Why I love "Men Who Hate Women"

It is no surprise that I prefer the novel over the film adaptation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". The pacing was good; dialogues were well crafted; writing style was refined and meticulous yet entertaining, helped in no small way by equally refined English translation; and compared to the film adaptation which is possibly restrained by the conventional length, in the novel the story was better developed with ample amount of depictions on the protagonists and other characters, as well as subplots involving individual protagonists and their relationships with these other characters. As such, the theme was so much more noticeable in the novel.

And to me, that is the most enjoyable aspect of this fantastic piece of written work. That the author spell the theme out in the title he had given to the book and yet it was presented with such suspense that millions of reader, including me, were turning the pages at such rapid pace.

The original swedish title was "Men Who Hate Women"- what a spoiler! However, if the novel were a musical masterpiece, it is but only the first bar in the motif. The entire motif is such (Spoiler Ahead): a philogynist who think of himself as feminist was investigating a murder case of women involving misogynist. He was aided by a misandrist who was herself a sexual victim of a misogynist. Together they nailed the misogynous murderer and the misandrist developed feelings for the philogynist but she could not stand his philogynous behavior and decided she would hate him instead.

Just for fun, if we were to put the above premise in the title's style: The man who loves and respects women was investigating the murders of women killed by an unknown man who hates women. He was helped by a woman who hates man and she was raped by a man who hates women. They found the murderer and the women who hates man fell in love with the man who love women but she hated his loving behavior towards other women and decided to hate him instead.

That the overall motif such as it is was so well wrought into the novel is the reason why I found it such a superb read. As a bonus, there was sparing description of financial crimes in the book and each part of the book was named by the author in financial terms (mergers and acquisitions etc.). And as I started on second of the trilogy (The Girl Who Played with Fire), I note with pleasure that the parts were named after mathematical terms- to an accountant, that is music to my ears.

From "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" to Japanese Cinema

As I was composing my afterthoughts on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"- the film and the book, an unrelated observation flashed by: Some of the greatest feminist films are made by the Japanese- Ballad of Narayama, Floating Cloud, Twenty-Four Eyes (just to name a few). The directors are invariably of the male gender, no less.

Yet it is a society that also embraces arguably the most misogynous sub-culture- annual production volume and thematic variations of their adult videos, comics, novels etc have to be the highest and most diverse in the world.

The broad, almost extreme to the point of schizophrenic, spectrum of penetrating cultural sophistication is one of the reasons for my fascination over Japanese Cinema.

Book Review: <等雲到——與黑澤明導演在一起>

Text extracted from an RTHK podcast:

一分鐘閱讀 李怡

http://app1.rthk.org.hk/elearning/1minreading/

Episodes 1730 - 1732

Looking forward to reading it.

二三十歲的朋友，也許只知道陳奕迅的歌《黑澤明》，對我們老一輩的人來說，黑澤明的電影可說伴隨我們成長，他的電影對人性的掲露，人道的關懷，對全球幾代人都有深深的影響。更因電影《羅生門》而使社會出現了“羅生門”這個用語。

黑澤明(1910-1998)，是國際上最多人認識的日本導演，曾執導數十部電影，當中以《羅生門》、《留芳頌》、《七俠四義》、《影武者》最為人稱道，是當代電影界的模範人物。黑澤明寫過自傳，他的自傳《蛤蟆的油》結束於1950年，正是他以電影《羅生門》為全世界認識的那一年。他在自傳中說：「寫自傳的我不能穿過這個門（《羅生門》）再前進了。《羅生門》以後的我，要從《羅生門》之後我作品的人物中去認識。」

那一年，一個叫野上照代的女子，當了《羅生門》的電影場記，第一次遇見黑澤明，並開始了長達半個世紀的合作，被黑澤明稱為“我的左膀右臂”。她參與了黑澤導演《羅生門》之後幾乎全部作品的拍攝，見證了這個偉大電影人的大起大落。近年，她寫了一本書，書名是：<等雲到——與黑澤明導演在一起>。這本書可視為黑澤明自傳《蛤蟆的油》之續本。

