Yasukuni (2007) | controvesial Japanese doc makes American premier last week

A slow-going yet intriguing interview with last living Yasukuni sword craftsman Kariya Naoharu gives way to a nauseatingly shaky hand-held long-take at the war shrine of the same name. Steady processions of groups dressed in war regalia make their way to the memorial to pay tribute to the war heroes enshrined there, which shockingly include class A war criminals, tried at the Tokyo Trials (akin to the Nuremburg Trials) and sentenced to death by hanging. This would include the well-known, like Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, and the more obscure though not less appalling, such as officers Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Tsuyoshi who took part in a well-publicized 100 man beheading contest with these swords en route to what would be known as the Nanking Massacre.

There is plenty of Japanese nationalistic fervor to go around, though being a Chinese production, this is set aside to explore the complaints of various groups engaged in years of active protest, including Korean, Chinese, indigenous Taiwanese, and even Okinawan groups, who each take contention with the Yasukuni Shrine for different reasons. The complexities surrounding these controversies are given ample breathing room, most readily during the parade of rare archival stills that are thankfully left to speak for themselves.

A chilling mention is made about the practice of testing the swords' sharpness by cutting through bamboo wrapped tightly in straw, with the bamboo representing bone. Worse, it is rumored that prisoners had also been used to this effect.

Of course we cannot be without the inclusion of a dumb-ass American, shown waving the stars and stripes at the Japanese monument --supposedly in support of then-PM Koizumi's controversial decision to worship at the shrine-- and does not fail to embarrass at his inability to grasp the impropriety of brandishing such a symbol in such a place. "We will never forget Hiroshima!" someone in the throng yells at him.

The highest grossing documentary of all time in Japan,Yasukuni has garnered controversy for being a critique of one of Japan's most sensitive issues, raising important questions while serving up a larger commentary on the legacy of war.

dir Li Ying
Yasukuni trailer:

Waltz with Bashir (2008) | The Persistence, Pathos, and Pain of Memory

In the same animation and geopolitical vein as Satrapi and Paronnaud's Persepolis (2007), Waltz with Bashir broaches tragedies surrounding the 1982 Lebanon War, eliciting gut wrenching pathos for the events depicted, the 3 days of the Shatila and Sabra massacre.

Waltz with Bashir draws an easy structural comparison to Linklater's Waking Life (2001). In both we find a central figure in a quest to find an Answer, which he attains though a process of interviews with various talking-heads. Whereas Waking Life explores heady philosophical issues surrounding existence and consciousness, Waltz with Bashir deals squarely with the the recuperation of director/writer Ari Folman's lost memories of war.

As Folman himself mentions, Israel couldn't pay for better propaganda, referring to his film setting the record straight as to the nature of Israel's involvement in these atrocities. Still, a lot of guilt complex is explored across a range of Israeli soldier's perspectives, people who actually lived these experiences. Nevertheless, Folman bravely explores the collective post-traumatic stress disorder of a nation's psyche. It's a classic and sad case in which the victim becomes the victimizer, such as when victims of child abuse grow up to become abusers themselves, or in this case in which the Israeli soldiers are shown as occupying the role of Nazis.

I rather like Max Richter's soundtrack which adds portentous overtones certainly, like a beautiful yet queasy feeling of unease for what's to be uncovered or revealed. It's amazing that a cartoon can portray such anguish and reveal as much, if not more than, any live action can about reality. Waltz with Bashir is a crucial look back at the past.

dir Ari Folman
official movie site
film designer David Polonky
Waltz with Bashir trailer:


Ari Folman France 24 interview:

13 Campanadas(2002) | Cheap Thrills with Chimes!

A cobbled-together work of suspense and psycho-drama, 13 Campanadas follows the story of young Argentinean-schooled Jacobo (Juan Diego Botto), returning to Spain to reclaim his family home and to put to rest issues stemming from traumatic childhood treatment at the hands of his now-deceased, artistic genius of a father. Afraid of ending up like his schizo mother, and haunted by the ghost or visions of his father, there's plenty of intense, dark moments. Unfortunately, there are also moments of incredible cheesiness, like when father transmits the artistic might of his hands to his son via a block of clay. There are limits to where we can ask audiences to suspend their disbelief, and even in these type of genre pics that traffic in the fantastic, adherence to predisposed modes are oft expected and departures from these rules of engagement are based on assumed, shared 1st principles. This film eschews all that and bravely blazes its own path though the result is frequently disjointed.

Such misgivings --including the cheap, soundstage-y feel at the start and subsequent challenged production values-- detract from what could have been a good study in the nature of the schizo-hallucinating mind, a theme explored too late but from which the film extrudes most of if not all of its suspense and drama. Still, Jacobo is kind of a cute guy, and you do get to see his butt, unfortunately for the film, one of its few high points.

dir Xavier Villaverde
aka 13 Chimes
aka 13 Curses

13 Campanadas trailer (Spanish no subtitles):