hamid reza g
A complex and layered film by the director of the new wave of Japanese cinema "Nagisa Oshima" at the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, which analyzes cinema and its reflection with an unconventional narrative and with a political background. The black and white of the film has been able to be effective in creating an atmosphere suitable for the content. This movie should be watched carefully and analyzed from different angles. The most obvious theme of the film is definitely the analysis of cinema, and the director wants to dig deep and the nature of cinema and from there examine the cinema and make us think. The film is structurally and thematically different from its predecessors in Japan. It seems that the new wave cinema of the 60s in France and Japanese new wave cinema have subtle similarities and similar effects.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/13/23
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Audience Member
To begin with, Ôshima was a director who decided to "make films that couldn't be understood in 15 minutes" (as he stated) and that participated in the Japanese New Wave movement (<i>N?beru b?gu</i>) among names like Yoshida, Imamura, Suzuki, Hani, Shindo, among others, all of them creators, in my opinion, of revolutionary challenging experimental pieces of filmmaking (Ôshima mentions these directors by name in one scene of the film, including himself). Directly or indirectly, all directors listed treated the topic of our perception to art and the filters of information present between us and film as a media. Perhaps coincidentally, but not the less interestingly, all directors demonstrated true mastery when it came down to aesthetic composition and cinematography. Finally, all characters showed a personal struggle of (most of the times) metaphysical proportions that always led to the discovery of oneself.
The most direct way to treat the aforementioned topic about our perception of the ideas on film was through the concept of metafilm. Ôshima was one of the very few that decided to opt for this approach. He tries to mimic our current state of viewers, placing his characters as viewers of a testament too, being one of the underlying messages: "Any cinematic work of an artist is his own will immortalized in images". With sometimes flawed but always interesting (that's my opinion, anyway) intellectual discussions about how moviemaking fuses real-life persons with the creative self with the purpose of achieving an effect of possible self-projection in the viewer, Ôshima allegorically discusses the effects of filmed ideas in our current reality, being the most extreme of cases what is depicted in probably the best scene of the film: Yasuko, the lover of the man who committed suicide and left his "will" on film, strips and erotically bathes nude in front of the images of the film projector.
I cannot dismiss some negative facts. First, as often the New Wave movement "demanded", Ôshima decided to cast unprofessional actors, and it shows. Acting is quite atrocious, and their commitment seems inferior to the much more ambitious thematic content. The film has no sound, but given the urban settings, that technique did not merge well with the inner intensity of the story. Finally, these characters would not stand a chance against the youth of Godard, and would be completely destroyed verbally by the characters in <i>La Chinoise</i> (1967)!
Still, if this is not your first adventure into the <i>N?beru b?gu</i>, see it. It is intellectually provoking and has relevant commentaries to state.
86/100
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Audience Member
Enigmatic, philosophical mystery.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
I recall seeing this in my Russian/Japanese film class at DePaul and haven't been able to locate it since. Very interesting avant-garde film. I found it odd this is the same director who did IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES--no similarity whatsoever. And this is better, as I recall.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
eric b
Director Nagisa Oshima has a catalog full of thorny, inaccessible works, but "The Man Who Left His Will on Film" (also known as "He Died After the War" and "A Secret Post-Tokyo War Story") may be his trickiest of all. Full of contradictions which go unresolved because they can't be resolved, it operates in a dream-logic realm which David Lynch fans might appreciate. Except this dry, black-and-white world has none of Lynch's lush, cinematic sweetening.
The action opens with shaky, handheld footage of a street scene, shot by a young man within the story. Soon, he mysteriously jumps off a building to his death. A friend has been chasing him to snatch back the borrowed camera, and witnesses the suicide. This second character, Motoki, penetrates the crowd gathered around the body, grabs the precious camera and flees on foot. The police pursue him, catch him and confiscate the item as evidence.
This incident seems straightforward enough but, a scene later, Motoki wakes up amidst his circle of radical film activists. Including the fallen friend Endo, who is now said to have merely sprained his ankle. These reality shifts continue throughout the movie, as Endo is alternately described as dead, faintly injured or simply non-existent. Even individual characters change their minds about his fate.
Meanwhile, Motoki bonds with Endo's girlfriend Yasuko. They share an interest in the lost film reel, which has been returned. Alas, their common ground also includes greasy, acne-riddled complexions which are mercilessly shot in close-up. Given this factor along with their tepid acting, perhaps it's not surprising that neither of them ever appeared in another film.
The two view the recovered footage, and are puzzled that it's so mundane. Little more than static views of random city sights. The two presume there must be a hidden agenda and dig deeper, scientifically toiling to track down the exact locations and recreate the shoots. Because this is an Oshima film, they naturally share some lurid sex too. These scenes include the movie's most memorable image: the nude Yasuko caressing herself as Endo's film is projected on her torso.
Motoki and Yasuko do their best to put together the clues, but find few answers about Endo's motives. What they do find may ruin either or both of them.
Central themes of "The Man Who Left His Will on Film" touch on some typical New Wave issues: the uneasy interface between film and reality, and the erratic rebellion of naive intellectuals who are so focused on theory that they fail to achieve anything practical. Here, the militant film group talks big about pursuing "the struggle," but also realizes that documenting demonstrations is not the same as contributing to them. All the members really manage to do is pass out some handbills.
Perhaps Oshima felt he went as far as he could go with this film -- his directing style was never so radical again. As such, "The Man Who Left His Will on Film" not only arrived at the end of the '60s, but served to cap off a personal era for its director.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Well I got to the theater about 10 minutes late due to my inane senior design group meeting so I picked up at the newsreel footage of student protests . Nevertheless it wasn't too hard to pick up what happened before that. The La Jetee-like, film within a film circular structure was interesting, but the characters behavior, especially that of the woman do not make any sense. The political aspect is kind of clilche so it was nice that film didn't particularly dwell on it. Also the trailer for this is pretty cool.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
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