The Planet Doc Review festival is being held in Warsaw right now. My dad took me out on Monday to see Andrzej Fidyk's Yodok Stories, which is a documentary about North Korean concentration camps. What many people don't realize (or at least I didn't) is that North Korea is running several concentration camps today (I believe the film spoke of the existence of 15) to hold political prisoners and their families. In North Korea, if you are guilty of a crime against the state (which can mean a lot of things - for example putting a newspaper with the photograph of Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, on the floor would be considered such a crime) three generations of your family will be put in a concentration camp.
Andrzej Fidyk is a Polish documentary director (though apparently his next project will be a feature film, so I'll be really excited about that!) who makes very particular sort of films. I first came across him in film school (for those who don't know me that well - I did a two year film course where I specialized in editing and then didn't follow it up with anything much). My history of film teacher showed us Andrzej Fidyk's 1989 film - Defilada. He told us (or at least that's what I remember - I hope I remember right!) that in the late 80s the North Korean government decided to invite eight foreign documentary directors to make a film about their country (they wanted to improve their image abroad), but of course reserving the right to censor the films. Of the 8 films made, only Fidyk's passed the censors and made its way out into the world. Poland of course has a very strong tradition of making films which pass censors, but which say everything that needs to be said anyway and Defilada is a classic example of this (in fact that's why it was shown to us!).
Almost 20 years later a Norwegian human rights body asked Fidyk whether he would be interested in making a film about North Korean concentration camps. So he started to wonder how such a thing could even be done. Naturally, you can't just waltz into a concentration camp and film it and then there's the other issue of how do you make a film on this topic without making it so depressing that nobody would want to watch it.
Finally, he had an idea... You see, North Korea does probably the most spectacular stadium performances in the world. In fact Fidyk's first film about North Korea references this with its title - Defilada means The Parade. You can see a fragment of Defilada which shows a stadium performance below (it's in Polish, if you want to go straight to the bit that shows the performance then it's about half way through the clip):
To see more of Fidyk's Defilada, go here or to see another North Korean parade go here (there are way more on youtube and all of them are just as spectacular!).
So Fidyk decided that he had to find a North Korean spectacle/theatre director amongst the many North Korean refugees in South Korea and talk him into directing a play about North Korean concentration camps. The documentary would focus on the making of the play. Eventually he found a man suitable for the job and after a lot of talks the play evolved into a stage musical (apparently these are very popular in South Korea). The musical is called Yoduk Story - Yodok being the name of one of the concentration camps. It was a huge success in South Korea and has toured the USA too. You can see the trailer for the stage musical below:
What struck me most in what I learnt from the film was how totally isolated North Korea is. The people living by the border may have some idea about what's going on in the outside world, but everybody else is totally cut off from outside information. And anyone who *would* have such information would not share it because their whole family would end up in one of the concentration camps. Furthermore North Korea has NO internet. That was the first thing I checked on-line after seeing the film because I just couldn't believe it. The North Korean domain is .kp and there are exactly two known websites in that domain and both of them are on servers outside of North Korea. In North Korea internet just doesn't exist. So the only way people (mainly the many North Korean refugees living in South Korea) have been trying to give people in North Korea information about the outside world is by sending brochures via helium balloons.
I really recommend the documentary - it's a very important topic and a very well made film too. It will still be showing this Saturday and Sunday at the festival.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
How To Annoy Andreja: a tutorial ;) (Matsuda Ryuhei once more)
So... if you ever meet my friend Andreja and wish to annoy her (or in fact, it will suffice if you encourage her to read your blog - an actual meeting is not necessary ;)), there is a simple way to do it. All you need to do is write about the wonderful world of Japanese film & TV and choose to focus on someone who is not Matsumoto Jun ;)
I am therefore going to continue to annoy her for the time being, as I'm still rather into Matsuda Ryuhei right now ;)
Anyway, according to Amazon.com I should receive my irresistibly homoerotic and artsy Matsuda Ryuhei DVD on the 27th of May. Of course Amazon.com is totally wrong because I actually received it on the 9th of May. Strangely enough it came via Deutsche Post, to be more specific - from Frankfurt. This would perhaps not be so weird except that it's a region 1 DVD. I have tried to explain to my mum that getting to the bottom of these mysterious workings will help me understand the universe, but unfortunately I don't think she believed me.
