Best Flute Concertos

The transverse flute (side-blown, in contrast to the recorder) is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. In the Middle Ages (1000-1400) the transverse flute arrived in Germany and France from Asia via the Byzantine Empire. In this period, however, the recorder was by far more popular. In the late 15th c. the flute was taken up by military bands in Europe and in the late 16th c. transverse flutes began to be used in court and theatre music. In the 17th c. flutes also began appearing in chamber ensembles. Flutes in this period varied greatly in size and range. During the Baroque period, the transverse flute was redesigned. It was made in three or four joints with a conical bore from the head joint down. The conical bore design gave the instrument a wider range and a more penetrating sound, without sacrificing the softer, expressive qualities of the instrument. In addition to chamber music, the traverso began to be used in orchestral music, from opera and ballet to concertos. Although the flute became popular as a solo instrument, there were few professional flutists - often oboists acted also as flute players. In 1707, Jacques Martin Hotteterre wrote the first method book on playing the flute, followed by a famous exposition on the flute method by Johann Joachim Quantz in 1752.

Throughout the rest of the century the interest in flutes increased, peaking in the beginning of the 19th century. This interest also led to the acceptance of flutes in the symphony orchestra. Theobald Boehm began flute making - among other changes, adding keys to the flute. But with the Romantic era, flutes begin to lose favor (except as an instrument for home music) - there are almost no flute concertos written in the later 19th century. The instrument became again more popular in the early 20th century, for example among Impressionistic composers as Debussy. But although the flute was used more prominently in orchestral music, flute concertos remained rare even in the 20th century. The period during which most flute concertos were written was squarely the 18th century, from the Late Baroque to the Classical period.

1. Georg Philipp Telemann, Concerto for Transverse Flute, Strings and Basso Continuo in D Major, TWV 51:D2 (ca. 1716-1725).
It was in Telemann's concertos that, among other instruments, the new transverse flute - soon to be made fashionable by the galant style - first broke free of the soft-spoken confines of chamber music and proved itself capable of dominating an orchestra as solo instrument. Although conforming to the pattern of the Italian church sonata with its four movements in two pairs of slow-fast-slow-fast, Telemann drew on a wide variety of traditions and influences, with a strong whiff of France mixed in. But Telemann was above all a strong experimenter, both in what he asked from his solo instruments, as in his mixing of the colors of the orchestral palette. He eschews the Italian three-movement model of fast-slow-fast, and adheres to the German layout of four movements: slow-fast-slow-fast. The present concerto is fast-paced and allows the soloist ample scope.
Recording listened to: Wilbert Hazelzet, flute, with Musica Antiqua Koln directed by Reinhard Goebel (on authentic instruments) on Archiv (with five Telemann concertos for other wind instruments).

2. Leonardo Leo, Concerto for flute no 2 in G Major (probably after 1725).
Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) was a Neapolitan composer in the first place famous for his operas and sacred music, but he has also left an interesting body of instrumental works. As a graduate of the Naples conservatory, his style was founded on a mastery of counterpoint, but in his flute concertos he writes first and for all in the galant style. In early 17th c. Naples, flute music was popular in the mansions of the aristocracy and the city produced many virtuosi as well (often doubling on the flute and oboe). One factor in the popularity of the flute may have been the brief visit Johann Joachim Quantz (see below) made to Naples in 1725. Leo's second concerto starts with a solemn introduction marked "spacious in the French manner," adopting a stately dotted-rhythm after the style of a French overture. The Adagio boasts a highly expressive theme, consisting of a dialogue between flute and solo violin. The finale is delightfully fresh and dance-like. Leo's concerto is typical of the music of Naples, a city where composers were committed to making artifice and difficulty appear natural and simple.
Recording listened to: Enrico di Felice with L'Apotheose on Stradivarius (with other Neapolitan flute concertos).

3. Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto in C Major for Two Flutes, RV 533 (probably 1730s).
Despite the fame of his 6 concertos Opus 10, published in Amsterdam in 1728, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was not a frequent composer for the flute. The two most famous concertos of Op 10, "Storm at Sea" and "The Night" were almost certainly written for the recorder. In fact, the orphanage-conservatoire for girls in Venice where Vivaldi worked, only acquired its first flute teacher, Ignazio Silber, in 1728, so relatively late in Vivaldi's career; and Vivaldi's first known use of the flute occurs in his opera Orlando from 1727. So his RV 533 that I have selected here, must be a late concerto. The fast-paced opening movement has an infectious energy. The slow movement is characterized by gentle simplicity and in the finale the energy returns with the flutes playing a sprightly melody against a rhythmically punchy bass-line. Interesting is the way Vivaldi handles the two flute parts: (1) in dialogue with minimal overlap of phrases, (2) imitating one another, (3) one instrument providing an accompaniment for the other and (4) both playing in parallel thirds or sixths. Vivaldi constantly interchanges these modes to achieve variety.
Recording listened to: Vivaldi Concertos by The Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood (on authentic instruments) on L'Oiseau-Lyre (with other Vivaldi concertos).

4. Michel Blavet, Flute Concerto in A minor (1745). 
Michel Blavet (1700-68) was the foremost French flute virtuoso in the first half of the 18th c. He had an exciting and brilliant style of playing which was very different from the languorous manner previously dominant on the flute, for example in the works of Hotteterre. Blavet played in the Concert Spirituel and later in the Musique du Roi and at the opera. He also played quartets with Telemann when that composer visited Paris and became friendly with Quantz as well. He later turned down a post at Frederick the Great's court despite the high pay offered him. Blavet's compositions show an Italian influence. For the flute he composed twelve sonatas, six duos and concertos as well as arrangements for teaching. The first and last movement of the present concerto are in Italian style, the middle movement is a pair of French gavottes.
Recording listened to: Andreas Kröper, flute, and the Concertino Notturno Prague (on authentic instruments) on Campion (with concertos by Frederick the Great and Wendling).

5. Johann Joachim Quantz, Concerto for Flute in G Major (QV 5:174, No. 161 (1740-1750).
Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) was a German flutist and composer. He composed 200 flute sonatas and 300 flute concertos, and wrote an important and exhaustive treatise on flute performance (1752). From 1728 he taught King Frederick II of Prussia, an eminent flutist, and moved to the court in Berlin in 1741 after Frederick became King of Prussia. In Berlin, Quantz' duties revolved around the king's private evening concerts, where the repertoire consisted for a large part of works by Quantz and Frederick himself. The Berlin style was characterized by an exceptionally refined use of dynamics and articulation. The heart of the present concerto, one of the best known by Quantz, is the magnificent slow movement, clearly demonstrating the originality and inventiveness of the composer.
Recording listened to: Benedek Csalog, baroque flute, and Aura Musicale directed by Balazs Mate (on authentic instruments) on Hungaroton (with three more flute concertos by Quantz).

6. Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Flute Concerto in D Minor, Wq 22 (possibly around 1747).
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was the second (surviving) son of J.S. Bach and is known for his expressive and often turbulent "empfindsamer Stil" or "sensitive style." It is a mannered galant style in which the principles of rhetoric and drama were applied to musical structures. C.P.E. Bach, who was one of the foremost clavier players of Europe (he wrote a famous book on music theory and ethics in 1753), was from 1738 to 1768 in the employment of Frederick the Great in Berlin; from 1768 to 1788 he worked as successor to Telemann as music director in Hamburg. But C.P.E. Bach was not very popular at the Berlin court (proud of his university education, he was frequently seen in intellectual circles and made no concessions in his compositions to make them easier to play for the king) - his salary was only a fraction of that of Quantz or Graun. The first movement of the present concerto, which also exists in a harpsichord version, shows the influence of J.S. Bach, especially in the orchestral introduction. In contrast, the third movement has real Strum und Drang characteristics. Bach has the flute perform a true dialogue with the orchestra, providing a link to the Classical solo concerto.
Recording listened to: Machiko Takahashi with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roland Kieft on Brilliant Classics.

7. Frederick the Great (Frederick II, King of Prussia), Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major (possibly 1750s or later)
The German monarch Frederick the Great (1712-1786) was a patron of music as well as a gifted player of the transverse flute and composer. His compositions include 121 flute sonatas and 4 concertos modeled on the works of Johann Joachim Quantz, the German flutist and composer who became one of Frederick's court musicians and who wrote many flute sonatas and concertos for his royal patron. Besides Quantz, the king's court musicians also included C. P. E. Bach (who was the king's accompanist on the harpsichord and who also wrote flute concertos for him), Carl Heinrich Graun and Franz Benda. A meeting with Johann Sebastian Bach in 1747 in Potsdam led to Bach's writing The Musical Offering. Frederick's palace, Sans Souci near Potsdam, became a focus of high-quality music making. King Frederick's own compositions possess a gentle charm, as is especially evident from the Cantabile movement of the present concerto. The concerto is a fusion of early-Classical galant and Italian late-Baroque styles and the fast movements consist of an alternation of tutti ritornellos and solo episodes. It is conservative in keeping strictly to the rules laid down in Quantz' treatise on the flute from 1752, but the second movement shows more individuality.
Recording listened to: Andreas Kröper, flute, and the Concertino Notturno Prague (on authentic instruments) on Campion (with concertos by Frederick the Great and Wendling).