通過野上照代的筆，黑澤明導演的剛強與淡定，認真與從容，以及“等雲到”的那份堅持，都一一在讀者面前展現。

作者不僅在書中講述了黑澤的性格、處事作風、創作方法、與演員和工作人員們的關係，還述說了關於日本電影發展的盛衰，以及電影歷史締造者的悲歡離合和笑聲淚影。

生於1927年的野上照代為什麼把她與黑澤明半個世紀的合作，對黑澤的近距離觀察的記錄，叫《等雲到》呢？

那是因為從前拍電影，大導演們對燈光的要求特別高。拍攝外景時，依仗的是自然光，於是很多時便要等烏雲散開、陽光出來時才能進行拍攝（當然也有相反的情形，即是要等烏雲蓋頂的時刻）。“等雲到”講的就是拍電影一定要有的那份堅持。“等雲到”的時候，所有工作人員都得乾等。野上最喜歡的就是這段等雲到的短暫時光，因為「你可以優悠地放鬆一下自己…那是屬於你的時間。」為了打發時間，大夥兒都會八卦剛聽來的小道傳聞：誰跟誰搞上了，誰跟誰又吹了，還有每個人的入行趣聞。

　　

「聆聽別人生命裡的故事永遠是消磨時間的最好方法，」野上照代在《等雲到》一書裡說。書中，野上講得最多的，是黑澤明的性格、處事作風、創作方法、他與演員和工作人員們的關係。但除此之外，野上還述說了很多其他的小故事：有關從三十年代歷二次大戰前後、一直到世紀末的日本電影的制作情況，它不斷在轉變的生產模式、它的盛衰、它的台前幕後、不論是一度叱吒風雲抑或終生寂寂無名的歷史締造者的悲歡離合和笑聲淚影……

《等雲到》不僅是本讓你消磨時間的好書，它還是一個時代的記錄——或者起碼是它的一個側面的素描。

在《等雲到》一書中，作者野上照代寫她與黑澤明的關係之前，先講自己怎樣被一部電影改變了她的一生。電影叫《赤西蠣太》，伊丹萬作導演，1936年的作品。

野上四一年看到這電影時是十四歲的少女學生。野上立刻便愛上了這電影，還衝動得趕忙寫了封影迷信給住在京都的伊丹萬作。沒料到伊丹不但給她回了信，還送了一本他寫的《電影札記》給她。自此二人互通鴻雁，即使在戰爭期間也沒間斷過。伊丹這樣寫：「你從來沒問我要過什麼……但如果你問我想教你些什麼，我卻又說不上來。我猜收一個我什麼也沒教過的學生不會是什麼大問題吧！」

　　

戰後，野上一度嘗試過去探訪伊丹，但卻緣慳一面。未幾，即讀到他病逝的消息，終年才不過46歲。那是1946年。要到三年後，野上才終於透過一個專門紀念伊丹的俱樂部到了他家。伊丹的遺孀跟她說，她每封給丈夫寄來的信，都由她親手放在書桌上讓他拆閱。自此野上成了伊丹一家的摯交。伊丹育有一子一女。十歲大的兒子後來甚至一直跟著野上，由京都住到東京，直到他自己也進入電影制片廠工作止。他，就是後來也成了名導演的伊丹十三，拍過《葬禮》、《丸之女》、《大病院》等電影。

從一名影迷到她最仰羨的偶像的兒子的監護人，這樣的關係，大概只有在過去的社會才會發生。原因就是因為那個時代有人情，而人情這種東西現時代已漸式微了。

Reminiscences of a Kinema Operator-JFF 2003

Programming for JFF 2003, as it turned out, was a rather straight forward affair. For that year marked the centennial of Ozu Yasujiro's birth. As did many festivals and film societies around the world, we selected 6 of his representative titles from within the Japan Foundation Film Archive.

However, as a tribute, it seemed too one-dimensional in just screening Ozu's works. I began to think: what else can we do to add some perspective? While researching, it dawned on me that some of Ozu's biggest admirers were film-makers from outside of Japan, like Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Wim Wenders. Indeed Mr Hou was commissioned to shooting a film in Tokyo to commemorate Ozu 100. Wim Wenders, on the other hand, had already made a road documentary in search of Ozu's Tokyo.

After visited Goethe Institut's on-line catalogue and confirming that TOKYO GA was in its collection, I gave a call to GI Singapore with which SFS had a good working relationship. To my pleasant surprise, GI was so supportive that it shipped in the print and cleared the screening rights, at no cost to the festival.

Having settled the tribute component, I began to look into putting in some variety. In past years, because of constraints of budget and screening venue, JFF had been featuring titles that were in 16mm format and sourced within the Embassy and the Foundation's archives. For a change, I began to explore the possibility of including titles that were in 35mm format and to be obtained commercially.

