On 2010-02-04 16:12:23 -0800, moviePig said:
>> Some situations just don't have closure or resolution and apparently
>> -- at least based on the two films that I've seen -- that isn't
>> something that concerns Koreeda. He's worth seeing just for that. I
>> have another of his films on my reserve list and I'm pacing around
>> waiting for it.
>
> Wow, he also did AFTER LIFE. Maybe ethnic insensitivity on my part
> that I hadn't homed in on him as such a noteworthy director, as, like
> most here, I'm quite attentive to that particular credit.
I pursue Japanese film with great vigor. I like his movies well
enough, but find they ensure a certain distance from the characters.
Upstream it's pointed out that Nobody Knows isn't overly sentimental or
manipulative. That's quite true, but on the other hand the children
for the most part seem to be the walking dead. It could have used more
(observable) intimacy. It's arguable that this is what makes such
movies "more Japanese" or "less Japanese" in tone.
> I wonder which American directors, if any, would be his counterpart with a
> solid career of small, personal, and highly affecting films without
> having been sucked into the industry maw. I can't think of a soul not
> overseas. Maybe Richard Linklater... Gus Van Sant (intermittently)...
John Sayles. Hmm maybe not, they are certainly outside the industry
maw, but how "personal" they really are is difficult to say. I find
really nice small films this way, and depending on how successful they
are the director's next few films seem to head in another direction.
--
Dogmatism kills jazz. Iconoclasm kills rock. Rock dulls scissors.
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