The article is from the public number: Movie Information Division (ID: dianyingqingbaochu) < / a> , author: pills circle, the original title: “day off in RapidGetting warmer, but why isn’t Japanese film working? “, The title picture comes from:” your name. “.
Japan is very “grabbing” recently.
Because of the humanitarian aid provided to our country again and again during this epidemic, Japan’s favorability in the hearts of the Chinese can be said to have reached the “highest in history.” In particular, the poetry slogans that various cities in Japan gave to Hubei and their respective friendly cities have made many netizens lament their generosity of cultural heritage and made some official media feel the sorrow of jealousy.
Most netizens praised Japan’s gift of praise and criticized some official media for demon
Although it is a cultural country, Japan ’s achievements in film culture seem to be unknowingly surpassed by another East Asian neighbor, South Korea.
The unprecedented success of Parasite in Oscars has not only triggered our thinking about the gap between Chinese and Korean films. On the other hand, we will also think about the former Asian film representative and the Japanese film that has won many honors in Oscar. Why can’t it suddenly have a name?
Looking back at Japanese films in recent years, not only did there not be new films that won international awards, the last Oscar-winning film was 2008’s “Into the Division”. There are also few masterpieces with high evaluation of export monuments on the Internet. In recent years, only your name will be remembered by most viewers. And The Thief Family.
Does this mean that Japanese movies are not working?
Admittedly, it is the peak Japanese movie
Every time we mention a Japanese movie, we naturally think of many “symbols” they created, such as sword halberds, monsters, and special heroes. ItThey not only represent the Japanese film culture, but also have been conveyed to the world. Today, they are often applied and paid tribute to various movies.
“Kill Bill” pays tribute to sword and halberds
“King Kong” Tribute Monster Movie
And A large number of classic Japanese films that have an impact on world movies were produced in the 1960s and 1970s. This is also called the “golden age” of Japanese cinema by Japanese filmmakers. This period of time can be described as the peak period of Japanese film industrialization. Each studio has its own unique system and can mature the production of the entire industrial chain.
Japanese studio era shooting scene
The “maturity” of film industrialization determines the ceiling of a country’s films. Just like the success of This Parasite, it is not only the success of this film, but also not the success of Feng Junhao as a director. More points of view believe that it represents a success of the Korean film industry.
Classic works can only be born under a good industrial system. Parasite is an example. Japan ’s previous sword and special films are also good examples. Kato Tai, Mikasa Kenji, Well-known directors such as Shijo Akiyo also worked under the Japanese industrial system. Even if Japanese films had not won too many awards internationally at that time, but the cultural impact of those Japanese films was visible to the naked eye, which was obviously a success.
Godzilla combines the characteristics of science fiction and disaster films, becoming a monster film unique to Japan
However, this Golden Age “burst in the 1980s due to a nationwide economic depression. For a time, a large number of movie studios were shut down, and it was difficult to create glory when they resumed work. The film is still a special film, without the previous “vigorous”.
For example, sword halberds, many Japanese film critics believe that this type of film ended in Mikasa Kenji (representative work “Tape Wolf”, “Zato City” 》) , it is difficult for him to make new breakthroughs in sword and halberd films. After his death in 1975, Mizuma Kenji hit the then peak DAIying Film Company. Coupled with the impact of the subsequent economic depression, the company’s studio’s mature industrial system was dissipated at once, the brain drain was serious, and it was very difficult to regroup. And the people who left Daying Film Company did not create new glory, which eventually led to the decline of the sword and halberds, and now people can only go to Hollywood to find the shadow of the sword and halberds.
Stills from “Western World 2”, actors like Sanada Hiroyuki, have now gone to Hollywood to develop
Another reason for the decline of the sword and halberd is the change of actors.
In the golden age, the protagonist of the sword and halberd must be “fat” actors like Katsu Shintaro and Wakayama Toburo. Japanese director Mori Oshii once said that only people with thick waist muscles like Wakayama Toburo can fit perfectly with Japanese swords, and only those people like them have the skills to cut over five or six people at a time when pulling a knife.
