Japanese Red Cinema: Koji Wakamatsu & Masao Adachi | Offscreen
JAPANESE RED CINEMA: KOJI WAKAMATSU & MASAO ADACHI
Japan in the 60’s was a place marked by violent protest movements: opposition against the post-war politics grew even more, and a new left made up of various anti-establishment groups was born. The renewal in 1960 of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (known as Anpo) is seen by many as a new step of American neocolonialism in Japan, as well as the latter’s entrance into the imperialist mindset of the US and its ultimate transformation into a military base during the Vietnam war. This event catalyses a social struggle, and the flames of dissent are fanned once Anpo is to be extended at the end of the decade: clashes with the police and extreme right groups are rife, and armed revolutionary groups emerge to radicalise the effort.
The revolution in also present in cultural circles through a wave of artistic movements deeply rooted in the social climate which explore new territories and break free of the mould. In the film world, this meant a questioning of the rigid system put in place by the major studios. Alternatives arise and with them a new generation of filmmakers who innovated not only through socially- conscious documentaries but also in the field of erotic cinema. The combination of oftentimes violent social tension and freedom of experimentation bred a dynamic form of cinema, marked by its times but still wholly relevant today. Cinema Nova will be exploring this period through the lens of a chief figure of those movements, Masao Adachi, in conjunction with a restrospective of the works of Koji Wakamatsu at Cinematek.
MASAO ADACHI
Author, critic, theorist, screenwriter, actor and director, Masao Adachi is a freeform artist whose work has served the purpose of creative research as well as political action, which has resulted in several decades spent in hiding followed by a stint in prison. His spirit of independence and radicalism contributed to his falling off the Japanese cinema radar until recently. As the works of his contemporary Wakamatsu were internationally restored, Adachi’s name has logically resurfaced and his oeuvre finally recognised.
Adachi is a man of his times, incarnating the revolutionary avant-garde spirit of the political and artistic context that formed him. He studied cinema and directed his first movies through experimental collectives that he himself started. He also became political during the student protests and saw in the film medium a weapon of social upheaval. In 1966 he became acquainted with Wakamatsu, with whom he collaborated extensively through the years, and also took part in some of Ôshima’s films. In 1974, after having travelled through Palestine with Wakamatsu, Adachi decided to extend the film revolution into the armed revolution and left Japan in order to join the Palestinian cause as a member of the Japanese Red Army. He lived in clandestine hiding until his arrest in Beirut in 1997 and spent 18 months in prison until his extradition to Japan. He now lives in Tokyo and can never leave the country. In 2006 he directed a film inspired by his experiences and has most recently collaborated with French artist and filmmaker Eric Baudelaire.
MASAO ADACHI & KOJI WAKAMATSU
In 1966, Masao Adachi crossed paths with Kôji Wakamatsu, a young filmmaker who had already made a name for himself with his self-produced challenging erotic films, thanks to his aesthetic prowess and noteworthy productivity - at times churning out close to 10 films a year- as well as a diplomatic scandal which added a tinge of notoriety to his reputation. Adachi was drawn to the rebellious yet accessible potential of the Pink genre, through which subversion is achieved by using nudity to subtly dissimulate a larger political message. While Wakamatsu was already exploiting the concept, his collaboration with Adachi managed to deepen his political engagement. United by their unruly anti-establishment rules, Wakamatsu and Adachi complemented each other to perfection and lived the revolution in their respective manner: Wakamatsu with the idea that film was a way to "kill cops without going to prison", and Adachi deciding that there was no need to choose between a gun and a camera when you have two hands at your disposal.
United Red Army
This three-hour fresco (with music by Jim O’Rourke) reconstructs a history of the revolutionary movements in Japan during the 60’s and 70’s, marking Wakamatsu’s return to political filmmaking. This unvarnished view of the upheavals strives to understand the motivations, evolutions and divisions within the groups behind them.
Three resurrected Drunkards
Three young Japanese men freshly out of school go for a swim at the beach and discover in amused bewilderment that their clothes have been exchanged for Korean tunics. They pursue their adventures wearing their new costume, with two bloodthirsty Koreans at their heels. With this film, Ôshima reveals his concern over the discrimination of the Korean minorities in Japan.