8. Franz Xavier Richter, Flute Concerto in E Minor (probably between 1747 and 1768).
Franz Xavier Richter (1709-89) was an Austro-Moravian violinist and composer, who spent most of his life first in Austria and later in Mannheim and in Strasbourg. Although of an older generation, he belonged to the so-called Mannheim School, known for its pioneering orchestral technique, developed together with the excellent Mannheim court orchestra. Richter did not write in the Storm-and-stress style of his colleagues, but the basic feature of his music was a soft-toned meditativeness, often with a hint of melancholy. His music is always well-balanced. The present flute concerto is a typical example of the transitional forms of the Mannheim composers between the Baroque and Viennese Classicism. It is still based on the traditional ritornello technique of the concerto grosso, but also introduces a new element of orchestral thematic design in its sequences of contrasting motifs - a step towards the thematic dualism of the classical sonata form. Another harbinger of the future is the tripartite design of the outer movements, which would become the sequence of exposition, development and recapitulation of the classical style.
Recording listened to: Robert Dohn with the Slovak Chamber Orchestra conducted by Bohdan Warchal on CPO (with other wind concertos by Richter). 

9. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto in G for Flute and Orchestra, K 313 (1777)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) wrote this concerto after receiving a commission to compose three flute concertos and a pair of flute quartets from Ferdinand Dejean, a surgeon with the Dutch East India Company. Mozart met Dejean in Mannheim in October 1777 and was to receive 200 guilders for the works. In the end, however, he didn't complete the commission - he only wrote one original concerto and one quartet (besides reworking the oboe concerto he wrote the previous year for the flute) and received less than half the promised sum. The most substantial fruit of that commission is the present flute concerto, a long and difficult work that starts with a movement of great breath (maestoso) and fine writing for the flute. The Adagio ma non troppo has been called the soul of the concerto, with a melting melodic line that is one of the jewels of Mozart's early maturity. The concerto concludes with a decorous minuet in rondo form.
Recording listened to: Liza Beznosiuk, flute, and The Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood (on authentic instruments) on L'Oiseau-Lyre.

10. Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Flute Concerto No 24 in D Major (1795).
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) was not only a prolific composer, but also a significant music publisher for Mozart and Beethoven. Born in southern Germany, Hoffmeister had come to Vienna to study law, but soon switched to music and by the 1780s had become one of the city's most popular composers. Prominent in Hoffmeister’s extensive oeuvre are works for the flute, including more than 25 concertos as well as chamber works. These works were composed with Vienna’s growing number of amateur musicians in mind, for whom the flute was one of the most favored instruments. The present concerto has a radiant and march-like character, also thanks to the use of trumpets and timpani in the orchestra. It starts with a graceful main theme. The first movement has symphonic dimensions and also calls for virtuosity from the orchestra, for example in the use of a "Mannheim crescendo." Hoffmeister used an alla polacca texture in the slow movement, with the usual strong accent on the downbeat of each bar. The final rondo is full of festive splendor, spotlighting the soloist's virtuosity.
Recording listened to: Bruno Meier, flute, with the Prague Chamber Orchestra on Naxos.

11. Friedrich Witt, Flute Concerto in G Major (1806)
Friedrich Witt (1770–1836) was a German composer who worked most of his life as Kapellmeister for the Prince of Würzburg. He was famous for his operas and the oratorio Der leidende Heiland, but also wrote symphonies, concertos and chamber music. His Symphony in C Major, the Jena, was once wrongly attributed to his exact contemporary Beethoven, with whom (as well as with the later Haydn) Witt shares certain characteristics of the period style. Witt's Flute Concerto is a work that demands considerable virtuosity from the soloist. The substantial orchestra includes trumpets and timpani, and the concerto starts in grand style with an orchestral introduction. After that, the solo flute introduces an elaborate first subject, leading to a second theme and other material offering every chance for technical display. The second movement is a lovely Adagio cantabile, and the concluding Rondo has a lively principal theme.
Recording listened to: Patrick Gallois with the Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä on Naxos (with two symphonies by Witt).

12. Saverio Mercadante, Flute Concerto in E Minor No. 2 (1814)
Saverio Mercadante (1895-1870) was an Italian opera composer whose 60 operas today stand rather in the shadow of his contemporaries Donizetti and Bellini, although he was admired by Verdi as groundbreaking composer. Besides operas, Mercadante also wrote sacred music and concertos and chamber music featuring the flute. These last works date from the years 1814 to 1820 and were inspired by fellow conservatoire students and their virtuoso teachers. There are in all seven flute concertos; the one in E Minor (No. 2) is probably the most popular one and includes a sizable orchestra. The concerto is permeated with a rich bel canto lyricism, as if the flute were a singer in one of Mercadante's operas. At the same time, the concerto is a showpiece for the agility of the soloist and the possibilities of the flute. It starts with an Allegro maestoso, very demanding in virtuoso terms, after which follows a breathing space in the short Adagio. The finale is a Rondo russo: Alla giusto and this is indeed a bright and lovely dance with a Russian flavor, a favorite piece among flutists and the highlight of the present concerto.
Recording listened to: Patrick Gallois with the Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä on Naxos (with flute concertos No 1 and No 4).

13. Alessandro Rolla, Concerto in D Major for Flute and Orchestra (probably around 1830)
Allessandro Rolla (1757-1841) worked for most of his life in Milan as violin and viola virtuoso, conductor, teacher and composer. In 1808 he became professor at the new Conservatoire of Music in Milan. He is known as the teacher of Paganini, but also left a considerable body of 500 compositions, which were published by music houses all over Europe. The flute concerto is a fine example of an instrumental work written in the first half of the 19th century, when the main attractions for Italians were the voice and the theater. The soloist is treated virtuosically. The Allegro starts with a slow introduction, after which the flute takes up a bright theme. This whole movement has a sprightly atmosphere. The second movement is a short and simple Adagio, after which the concerto concludes with a Rondo variato, which demonstrates great inventiveness.
Recording listened to: Mario Carbotta with the Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica conducted by Massimiliano Caldi on Dynamic (with Concerto for Basset Horn and two symphonies by Rolla).

14. Peter Benoit, Flute Concerto (Symphonic Tale) Op. 43a (1865).
Peter Benoit (1834-1901) was a Belgian (Flemish) composer, who was educated at the Brussels Conservatoire. Although he also worked in Paris, he finally settled in Antwerp where he founded the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory. He concentrated on vocal and choral music on Flemish texts, but was also active as educator, conductor and music administrator. In 1865 Benoit wrote Two Symphonic Tales for piano and orchestra and for flute and orchestra - a turning point in his career, as these would become his last purely instrumental works. Both are large scale, romantic works, inspired by romantic legends from the composer's native region. The Symphonic Tale for flute and orchestra starts with a "Will-O'-The-Wisps" Scherzo vivace, containing two main themes, a nervous and fiery scherzo theme and a more lilting melody. The second movement is a Romance that starts with a horn solo theme, varied by the flute. The finale is again a "Will-O'-The-Wisps" dance, similar to the opening movement. In all, this is a very original concerto.
Recording listened to: Gaby van Riet with the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Frederic Devreese on Naxos (with piano concerto etc.).

15. Carl Reinecke, Flute Concerto Op. 283 (1908)
Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was an important master from the influential "Leipzig School," which dominated German music in the 19th c. He was a long-standing conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and director of the Leipzig Conservatoire, but also a prolific composer who saw himself as the guardian of the tradition of Mendelssohn and Schumann. The flute concerto was written when he was 84 and starts with a charming, floridly inventive Allegro, a glowing recollection of what was good in previous times. This is followed by an elegiac Lento e mestoso, a piece of both charm and substance, and the concerto concludes with  a fiery polonaise. A lively work that fully displays Reinecke's striking invention, beauty of sound, and mastery of instrumentation.
Recording listened to: Aurèle Nicolet with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur on Philips (with flute concertos by Nielsen and Busoni).

16. Carl Nielsen, Concerto for Flute FS 119 (1926)
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, after which he worked for 16 years as a second violinist in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra before - in 1916 - taking up a teaching post at the Royal Academy. He is generally regarded as the greatest Danish composer and was one of the most important pioneers of new music in the early 20th c. His monumentally expressive symphonies derive from a neo-Romantic inspiration. The flute concerto was written after the symphonies, and belongs to a later period in Nielsen's life. It reflects the modernistic trends of the 1920s and lacks tonal stability. The work consists of two movements and the solo instrument dominates the dark colors of the orchestra (which lacks flutes and trumpets). The first movement leads up to a virtuoso double cadenza for flute and clarinet (in this same period, Nielsen also wrote a Clarinet Concerto). Much of this movement resembles chamber music between the flute and various instruments. The second movement is founded on the contrasting expression of allegretto and adagio sections, leading to a march-like finale. The works ends with a series of playful slides on the bass trombone. A very personal statement and possibly the greatest flute concerto ever written - a work of real substance.
Recording listened to: Aurèle Nicolet with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur on Philips (with flute concertos by Reinecke and Busoni).

17. Jacques Ibert, Concerto for Flute (1934)
Jacques Ibert (1890-1962), a born and bred Parisian, studied at the Paris Conservatoire and had an active career as conductor and musical administrator, besides being an eclectic composer. His early works for orchestra are in a lush, Impressionistic style, but Ibert also wrote lighthearted, even fluffy works like the present flute concerto. His music is generally festive and gay, tinged with lyricism and gentle humor. Like his other four concertos, the flute concerto was conceived in "chamber" rather than "symphonic" textures, allowing the characteristics of the flute to emerge unimpeded. Ibert strove to find themes appropriate to the sonorous qualities of the flute. The flute concerto is a mercurial three movement work, that became immediately popular on its first performance in 1934. Especially the third movement is very felicitous and just good fun.
Recording listened to: Timothy Hutchins with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit on Decca (with Escales, Pairs, Bacchanale).

Classical Music Index

Best Piano Trios

Over the centuries of its history, the Piano Trio (in the combination of piano, violin and cello) has gained a repertoire exceptional in size and richness, one which includes some of the most widely admired of all chamber works. But instead of focusing on the principal works such as the trios by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Ravel and others, I would like to introduce here a number of so-called "unjustly forgotten trios" (often by "unknown composers") which are however rich in beautiful melodies and artistic invention. They are among my personal favorites and deserve more ears!

