Reading a Japanese Film: Cinema in Context

by Keiko I. McDonald

Reading a Japanese Film, written by a pioneer of Japanese film studies in the United States, provides viewers new to Japanese cinema with the necessary tools to construct a deeper understanding of some of the most critically acclaimed and thoroughly entertaining films ever made. In her introduction, Keiko McDonald presents a historical overview and outlines a unified approach to film analysis. Sixteen "readings" of films currently available on DVD with English subtitles put theory into practice as she considers a wide range of work, from familiar classics by Ozu and Kurosawa to the films of a younger generation of directors.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Japan

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keiko McDonald’s book, Reading A Japanese Film: Cinema In Context (2006) is meant to be an updated text for use in Japanese film classes. In her introduction she says that sees this book as a companion to Donald Richie’s book, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. It would serve as an useful companion, but it stands alone well by itself. McDonald has chosen 16 films from various directors, genres, and periods to analyze. Many I have seen before: Sisters of the Gion (1936) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel (1948) & Madadayo (1993), Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy (1954-1956), Ozu’s Floating Weeds (1959), Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba (1963), Juzo Itami’s A Taxing Woman (1987), Hiroshi Koreda’s Maboroshi (1995), and Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return (1995). But there are several that were new to me or I hadn’t gotten around to seeing yet and I have subsequently watched: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Yoichi Higashi’s Village of Dreams (1996), and Naomi’s Kawase’s Suzaku (1997). Although, McDonald states that all of the films are available with English subtitles (and this may have been true when it was published in 2006),however, I have had trouble tracking down several of them. For example, Shiro Toyoda’s The Mistress (1954), Kohei Ogura’s Muddy River (1981), and Masahiro Shinoda’s MacArthur’s Children (1984). McDonald generally analyzes the film in a linear narrative fashion, but often draws attention to cultural details that only a person intimately associated with Japanese culture could understand. I found the essays insightful and thorough in their discussions of the themes and issues explored by the directors. It is a welcome addition to the library of Japanese film.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

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