Japan’s newest voices in cinema look ahead to the future while taking a journey back through history. It is, of course, the wonderful short film program at JAPAN CUTS.
When the last JAPAN CUTS ran, the theme was still very much dealing with the pandemic and its aftermath. This year’s short films only briefly touch on that global touchstone, taking us from existential meditations on death through to warring food trucks and a tribute to the history of Japanese cinema.
The beautiful thing about the JAPAN CUTS shorts program is that they are always introducing us to new or exciting voices. In 2020, it was Toshiaki Toyoda’s 20-minute epic Wolf’s Calling and Yoko Yamanaka’s Amiko. In 2021, we saw Anshul Chauhan (Kontora) make an additional mark with Leo’s Return. This year we see the directorial debut of composer Hiroyuki Onogawa (working with co-writer/director Rii Ishihara) in FLASHBACK BEFORE DEATH (寓).
Opening with autumnal leaves and other ephemera covering a forest floor, it’s a lyrical journey beyond life. Like a voyage along the river Styx, the pristine photography and deliberately placed subjects follow a man after he receives a letter from a sister he thought was dead. Backed by a soundtrack filled with discordant jazz and industrial grind in equal measure, the striking narrative will linger on the tip of your brain long after its brief running time is over.
The polar opposite can be found in the crowd-sourced anime OKAMOTO KITCHEN (岡本キッチン), based on LA’s very real Japanese fusion comfort food truck. Director Gerald Abraham incorporates very classic anime designs from Takuya Saito with animation by anime studio Magic Bus. With the centrepiece of a massive chase between rival food trucks, it has the non-plotting of a slice-of-life anime. Perhaps the only thing you’ll dislike it that it’s only part one, with an end credits tag telling us that it will be continued in Autumn 2023.
In DETOURING BLUE (遠まわりする青), director Ryo Kimura delivers a pristinely shot odyssey through the Tokyo night, which (as the title would imply) is the deepest shade of blue. It follows two young women as they reflect on a missed opportunity of their youth and the melancholy of their present day experiences. Much of the film takes place inside the intimate confines of a car, kind of like a Abbas Kiarostami film in Japan (So, Like Someone in Love really).
SILENT MOVIE arguably embodies the spirit of the Short Cuts programs more than any other. Nine students and three alumni from Tokyo University of the Arts’ Film Department — including Masamichi Kawata, Satoru Hirohara, and Hiroshi Gokan — create 11 silent films that span multiple genres. Complete with a benshi narration, they travel through the various stages of Japanese film history and just have fun with the form.
For example, opening salvo Gentaro Isono: The Gambler’s Embrace bills itself as a reworking of a lost Sadao Yamanaka film. As such, it’s shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio in black and white. It’s immediately contrasted with a sharply modern tale of a woman choosing partners based on an app’s point system. The short tales take us through a grieving widower, the animation/live action mix of Slug, the light LGBTQI+ narrative of Healing, the text message based story of I’ll Never Let You Go, and Microwave Dad, in which someone’s dead father inhabits (you guessed it) an old microwave.
Of the selection, SETAGAYA GAME (セタガヤゲーム) seems to be the most ready-made piece for a feature film. Clocking in at around 40 minutes, brothers Go Ohara and Ken Ohara bring a big action thriller on a small budget. Feeling like a street fighting version of David Fincher’s The Game, Reiji Takahashi arrives as an action star. Flipping and fighting his way through a mysterious series of puzzles, chased by gangs and cops alike, this proof of concept does just that.
JAPAN CUTS 2023 ran from 26 July to 6 August 2023. You can check out our entire coverage, and previous years, at our JAPAN CUTS hub. Read more coverage of Japanese films from the silent era to festivals and other contemporary releases. Plus go beyond Japan with more film from Asia in Focus.
Images: Flashback Before Death © Hotel des Arts, Silent Movie © Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media, © Detouring Blue; © Okamoto Kitchen 2023; ©️2023 OHARA BROS. Co.,Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