[Gouvy]

1. Heinrich Marschner, Piano Trio No 2 in G minor Op. 11 (1840).
The German composer Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861) was in the first place a composer of Romantic operas (with such ominous titles as The Vampire) in the period between the death of Weber and the advent of Wagner. Besides opera, Marschner's only other compositions consisted of a few chamber music works, of which the piano trios were lavishly praised by Schumann. These fine works are clearly the fruit of considerable time and effort. The second trio starts with a big and haunting Allegro, as if inhabited by the romantic atmosphere of one of Marschner's colorful operas. The second movement is a wonderful romance, great in its simplicity. After the whirlwind scherzo (a fast ride on horseback) follows the Allegro vivace which concludes the trio in magnificent style. A fresh and original trio that is the epitome of Romanticism.
Recording listened to: Beethoven Trio Ravensburg on CPO (with Piano Trio No. 5).

2. Charles-Valentin Alkan, Trio for piano, violin and bass in G minor Op. 30 (1841).
Paris-born Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) was a child prodigy on both the violin and the piano. As a piano virtuoso he was regarded as the equal of Liszt, while also being one of the best piano composers - although his music is ferociously difficult to play. However, he gave up his concert career in his mid thirties and lived as a recluse, which made his reputation fade until rediscovery in the late 20th c. The piano trio was a very apt form for Alkan, for as a violinist he also knew how to write for string instruments, but Alkan was also an unorthodox composer as can be heard in the sometimes unusual interplay between the instruments. In the first movement, there is a sharp contrast between the violent first theme and the lovely, lyrical second theme. The scherzo is marked by a rapid rhythmic exchange between the three instruments, while the Lentement has an unusual, somber melody and a long piano cadenza. The finale is a tremendous perpetuum mobile on a powerful rhythmic theme, crowned by a climax of extraordinary intensity.
Recording listened to: Trio Alkan on Naxos (with violin and cello sonatas).

3. Robert Volkmann, Piano Trio in B flat minor Op. 5 (1850).
Robert Volkmann was a German composer who lived most of his time in Budapest, as piano teacher and reporter for the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung. Volkmann produced two piano trios. Op. 8 in F is a somewhat lightweight affair (although with a beautiful melody in the first movement), but Op. 5 (published in 1852) is a stormy and passionate piece. More than that, it was the breakthrough work of the composer who had until then worked in virtual obscurity - when it caught the ears of Franz Liszt (to whom it was dedicated) and Hans von Bülow, it was hailed as a masterpiece and they proceeded to play it in various European cities. The trio does not keep to sonata form but seems more like a free fantasy. The first movement works up to a tremendous dramatic climax. The second movement is an intermezzo with a mellow character. The last movement has again a forceful theme. Despite the unconventional structure, the harmonic style is traditional, and Volkmann didn't really belong in the camp of Liszt and Wagner. Later in life, Volkmann befriended Brahms, and his music is now often seen as a link between Schumann and Brahms.
Recommended Recording: Beethoven Trio Ravensburg on CPO (both Volkmann trios).

4. Woldemar Bargiel, Piano Trio No. 1 in F Major Op. 6 (1851).
Woldemar Bargiel (1828-97) was Clara Schumann’s half brother, and through her introduction, received the support of both Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with Ignaz Moscheles (piano) and Niels Gade (composition). Bargiel held positions at the conservatories in Cologne and Rotterdam before accepting a position at the prestigious Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin where he taught for the rest of his life. Bargiel composed relatively little, but everything he wrote shows a solid craftsmanship and rich inventiveness. That is also clear from his first Piano Trio, which was written in 1851 and published in 1855 with the help of Clara and Robert. After a slow introduction (which is unrelated to rest of the trio) follows a beautiful romantic aspiring theme in a triumphal march rhythm. The second movement Andante has two extremely lovely themes and its serenity is only briefly disturbed. The Scherzo is very Schumanesque and proceeds in continuous dactylic, dotted rhythms, interrupted only by a charming central section with lyrical string contributions against piano arpeggio figuration. The finale is a massive fugue, which is at the same time a breathtaking moto perpetuo. This trio is not only a demonstration of great craftsmanship, it also shines in its melodic inventions. There is an excellent balance between the three instruments.
Recording listened to: Trio Parnassus on MD&G Records (with violin sonata, etc.; other two trios by Bargiel on companion disk).

5. Théodore Gouvy, Piano Trio No. 3 in B flat Major Op. 19 (mid 1850s).
Louis Théodore Gouvy (1819-1898) was born on the French-Prussian border and grew up with a dual French and German cultural heritage. This also meant he fell between the cracks of two nations. Moreover, after his study in Paris, he decided to become a French symphonist at a time that the opera ruled supreme. Throughout most of the 19th century, the French, and especially the Parisians, were opera-mad and not particularly interested in purely instrumental music. The last third of his life Gouvy lived almost entirely in Germany where he was more appreciated. His compositions, and especially his chamber music, were held in high regard in Germany, Austria, England, Scandinavia and Russia. Gouvy was a master of form and possessed a deft sense of instrumental timbre. He was a gifted melodist whose music is a joy to hear. Gouvy’s Piano Trio No. 3 was written with the freshness and energy of a young man. The opening movement has quite an uplifting bounce in the form of an attractive heroic theme played by the strings against a pulsing accompaniment in the piano. It is a movement full of excitement. The Allegretto begins like a children's dance but is disturbed by a powerful march in the trio. The work's center of gravity is the long Adagio, which evokes a brilliant, breezeless summer day. This inventive trio ends with a sparkling Vivace, full of vigor.
Recording listened to: Münchner Klaviertrio on Orfeo (with second piano trio).

6. Josef Rheinberger, Piano Trio No. 2 in A Major Op.112 (1878).
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) was born in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. When his musical talent was discovered, he was sent to the Royal Conservatory in Munich where he studied with Franz Lachner. Rheinberger was active in Munich as organist and choral master, and also taught for more than 40 years composition at the Royal Conservatory - among his students were Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari, George Chadwick and Wilhelm Furtwangler. He is in the first place known for his organ compositions, but his chamber music is also important. The Second Piano Trio was composed in the autumn of 1878 and is in four well-balanced movements. It is classical in form, but highly romantic in content. The genial opening melody of the first movement is unforgettable. The second movement, Andantino espressivo, is built around a gorgeous and languid melody, full of longing. This is followed by a Minuetto, with a duet between the strings underpinned by a flowing piano part. The finale is joyous and full of élan and re-introduces melodies from the first movement before ending with a bracing coda.
Recording listened to: Göbel Trio Berlin on Thorofon (with Nonet).

7. Ernest Chausson, Piano Trio in G minor Op. 3 (1881).
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) first studied law before entering the Paris Conservatory in 1879 where he studied with Jules Massenet and César Franck. The Piano Trio in G minor was written in 1881 at just about the time Chausson entered Franck’s class, and consists of four large movements. We can surely hear Franck's influence, especially in the first movement with its thick textures, dark harmonic progressions and abrupt dynamic changes. The opening movement starts with a twenty-bar slow introduction, in which the motto themes are somewhat theatrically presented, in succession on the cello and the violin. The piano provides a restless underpinning to the motivic phrases of the strings in a dark, intense minor mode. The second movement is a short and light intermezzo and the only movement that contains no thematic allusions to other parts of the trio. The third movement has a beautiful D minor piano tune, in fact the second motif from the first movement played at half speed. The final movement, too, was inspired by Franck’s use of cyclic themes and the work comes full circle on a dramatic note, with a grand peroration, during which the motto themes return with greatly expanded scoring. This trio shows an exceptional sense of architecture and lyricism.
Recording listened to: Pascal Devoyon (piano), Philippe Graffin (violin), Gary Hoffman (cello) on Hyperion (with Poème, Andante et Allegro etc.).


8. Arthur Foote, Piano Trio No 1 in C minor Op. 5 (1882-84).
Arthur Foote (1853-1937) was the first American composer of classical music to be wholly trained in the United States. Born in Salem, Arthur Foote studied composition under John Knowles Paine at Harvard University. In 1875 Foote earned the first master’s degree in music ever granted by an American university. Until this time Foote had considered music a hobby, but now he decided to devote his life to it. He became a private teacher of the piano and organ, and was for 32 years the organist of the First Church, Unitarian, in Boston. Many of his orchestral compositions were first performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He influenced subsequent generations of musicians through his didactic writings and in the first two decades of the twentieth century was considered a central figure among American composers.

Foote was especially known for chamber music, art songs, and music for choirs. His training was European classical, in the style of Mendelssohn and Schumann, while he himself was in the first place inspired by the newer music of Brahms and Dvorak. His music is lyrical and serene. There are broad, stately melodies, as well as moments of romantic rhapsody, but in the end everything is tightly bound together by a classical structure. The first Piano Trio is a good case in point. It starts with an expansive movement characterized by a romantically yearning melody in C minor. The second theme somewhat resembles a New England church hymn. After an elfin-like, dancing Scherzo, we get a lyrical movement with a languid and sad melody and a dramatic atmosphere of unrest. The finale again brings a church hymn and closes satisfyingly after a long and exciting coda.
Recording listened to: Arden Trio on Marco Polo (with second piano trio).

9. Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Piano Trio No. 2 in B flat Major Op. 38 (1894).
Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951) was born in Prague and studied organ and composition, taking over from Dvorak as chief organist in one of Prague's leading churches. His wife Berta Foersterová-Lautererová was a leading soprano and he followed her when she was engaged at various European opera houses, first to Hamburg and later to Vienna. In both cities Foerster worked mainly as a music critic. After their return to Prague, Foerster taught for many years at the Conservatory. Except in his early works, Foerster was not a nationalistic composer. He didn't employ a Czech idiom like Dvorak and Smetana, but wrote intensely personal music in an international idiom. The second of his three piano trios was written in 1894 shortly after the death of his younger sister. This loss is evident in the elegiac adagio that concludes the work. But the first two movements are quite brightly colored (the second movement is a brilliant scherzo), and the grief in the last movement is not of the tormented kind, but rather gives rise to meditative, melancholy music. The mood is tinged with a sophisticated sense of resignation and the end is muted, like a silent sigh.
Recording listened to: Foerster Trio on Supraphon (all 3 Foerster trios).

10. Julius Röntgen, Piano Trio No. 6 in C minor Op. 50 (1904).
Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) was born into a musical family in Leipzig and studied with Carl Reinecke, the director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, as well as Franz Lachner in Munich. His professional career took Röntgen to Amsterdam, where he helped to found the Amsterdam Conservatory and the subsequently world famous  Concertgebouw Orchestra. He composed throughout his life and especially after his retirement. Though he wrote in most genres, chamber music was his most important area. Röntgen had a special tie with the piano trio, as he played together as a trio with Carl Flesch and Pablo Casals, as well as later with two of his sons. His 1904 trio was dedicated to the Danish composer Carl Nielsen and indeed the trio's Andante has the character of a Scandinavian folk melody (although it is an original melody by Röntgen). This is the movement with the greatest charm. With its long and flowing lyrical melodies the first movement has Brahmsian qualities as does the last. Both are filled with rich and varied harmonies and a balanced interplay between the three instruments.
Recording listened to: Storioni Trio on Ars Produktion (with piano trios 9 and 10).

11. William Hurlstone,  Piano Trio in G Major (1905)
William Yeates Hurlstone (1876-1906) was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Music with Charles Villiers Stanford. He was very talented and in 1905, at the age of 28, he was appointed Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the Royal College. Tragically, he suffered from bronchial pneunomia and less than a year later, he was dead. Although he also wrote a Piano Concerto and several other orchestral works, Hurlstone is in the first place remembered for his excellent chamber music works, of which the Piano Trio is one. It is happy and genially flowing music. The Allegro moderato opens with a lyrical theme on the cello, which is deceptively simple. Soon several harmonic detours and surprises follow, including the third-related key in which the second theme, molto appasionato, appears. In the Andante a lyrical cantabile theme is contrasted with more dramatic material. The third movement is a playful Scherzo with a hint of folk song - a very upbeat, English theme. The exciting finale is a lively Rondo characterized by undulating accompaniment and displaying Hurlstone's contrapuntal dexterity. A reflective second subject provides a beautiful contrast. The work is brought to a close by an exciting accelerando.
Recording listened to: The Dussek Piano Trio on Dutton (with String Quartet etc.).

12. Alexander Gretchaninov, Piano Trio No 1 in C minor Op. 38 (1906).
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956) was born in Moscow and studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev, and later in St. Petersburg with Rimsky-Korsakov. His works achieved high acclaim in Russia - in 1910 the Tsar awarded him an annual pension, But after the Revolution Gretchaninov didn't feel comfortable anymore in Russia and emigrated, first to France in 1925, then in 1939 to his final destination, the U.S. The first piano trio was dedicated to Taneyev. The opening movement is propelled forward by passionate feelings and an urgent first theme. It makes a very "Tchaikovskian" impression. The Lento assai has a beautiful violin theme and the Allegro vivace which concludes the three part work is energetic and highly rhythmical and brings the trio to a vivid conclusion somewhat in the style of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto.
Recording listened to: The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio on Hyperion (with Piano Trio No 2 and Cello Sonata).

13. Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1 (1910). 
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was an Austro-Hungarian composer who astonished the musical world as a composing wunderkind. Mahler proclaimed him a genius at age nine (!), after which he started lessons with Alexander von Zemlinsky. The child prodigy later developed into a major Viennese opera composer (Die Tote Stadt). In 1934 he moved to Hollywood where he became a pioneer in composing film scores - along with  Max Steiner and Alfred Newman, he is one of the founders of film music. His serious music was considered out of vogue at the time he died, but is now experiencing a reawakening of interest. Korngold wrote orchestral music (including a symphony and violin concerto), piano music and chamber works (such as string quartets), songs, operas and film scores. His Piano Trio was composed when he was only thirteen years of age. Premièred by leading instrumental luminaries in Vienna, it announced a precocious and major talent in its handling of bold and complex harmonies and musical form, taking the style of Richard Strauss to new levels of opulent beauty. In four parts, this is a substantial late-romantic work. The elegant swirls that open this piece evoke Strauss’s elegant waltzes and strike the listener as elegant but also mysterious ruminations. The layered textures and fervent themes impart a strong sense of space and expansiveness to the whole work.
Recording listened to: Beaux Arts Trio on Philips (with Zemlinsky Trio).

14. Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello Op. 24 (1945).
Mieczysław Weinberg (also spelled as Vainberg; 1919-1996) was a Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish origin. He lost most of his family in the Holocaust and fled in 1939 to the Soviet Union. He was educated at the Warshaw Conservatory and moved to Moscow after meeting Shostakovich, with whom he remained close. There is a decided Jewish ethnic influence in Weinberg's music, such as of Klezmer ensembles. The Piano Trio is a substantial work written when Weinberg was only 26 and had just moved to Moscow. The trio offers powerful music with a genuine vitality. The first movement is a Prelude and Aria, with a pizzicato passage a la Shostakovich; then follows a Toccata with irregular rhythms; next a Poem which conjures up the atmosphere of an Orthodox hymn; and finally a sublime finale.
Recording listened to: Anatoli Sheludyakov, piano, Irina Tkachenko, violin, Tatiana Zavarskaya, cello, on Olympia (with Children's Notebooks for piano - all first recordings).

15. Edmund Rubbra, Piano Trio in One Movement, Op. 68 (1950)
Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) was an English composer who devised his own distinctive style based on single melodic ideas from which he let the music grow. There is a vocal quality to his overall style. Rubbra's teacher was Gustav Holst (with whom he shared an interest in mysticism). He wrote for all kinds of ensembles (his eleven symphonies are famous), paying much attention to choral music and chamber music. These chamber music works reveal the essence of Rubbra's music more directly than large-scale works can. Especially his approach to form was very individual, a balancing act between improvisatory freedom and intellectual control. Once he had found the right material, he "let the music take care of itself." The Trio in One Movement is a remarkable work, serenely beautiful but at the same time informed with a quiet passion. Although in one movement, there are three distinct sections. The work starts with a reflective, soulful theme presented in octaves by the violin and the cello, with accompanying figuration in the piano. Interestingly, the strings continue unrolling the thematic material in octaves. After the exposition, a cantabile theme introduced by the piano follows. The music then grows and swells to bell-like sounds. We are now halfway the twenty minute work. After an exciting and rhythmically complex Episodio scherzando, comes the final section, a long-breathed theme followed by three variations (Rubbra calls these "meditations"), the still heart of the work. The first meditation is introduced by a chordal passage marked Adagio. When the last meditation dies away with a tolling D at the bottom of the piano, the cello restates the opening theme, leading to a brief coda in which descending scales in violin and cello again emphasize the tolling of bells, bringing the work to an exultant conclusion.
Recording listened to: Endymion Ensemble on Dutton (with Piano Trio No. 2, Oboe Sonata and other chamber works by Rubbra).

Chamber Music Index

A History of Japanese Film by Year: Risk Avoidance (2010-2014)

Although the annual production of Japanese films scales new heights (408 in 2010, rising to 615 in 2014), unfortunately the quality of Japanese cinema is not commensurate to these voluminous figures. Instead, the number of artistic and intelligent films rather decreases. After all, more than 60% of Japanese films are anime aimed at below-twelve kids. Another large chunk is made up by the sheer countless teenage dramas (first love and all that heart-breaking matter), and another again by romantic comedies for young women. That leaves little space in the national cinema for serious works. 

But that is not all: also indies and serious films in this period are often limited, due to insufficient depth, the lack of a good narrative, and dearth of social vision; there are also problems with editing and cinematography, and in general too little critical stance. We could say that the creative wave that came up in the 1990s ("The New Wave of the Nineties") peaked before its time and that some directors who were part of the Wave didn't completely fulfill their high expectations. 

Japanese cinema is in the grip of risk avoidance, not only the mainstream (which always plays on safe and follows Hollywood-type investment models), but also indies and other independent films. Subjects are based on already popular manga, television drama, trendy novels and older films, and TV celebrities (who are not always good actors) are used as protagonists to get fans into the theater. The strange circumstance, that one after another great classical films (that in their original form are widely available on DVD) are being remade, is a good indication of the regrettable lack of creativity that plagues Japanese cinema today. 

But despite all this, Japanese cinema remains interesting as a window on Japanese culture and society.

2010
January – A gunman kills three people at a bar in Habikino before turning the gun on himself.
January – Japan Airlines files for bankruptcy protection.

Kinema Junpo Award: Dear Doctor
Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year: Confessions

Deaths in the film world:
Anime film director Kon Satoshi dies at age 46. Actress Takamine Hideko dies at age 86. The actors Ikebe Ryo and Kobayashi Keiju die at respectively the ages of 92 and 86.

