Birth and golden age of Japanese cinema
Nourished simultaneously by the inventions of Edison and the Lumière brothers, the Japanese public was carried away by the whirlwind of cinema at the end of the 19th century. It was on February 15, 1897 that the first film projection was organized, at the Nanchi Enbujo theater in Osaka, marking the beginning of the history of Japanese cinema. Very quickly, the first Japanese operators and filmmakers took up the medium. Among them, Shirō Asano and his employee Shibata Tsunekichi made the first Japanese films. Tsunekichi's Walk Under the Maple Foliage (1899) is one of the few surviving works from this period. Like this short film, early Japanese cinema was strongly influenced by Kabuki theater, a source of actors for domestic directors. Matsunosuke Onoe, a member of a traveling troupe since the age of 14, became one of the first stars of Japanese cinema. Between 1909 and 1926, he played in nearly a thousand films, including many jidaigeki, sword films that were the ancestors of the great samurai frescoes. Still silent, this cinema was accompanied by the benshi, who narrated, described and animated the films, and whose fame soon became as great as that of the stars who appeared on the screen. If you get a chance, try to dig up Masayuki Suo's comedy Talking the pictures (2019), a vibrant and funny tribute to this magical period in film history.
In the 1930s, Japanese cinema saw its first great figures emerge, with the first films of Yasujirō Ozu(Tokyo Kids, 1932) and Kenji Mizoguchi(The Elegy of Osaka, 1936). This period, marked by economic crises and the rise of nationalism, brought more social subjects to cinema that had previously been limited to theatrical adaptations and period films. Ozu and Mizoguchi both tackle these themes head-on, through abandoned children in Tokyo Kids, or a young girl forced into prostitution to survive in Osaka Elegy.
The war and the appearance of state censorship in 1939 hampered production, but did not stop it. Mizoguchi and Ozu continued to direct, slipping through the cracks of the government with varying degrees of success. Thus, Ozu saw his film The Taste of Green Tea Rice (1952) refused by the censorship board, unless he made drastic changes to the script, which he would not accept. The films Toda Brothers and Sisters (1941) and Once Upon a Father (1942) were the only productions of the director during this period. As for Mizoguchi, he directed both personal stories, including his "art trilogy", but also propaganda films for the Shōchiku, the giant of Japanese cinema founded in 1895. From this period, see Tale of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939), considered today as one of the best films of the master.
After the war, and despite the close surveillance of the Americans, Japanese cinema was reborn through these filmmakers and a newcomer, Akira Kurosawa. Prolific and talented, Kurosawa quickly developed a sharp sense of narrative, and revisited the genres of Japanese cinema. In 1951, Rashōmon (released the previous year in Tokyo) was awarded in Venice, before receiving the Oscar for best foreign film. Japanese cinema was revealed to the world, and works such as Journey to Tokyo (Ozu, 1953), Tales of the Waning Moon after the Rain (Mizoguchi, 1953) or The Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954) are now in the pantheon of world cinema. Ozu and Mizoguchi disappeared a few years later, but Akira Kurosawa continued his career until the 1990s, perpetuating the legacy of the Japanese masters and renewing himself with films such as Kagemusha (1980) or Ran (1985).
Genre cinema and New Wave
Even more than in the West, the notion of film genre takes on its full meaning in Japanese cinema. Initiated with cloak and dagger films and samurai films, this tradition will explode after the war and diversify into a wide variety of styles. The trauma of the bomb will see the appearance of a new genre of cinema, the kaijū-eiga, or monster films. The standard-bearer of this movement, Ishirō Honda's Godzilla (1954) was a worldwide success, launching a whole series of sequels, and a veritable planetary movement around the figure of the monster, against the backdrop of the Cold War and permanent anxiety.
