Cinema (movies)-Japan (30) - Japonly

Because the Japanese are very imaginative.
Few selected pieces.

3 Favourites ♥ :

★ Tampopo or “the quest for the perfect noodle” Juzo Itami.



Everything starts with the reading of a novel about the initiation to the pork noodle soup which stops a hungry trucker by the story to the small noodle eatery Tampopo. Prelude to the quest for perfect noodle ... We will meet a glutton saved in extremis by a vacuum cleaner which removes a ball stuck, tramps winemakers and epicure, an old lady who causes the fury of the sellers, ravaging the food she palpates convulsively, a devoted mother who spends her last moments on earth preparing a final meal, a lesson about the art of eating spaghetti alle vongole with a fork and without sucking up ...

★ Hotaru no haka Grave of the fireflies, A film by Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli. Co-author with Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro) of Heidi!



Completely different from Tampopo, we are in 1945 just after the bombing of Kobe, Seita, 14 years old, and his 4 years old sister, Setsuko, take refuge in their aunt's house who makes them quickly understand they are a burden to her ... They decide to take refuge in a disused bunker in the countryside and live happy days with thousands of fireflies... A movie full of poetry but also very sad that positions itself not only against Americans but also against Japanese, who according to the director showed exaggerated patriotism.

Fans of Hayao Miyazaki, don't miss the Ghibli museum

★ Hana-bi: by and with Kitano Takeshi


Nishi, a demotivated cop suddenly confronted with several deaths around him decides to take a break and stages a bank robbery to allow him and his wife to undertake a little road trip...
Thank You… For Everything, Mister Takeshi.

Nobody Knows by Hirokazu Kore: Abandoned by their mother, four children are left on their own in their small apartment. An urban fairy tale in a disenchanted Tokyo away from the lights.

Innocence Ghost in the Shell animated film by Mamoru Oshii (film adaptation of Masamure Shirow's manga of the same name): What distinguishes the human being from a thinking robot being aware of its existence?



Godzilla (1954) by Honda Ishirô: a monster, which awakened by nuclear testing starts destroying whole cities in its path ...
Most of the Japanese monsters come from the sea, beginning with Godzilla (gorilla-whale) emerged from the ocean after the explosion of the atomic bomb. Result of the Hiroshima trauma and the obsession of the end of the world! The end of the world is often symbolized also by Japan engulfed by the sea which in the Japanese mind is populated by demons. It is from the sea that the dead come to visit the living, the Obon festival begins on August 7 by opening the gates of hell so that the dead can return to earth for one week.
The sea is the danger, tsunamis, it also symbolizes what lies in the great depths of the human mind ... but it's also the eternal resumption.

7 Samurai by Akira Kurosawa: Japan, late 16th century, a peasant village hires seven samurai to fight against the bandits ravaging the surrounding countryside.

And finally, Lost in translation that many of you have already seen.

Music
Un voyage au Japon (FR)