(January)
About Her Brother (Ototo) by Yamada Yoji was advertised as a tribute to the then 81-year old Ichikawa Kon, who in 1960 made a famous film of the same title. It is not a remake so much as meant to be an homage to the veteran director. Yamada only borrows the idea of a sister covering for the mistakes of her rowdy brother, in fact the situation he had already borrowed in his Otoko wa tsurai yo films. So this is rather a "remake" of Tora-san, but unfortunately Shofukutei Tsurube (a popular rakugo artist and TV personality, who did a better job in Dear Doctor) is no Atsumi Kiyoshi and the film gets bogged down in sentimentality and tears (the rowdy brother has to die a lonely death), despite the efforts of Yoshinaga Sayuri as the sister and Aoi Yu as her daughter.

(February)
Caterpillar by Wakamatsu Koji is an even fiercer anti-war statement, based on a story by Edogawa Ranpo that was also filmed in Rampo Noir (2005), of a war veteran (Kasuya Keigo) who is just a torso and a battered head, like a caterpillar. He can see, but not hear or talk. The ugly lump of flesh of the medal-decorated war hero is considered as a military god by the village from which new men are constantly leaving for the killing fields, until only women, children and the elderly are left behind. But our amputee can only eat, sleep and have sex (he still functions below the waist, although his wife has to do all the work). The wife (Terashima Shinobu in a Berlin Silver Bear winning performance) first is shocked, then decides to stand by her man and care for him, but gradually realizes that she also can exploit her husband's condition and so take revenge on him for his brutish behavior towards her in the past. To pester him, she starts pulling him in a cart through the village, where everyone has to pay their respects to the "war god"... Berlin International Film Festival.

(February)
Sweet Little Lies by Yazaki Hitoshi (of Strawberry Cakes fame), based on the novel by Ekuni Kaori, is the quiet but clinical story of the disintegration of a marriage, after just three years. Nakatani Miki plays a housewife who designs teddy bears as her hobby and Omori Nao is her IT-employed husband, who locks himself all his free time in his hobby room playing video games. Their emotional distance is so large that they communicate by mobile telephone even in their small apartment. Although they find it convenient to be married, there is no emotion, let alone love, between them and mentally they have little in common. So not surprisingly, when both in turn are aggressively approached by potential adultery partners, they swallow the bait of seduction: the wife with a musician, an arty type (Kobayashi Juichi) she meets in her teddy bear gallery, and the husband with a former schoolmate he sees at a class reunion (Ikewaki Chizuru). We then follow the parallel affairs and the games both play to keep up the deception. The end, however, is a surprise, because both decide to "return home" again... Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.

(May)
Kitano Takeshi makes The Outrage, a conventional yakuza flick as they are made by the dozen for the straight-to-video market in Japan. It was clearly aimed at a segment of his foreign audience that craved more violent yakuza films from him, but all he comes up with is a dull and tired story. On top of that, we by now have had enough of Kitano's signature sudden bursts of violence, with chopsticks rammed into eyes or ears. After three autobiographical films which became increasingly trivial, Kitano apparently unashamedly tried to go for the foreign box office. As they liked it in Cannes, Kitano even made a sequel, Beyond Outrage (2012), that gives addicts to cheap violence more of the same (and is marginally better). Instead of "Glory to the Filmmaker," this should be called "The End of a Filmmaker." Kitano Takeshi made some excellent films in the 1990s, starting with Violent Cop, and leading to such highlights as Sonatine and Hana-Bi, with in between more peaceful films as A Scene at the Sea and Kids Return, but in the new century seems to have completely lost his way, despite his one-off commercial success with Zatoichi. Cannes Film Festival,

(May)
Haru's Journey, lit. "Journey with Haru" (Haru to no tabi) by Kobayashi Masahiro is a road movie in which a young woman, Haru (Tokunaga Eri), living in Mashike, Hokkaido, as a teacher, has just seen her school closed down due to the decline in population. She wants to find work in Tokyo, but these last five years she has been taking care of her widowed grandfather, Tadao (Nakadai Tatsuya), an embittered and angry man who has difficulty walking. They start a trip by train to find a family member who is willing to take grandfather in so that Haru can go to Tokyo. But Tadao has not made things easy as his past egoistic behavior has rather estranged him from his brothers and sister, as well as from his son (Haru's father - who in his turn has discarded Haru). This humanistic film is supported by an excellent cast: Otaki Hideji and Sugai Kin as Tadao's eldest brother and his wife; Tanaka Yuko as the wife of the second brother; Awashima Chikage as the sister who operates a ryokan in Naruko (Miyagi); Emoto Akira and Miho Jun as the younger brother and his wife; and Kagawa Teruyuki as Tadao's son / father of Haru. The film is not only the story of an estranged family, it is also the story of how the uneasy relationship between Haru and her grandfather softens and grows, so much that she finally even decides to return to Hokkaido with him.

(June)
Confessions (Kokuhaku) by Nakashima Tetsuya is a safe journeyman product, based on a popular thriller by Minato Kanae. Like the novel, the film is hopelessly unrealistic, with countless plot holes, but I bring it up here for the insight it offers into Japanese society. The little daughter of a female teacher (Matsu Takako) has been killed by two underage pupils in her class. As the law can't do much, she decides to take revenge by herself and laces the school milk of the two kids with the AIDS virus (conveniently, her boyfriend has AIDS). Although neither of them becomes ill, as a result one boy turns into a hikikomori obsessed with avoiding contact with others so as not to infect them; he eventually kills his mother. The other boy still comes to school but is bullied by the rest of the class as an AIDS victim (the film here shows the sad workings of Japanese society where victims are sometimes bullied). This boy is an inventor (he also had invented the electrical shock purse that killed - or at least stunned - the little girl) and now makes a bomb with which he is planning to blow up himself including the school at the graduation ceremony. The teacher has read his webpage on which he announces this plan (!) and removed the bomb. Instead, she has put it in the university building where the boy's mother works (he hankers after his mother who has discarded him), so when the boy activates the bomb with his mobile phone, he blows up his own mother. The end. The biggest plot hole is of course that there seems to be no police to arrest a teacher who has tried to kill two of her own pupils. And by re-planting the bomb, she becomes a mass-murderer herself - but such niceties are never addressed. The reason I bring up this film is that it was so popular in Japan it was even sent in officially to the Academy Awards - although it is unimaginable that a film about a teacher killing her own pupils would ever win an Oscar. But the movie aptly reveals the feelings of revenge against criminal youths in Japan.

(July)
Family X by Yoshida Koki is a story about alienation and the breakup of a family. A mother on the verge of a breakdown (Minami Kaho), her husband who is only nervous about losing his work (Taguchi Tomorowo) and their uncommunicative son and "freeter" (Kaku Tomohiro) live "together apart." That there is little communication between them is underlined by the fact that they are almost never filmed together. A simple but heart-rending family tragedy. PIA Film Festival.

(September)
The best film of the year is Villain (Akunin) by Lee Sang-Il. Although his Hula Girls showed the potential birth of a safe hack, Lee makes much good in this noir thriller based on an interesting novel by Yoshida Shuichi. It is a story about alienated and lonely young people who meet via dating sites. One young woman (Mitsushima Hikari) who uses these sites to earn money from the men she meets and who brags to her friends about her success in love, meets her destiny on a lonely road. The young man (an unresponsive Tsumabuki Satoshi, but in a way that fits his role) who inadvertent kills her (in fact, it is more like manslaughter) soon after meets the woman of his dreams (a very good Fukatsu Eri), and she the man of her dreams, but it is too late... He looks like a sociopath with his bleached hair, but is in fact a tragic anti-hero. We also have a grandmother (Kirin Kiki) who is cheated out of her savings by gangsters and a father (Emoto Akira) who wants to physically avenge the death of his daughter. An impressive exploration of society's ills. The film earned a much deserved Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film in 2011.
My Rating: A+

(September)
Cold Fish (Tsumetai Nettaigyo) by Sono Shion is a return to extreme violence and gore by this provocative director in a film about bullying - not at school but in society. The weak and unsuccessful fish store owner Shamoto (Mitsuru Kukikochi), who is despised by his slutty (second) wife (Kagurazaka Megumi) and rebellious daughter, is sucked up into the orbit of the powerful and unscrupulous Murata (a tour de force performance by Denden). Of course, Murata's fish store Amazon Gold is many times larger than Shamoto's and he employs sexy girls to entice customers. As one of these, Murata also hires Shamoto's disobedient daughter and next seduces his wife. He also does other things: when someone gets in his way, Murata kills him and then cuts up the body and incinerates the parts - something Shamoto is forced to participate in. The first to go is Murata's business partner, for Shamoto will take the place of the poor man - after helping cut up his body in a church. During this all, Shamoto is bullied by the stronger and more successful entrepreneur and his wife, who is his partner in crime (Kurosawa Asuka). In the end something snaps in him, and then he takes a terrible revenge on Murata and all others who have used him as a doormat... showing that the bullied do not become heroes, but are just as mean and vile as their oppressors, as they can only imitate them. There is not inconsiderable gore, but it is all cartoonish. This is not a horror movie, but a (very) black comedy about social breakdown. Venice Film Festival.

(September)
A rather unnecessary movie is Thirteen Assassins (Jusannin no shikyaku) by Miike Takashi. What is the use of remaking excellent classical films? Doesn't this stem purely from a lack of creativity? The original film by Kudo Eiichi simply can't be improved upon, and Miike's almost shot-by-shot remake is just another piece of evidence of the sad lack of ideas in Japanese cinema in the second decade of the 21st century. Premiere at Venice Film festival.