In the 1960's, when the number of moviegoers was decreasing and the studios were looking for new talents, two opposite and yet complementary trends appeared. On the one hand, a rebellious and penniless cinema, that of the Japanese "New Wave" filmmakers, with talents such as Nagisa Ōshima(Night and Fog of Japan, 1960), Yoshishige Yoshida(Women's Lake, 1966) or Shōhei Imamura. The latter, who became known in France in the 1960s, is one of the few filmmakers to have won two Palmes d'Or at Cannes, for his films The Ballad of Narayama (1983) and The Eel (1997). On the other hand, a cinema just as penniless, but with much less revolutionary aims, the pinku-eiga or erotic cinema. Little distributed in the West, these films nevertheless brought a growing audience to theaters, making them one of the major genres of the second half of the 20th century, with a legacy that continues to this day. It was also during this period that the Yakuza films appeared, notably by director Takeshi Kitano. A universe where violence and defeatism reign in the face of a Japanese society that is becoming increasingly unhinged, culminating in the years 1980-1990 with films such as Sonatine (1993), which made Kitano known in the West. Among his greatest successes in front of the camera, Battle Royale (2000) is undoubtedly one of the cult films of the decade. The latest J-Horror, stories centered around ghosts and evil spirits, have toured the world before being revisited by Hollywood, often in a much lower quality than the original. Among them, The Grudge (Takashi Shimizu, 2002) or The Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998) are among the most famous.
Today, all these genres coexist with a new generation of filmmakers awarded in international festivals. Naomi Kawase won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival with Mogari Forest (2007), Hirokazu Kore-Eda won the Palme d'Or for A Family Affair (2018), while Sion Sono is regularly programmed in alternative festivals for his work that is as plural as it is unique.
When Japan comes alive
More than a genre, Japanese animation is a real industry in its own right, surpassing in fame its live-action counterpart in the second half of the 20th century. The export of these low-cost productions, initiated in the 1960s with Astro Boy, exploded in the 1980s with shows such as Le Club Dorothée. Dragon Ball, The Knights of the Zodiac or Sailor Moon invaded the small screen, while Japanese animation was revealed on the big screens all over the world with Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo (1988). From then on, anime came in all forms and genres, and millions of people rushed to theaters and streaming platforms to discover the latest episodes of their favorite saga. Among the major studios, Toei Animation has a prominent place in the Japanese economic landscape, producing the Dragon Ball Super and One Piece series and movies. At the same time, Studio Ghibli, led by its co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, has been able to make a name for itself with films tinged with poetry and fantasy, while conveying a message of peace and universality. His best-known films include My Neighbor Totoro (1988), The Tomb of the Fireflies (1989) and Princess Mononoke , as well as The Voyage of Chihiro (2001), which won the Oscar for best animated film. At the same time, the filmmaker Mamoru Oshii adapted the manga Ghost in the Shell (1995). Influenced as much by European filmmakers as by his Japanese contemporaries, Oshii takes a darker view of the society of his time, a bitterness that he infuses into this cyberpunk dystopia that will also be a great popular success. The last free electron, Satoshi Kon, is a goldsmith of atmospheres and universes, which he stages in Perfect Blue (1997), or Paprika (2006). Today, the great directors of Japanese animation are called Mamoru Hosoda(Belle, 2022), Makoto Shinkai(Your Name, 2015), and the most followed series are devoured in streaming on dedicated platforms such as Crunchyroll or ADN, while Netflix grabs market share with original productions. One thing is sure, Japanese animation still has a very bright future ahead of it.
Seeing movies in Japan
Bad news for cinema lovers, Japanese cinemas generally offer their films without subtitles, or even in dubbed version. However, the film lover in you can still get his or her fill by immersing himself or herself in Japanese cinema at the National Film Archive of Japan, in Tokyo. Formerly attached to the Museum of Modern Art, this film archive became independent in 2018 and now houses the archives of this rich film history. And the very first Ghibli theme park opened in November 2022. If you're lucky, you'll stumble upon the Tokyo International Film Festival, held annually since 1985. Choose your dates carefully, but don't worry, Japanese cinema is bound to surprise you.
