Sakuran (Mika Ninagawa, 2006)

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Michael Kerpan · #1 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:29 pm

Tommaso · #2 Post by **Tommaso** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:23 pm

I'm just coming back from the cinema after watching this film. Don't let yourself be tricked into thinking this is just a cinematographic fashion show, although it is that as well. Actually, were it not for the cruelly tasteless attempts at making this more modern by using trash Japanese pop music as background from time to time, this is a rather slow-going and quiet film for the most part, more in the vein of some 60s Japanese history film than a pop video. But all in all, one of the better films I saw recently in the theatres, and the look of it is just wonderful, with an occasional nod to Kitano's "Dolls" here and there. Not great, but well done.

Michael Kerpan · #3 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:33 pm

This had the _makings_ of a fine film -- great cinematography, decent actors, and an interesting premise -- but the script is ultimately as much a heap of hooeey as "Memoirs of a Geisha". Yes -- the package as a whole is far better -- but the content at its core is inauthentic malarkey. Perhaps this is because the film is based not on literature (or prior cinematic landmarks) but on an essentially rubbishy manga.

Possibly worth seeing for its visual style -- and to take note of a director who might have more to offer in the future. But in terms of manga adaptations, I'll take the low-budget sports manga adaptations like "Touch" and "Rough" over "Sakuran" -- and I'm not a sports (or sports film) fan.

fred · #4 Post by **fred** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:48 am

Tommaso wrote:Actually, were it not for the cruelly tasteless attempts at making this more modern by using trash Japanese pop music as background from time to time

If you think Shiina Ringo is trash I'm afraid you've never heard trash my friend. Japanese pop music has so much worse to offer.

Michael Kerpan · #5 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:08 am

fred wrote:If you think Shiina Ringo is trash I'm afraid you've never heard trash my friend. Japanese pop music has so much worse to offer.

I didn't hate the music -- but I didn't think it served the film all that well either. Compared to the very poorly conceived script, the music was no more than a minor irritant.

Tommaso · #6 Post by **Tommaso** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:47 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:I didn't hate the music -- but I didn't think it served the film all that well either. Compared to the very poorly conceived script, the music was no more than a minor irritant.

The problem with the music (trash or not, but I must say that I have heard a lot of Japanese pop music which I thought to be MUCH better) is that it works completely against the visuals. If a film is so stylized like this one, you'd need something as intricately enchanting on the soundtrack. There were many sequences where I just tried to imagine how a particular passage would look with some Takemitsu music Ã la "Double Suicide". Probably Ninagawa or her producers saw "Marie Antoinette" and got the idea that the use of pop music might make the whole thing more marketable, as I believe that the film - contrary to how it is actually promoted - is NOT a shrill, upbeat affair. And yes, the script is indeed poor, but the film clearly doesn't put the narrative or the social meaning in the centre. I also thought of "Memoirs of a Geisha" in places, but was immediately convinced that "Sakuran" is FAR better, as it doesn't fall into the trap of Hollywood style over-romanticizing, even if it is probably a far cry from Geisha reality in the 18th/19th century.
In any case, I still maintain the point that the film is worth seeing for the visuals alone. You might say that a lot of current Asian films work with striking visuals for their own sake, but I can't help it: I find the images here much more impressive, much more precisely worked out than anything in "Curse of the Golden Flower" (for example). Whereas in Zhang's film you have the feeling as if someone just spilled out colour pots (real or computerized) over the whole image, in "Sakuran" every detail, every relation of the colours seems to be utterly carefully composed. I'm sure most Peter Greenaway fans would like this film...

Michael Kerpan · #7 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:26 pm

As far as I can tell, this film would have to be set in 1700 or thereabouts.

I think the film does over-romanticize (and make overly attractive) prostitution. There were aa number of spots that I found horrendously obnoxious. I hope someday you get to see Imai's Nigorie -- set in the same location, albeit a couple hundred years later. At least as visually stunning as Sakuran (albeit in black and white).

I do not disagree with your exhortation that people see this for its visual beauty. I disagree with your adverse comparison to "Curse of the Golden Flower" -- whose over-the-top color use I find at least as intelligent and sophisticated as anything here. (disclaimer -- I seem to be in the minority that actually found CotG quite good).

Tommaso · #8 Post by **Tommaso** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:10 pm

I can't quite see how the film makes prostitution overly attractive. From the beginning it is clear that the central character is forced into the whole thing, and how she is hindered and assaulted to break free from that 'goldfish prison' (one of the instances where the symbolism in the script becomes really dull). Surely, all the women are extremely attractive, and care to the utmost for getting a better position inside the brothel. But the way they are treated by their customers isn't exactly favourable. The romanticizing bit may be in the character of Seiji, who is probably drawn too kindly.

Michael Kerpan wrote: disagree with your adverse comparison to "Curse of the Golden Flower" -- whose over-the-top color use I find at least as intelligent and sophisticated as anything here. (disclaimer -- I seem to be in the minority that actually found CotG quite good).

I still haven't made my mind up on "Curse". Unlike many people here and elsewhere, I wasn't disappointed with the acting or the political implications of the story, both of which I could accept for having a great theatrical flair (Greek or Shakespearean, whatever you like). But it was precisely the colours that irritated me from the beginning, especially if compared to "Hero" and "Flying Daggers". In those films colours were more than abundant, but still looked natural and often simply gorgeous, but in "Curse" everything was overdone, even slightly muddy and bleeding into each other (I thought at first this was due to the dvd transfer, but I watched it in the cinema afterwards and it was exactly the same). Those awful orangey-pink corridors....

Michael Kerpan · #9 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:14 pm

As to romanticization -- all I can say, Tommaso, is -- wait untl you see some of the earlier Japanese films that deal with prostitution in a more credible fashion. True the heroine is "sold" -- but it takes her little time to decide that her new life is far better than her old one (true in a way, but ...).

Mrs. Anno (the manga's author) is no Ichiyo Higuchi or Saikaku. she offers romance, excitement and glamor -- and not a drop of insight. Prostitution is presented as an exciting and attractive profession -- and the bad features are treated as relatively trivial.

The fact that the male lead in this film never aged a day -- from start to finish -- really drove me up the wall. ;~}

As to Curse -- I liked the colors.

If you want unbearably garish and muddy -- there's always "Kamikaze Girls". My eyes hurt just thinking about this. I've avoided the director's "Memories of Matsuko" because reports he absues color in a similar fashion in this.

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Sakuran (Mika Ninagawa, 2006)