(September)
Here Comes the Bride, My Mother! (Okan no yomeiri) by woman director Oh Mipo starts out in a fresh way. A mother (Otake Shibobu) one day comes home and introduces a young guy with bleached hair (Kiritani Kenta) as "the bridegroom" to the daughter in her twenties with whom she lives together (Miyazaki Aoi) - not a man for her daughter, but for herself. This causes the daughter to start sulking, despite the efforts of the groom to ingratiate himself by being friendly to her. So the first part of the film consists of quiet comedy, before entering into darker territory: Tsukiko, the daughter, is in fact sitting at home - the only thing she does outside is walking the dog - like a hikikomori because she was stalked and harassed by a male colleague in the office where she used to work. Then we get a plot twist which unfortunately spoils the film by dousing it in melodrama: the mother is revealed as having a terminal illness and her boyfriend who knew this is just marrying her to make her last days happy... Why does the director need such a trashy plot twist to justify the second marriage to a much younger man of the mother, as if women in their forties have no right to make new choices in their lives? A disappointment, despite the setting in Kyoto along the Keihan line.

(September)
Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no mori) by Vietnamese/French director Ahn Hung Tran, based on the popular novel by Murakami Haruki, is beautifully filmed (thanks to the richly saturated images of cinematographer Pin Bing Lee), but hampered by the simplistic and sentimental love story that lies at its basis. It is about sub-twenties who are suffering from sexual and emotional angst. Kizuki commits suicide for the silly reason that he is unable to perform the act with his girlfriend Naoko. Naoko looses her mental stability because she blames herself for this and is put away in a mental hospital; she will finally commit suicide as well. Toru, Kizuki's best friend, is in love with Naoko, who still loves Kizuki, but he also meets the forward Midori (the only person who seems to be in charge of herself in this film) and, typically indecisive, finds himself shuttling between both of them. Despite the good performances (especially Kikuchi Rinko of Babel-fame as Naoko), this is mainly a juvenile tearjerker lacking the humor of the original novel. Venice Film Festival.

(October)
"Abraxis" (Aburakurasu no Matsuri) by Kato Naoki is wonderful film about Jonen, a young Buddhist priest and family man - priests are allowed to marry in Japan - who used to be a rock guitarist (played by actual rocker Suneohair). As he is struggling with inner doubts and demons, his spiritual mentor suggests that he once more holds a concert. Jonen decides to reunite for that concert with his old band, but instead of going to Tokyo, selects the grounds of his temple in a quiet coastal town in Fukushima for the concert (the film was made just before the earthquake and tsunami). He has posters made and puts these up himself all over the town. Suneohair gives a sensitive portrayal of Jonen and shows off his guitar playing in a celebration of non-conformity. An excellent feature film, showing the small happenings of daily life, based on a novel by Zen priest / author Genyu Sokyu. Note the sake that Jonen drinks in the film: Daishichi!

(October)
How many 98 year old directors still make films (how many people reach that age)? Shindo Kaneto (in what would be his last film) has made an incisive anti-war film, Postcard (Ichimai no hagaki), which earned a belated Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film in 2012. It is the tragedy of a peasant women who looses first one, then a second husband and her parents in law to the folly of war. With excellent performances by Otake Shinobu and Toyokawa Etsushi. A warning for our times... Tokyo International Film Festival.

(October)
Heaven's Story by Zeze Takahisa is a film full of anger, frustration and feelings of revenge - and it lasts four and a half hours, divided into nine episodes. The film follows family members of murder victims and shows how their lives were changed by these terrible events; the film also shows in Babel-like fashion, how the lives of a dozen people intersect over a period of ten years, connected as they are by murder and loss. Revenge will of course create new painful reverberations in this net of connections. The film is as dark as previous work by this initial pink film director, such as Raigyo. A massive monster of film that does not wholly succeed in its high aims, but is still an interesting experiment, showing that there is at least one director left who dares to take risks.

(October)
Into the White Night (Byakuyako) by Fukagawa Yoshihiro is a crime story based on a popular novel by Higashino Keigo. It is a well-made film, shot in a dark and minor mode, focusing on character development and therefore justifiably taking its time. It shows how the murder of their parents by two children (one of them abused and mistreated by both victims) follows the main characters throughout their lives, leading again and again to new crimes. It also shows the utter and altruistic devotion of a boy and young man to the beautiful girl he once saved, and whom he keeps helping, even onto his own death. His love is never requited and is of a kind you'll only find in Japanese culture. The film also shows how different the characters of both protagonists are, he (Kora Kengo) totally unselfish, but cruel on her behalf, she (Horikita Maki) from the start calculating, using the people around her for her own purposes and not allowing anyone to cross her. And, for more than two decades, we also follow the police officer (Funakoshi Eiichiro) who ultimately discovers the truth. The crime is initially shelved, but he keeps doggedly coming back to it and gradually unravels the web of lies, even after he has already been pensioned off. Tokyo International Film Festival.

2011
February: The Japan Sumo Association cancels the Spring Tournament because of a match fixing scandal, the first time the event has been canceled since 1946.
March: Great East Japan Earthquake. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake hits offshore of Japan's Miyagi prefecture, resulting in tsunami waves as high as 10 meter, causing an accident at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. 15,899 deaths, 6,157 injured, 2,529 people missing.

Kinema Junpo Award: Villain
Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year: Rebirth

Deaths in the film world:
The actor Harada Yoshio dies at age 71.

(May)
"Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai" (Ichi Mei)  by Miike Takashi again leaves one with the big question: why try to remake one of the undisputed masterpieces of Japanese cinema that everyone can find on DVD (Harakiri by Kobayashi Masaki)? This is truly an excess of the postmodern remake bubble and evidence that many film makers in Japan have no original ideas anymore. It is a flat and ineffective version (who cares for 3D?), with the annoying overuse of CGI many contemporary films suffer from. The best that be can said is that this crappy remake will hopefully inspire some viewers to seek out the 1962 original - which is truly one of the great films of Japanese cinema. Premiere at Cannes Film festival,

(June)
"I Wish" (Kiseki) by Koreeda Hirokazu is a joyful film about two brothers, small boys, who have been separated because of the divorce of their parents: Koichi lives with his mother in Kagoshima and Ryunosuke with his father in Fukuoka. Their greatest ambition is to reunite their estranged parents. Then they hear the Shinkansen route is being extended from Hakata to Kagoshima. This will not only bring them closer together, but they also believe that a miracle will occur when two Shinkansen trains pass each other in opposite directions. While not reaching the dizzying heights of Still Walking, this is a delightful film with excellent performances.

(June)
"Tokyo Park" (Tokyo Koen) by Aoyama Shinji, the director who has previously given us Eureka and Sad Vacation, is a youth film about a boy whose hobby is photography and who likes to take stealthy pics of women in parks. This setting seems a bit like Antonioni's mysterious Blow Up, but Aoyama only tells a dull tale about a man asking the youth to photo-stalk a woman (apparently his wife) and her kid through Tokyo's parks. The mystery is too thin to keep viewers interested for a full two and a half hours; the rest of the film is filled with rather boring discussions the boy has with his dead room mate (yes, he has a problem coming to terms with his grief), with his girl friend, a gay barman and with his stepsister who is secretly in love with him. The acting is bad - the protagonist (Miura Haruma) is played totally unconvincing - and the cinematography is as humdrum as your daily TV show.

(June)
Hiroku Ryuichi makes a film that is inferior to his best ones as Vibrator and It's Only Talk. "The Egoists" (Keibetsu, lit. "Contempt"), although based on a novel by Nakagami Kenji, one of Japan's greatest postwar authors, is a sort of "pink" melodrama that flounders due to the incredibly mawkish plot. Moreover, one of the protagonists, Kora Kengo, sports such a weird colored hairstyle that is impossible to take him serious. He plays a gambler (originally the scion of an important local family who has gone astray) who has to flee Tokyo because of his debts. He takes his pole-dancing girlfriend with him (Suzuki Anne), and returns to his hometown (Shingu in the novel), hoping to lead a normal life. That is difficult as the locals look down upon them (the "contempt" of the title) and his family rejects his girlfriend as a suitable marriage partner. Their hot love affair therefore finally descends into self-loathing and ennui. Of course his past also catches up with him and in a long scene that takes its cue from Godard's Breathless, he is killed in the local deserted shotengai. A sentimental love story, played out on the template of doom, without redeeming elements.

(September)
Themis (Himizu) by Sono Shion is a brutally violent story based on a cruel manga, to which he has added a background story borrowed rather opportunistically from the 3.11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which happened earlier in the year. In other words, this is not a film about the disaster and its human tragedy, but we have a director who (mis-)uses the disaster to make his film more topical. Accidentally, the movie itself is also a total disaster: caricatures of people are killing each other, fighting each other, shouting at each other, and continually hyperventilating. Every inch of the film is blown up. All the usual Sono Shion elements are there, but - besides that we are getting tired of even more weird sects or scenes of meaningless violence - this time it doesn't work. (In his Kibo no kuni ("Land of Hope") of 2012 Sono tries a more serious approach to the Fukushima disaster, but that later attempt plays out like an overblown TV drama and was selected as the worst film of the year 2012 by Eiga Geijutsu). Premiere at Venice Film Festival.

2012
April: In Kyoto, a car crashes into a pole and hits multiple pedestrians, resulting in eight dead (including the driver) and twelve injured. The accident, which was later attributed to the driver's epilepsy, was the worst traffic accident since 1996.
May 22: Tokyo Skytree officially opened to the public.
October: Amagasaki Serial Murder Incident: The Sumida family in Amagasaki forces at least eight people to kill each other after torture over a period of twenty years.
December: The Sasago road tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture collapses, resulting in 9 fatalities.

Kinema Junpo Award: Postcard
Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year: The Kirishima Thing

Deaths in the film world:
The actress Awashima Chikage, known from firlms by Ozu, dies at age 87. The actress Yamada Izusu dies at age 95. Film director Shindo Kaneto dies at age 100.

