Hirokazu Kore-eda

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#151 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:44 am

Well, After Life has always been ONE of my favorites. But the more films HK makes, the longer my list of favorites grows. When I first saw it, I liked trying to guess which of the stories (and story tellers) were "real" -- and which were scripted.

Like Father, Like Son (So, At Last, I Become a Father) is another favorite. ;-)

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#152 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:21 pm

Glowingwabbit wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:02 am
therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:52 am
After Life was always my favorite Kore-eda, using fantasy to meditate on life, loss, and gratitude by recognizing the ability of memory to transform impermanence into unique personalized meaning to possess and cherish.
This has always been my favorite of his by a large margin for similar reasons. I also like thinking about the ways memories are recreated in the film as a reflection on cinema itself.
SpoilerShow
The moment where they all sit in the screening room as the lights go down at the end to watch their memories always makes me curious... are they about to watch a collage of their and others' memories? Are they sitting in some sci-fi chamber where what appears onscreen will be individualized to each viewer even though they're in the same space? It seems strange to group them all together to present a film when the narrative is about that individualized nostalgia, but this could also extend to the collective experience of seeing one another's chosen memories as a thematic association with the 'connection to others' that populates most of the memories each person cites, not to mention the universal experience of death all people experience by nature. Anyways, it's perfect how this detail is left to our imagination, as well as the whole contents of the film, for it would lose all impact if we got to see what is already powerful by design of omission in allowing our imaginations to elicit our own special memories.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#153 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Feb 18, 2020 6:23 pm

I think what Kore-eda shows (and doesn't show -- and WHEN he shows some things that he does show eventually) is pretty much perfect. ;-)

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#154 Post by artfilmfan » Tue Feb 18, 2020 8:43 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 6:23 pm
I think what Kore-eda shows (and doesn't show -- and WHEN he shows some things that he does show eventually) is pretty much perfect. ;-)
Hmmm, let me try digest this theory of Kore-era cinema. If I divide the universe of Kore-era cinema into two halves, one half is what we see and the other half is what we don’t see, what we don’t see is always perfect. And what we see might or might not be what it is but always is perfect. So, everything is always perfect. Did I get it right? ;)

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#155 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Feb 18, 2020 9:18 pm

Sounds right, offhand... ;-)

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#156 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Feb 19, 2020 3:54 pm

I'm afraid you lost me artfilmfan! But I think I would agree! A lot of the best Kore-eda films do have wonderful moments of recontextualising events in ways that suddenly make everything more heartbreaking and deepens our relationship with the characters. I also like the way that we do not just get the current drama occurring in the scene but it expands further to show its effect on other characters and even affects our presumptions as an audience about the characters that we have been building up for much of the rest of the film, and challenges that too. I think the premise of Like Father, Like Son of babies accidentally swapped at birth is a little bit too well worn, but even this film contains not one but at least two such perfect moments revolving around the son of the 'colder, more professional' couple:
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the moment where after an argument involving a long delayed call back to a throwaway comment about parentage between the couple the film cuts to the boy awake in bed having overheard it, and the final moment of the father scrolling through the photographs on the phone which lets him gain an insight into the way the son has been able to express himself after having his feelings about the situation rather sidelined for most of the film. Which itself pairs well with the final montage of the moments that went into the trip in I Wish being shown from an 'outside' perspective looking on at the kids and celebrating their resilience and ability to cope in the face of the difficult situations they are in.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#157 Post by artfilmfan » Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:33 pm

Colin, I’m sorry I lost you with my simplistic, light-hearted, analysis of Michael’s post. But, I am glad that you find those wonderful moments in Kore-era’ films aplenty.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#158 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:37 am

I know what I meant (I think), but I guess I couldn't really put it into coherent words. ;-)

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#159 Post by artfilmfan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:53 am

Had a smile on my face the whole time I typed that analysis. 🙂

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#160 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:50 am

Never doubted it. ;-)

Kore'eda -- like Bunuel and Ozu -- was a "fall in love at first sight" director for me.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#161 Post by artfilmfan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:27 pm

Kore-eda was “love at second sight” for me. Glad I saw Maborosi for the second time on the Japanese DVD, after reading the numerous comparisons of him to Ozu.
“Love at first sight” directors for me are Ozu, Naruse and Hiroshi Ishikawa.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#162 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:51 pm

Naruse took a while to enter my loved list -- saw several films I liked "well enough" at first -- but only when I saw Sound of the Mountain and Repast (5th and 6th Naruse films seen) did I really fall in love.

I liked Ishikawa's Petal Dance a lot -- and remember liking the first half of Su-ki-da as well (but feeling less enthusiastic about the second half -- need to revisit this).

Rivette was pretty much a "love at first sight" director (with Va savoir).

I think I may have seen Maborosi even before I saw any Ozu film other than Good Morning. I can't recall for sure.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#163 Post by artfilmfan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:15 pm

The were certain aspects of the second half of Su.ki.da that I did not like at first. They bothered me less during subsequent viewings. Unlike the other two films and the short, this one is still in the “like very much” category.