We did have one major constraint, however: Budget. With zero dollar in hand for programming, the new component of the Festival would have to be self-liquidating. It had to either generate enough revenue via ticket sales, secure sponsored money or both. There was not enough time to seek a generous sponsor. So the only alternative was to sell ticket and hope that box office would be strong enough to offset all expenses.

The paid-admission model in itself was not uncommon for any film festival. It was however a departure from previous JFF in Singapore which had always been free-admission. In fact, the Ozu component remained free-admission. Fully aware of the potential pitfalls that audience may not reject paying or are confused between the two components (one free-admission while the other not), we nevertheless decided to proceed in experimenting.

I was also aware of the high costs in securing and shipping in premiere releases from oversea distributors. Because of the prohibitive courier charges (35mm prints weigh more than 20kg) and screening fees, more often than not the ticket sales alone at festivals would not be enough to cover the costs- notwithstanding that JFF was run, and continued to be run (for the next 5 years, at least), by an all-volunteer team.

With the aim of lowering costs, I began to look at previously released but lesser known titles by local distributors for some ideas. As a programmer for SFS, I had previously worked with a distributor known for its non-mainstream and 'alternative' interests and obtained a list of titles handled by them. Going through the list and aided by researching through the internet, I quickly found some Japanese titles that were suitable for the Festival. They includes two titles directed by Fukasaku Kinji and Moonlight Whisper directed by Shiota Akihiko.

Fukasaku, the versatile director whose career was lately revived by Battle Royale (though he was better known within Japan for Yakuza-theme films he made in the 70s), had just passed away in early 2003. It seemed timely to have a 'Director-in-Focus' segment in which two of his films, Lovers Lost and The Geisha House, could be screened and hopefully arouse audience's interest in his other films. Also appealing to me personally was 1) that Lovers Lost starred Matzuzaka Keiko and young Sanada Hiroyuki- two very accomplished actors and 2) it was adapted from a novel that together with Muddy River and another book formed the River Trilogy. Muddy River was made into a film that I have seen and was deeply moved.

I had previously seen Moonlight Whisper at SIFF (Singapore International Film Festival) and liked it. I figured it deserved a widely audience and by re-introducing it, more Singapore audience would notice the talent of Shiota Akihiko.

I called the distributor to offer an affordable hiring fee and confirmed the 3 titles.

Not contented with featuring just materials sourced locally and wanted to gain experience in dealing with foreign distributors, I proceed with shortlisting titles from oversea. Fully aware of the high costs involved, it was a risk that we had to take at least once in order to learn. Upon recommendation by Lung Hsiang and urged on by Chee Yen, I contacted the Tokyo rights holder of Millennium Actress, the visually stunning animation thatchy saw at the SIFF earlier. After some correspondence via e-mails, the title was also secured.

There was another constraint that needed ironing out- the venue. SFS had been working with Golden Village for years on other screenings so it was natural that we spoke with GV and quite effortlessly secured the slots for the inaugural ticketed component. The free-admission component would continue to be held at the auditorium of Japanese Association, as did previous years.

The bonus of working with GV came in the form of Twilight Samurai. The Yamada Yoji film was picked up by GV for theatrical release and came to my attention when talking with them. I offered to premiere the title at the festival before its general release and received a positive answer.

The programme for JFF 2003 was thus locked down. What followed was a lot of coordinations in ensuring the Festival ran as smoothly as it can be. And after it was over, I was relieved to learn that we did not burn a big hole by including the ticketed component. Instead, with the box office and after offsetting all related expenses, we ran a modest surplus of around S$500.

With that as seed money, as miniscule as it was, I vowed to plan for an improved JFF 2004. Indeed, some of the ideas for 2004 had already been geminating......

Link to JFF 2003

Flash Snippets:

The Free-Admission tickets were painstakingly prepared by Chek Mong who also commission the first JFF trailer.

Pui Kwan, Chek Mong, Andrew and I were visiting all the Japanese Language Schools that we can find and dropping off the Festival program. That became customary in future years.

There was a later follow-up screening along the theme of Ozu. On 12 December 2003, both his birthday and the day he died, some of us got together and screened another documentary on Ozu- someone even bought a cake (Was it Shirley?).

