアロスタミ本人が出演そして優しく質問で解き明かす。子供映画で、子供達の声でダークでディープな内容へと。

HOMEWORK

MASHGH-E SHAB

Iran

1989

86 Min
Color
1.37:1
Persian

キアロスタミ「オリーブの林をぬけて」


大画面だと良かったなー。しつこいのもキアロスタミ節としよう。映画を撮る中でラブアンドヘイトの男性女性が地震の最悪の惨状後に結婚をする役なのだが現実が演技と撮影を迷宮入りに。ラストシーンは勿論ロングショット、二人の結末は何処に?音楽が奏でる。




"Porfirio" by Alejandro Landes

This Minimalist style didn't work. Nothing-happens-till-the-end aesthetic hardly talked about the context of Porfirio's amazing injustice for it could have made the film richer and deeper in a profound way. Latin films often employ minimalism as if it's a ticket to Canne. I just didn't think Minimalism was appropriate for this film. I was at Q&A, the director was very self-conscious, well-spoken, English without accent, as if he was a westerner with a Latin appearance (Brazilian) as his film was also European inside and outside Columbian. He talked about a scene, where Porfirio goes down the hill on his wheel chair and come close to the camera glaring and turns his cowboy hat and Landes talked about this in reference to American Cowboy films. But that was what he thought but I don't think this scene worked effectively, as it was just a gesture that left the audience no clue....

At Q&A, people were so confused for they didn't know the whole Porfirio Ramírez Aldana incident including myself (just a little reading of the press release at MOMA) and Landes' story-telling really didn't help. Landes talked about Suspension of disbelief and that is what he wanted to tell story with. He is saying everything right, in a way wrong, just because you stuff a film with grade-A auteur language, you can make a masterpiece.

As much as this film was successful in festival circuit, I think much success owes to Porfirio Ramírez Aldana incident. It is mare fact of Landes having an access to use Porfirio Ramírez Aldana as Porfirio Ramírez Aldana made a lengend of this film, but not the content, story-telling and drama of film. European film school nerd using Columbian subject matter in disguise of Latin American man as a director, but inside he is just as white as Porfirio's diaper.



http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/porfirio-a-documentary-fiction-hybrid-by-alejandro-landes.html?_r=1&