At one time, I had a chance to see Maborosi on the big screen. I was looking at the poster in front of the venue where it was shown but did not buy a ticket to see it. I can’t remember why. It was probably after seeing the film on the Region 1 DVD but before the Japanese DVD. I have regretted it ever since.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#164 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:55 pm

I passed up seeing After Life on its (brief) theatrical run because I thought the American trailer was cheesy (seen after Mononoke hime, I suspect) -- had I seen a subbed version of the Japanese trailer instead, I would have made a better decision. ;-)

The theatrical print of Maborosi available prior to the restoration made in connection with the Japanese DVD was not really much better than the American DVD. Dennis Doros was not able to pry out proper source materials from the Japanese rights holder -- even when offering to pay for an interpositive (I think it was) out of his own pocket. At this point, prints were still being made directly from either the original negative (already getting pretty battered) -- or from a hard-subbed screen print (all that was offered for theatrical and home video use in North America). Dennis worked so hard on behalf of this film that I felt obligated to buy Milestone's Blu-Ray even though I had already bought the Japanese Kore'eda box set. ;-)
Last edited by Michael Kerpan on Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:08 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#165 Post by knives » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:01 am

Surprised no mention yet for what I consider his best film: Nobody Knows.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#166 Post by Michael Kerpan » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:05 am

I love Nobody Knows -- and find it devastating -- but it's only ONE of my favorites -- and not a sentimental favorite (for one non- or meta-cinematic reason or another). To tell the truth, however, I have no NON-favorite Kore'eda films (and hope I never encounter one).

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#167 Post by knives » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:09 am

Everything he serves up in that one is catnip for me. There's something about kids having to deal with trauma that's always been interesting to me. That's probably why the more sedate in goals Like Father, Like Son has worked the least for me (though even that one I would call good if just not for me).

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#168 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:14 am

knives wrote:
Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:01 am
Surprised no mention yet for what I consider his best film: Nobody Knows.
I mentioned it on the last page, easily up there with his best and a wonderful discovery from the BFI set.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#169 Post by Michael Kerpan » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:16 am

Like Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Shiota's Gaichu (Harmful Insect), Nobody Knows hurts so much that despite my admiration (and immense cinematic love), I love other films about children that hurt less a bit more.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#170 Post by knives » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:19 am

That's an understandable reaction. I sort of need that hurt. It's deeply cathartic for me which is a feeling that I really cherish from art. Probably why Mann's Doctor Faustus is my favorite book.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#171 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:22 am

knives wrote:
Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:19 am
That's an understandable reaction. I sort of need that hurt. It's deeply cathartic for me which is a feeling that I really cherish from art. Probably why Mann's Doctor Faustus is my favorite book.
Have you seen Vox Lux yet?

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#172 Post by Michael Kerpan » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:31 am

I cherish it too, but ultimately love (at least a bit) more Somai's ultimately hopeful Ohikkoshi (Moving) over Shiota's devastating Gaichu, Takahata's Only Yesterday over GotF, and Kore'eda's Still Walking over Nobody Knows. But I basically hate ranked lists of favorites -- and absolutely refuse to declare any of these "greater" than the others. Maybe I just like being wishy-washy enough to have large batches of films I love almost exactly equally.

(FWIW -- I love Dostoevsky's Idiot and Austen's Persuasion almost equally, but if pushed would have put the more positive Austen novel slightly before the more unrelentingly painful Dostoevsky one).

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#173 Post by knives » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:43 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:22 am
knives wrote:
Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:19 am
That's an understandable reaction. I sort of need that hurt. It's deeply cathartic for me which is a feeling that I really cherish from art. Probably why Mann's Doctor Faustus is my favorite book.
Have you seen Vox Lux yet?
It has been on my to do list for awhile.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#174 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:51 am

I just finished Mann's book yesterday and saw some different similarities between them, though Sausage's reading celebrated the ironies and overall work much better I think. Either way, perhaps more motivation to get in on the discussion, and see one of the best films of the decade. Given the catharsis you also get from hurt, I think you could love it depending on if you see the camera as empathetic as I do, though it's in a very strange and unique way that I think can come off as very cold too, but in that validation of anthropological and globalist horror is the empathy.

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Re: Hirokazu Kore-eda

#175 Post by The Curious Sofa » Fri Feb 21, 2020 6:56 am

I watched the entire BFI box set. Nobody Knows was the stand out for me and Maborosi still comes second. The kids in Nobody Knows are amazing and the film never slides into sensationalism, which it could have done so easily. Reading up on the film, Kore-eda toned down the case, which was even more harrowing than depicted.

I need to rewatch After Life again, it's a wonderful film, its premise was just a little too whimsical for me. Then again, it mainly serves as a frame for a lot of wonderful performances and observations.

Still Walking also is a showcase for a lot of great performances. As an side-effect of having watched Nobody Knows the night before, I still hated You (the actress) at the start of this. But she won me over, her quirky quality reminded me of Shelley Duvall in a 70s Altman film and then I was slightly disappointed that she mostly disappears from the second half of the movie. The mother was the stand out for me, the actress is just wonderful to watch and always slightly unexpected. The only problem I had with Still Walking is that it never shifts tone or pace and by the last third I'd tired of it slightly. Then it won me back with its short epilogue.

I still haven't watched any extras, I was too tired after work and may get round to them over the weekend
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