Japn 340

Ronald Loftus

rloftus@willamette.edu

Voice Mail: 6275

The Japanese Cinema

 

Spring 2008

Walton Hall 144

Course Description:

A survey of major Japanese films and film directors from the "golden age" of Japanese cinema in the 1950s and 1960s to the present. Works by directors such as Ozu Yasujiro and Kurosawa Akira will be screened in order to give students an appreciation for some of the classic works of Japanese cinema. Contemporary films and anime will be examined as well. The work of the course consists of reading the two books on Ozu and Kurosawa respectively, viewing the films in the assigned time slots, coming to class prepared to discuss the films, and submitting the brief film critiques or "commentaries" electronically on the Discussion Board feeature of Blackboard.

Course Requirements:

1. Regular Attendance (no more than 2-3 absences)

2. Participation in class discussion and in OnLine (Blackboard) Discussion Group

3. Do the readings as assigned

4. View the films as scheduled

5. Complete the "Short Commentaries" or critiques on Blackboard due regularly on almost every film

5. Complete four (4) short papers for the class as assigned; Due Feb. 12, March 4, March 18 and May 1

 

Readings:

David Desser, ed. Ozu's Tokyo Story

Stephen Prince, The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa

Selected Articles, Handouts and Online Materials

Good websites to know about:

 

http://us.imdb.com/

http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html (Kinema Club)

Jan. 15

Introduction to Course and Materials

 

Readings:

See Noel Burch Pages 1 and 2

Jan. 17

Introduction to Japanese Film Studies, Discussion of Noel Burch Readings

See some useful Glossaries of Terms and Relevant Film Vocabulary

An Article about Noel Burch's Book See in PDF form as well

Noel Burch handouts

 

Jan. 22

Introduction to Ozu Yasujiro

Burch Ch. 21

Read Desser Intro and Ch. 1

Excellent Guide to Noel Burch

Jan. 23

Film Showing: Early Summer

 

 

Bordwell Review

Schneider Review

Jan. 24

Discussion Early Summer

Short Commentary on Early Summer due (post on Blackboard)

Jan. 29

Ozu Yasujiro

 

Jan. 30

 

Film Showing: Tokyo Story

Ozu's Tokyo Story

Everydayness in Ozu's films

Jan. 31

Discussion of Tokyo Story

View Wim Wender's Tokyoga

Desser Ch. 2-5

See Film Review

Feb. 5

Introduction to Kurosawa Akira

View Excerpts from Sanshiro Sugata

Drunken Angel (1948)

Prince, Ch. 1, 2

Feb. 6

Film Showing Drunken Angel

See the PDF file "Drunken Angel Commentary" under the Course Materials section of Blackboard

Feb. 7

Discussion: Drunken Angel

 

Prince, Ch. 3, pp. 67-90

Short Commentary on Blackboard (Drunken Angel)

 

Feb. 12

Kurosawa's Stray Dog

 

 

3-4 page paper on Ozu/Tokyo Story

 

Feb. 13

Film showing: Stray Dog (1949)

 

Feb. 14

NO CLASS--Sensei will be in PDX conducting Interviews for the JET Program

Prince Ch. 3, pp. 90-113

Short Commentary on Blackboard (Stray Dog)

Feb. 19

Discussion: Stray Dog

Reflections on Early Kurosawa Material;

Introduction to Kobayashi Masaki (http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Jo-Ku/Kobayashi-Masaki.html)

 

Feb. 20

Film Showing: Harakiri (1962)

Some Reviews of Harakiri

Short Commentary on Blackboard (Harakiri)

Feb. 21

Discussion of Harakiri

More Reviews of Harakiri

 

Feb. 26

Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950)

Prince, Ch. 4, 114-135

Feb. 27

 

Film showing of Rashomon

Kurosawa's Rashomon

Feb. 28

Discussion of Rashomon

 

Read Review by Stanley Hoffman Review

 

March 4

Introduction to Ikiru (To Live) (1952)

 

Read Prince, pp. 101-113

March 5

Film showing: Ikiru (143 minutes)

Discussion: Ikiru

Short Commentary on Blackboard

(Donald Richie on Ikiru)

 

March 6

 

3-4 page paper on early Kurosawa films due (Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Rashomon, and/or Kobayashi's Harakiri)

March 11

Finish Ikiru discussion

Introduction to Japanese Anime

 

Nausicaa page on Miyazaki Web

March 12

Film showing: Naucicaa, Valley of the Wind

Related film by Dir. Miyazaki Hayao

My Neighbor Totoro

Totoro Reviewby Roger Ebert

More on Totoro

March 13

Discussion: Nausicaa

Yahoo's anime site

www resources

 

March 18

Graveyard of the Fireflies--Excerpts

3

March 19

Film showing: Princess Mononoke

My Gateway Mononoke Page

 

March 20

Discussion: Princess Mononoke

Download pdf version of Susan Napier article from the "Course Materials" section on Blackboard, or

Read an Online version: "ConfrontingMaster Narratives" by Susan Napier

Click here for synopsis of article.

 

Spring Break

No Classes

April 1

THE SEVEN SAMURAI : INTRODUCTION

Prince Ch. 6, 200-220 especially

April 2

View Seven Samurai (1954)

 

View Seven Samurai. See the characters. See also some plot synopsis.

April 3

Discuss The Seven Samurai

More Reviews of Seven Samurai

 

April 8

Toward Kurosawa's Ran (1980)

There will be a 7:00 pm special screening at the Hallie Ford Museum of Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for our Youth. Please come!

Prince, Ch. 7, esp. pp. 284-291

3-4 page paper on the two anime films and the Napier article

April 9

Film Showing: Ran

See reviews of Kagemusha

See this Ran and King Lear Discussion

 

More Reviews of Ran

 

 

April 10

Discussion: Ran

 

Short "Response" Paper (2-3 pp) on The Seven Samurai

 

April 15

Kurosawa: The Final Period

 

April 16

Film showing: Rhapsody in August(1991)

 

April 17

Discussion of Rhapsody in August

Prince, Ch. 8, 292-96; 316-329;

 

Short Discussion Board Commentary on Ran

April 22

Kurosawa Legacy and Koreeda Hirokazu

 

Prince Ch. 9, "The Legacy"

April 23

Film Showing: Afterlife(1999): See Interview

 

April 24

Discussion: Afterlife

 

 

April 29

Last Class

 

 

A final Paper, 5-6 pages, Due Thursday, May 1, on either the later Kurosawa films (Ikiru, Ran, and Rhaposody in August), and/or possibly pairing two films such as films Ikiru and Afterlife in order to have a discussion on divergent approaches to the themes of life and death.

Director Frank Capra wrote that only the morally courageous are worthy of speaking to their fellow human beings for two hours in the dark. Kurosawa possessed this courage. His cinema is deeply formalistic, yet those forms are simply his means to an end that he regarded as paramount. That end is the recognition of common humanity and of common suffering. Few filmmakers had the drive, the overpowering sense of responsibility,and the gifts necessary to take viewers on this journey. Kurosawa did and, in doing so, he showed what cinema might yet accomplish.

Stephen Prince, The Warrior's Camera, p. 358.