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AICN says farewell to Kon Ichikawa, a great director...
Hey folks, Harry here... it falls upon me to write this OBIT - because well, I'm the one that loves FIRES ON THE PLAIN. I am not an expert on Kon Ichikawa. I won't pretend that I am, but around 13 years ago, my father and I were driving back from a dinner on the south side of Austin, and decided to check the cheapie bin at the BLOCKBLUSTER VIDEO around the University of Texas campus. You know the drill, you dig through their previously viewed weeding out of titles and you find gold. This was back in the videotape era -
I found a tape called FIRES ON THE PLAIN. The box described the film as being harrowing. One of the most disturbing films regarding the Pacific Campaign during WWII. They mentioned something about the characters being reduced to cannibalism... Well, knowing my Dad's love of the Pacific WWII stories - and our mutual love of all things involving cannibalism... it felt like a good film to watch.
Mind you - I knew this wasn't an exploitive affair - the word HARROWING - isn't something you use to describe much exploitive work. Plus the box showed the distributor as being JANUS FILMS - which in and of itself meant quality. So that night we watched FIRES ON THE PLAIN.
People talk about Anti-War film and claim there's no such thing... for the mere showing of the act of war, glorifies war.
Those people haven't seen FIRES ON THE PLAIN. If I were to use a word besides HARROWING - it would be SOBERING. This is about starving, drinking puddles of water from muddy footprints. It's about growing weaker and weaker - and about doing anything to stay alive.
The film is black & white - and you couldn't imagine color. The photography and design of the film is brilliant. And that is upon Kon Ichikawa. There is no irony here. The film is genius. I'm sad to say, FIRES ON THE PLAIN is the only film of Kon Ichikawa's that I've ever seen - but that one singular glimpse at his work stunned me. I'll leave the summing of his career up to those that dig through his IMDB listing - or that honestly know his overall career. His death served me as a reminder... I'm going to look into his work, try to find a few more titles to watch.
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First!
Woooo
ah but to a death -
I knew nothing about the guy and Harry gave a little respectful context to the whole thing. Appreciated and RIP Kon Ichikawa.
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and all you idiots out there who can't remember anything before Judd Apatow - The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, The Devil's Island, The Phoenix. Surely anyone who's recognised as leaving a distinguished mark on film, no matter how obscure, deserves more than some stupid remarks from some knuckle-dragging troglodytes. Thanks, Harry, for remembering, and reminding us.
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We should probably talk about that instead.
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Harry gave his own understanding of why this director will remain immortal, and why the loss of his next film will be felt by our community. I'm not familiar with him myself, but I'll check it out. Thank you, Harry.
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I didn't know who he was till today. The only famous asian directors I know are Ang Lee & Akira Kurosawa.
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Harry (and everyone else) -- While 'Fires on the Plain' will undoubtedly burn images of the truthful brutality of war into your cerebral cortex in a way not many other films will, Kon Ichikawa's other most notable anti-war film "The Burmese Harp" ("Biruma no tategoto") (1956) is an earnest and tender anti-war film - a "meditation on beauty coexisting with death". It absolutely must have served as inspiration for Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima", with bits and pieces reminiscent of (but precedent to - by one year) "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957).
Ichikawa was also very well known for his 1965 documentary "Tokyo Olympiad". Described by Criterion as "A spectacle of magnificent proportions, Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad ranks among the greatest documents of sport ever committed to film."
Like Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia", which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Ichikawa's film was considered a milestone in documentary filmmaking. However, "Tokyo Olympiad" keeps its focus more on the atmosphere of the games and the human side of the athletes instead of concentrating only on the winners and the results. It is not just about the realm of athletic or Olympic experience, it is about the human experience and about creating cinema out of it.
"The Burmese Harp", "Fires on the Plain" and "Tokyo Olympiad" are all available in pristine form from Criterion. -
Great remembrances. Those three from Criterion just went on my queue.
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And yet you find the time to come on here and act like a moron. Just because he didn't make anything to your obviously high taste, why behave like a total cunt? With your attitude, I very much think that most people who cross your path will think exactly the same of you sir...
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stunning...as is The Phoenix...RIP fuck you Dickblood
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... his version of The 47 Ronin, made when he was in his 80s (!).
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Nuff said, tho thanks to Harry for the mention. It's the mix of full-on geekery and genuine appreciation for quality cinema that makes AICN one of my daily internet stops.
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I like sport documentaries and will be sure to pick up Tokyo Olympiad. I've never heard of his work until now but I agree with palimpsest, that's what is great about this site. May he rest in peace.