Screening of Lovers Lost, for some of us (no names mentioned), was the highlight of the Festival- for the wrong reason.

Reminiscences of a Kinema Operator- Introduction

At an Academy Awards ceremony many years ago, one of the award presenters told a customary tale before giving out the award: A caveman visited another's habitat and, while admiring the drawings on the cave's wall, made comments and suggestions on this and that sketches. The owner eventually got frustrated and confronted the friend: "If you were so good, why don't you draw your own?" The reply: "I can't. That is why I am a producer."

As I can't make films nor can I be a film producer. I decided to volunteer with the Singapore Film Society (SFS) as one of its programmer when, more than 10 years ago, I had wanted to immerse myself deeper into the art form (i.e. films, not wall sketches). My involvement with the Society's activities later expanded to include programming for some of the festivals that it organized. Among them was the annual Japanese Film Festival.

For the six years between 2003 and 2008, I, in the capacity of Programming Representative from SFS and along with the partners in the Embassy of Japan and Japan Foundation, helped programme for and put together the annual Japanese Film Festival.

Having been attending and volunteering at previous years' JFF, I was hoping to bring in some fresh ideas and new elements. More specifically, I wish to expand the role of programming to curating. i.e. rather than just picking from the film libraries of the Embassy and Foundation titles that were recent and perceived to be popular, I would like to give each festival a specific theme and focus. In so doing, I hoped the audience would gain a better appreciation of Japanese Cinema (as I did from preparing for the festivals).

Over the next few blog posts, I wish to recollect some the fond memories over the six years- from how a theme was picked for each year to researching, selecting and finally securing some of the titles.

A caveman that sketches and produces I am not. But by treating the wide spectrum of quality cinematic accomplishment in past and present Japanese Cinema as pallette (from works of the classical auteurs such as Imamura and Naruse and present masters such as Ichikawa and Kawase), I hope I had been able curate a line-up in each festival that in itself form a narrative. And by running the 10-day long virtual cinema once a year, I sincerely hope that I was able to sketch out an outline of various shapes and forms of Japanese Kinema which audience could take with them and, if they so wish, further explore the (gigantic) body of works.

Impression of Bong Joon-Ho's Mother

The suspenseful and well-acted drama is not without flaws. However, the irony of remembrance as depicted in the film (while we attempt to remember what we forget, we try to forget what we remember) reserves itself a spot in my memory.

The Answer is Still Blowin' in the Wind

One of the most powerful moments in The Baader Meinhof Complex appeared after the film ended. As the end credits rolled, they were accompanied by Dylan's lyrical anti-war song- The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind. Realising the classic's significance as a protest song during the 60's and 70's, one can reflect upon the irony that the terrorising Red Army Faction originated from the student anti-war protest movement.

It is beyond doubt that, although it is a story about a domestic terrorist group in 1970s' West Germany, the film is making references to the present-day 'War on Terror': The training camps in Jordan; terrorist network in Iraq; the struggle in Palestine; The 1972 Munich atrocity by Black September; Degrading depiction of the US administrations.

Perhaps what struck me most was the scene in which, the police chief, Horst Herold, was expressing his opinion to the anti-terrorist unit that capturing the leaders was not the right answer in dismantling the group. To find an ultimate solution is to first understand and later eliminate the motives behind the violence.

Fast forward 30 years later to 21st Century, when confronted with threats and attacks from the Islam extreme groups, the belief in military retaliation as the right solution is still the prevailing wisdom among superpowers. One can almost predict that so long as Homo Sapiens is around, forces can not be ruled out as the preferred settlement process in any conflicts.

That is indeed, the premise on which James Cameron's Avatar was based. Well into the 22nd Century (the year is 2154, time-stamped on the Sully's videolog) and, as the story goes, human beings are oppressing the Navi species on planet Pandora so the sought-after Unobtanium can be mined.

As observed by many reviewers, Cameron is referring to the various conflicts involving America (historical or otherwise)- from Vietnam to Iraq; from romanticised Pocahontas to fictional Dances with Wolves. I would venture further- the reference is to human civilization. Colonisation exists from prehistorical time and shall continue to thrive- in one form or another.

Cameron has provided a feel-good ending in that the natives of the land prevail over the aggressors. But realistically and historically, how often, if ever, do the natives triumph over the colonisers or will the aggressors, faced with a setback or two, ever stop pursuing their conquests?

The answer is…...