Wakayama Tosaburo in “Tape Wolf”, the former protagonist looks like this
But in the 1990s, the Japanese entertainment market began to be occupied by idols, and the audience ’s aesthetics of actors also changed. This also made the traditional sword and halter actors no longer have a market, and they were replaced by gentle handsome men who were as gentle as the breeze. .
The protagonists of current Japanese movies look like this
It is true that the Japanese film industry has also made efforts to protect sword and halberd films. For example, it has made new versions of the female headline movies such as “Sura Xueji” and “Girl Killer Amo”, but unfortunately it can not make people satisfaction. Because of their body shape, women have always been unable to form a “harmony” with Japanese swords. That is, in this era of change, sword and halberd films have gradually become the unpopular movies in Japan.
“Girl Killer A Mo” starring Ueto Aya
If the decline of the sword and halberd film has caused a serious damage to Japanese film culture, then the disappearance of the special film is the most sufficient straw for Japanese film culture to fall to the bottom.
In the 20th century, feature films were not only the darlings of movie screens, but also guests of television screens. It can produce a large number of excellent special films, and also benefit from the prosperity of the studio. Because the creators only need to shoot in the studio, no matter what the finished product is, the studio always has a way to let it be shown in the theater or broadcast on television.
But the studio is not the same without falling behind. Many filmmakers in the system seem to be thrown into the desert for a moment. Before that, they only had to think about creation, but since then they have to count the market. Although Japan ’s famous ATG system (Art Theatre Guild) has helped many talented directors continue to die, such as Shigeaki Akio (Masterpiece” Ultraman “series,” Strange Battle “) . But their creation in the ATG period and the studio period are completelydifferent. Many veteran fans believe that the works of Shigeki Akiyo’s ATG period are no better than the previously published “Seven Ultraman”.
“Seven Ultraman” because of the plot connotation and fashionable style, It is also a lot of The best series in the heart of Terman
Later, with the rise of CG technology, no one will do special feature films anymore, because the production cost of CG is much lower than that of ad hoc. After the economic depression, the Japanese film industry had no money and could A certain province of the province. To this day, the special film has almost disappeared, and has been changed to CG production. We can only occasionally see a “New Godzilla” produced in Japan, but that is also the “spirit” of director Hideo Takino. The film itself does not make money.
One of the critics in Japan is that Japanese people can only get ahead by making things with their own characteristics. It is always difficult to achieve genre movies that others are doing. This is a kind of humility that is in line with Japanese culture, but it seems to be true. After the decline of sword and halberd films and special films, Japanese movies also began to produce a large number of feature films with the mainstream, but it is difficult for us to see “cultural characteristics” in them. Even the “Thief Family”, which had been popular for a while last year, actually contained a large number of Hollywood-style industrial models, and there was no way to see the core of the Japanese film industry.
So we can say that Japanese movies stop at sword and halberds, and stop at feature films.
The “Thief Family” is excellent, but its industrial process is not the traditional Japanese film industry, but more Hollywood
Animated movies are not good too
In August 2014, Ghibli Studios, a well-known Japanese animation film company, announced the dissolution of its production department. As soon as the news came out, many fans were extremely sad. But in fact, this incident has a greater impact on the entire Japanese animation film industry.
We still have to go back to that acquaintance-Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s strength is not only that he has created one after another, but more importantly, his animated movie box office is really too high. Looking back at his work, only one “Sky City” is considered a capital preservation, but every other work is a big profit. The advantage is that it promotes the entire Japanese animation film industry.
Art & Business
Before Hayao Miyazaki, the production cost of Japanese animated films has been maintained at one or two hundred million yen. , But after Miyazaki, the entire investment industry has doubled their confidence in animated films, and the production cost of Japanese animated films can reach 780 million yen.