The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu
Fusako Shigenobu left Japan in 1971 to found the Japanese Red Army - a terrorist fringe group dedicated to supporting the Palestinian cause - and lived in Lebanon for 30 years. During Adachi’s own exile in Beirut, he met Shigenobu, and bonded with her not only over the experience of being far from home, but also over their shared fate of coming back to Japan without the possibility of ever being able to leave.
Death by Hanging
In this blasting of capital punishment (still in vigour in Japan) and racist nationalism, Ôshima shows with humour and ferocity the hanging of a Korean youth charged with the rape and murder of Japanese women. The rituals framing the final moments of the soon-to-be hanged man are without aplomb - until the hanging itself, where even though the culprit has a noose around his neck, he is still breathing!
School Girl Guerrilla
Three high school girls plot to steal the school’s diplomas and sabotage their graduation ceremony. Using their charm to strip soldiers from their uniforms and weapons, they retreat into the mountains to regroup, making hostages and slaves of intruders. While negotiations with the school are set to begin, the group’s internal strains begin to take their toll on the operation.
Prisoner / Terrorist
Adachi brings us a film about psychological digression loosely adapted from a text by Auguste Blanqui and no doubt inspired by Adachi’s personal experiences. M., a member of the Japanese Red Army, is the only surviving perpetrator of the suicide operation at the Lod airport in Israel in 1972. He begins to lose his composure during his incarceration.
A.K.A. Serial Killer
A film-essay based on a news item wherein 19 year-old Norio Nagayama murders four people without any apparent motive, Adachi and his fellow filmmakers build this story around the "landscape theory", which posits that all landscapes are fundamentally linked to a figure of power, rendering Japan a toxic place that can drive sane men to madness.
Go, Go Second Time Virgin
A frustrated student befriends a young girl after she was the victim of a gang rape. Together they decide to end their desperate lives. A ruthless reflection on doomed youths in an unhinged Japanese society. Its theme of desperation is cinematically paired to an unusual freedom of form.
Running in Madness, Dying in Love
Two lovers that commited murder, are on the run in rural Japan. The luminous landscape seems a reflection of their search for purity and forgiveness. A chronicle of sensual passion undermined by guilt, permeated by the desillusioned yet irrepressible romance of Wakamatsu.
Death by Hanging
In this blasting of capital punishment (still in vigour in Japan) and racist nationalism, Ôshima shows with humour and ferocity the hanging of a Korean youth charged with the rape and murder of Japanese women. The rituals framing the final moments of the soon-to-be hanged man are without aplomb - until the hanging itself, where even though the culprit has a noose around his neck, he is still breathing!
Violence without a Cause
Three unemployed and frustrated students let their sexual impulses run rampant and end up in the clutches of organized crime. A scathing critique of the general apathy of the Japanese youth of the 60s.
School Girl Guerrilla
Three high school girls plot to steal the school’s diplomas and sabotage their graduation ceremony. Using their charm to strip soldiers from their uniforms and weapons, they retreat into the mountains to regroup, making hostages and slaves of intruders. While negotiations with the school are set to begin, the group’s internal strains begin to take their toll on the operation.
United Red Army
This three-hour fresco (with music by Jim O’Rourke) reconstructs a history of the revolutionary movements in Japan during the 60’s and 70’s, marking Wakamatsu’s return to political filmmaking. This unvarnished view of the upheavals strives to understand the motivations, evolutions and divisions within the groups behind them.
Naked Bullet
A yakuza flees from his boss with a young waitress and is tricked into returning to the fold. For his efforts, he is tortured and beaten, and she is raped and discarded like trash. Five years later, a similar scenario presents itself -- only this time, the ex- yakuza has learnt from his mistake.
Season of Terror
A student is suspected of radical activism. The police taps his phone and discovers the intimate life of the young man, which mainly consists of carnal pleasures and idleness. A brash Wakamatsu centres in on aimless youths in this clinical portrait of a bourgeois militant.