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (the Matsuda Ryuhei film I received in this mysterious manner) is also trying to understand the universe, but I'm not expecting it to help my own personal quest to do so as I rather doubt I will ever understand the film ;) The good news is that I really enjoyed it anyway. I don't feel the inclination to write a proper, linear review (the film doesn't have a proper, linear story so why should it be reviewed that way ;-P), so I'll just be totally random and gush about Ryuhei instead ;-P
The bad news for Andreja is that now that I've seen two Ryuhei films I have concluded that his face is not the only thing that makes him interesting to look at on screen ;) I expect he may be appearing more on this blog if I manage to get hold of some of his other films.
Btw, I am clearly *not* alone in obsessing about his face. Here's a quote from the 'Making Of' feature on the Big Bang Love DVD, it's Ryuhei's co-star - Ando Masanobu (who is also very gushworthy) speaking:
With Ryuhei... since I've worked with him before, we work together well... and we hang out together outside of work. I like Ryu's face, so... even like this time... I've viewed him from various angles. He's maturing more and more, and getting more distinctive. It made me happy to see the sculptured, adult face of Ryu.
But enough about his face - as it happens I've discovered that Matsuda Ryuhei is actually a good actor ;) I kind of expected he might be (if he wasn't, I don't think he'd hold people's attention that well in Gohatto - even with that face ;)), but it's still nice to see it confirmed. Unlike this reviewer I found his part very different to Gohatto. I mean yes, it's similar in that he doesn't have much dialogue and mainly he "just is", but this is the case for all the actors in Big Bang Love - it's that sort of film. Otherwise it's very different to Gohatto. Unlike Sozaburo Kano, Ariyoshi Jun is a very vulnerable character and the whole body language is played like that. It's actually quite amazing how much information about the character Ryuhei can put through just by "being".
A random, but I thought interesting fact about the making of the film is the nude scene. In the special features Takeshi Miike explained that there wasn't any nudity in the script (it's a scene early on in the film when the two main characters are arrested - there's a strip search). But the costume designer strongly felt that there should be nudity there and that it was necessary for the film's artistic integrity. Miike liked her argumentation, but didn't really feel it was right to push the actors into it. The costume designer, however, felt so strongly about it that she started debating it with the cast. Miike had no idea how far the actors would go when they were shooting that scene and was positively surprised when they did strip.
The reason why I found this particularly interesting is that it sounds from this that nudity is a bigger deal in Japan than it is in the West. We are, after all, talking about a director known for making films with very extreme and perverse violence - Ichi, The Killer would certainly qualify as one of the most extreme films I've seen and I've seen a lot of "nasty" stuff. So to hear him express reservations about having his cast do nudity is interesting to say the least.
I've started wondering whether I've ever seen nudity in a Japanese film before and I don't think I have. In fact I only know of one other Japanese film (which I haven't seen) that definitely has nudity in it (full frontal at that) and that's The Realm of the Senses (1976). AFAIK to this day it has not been released in Japan uncut (I don't think it's the only country where that's the case, but still ;-P).
So I need Kinga's expertise here! Is nudity indeed a much bigger taboo in Japan or have I just been watching the "wrong films" and Miike is weird? ;)
In terms of other randomness, at the end of the 'Making Of' feature they asked everybody to say something about what film in general means to them (I actually felt most of the 'Making Of' was boring but that was one of the best bits). Ryuhei's answer is very quotable so I will quote it ;-P
I sometimes think... that all I'm about is acting. I go to movie sets, and there I discover who I am. Movie sets are like mirrors. Things you want to do, places you want to go... you confirm all these things there.
Finally, to totally scare you away from the film, here's a quote from Takashi Miike that made me lol:
Recently I've realized that movies that put me to sleep are good movies. Ones that bore me and put me to sleep. They give you tranquillity. There are things in the world that make you angry and sleepless. So movies that help you sleep are great. So if someone buys the DVD, absent-mindedly watches it, and eventually falls asleep... and between dozing and consciousness, the movie is still going, still flowing... as they enter the world of dreams; I think it's a piece that could be watched like that.
I am therefore going to continue to annoy her for the time being, as I'm still rather into Matsuda Ryuhei right now ;)
Anyway, according to Amazon.com I should receive my irresistibly homoerotic and artsy Matsuda Ryuhei DVD on the 27th of May. Of course Amazon.com is totally wrong because I actually received it on the 9th of May. Strangely enough it came via Deutsche Post, to be more specific - from Frankfurt. This would perhaps not be so weird except that it's a region 1 DVD. I have tried to explain to my mum that getting to the bottom of these mysterious workings will help me understand the universe, but unfortunately I don't think she believed me.