Statistics of box office winners in Japan from 1990 to 2019, source: Wikipedia
It is precisely because of the large amount of funds that the entire Japanese animation industry can not only create Ghibli, but also can create “Akira”, “Ghost in the Shell”, “Millennial Actress”, “Summer” Great Battle “and many other animated movies.
Stills from Ghost in the Shell, many of the settings were borrowed from the later “The Matrix”
We can say that Miyazaki gave confidence to Japanese animated films, and Miyazaki also promoted the development of Japanese animated films. Because of this, the dissolution of Ghibli’s production department was so bad.
The high reputation Japanese animation movies we mentioned above are actually not making much money. The box office results are really average, most of them are only the results of capital preservation, and some even lose money. So for those who have made money for the Japanese animation film industry for so many years, it can be said that only Miyazaki is. In other words, the only person who has given investors confidence for so many years is Hayao Miyazaki.
So when his department announced its dissolution, it meant that the Japanese animation and film industry could no longer give investors confidence,The animation film industry has to return to a state of costing only one or two hundred million yen. In fact, the subsequent development is indeed the same. In recent years, most of the animated films in Japan have been made into a movie version to make money and popularity after the TV animation became popular. And even for a single independent animated movie project, looking at a lot of pictures is not even as good as some of the animation in the 90s, it is also a sudden cost reduction.
Like the first popular animated film “Devil’s Blade” in 2019, after the end of the first season, immediately announced the next movie in the final screen, which seems very earning. Although very helpless, this is the helpless situation of the Japanese animation industry.
There are two reasons why Japanese animated films have not fallen like the sword and special films: one is because of the strong background in the field of television animation, which benefits animated films; the other is that a new Haicheng has emerged.
After Ghibli’s production department was disbanded, it was only Xin Haicheng who was able to get a lot of money for animation. And he did live up to expectations, a “your name.” 》 Activated the confidence of the entire Japanese animation, the box office is too high. Although his work as “Miyazaki’s successor” is slightly controversial, from a market and economic perspective, Xin Haicheng can indeed be called Miyazaki’s successor.
“Your name. 》 Behind the success of the company, Dongbao ’s full financial support is also very important.
But unfortunately, last year XinhaiHonest “Children of the Weather” compares “Your Name.” 》 The box office declined sharply (Japanese box office from 25 billion yen to 14 billion yen) . Even if it makes money, this is a “failure” that investors cannot allow. Because Xin Haicheng had to compare it with Hayao Miyazaki, a “monster” that doubled the box office of each new book. So in the future, Xin Haicheng can still do such high-cost animations smoothly, and whether Japanese animated films can be better in the future. We all inevitably have a pessimistic attitude.
Movie issues, after all, economic issues
In fact, from the actual film to the animated film, we can conclude that the Japanese film is now in a dilemma, or that it is declining. In the final analysis, the reason is: no money.
This is a very real issue. Although Japan ’s overall economy has always been among the best in the world, investment in the film industry is obviously not as good as before. As a simple example, Disney in Hollywood has always been known for its emphasis on screenplays. For each movie, a famous screenwriter must be hired to spend $ 1 million to $ 2 million to create a screenplay. However, in Japan, even a veteran screenwriter, his script can only be sold for 20 million yen (about 2 billion US dollars ) Not much has changed. This means that the income of the Japanese film industry has not increased for nearly 20 years. In this environment, let alone maintain your own movie culture, it is not easy to maintain the ability to continue making movies. That’s why Japanese video writer Noda Maya said, “It’s really difficult to make a movie in Japan.”
Japan’s annual box office revenue statistics, source: Japan Film Makers Union official website
So, the plight of Japanese films is actually a plight of their economy, which also proves that film creation cannot be separated from capital. The world often says that Hollywood doesn’t value the box office and only looks at art, but in fact, each of the award-winning movies in Hollywood is a big profit, but the amount of money earned is different in different cost and volume. We can’t say that movies are made for money, but successful movies really need money.
The article is from the public number: film Intelligence Service (ID: dianyingqingbaochu) , author: pills circle