(Movie Reviews)Although the issue of ethnic Koreans living in Japan and related discrimination has been a serious human rights issue for a long time now, it has finally been getting some attention on the silver screen recently (for various reasons, perhaps related to the current Korean boom in Japan).
When I first came to Japan six years ago, the Japanese movie "Go", which told the story of an ethnic Korean high school student in Japan, was very popular here. Eion and I had both watched it on separate occasions, and we used to debate it on slow nights at Tropicocos. Eion absolutely loved the movie. I had my mixed feelings.
To me "Go" seemed like a very confused movie. It wanted to take on the serious issues of discrimination, but it also wanted to be the Japanese version of "Train Spotting", complete with a lot of over the top cartoonish violence, black humor, a needlessly complicated plot, and several scenes which were pure fantasy. (Like a lot of Japanese cinema, this was originally based on a popular Japanese comic book, which may explain some of the cartoon-esque feel the movie had). I couldn't imagine an American movie attempting to blend serious social commentary with all these other elements.
Eion thought (and I hope I'm doing justice to his opinion here) that it was precisely these qualities which made the movie so interesting. This movie never intended to be the Japanese version of "Gandhi" or "Malcolm X". Instead, in the style of "Trainspotting", it was attempting to give a surreal view of the world that was half fantasy, and yet contained elements the young people and the dispossessed could identify with
Last year "Pacchigi!" came out, which dealt with the same many of the same issues in "Go". And , as with "Go", I have a lot of the same reservations about the cartoon violence and the mix of genres.
The movie "Pacchigi!" (given the perhaps somewhat pretentious English subtitle of "We Shall overcome Someday!") takes place in Osaka in 1968, and deals with the Romeo and Juliet type romance between a Japanese high school student, and a ethnic Korean girl.
According to Shoko, the Japanese attitudes towards Koreans have mellowed over time (or not), but the 1960s were still a time of more outright discrimination, which is probably why the film is set in 1968. Also during the 60s most Korean residents in Japan identified ideological with North Korea, which helped increase the tensions. (Actually a large number of Korean residents still identify more with North Korea, which was also a theme of the movie "Go").
The rest of the 60s are used as a background to the story. There's a great parody of Japanese "Group Sounds" in the opening sequence. A disastrous Beatles hair-cut follows, before the main characters turn to folk music instead. There is a high school teacher obsessed with the teachings of Mao Zedong, a Japanese hippy, and some student demonstrators. But for the most part all of this is background, and I think the story could easily have been moved to the present day with minimal changes. (Of course given how little changes in human nature over time, that could probably be said about any period story).
The story is pure "Romeo and Juliet", although because of the high school gangs and because of the retro setting, it does tend to evoke memories of "West Side Story" more. Two girls at a North Korean High School are assaulted by Japanese students on a field trip. The Korean boys respond by beating the crap out of the perpetrators and then turning over the school bus.
At this point the tone is set for the over the top fight scenes that continue throughout the rest of the movie. With all the flying round house kicks, kicks to the groin, head butting in this movie, and even beatings with steal poles, it is a miracle that everyone is still able to walk at the end, let alone have all their teeth. But just like in a comic book or a cartoon, a character may get his face beat into a bloody pulp in one scene, and be walking around fine in the next. Nobody even seems to get any scars.
There is one death about halfway through the movie (as there always is in these kind of movies, as a cheap way to heighten the emotional involvement of the viewer) but that was the result of a car accident fleeing the fight.
And in the middle of all this, one of the Japanese high school students falls in love with one of the North Korean high school students.
There are a few touching moments in this movie. At one point a Japanese student is asked to leave the funeral of his Korean friend, and the request is accompanied by an emotional recounting of all the wrongs the Korean population has suffered. Also there is a good scene where the same Japanese student and his folk band try and play a North Korean song on the radio, and have to argue with the Radio manager about it.
But on the whole I thought most of the movie was just too over the top, too violent and too silly to be taken seriously. Oh, and I haven't even gotten around to all the scatological humor in this movie yet. Well, perhaps the less said about that last category the better.
However as with "Go", I seem to have gone out on a limb by myself with my bad review of this movie. I can't find a single bad review of it on the Internet, and most of the (admittedly few) on-line English reviews can't praise this movie enough. The movie even won several awards. And the sequel has just been released to theaters now. So take my opinion with the appropriate grain of salt if you like.
Update: Since this movie isn't widely available in the US, I thought I'd add a couple youtube links to give the general idea for anyone interested. A trailer can be seen here (all in Japanese, sorry)
The Producer talks here about why he made the movie. This has English subtitles.
Link of the Day
Grand Rapids Starbucks Makes Michigan the Fourth State with Starbucks Workers Union Members
Baristas at the Wealthy Street Starbucks store in East Grand Rapids announced their membership in the IWW Starbucks Union. The announcement is the first by Starbucks in Michigan and is the fourth state in which Starbucks baristas have announced their membership with the union(I was minimally involved with campaign this past summer. And by that, I mean I attended the IWW meetings about it, and would periodically promise to try and get hired at Starbucks as an undercover Union organizer, but then not really follow through on it. At any rate, I'm glad they pulled it off).
Pacchigi! We Shall Overcome Someday! Movie Review (Scripted)
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