WIT Life #175: Japan Cuts 2011
Film, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
The 2011 Japan Cuts Film Festival at Japan Society is back and better than ever, with a lineup of 32 films and 33 screenings in total. Like last year, I decided to volunteer in various roles such as ushering and ticket taking, as that allows you to stick around and enjoy the movies. The first movie I worked at was Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano (名前のない女たち) which was screened this past Friday night.
Director Hisayasu Sato, known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink” for his work in ピンク映画 (pinku eiga) or soft-core porn films, incorporated his background into this movie released in Japan last year. It tells the story of a meek OL who is scouted in Shibuya to work in adult films. She develops into an alter ego otaku porn star called Lulu, but the deeper she gets the more confusing it becomes for her to keep her two identities separate. The other name in the title belongs to her co-worker Ayano, a veteran of the industry who becomes an unlikely friend to Lulu and takes her under her wing.
However, the movie of the night that blew me away was the 11 year-old Battle Royale. This classic features many household names before they became big, such as Tatsuya Fujiwara who is pictured here, star of Parade which was my favorite movie from last year’s festival. In addition, you can also see young versions of female sensations Chiaki Kuriyama of Kill Bill fame and Kou Shibasaki who has gone onto a thriving television and film career.
The story depicts a 9th grade class that is chosen to participate in a battle to the death on an uninhabited island, orchestrated by their former 7th grader teacher masterfully played by Beat Takeshi. Each student is given a backpack with supplies and a weapon, and it is kill or be killed. This mortal game has a three-day time limit, and there can only be one survivor left by this deadline or all students will be blown up by the GPS trackers that have been attached to their necks.
I was worried about whether I could handle the violence of this movie, but I didn’t find it gratuitous at all and they did a great job developing the back stories of the characters. In addition, the amount of humor lightening the intense mood was a nice surprise. It was a much more deep and thought-provoking movie than I expected, and it stayed with me for most of the weekend. The fact that this legendary film has not lost its relevance in over a decade is an indication of its true greatness.
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