(February)
"Our Homeland" (Kazoku no kuni) is the first feature film of Yang Yong-hi, made after a series of documentaries in which this director explored issues in her Korean/Japanese family. The film is based on a little known fact of contemporary history: the emigration to North Korea of many Koreans living in Japan (who today still are split in adherents of the South and the North) in the 1950s-1970s, lured by false promises of the Communist paradise. Director Yang follows the story of Sonho (Arata Iura) who as a teenager was sent to North Korea by his father, an ardent supporter of the North, and also staff member of the North Korean culture center, a quasi embassy. Now Sonho is allowed to briefly return to Japan to seek medical care for a serious illness. He meets his family - his father, his mother who runs a small cafe, his younger sister who is a teacher (and the center of the film, played by Ando Sakura), and his uncle - but is all the time under the strict supervision of a North Korean security agent who traces his every step. Sonho would like to persuade his sister to move to North Korea, but has no chance as she rightly hates the regime. And then, out of the blue, after just a few days with his family and one initial medical check-up, without explanation Sonho receives the order to immediately return to North Korea (where he has left his own family behind), although he had permission to stay in Japan for three months. This is not a perfect film (interestingly, the Koreans in the film are even more non-verbal than Japanese usually are, and because of this the film looses something in expressiveness), but it deftly brings out the tensions caused by history in the relations of a family. Winner of the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film. Berlin International Film Festival.

(July)
Helter Skelter by Ninagawa Mika is just such a colorful spectacle as the director's previous Sakuran, but it is also more lacking in content and often just plays out as a gorgeous fashion show. Top model LiLiCo (a perfect Sawajiri Erika), the most popular model in Japan, is adored by millions of fans, has in fact turned into an arrogant and narcissistic bitch - as her manager Michiko (Terajima Shinobu) knows all too well. But only her stylist Kinji (Arai Hirofumi) and her agency director Hiroko (Momoi Kaori) know another secret: the beautiful shell of the super star is artificial, created by hundreds of beauty operations. Then one day, dark spots appear in LiLiCo's face - is her beauty beginning to peel off? This happens just when a rival, Kozue (Mizuhara Kiko), starts challenging her top status... Not only wonderful eye-candy, but also excellent performances all around.

(September)
"Dreams For Sale" (Yume uru futari) by Nishikawa Miwa is unfortunately a much lesser film than her previous work as Yureru or Dear Doctor. It is the story of a married couple, Satoko (Matsu Takako) and Kanya (Abe Sadao), whose restaurant burns down. Needing money to build a new place, and after the husband has accidentally received a large sum of money for his equally accidental one-night stand with regular customer Reiko (Suzuki Sawa), the wife comes up with a nifty scam whereby Kanya has to make up to lonely unmarried women and con them out of their savings by pretending to love them. Kanya is indeed able to lend the willing ear these solitary souls crave for. His first victim is prim Satsuki (Tanaka Lena), and there is still comedy here, but afterwards the film drifts into melodramatic territory when the new victims are obese Olympic weightlifter Hitomi (Ebara Yuki), abused prostitute Kana (Ando Tamae), and divorcee with a young son Takiko (Kimura Tae). Not surprisingly, Kanya gets emotionally involved with his victims, spending more and more time with them, and the marriage starts to crack (Satoko in contrast discloses her underlying selfishness by the joy she takes in the suffering of other women) - until a few contrived plot twists bring Kanya in jail and Satoko working at a fish market to pay back the money they have "loaned." The film not only wavers between comedy and melodrama, but also has totally unwarranted moments of knockabout farce, in which the protagonists' exaggerated performances are in the worst tradition of over-acting.

(November)
That Miike Takashi has lost his magic touch was already clear from his delving into remakes. "Lesson of the Evil" (Aku no Kyoten), based on a novel by Kishi Yusuke, is a revolting film about a psychopathic teacher who kills off scores of his high-school pupils (and has an affair with one of them). The director revels in one shot after another of blood-smeared pupils or exploding chests - Miike apparently doesn't realize that such crimes are all too real elsewhere in the world. As is usual with him, he refuses to confront his material from a moral point of view, but just makes a slasher gore film as pure "entertainment." But alas, the plot is full of holes and the actors are hamming away in a terrible fashion. Rome Film Festival.

2013
June to October: 2013 heatwave causes 1,077 fatalities.
August: An explosion at the Fukuchiyama Firework Festival event kills 3.
October: A fire at the Abe Orthopaedic Surgery Hospital in Fukuoka kills 10.
October: A typhoon kills 17 people in Oshima Island; on the mainland, the storm causes major traffic disruptions and kills one woman in Machida, Tokyo.
December 6 – Special Secrecy Law passes the National Diet

Kinema Junpo Award: Our Homeland
Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year: The Great Passage

Deaths in the film world:
Director Oshima Nagisa dies at age 80.

(January)
The remakes roll on, and it gets even more ridiculous. One of the best films ever made in the world is Tokyo Story by Ozu Yasujiro. It is the perfect masterpiece. Yamada Yoji has had the audacity to remake this in a modern setting as "Tokyo Family" (Tokyo kazoku). The new film is dull and plodding and not even good when we forget it is a remake. Compared to Ozu's immortal masterwork, Yamada's film is an ant trying to be a unicorn. Designated as "worst film of the year" by the Eiga Geijutsu magazine.

(March)
"The Great Passage" (Fune wo Amu) by Ishii Yuya is an office drama, set at a publishing company, about the making of a dictionary called "The Great Passage." The small dictionary team has to fight against many odds to complete their ten-year task, such as the danger that the project will be canceled. The protagonist is new member Matsuda Ryuhei, an emotional nerd whose coming of age story this is (his name is "Majime," which means "serious" but is written with different kanji). Shishido Jo plays his extroverted colleague, and it is nice to see Kato Go and Ikewaki Chizuru in small roles, while Miyazaki Aoi is a suitable love interest as the granddaughter of Majime's landlady. In fact, this is a typical Shochiku film promoting all-Japanese values: diligence (even when the task is boring and sheer endless), perseverance ("gambaru"), perfectionism (when one small miss is found, the group spends day and night rechecking all materials), excellent teamwork and "wet" human feelings. It is therefore interesting for the insight it provides into Japanese culture and the values that ideally drive the Japanese. (Hong Kong International Film Festival) (premiere).

(May)
"Like Father, Like Son" (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) by Koreeda Hirokazu is a breakthrough to the mainstream for this director, although to do so, he unfortunately makes several compromises and delivers a film that is rather below his best work. The strength and interest of his best film Still Walking was the lack of an all too obvious plot, the feeling of just looking in on a day in the life of an ordinary family. In this new movie, Koreeda introduces a Hollywood-type plot that is just too obvious from the beginning, and that leads to an iron conclusion we can see coming from afar. Moreover, the acting of protagonist Fukuyama Masaharu, who is originally a singer, is just below par - the kids in the film do a better job. Fukuyama plays a career yuppie who suddenly is informed officially that his six-year old son has accidentally been switched at birth with another baby, who is the son of a poor but laid-back family. Should they be switched back? The question is nature versus nurture, with the father opting for the bloodline (moreover, he already thought his son was too weak to be his real offspring) and the mother for the life lived together, for the shared culture. As the opinion of men still prevails in Japan, the kids are temporarily switched back to the real parents, but of course that doesn't work out. We knew so from the very start. But despite its flaws, this film is well worth watching. (Cannes Film Festival) (premiere).

(June)
"The Ravine of Goodbye" (Sayonara Keikoku) by Omori Tatsushi, based on a novel by Yoshida Shuichi, is about a difficult subject that some might find offensive: a woman, Kanako (Maki Yoko), has been raped by fellow student Shunsuke (Onishi Shima) in high school, something which destroys her life as she can not keep future boyfriends or even hold a job. So when 15 years later she meets her rapist again, she starts living with him. Shunsuke is burdened with guilt, Kanako can't escape her past - she should not be considered as a victim fallen under the spell of her victimizer, but rather as a woman who in Shunsuke finds a refuge from the world outside. Moreover, she has power over him. This story is presented obliquely, as it comes out gradually through the investigation by two journalists of the murder of a child of a family living next door in which Shunsuke may have been implicated (the journalists are played by Omori Nao and Suzuki Anne).

(September)
R100 by Matsumoto Hitoshi (of Big Man Japan fame) has an interesting premise but fails to make the most of it by undermining its own story but not taking it serious enough. A man working as sales manager in a department store, living alone with his young son as his wife is in hospital, joins a mysterious SM club, where the rules are rather different: the membership is for a whole year and cannot be canceled, and what is more, the "playground" is everywhere - wherever the man is, he can suddenly be attacked by a vicious dominatrix swinging her whip through the air, or placing a well-aimed a karate kick in his face. When this escalates and the man is even attacked at his workplace or in the hospital when he visits his wife, things get badly out of hand. In the end, he seeks refuge in the farm of his father-in-law, where a large group of leather-clad women approaches like an army of zombies... Filmed in bleached colors, which are almost black and white. The title is a joke about the rating: not R15 or R17, but "R100." Toronto International Film Festival.

(September)
The remake machine rolls on. This time the perpetrator is Lee Sang-Il, who made the excellent The Villain (2010) discussed above. Now he derails by remaking Clint Eastwood's Western The Unforgiven in a late Edo samurai setting. Again, the original (as all originals) is much superior, and Lee has ended up making another unnecessary film. There are so many historical novels in Japan, was there really no original story to be found? Venice Film Festival.