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I had the good fortune to see Ichikawa's 1956 Punishment Room on the big screen last year thanks to the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The story of juvenile delinquents with a gang rape at its center--that's right, a 1956 movie about gang rape-- is light years ahead of its time. It was extremely controversial in Japan back then. The more I think about it, the more of its searing images come into my brain. Even though it might be considered tame by today's standards, the brutality depicted still packs a punch. The only film of that time I can think of that deals with a social issue so frankly is Cassavetes' 1959 Shadows depiction of race relations. Needless to say, I give Punishment Room a high recommendation though unfortunately it's not on DVD. This is the only Ichikawa film I've seen. Clearly he was a master director and I need to check out more of his work. Especially in light of the fact there’s no mention of his passing on the IMDb home page, I’d like to thank Harry for remembering Kon Ichikawa.
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without another rip thread...rip...damn good director
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I run a site on Japanese fantasy films . Here's my obit from that perspective:
Acclaimed Japanese film director Kon Ichikawa passed away yesterday, February 13, at the age of 92. He was best known to tokusatsu fans for "Princess From The Moon" (1987). Based on a popular Japanese tale, the film stars the legendary Toshiro Mifune ("Seven Samurai"), and features Heisei Godzilla series regular Megumi Odaka in one of her earliest roles. The special effects, by Teruyoshi Nakano, include a giant plesiosaur and "Close Encounters"-inspired spacecraft. The film is available on region 2 DVD in the U.K. Last year, The Criterion Collection released his "The Burmese Harp" (1956) and "Fires On The Plain" (1959) on DVD in the U.S. Here is a story on his passing from Yahoo! News , and here is his filmography from IMDb . -
The Burmese Harp is a masterpiece. As in, after I saw it I almost went crazy finding out it wasn't available on DVD. Luckily Criterion recently released it as a nice high quality DVD. Next up for me is Fires On The Plain.
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by not using 'say konichiwa to Kon Ichikawa'. You now much commit seppuku, it's the only thing to do at this point.
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Feb 15, 2008 8:13:26 PM CST
"People talk about Anti-War film and claim there's no such thing
by gwai lo
These people haven't seen Come and See either
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I haven't seen much of the man's work, but The Burmese Harp and Fires On The Plain are nigh on masterpieces, and really deserve to be more widely known and seen. If this thread does anything, besides pay respect to the memory of this talented, but little known (in the west) director, then hopefully that'll be to inspire a few people to at least check out those two films.
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...and what's more amazing is the fact that it was originally comissioned and oft used for propoganda purposes, yet beyond that fact it still turned out to be one of the most powerful war films ever made. True art always finds a way.
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You listed it on a DVD PICKS AND PEEKS, and I remember you lavishing praise on it. Did you lie to us?
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I mean come on, if that were the case, Herc's part of the site would be effectively useless! How dare you even think such a thing...
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Forgot that I'd seen it. The Obit was rushed due to having to run out to shop for Quint's birthday.
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Sorry I couldn't resist!
AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUINT! -
Anybody now the status of the doc Shunji Iwai was making on the director?I heard about it awhile back then nothing...RIP
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While not very familiar with the man's work (I've seen only Fires On The Plain and Tokyo Olympiad), he seemed to me a strong visual filmmaker with the courage to tackle the at-the-time often avoided issue of modern warfare. I find it interesting that he idolized Walt Disney. Rest in Peace Ichikawa-san...
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Wow, I'll try to keep a look out for Punishment Room in the future. In addition, I always thought Italian neo-realist films by Rossellini and DeSica always had a strong impact in dealing with social issues. Rebel Without a Cause comes to mind. Sam Fuller's 1951 "Steel Helmet" is a Korean War film that also deals with race relations between white, black, and Asian. Nice call on Cassavetes' Shadows. That film was also very much for me about the search for identity, the masks we create, as the most racist people depicted in the film were Ben and Lelia, who tried to mask the fact they were black...
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thats what he called japanese soldiers resorting to cannibalism, i think.
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Kon Ichi-Wa?
too soon? -
... is probably the greatest peace movie ever made. EVERYONE should watch it once. Preferrably alone, in a dark room, with a box of tissues next to the chair. If you don't tear up, then you're a sociopath with no human empathy.
Ichikawa will be missed, may his art live on forever. -
Fuck him? Give the man a respect. or fuck your dumb brain self, if you can think ... maybe too stupid to do that
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RIP MY FRIEND....ICHIKAWA
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was a really good film - I remember watching it with my Dad about a month before he died. I have only seen bits of Fires on the Plain - I must get back to it.
Thanks Mr Ichikawa -
Hopefully more of Ichikawa's movies will find their way to DVD.
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