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (the Matsuda Ryuhei film I received in this mysterious manner) is also trying to understand the universe, but I'm not expecting it to help my own personal quest to do so as I rather doubt I will ever understand the film ;) The good news is that I really enjoyed it anyway. I don't feel the inclination to write a proper, linear review (the film doesn't have a proper, linear story so why should it be reviewed that way ;-P), so I'll just be totally random and gush about Ryuhei instead ;-P
The bad news for Andreja is that now that I've seen two Ryuhei films I have concluded that his face is not the only thing that makes him interesting to look at on screen ;) I expect he may be appearing more on this blog if I manage to get hold of some of his other films.
Btw, I am clearly *not* alone in obsessing about his face. Here's a quote from the 'Making Of' feature on the Big Bang Love DVD, it's Ryuhei's co-star - Ando Masanobu (who is also very gushworthy) speaking:
With Ryuhei... since I've worked with him before, we work together well... and we hang out together outside of work. I like Ryu's face, so... even like this time... I've viewed him from various angles. He's maturing more and more, and getting more distinctive. It made me happy to see the sculptured, adult face of Ryu.
But enough about his face - as it happens I've discovered that Matsuda Ryuhei is actually a good actor ;) I kind of expected he might be (if he wasn't, I don't think he'd hold people's attention that well in Gohatto - even with that face ;)), but it's still nice to see it confirmed. Unlike this reviewer I found his part very different to Gohatto. I mean yes, it's similar in that he doesn't have much dialogue and mainly he "just is", but this is the case for all the actors in Big Bang Love - it's that sort of film. Otherwise it's very different to Gohatto. Unlike Sozaburo Kano, Ariyoshi Jun is a very vulnerable character and the whole body language is played like that. It's actually quite amazing how much information about the character Ryuhei can put through just by "being".
A random, but I thought interesting fact about the making of the film is the nude scene. In the special features Takeshi Miike explained that there wasn't any nudity in the script (it's a scene early on in the film when the two main characters are arrested - there's a strip search). But the costume designer strongly felt that there should be nudity there and that it was necessary for the film's artistic integrity. Miike liked her argumentation, but didn't really feel it was right to push the actors into it. The costume designer, however, felt so strongly about it that she started debating it with the cast. Miike had no idea how far the actors would go when they were shooting that scene and was positively surprised when they did strip.
The reason why I found this particularly interesting is that it sounds from this that nudity is a bigger deal in Japan than it is in the West. We are, after all, talking about a director known for making films with very extreme and perverse violence - Ichi, The Killer would certainly qualify as one of the most extreme films I've seen and I've seen a lot of "nasty" stuff. So to hear him express reservations about having his cast do nudity is interesting to say the least.
I've started wondering whether I've ever seen nudity in a Japanese film before and I don't think I have. In fact I only know of one other Japanese film (which I haven't seen) that definitely has nudity in it (full frontal at that) and that's The Realm of the Senses (1976). AFAIK to this day it has not been released in Japan uncut (I don't think it's the only country where that's the case, but still ;-P).
So I need Kinga's expertise here! Is nudity indeed a much bigger taboo in Japan or have I just been watching the "wrong films" and Miike is weird? ;)
In terms of other randomness, at the end of the 'Making Of' feature they asked everybody to say something about what film in general means to them (I actually felt most of the 'Making Of' was boring but that was one of the best bits). Ryuhei's answer is very quotable so I will quote it ;-P
I sometimes think... that all I'm about is acting. I go to movie sets, and there I discover who I am. Movie sets are like mirrors. Things you want to do, places you want to go... you confirm all these things there.
Finally, to totally scare you away from the film, here's a quote from Takashi Miike that made me lol:
Recently I've realized that movies that put me to sleep are good movies. Ones that bore me and put me to sleep. They give you tranquillity. There are things in the world that make you angry and sleepless. So movies that help you sleep are great. So if someone buys the DVD, absent-mindedly watches it, and eventually falls asleep... and between dozing and consciousness, the movie is still going, still flowing... as they enter the world of dreams; I think it's a piece that could be watched like that.
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