(September)
"The Devil's Path" (Kyoaku) by Shiraishi Kazuya is a well-made crime drama about the omnipresence of evil in everyday society. A dogged but tired young reporter (Yamada Takayuki) is contacted by a death row inmate, the yakuza Sudo (Pierre Taki), who seven years ago has committed various murders at the instigation of his boss, a real estate agent called "sensei" (Lily Franky). That boss went scot-free and Sudo now seeks revenge. So he confesses to a series of nihilistic crimes which have not yet been discovered, such as the live burial of a victim and ramming another man into an incinerator. Most sickening for its casualness is the third murder of an elderly man, with the complicity of his family and (initially) the victim himself, in order to pay off a debt with his life assurance. The man is first fed lots of shochu and finally slowly killed by electric shocks from a stun gun, while the killers are rolling on the floor from laughter. This removes any sympathy we may have felt for Sudo, putting his confession in a cynical light. The reporter struggles against his boss who at first doesn't believe in the importance of the article he is writing, and also against his family situation, where his wife is unable to continue caring for his mother suffering from Alzheimer. Performances are excellent, especially Lily Franky, who, expertly cast against type, appears as a demon in human guise. An unembellished study of human nature at its most evil, the only flaw in this film is the cinematography, which doesn't rise above the level of a TV movie.

(November)
"Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days" (Pekorosu no haha ni ai ni iku) by Morisaki Azuma is the story of the sixty-two year old Yuichi (Iwamatsu Ryo), a Nagasaki-born baby-boomer with a shiny bald head (leading to the nickname "pecoross," a small onion), who is a "bad" salaryman who spends most of his days stealthily drawing manga or making music. He lives with his son Masaki and his eighty-nine year old mother Mitsue (Akagi Harue) who the last ten years, since the death of her husband, is suffering from dementia. This is described not with disgust as in some other films, but with humor and sweet sorrow. Mitsue goes out to buy sake for her dead husband, or sits all day waiting for Yuichi to comeback from work at the parking lot of his car. As she keeps going out on her own, it becomes unwise to leave her alone in the house, so Yuichi decides to entrust her to the care of a nursing home. Mitsue, however hates that, and keeps to her room like a hikikomori, drawing further and further back into herself and into her past life (which we get in flashbacks). She even imagines that her little daughter, who died at a young age, is coming to visit her... Based on an essay manga by Okano Yuichi. Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film. The director, Morisaki Azuma, is himself 87 and therefore the oldest active film maker in Japan. Surprisingly, he has made a light and heart-warming movie about a serious subject. It is regrettable this wonderful film is not better known.

(November)
Kaguyahime

2014
January: Mitsubishi Materials Yokkaichi plant explosion kills five persons.
March: Abeno Harukas open in Osaka, the tallest structure in Japan.
July: Sasebo schoolgirl murder: A 15-year-old high school student kills her female classmate by strangulation, dismembering and decapitation.
August: Hiroshima landslides cause 74 fatalities.
September: Mount Ontake eruption causes 63 fatalities (worst eruption disaster since 1991).

Kinema Junpo Award: Pecoross' Mother and Her Days
Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year: The Eternal Zero

Deaths in the film world:
The actress Awaji Keiko (age 80), known for her role in for example Stray Dog by Kurosawa.
Director Suzuki Norifumi (80), known  for cult films as The School of the Holy Beast as well as the Torakku Yaro series.
The actor Takakura Ken (83),
and Sugawara Bunta die at the respective ages of 83 and 81.

(March)
"The Light Shines Only There" (Soko nomi nite hikari kagayaku) by Oh Mipo is the tragic story of three young people set in Hakodate. Tatsuo (Ayano Go) is traumatized because he has caused an accidental death of a colleague in his job as stone worker - he now spends his days playing pachinko and his nights drinking; his new friend Takuji (Suda Masaki) is on parole after stabbing a man; and his sister Chinatsu (Ikewaki Chizuru) provides for the family by working as a prostitute. Tatsuo and Chinatsu set tentative steps towards a relation, but it is clear that luck will not be on their side. A grim film, but as there are no strange plot twists, much better than Oh's previous comedy. Not only the acting, but also the cinematography (by Kondo Ryuto) are first class. Osaka Asian Film Festival.

(May)
Another director who surprisingly has lost her magic is Kawase Naomi. "Still the Water" (Futatsume no mado) is for the first time set outside Kawase's native Nara Prefecture, on Japan's southern island of Amami-Oshima. It is a coming of age story that unfortunately is overshadowed by boring touristy images of various festivals and songs and dances. Instead of making a film like a documentary, as many directors who started filming in the 1990s did, including Kawase herself, Kawase here just inserts documentary elements in a feature film, without proper justification. Her first work, Suzaku, remains my favorite among her films. Cannes Film Festival.

(August)
Miike Takashi makes "Over Your Dead Body" (Kuime), a dull version of the classical ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan that has already been filmed countless times. Although this a not a straight remake as Miike introduces a new perspective by presenting the play in the form of a rehearsal by actors whose lives start running parallel to those of the protagonists of the play, the film never comes to life. The reason is that Miike forgets to fill in the lives and characters of the contemporary actors - we mainly see them in their luxury cars riding to and from the studio - and for the rest we have to watch a rather boring rehearsal. As regards Yotsuya Kaidan, I advise you to watch the version Nakagawa Nobuo made in 1959.

(September)
Kabukicho Love Hotel (Sayonara Kabukicho) by Hiroki Ryuichi is an ensemble drama and dark comedy set in a short-stay hotel. Telling the stories of the hotel’s guests, staff and self-deluded manager (Sometani Shota), Hiroki captures every nuance with his gently probing camera. Toronto International Film Festival.

(October)
"Pale Moon" (Kami no Tsuki) by Yoshida Daihachi stars Miyazawa Rie as Rika, working at a bank where she is in charge of wealthy customers to whom she has to make home visits, and unhappily married to a busy salaryman. She thinks she has found something more in life when she meets the young nephew of one of her clients, a student half her age, and starts an affair with him. Unfortunately, the bland boy is played by a juvenile who considering his non-existent acting, still has to go to Theater School. But also from the side of Miyazawa there is not a single spark of screen passion, so their relation is unconvincing, to say the least. Rika is more like an elder sister or surrogate mother, also when she starts stealing money out of the accounts of her clients, first to help the boy through college, later to buy him increasingly expensive presents. Yoshida nowhere makes plausible why she would take such a high risk, nor what she gets out of it. The boy leaves her finally in the lurch for a girl his own age and Rika's embezzling is caught by her shrewd supervisor, Ms Sumi (played by Kobayashi Satomi), a colleague who supports the system although she has reached a dead end in her career. The direction by Yoshida is dull like a TV film, the story is predictable, and even Miyazawa Rie, who elsewhere is a forthright presence, seems nervous and uncertain. This film is unfortunately too flawed to be a statement about the empowerment and liberation of a forty-year old woman in stratified Japanese society. Tokyo International Film Festival.

(September)
The remake merry-go-round takes another swing. Another famous film gets the treatment, this time Ichikawa Kon's Fires on the Plain (Nobi), based on a novel by Ooka Shohei, remade by Tsukamoto Shinya. Where Ichikawa's artful and humanistic work was a "horror of war" film, Tsukamoto's giallo product is a mere "war horror" film, with stacked corpses, decapitated heads and other splatter effects. When the subplot of cannibalism kicks in, we are finally and truly in zombie-land. Tsukamoto plays the lead character, inviting a negative comparison with the excellent Funakoshi Eiji of the earlier film. More than that, this awful movie almost invites a reevaluation of Tsukamoto's earlier work as a director. (Venice Film Festival) (premiere).

(October)
Miike Takashi also makes "As the Gods Will" (Kamisama no iu-tori), an old-fashioned splatter-fest based on a manga about "killer dolls:" a Daruma doll, a Maneki-neko cat, four Kokeshi dolls, a wood-carved ice bear and even a set of Matrioshka dolls. It is another gleeful carnage of high-school teenagers, although this time the story is so cartoonish and silly (taking its cue partly from Gantz) that it is less offensive than Aku no kyoten. But isn't this all old hat? Rome Film Festival.

[Reference works used: Currents In Japanese Cinema by Tadao Sato (Tokyo, 1987); The Japanese Film: Art and Industry by Joseph L. Anderson and Donald Richie (reprint Tokyo, 1983); A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie (Tokyo, 2001); Japanese Film Directors by Audrie Bock (Tokyo, 1985); A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors by Alexander Jacoby (Berkeley, 2008); A New History of Japanese Cinema by Isolde Standish (New York, 2005); The Japanese Period Film by S.A. Thornton (Jefferson & London, 2008); Eros plus Massacre, An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema by David Desser (Bloomington and Indianopolis, 1988); Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema by David Bordwell (Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1988); Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto (Duke University Press: Durham, 2000); The Waves at Genji's Door by Joan Mellen (Pantheon Books: New York, 1976); Japanese Classical Theatre in Film by Keiko I. Macdonald (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1994); From Book to Screen by Keiko I. Macdonald (M.E. Sharpe: New York and London, 2000); Reading a Japanese Film by Keiko I. Macdonald (University of Hawai'i Press: Honolulu, 2006); Behind the Pink Curtain, A Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, by Jasper Sharp (Fab Press: Godalming, 2008); Contemporary Japanese Film by Mark Schilling (Weatherhill: New York and Tokyo, 1999); The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp (Stone Bridge Press: Berkeley, 2005); Kitano Takeshi by Aaron Gerow (British Film Institute: London, 2007); Iron Man: the Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto by Tom Mes (Fab Press: Godalming, 2005); Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike by Jasper Sharp (Fab Press: Godalming, 2003); Nihon Eigashi by Sato Tadao (Iwanami Shoten: Tokyo, 2008, 4 vols.); Nihon Eigashi 110-nen by Yomota Inuhiko (Shueisha; Tokyo, 2014)]

History of Japanese Film by Year