Once again it is November in Leeds, which for those of you who love the moving image means the annual film festival lies on the horizon. This, the 21st year of the renowned festival, plays host to all the usual suspects; international movies, local anime and not-so local short film competitions. This year also boasts new additions such as the nexus and the now obligatory day and night of the dead. As if all of this was not enough for the largest film festival in Britain outside of London, this year the Leeds public is invited to celebrate the works of Japanese documentary maker, Kazuo Hara.Labeled as Japan’s outlaw filmmaker, Kazuo Hara, although not very prolific, has produced some of Japan’s most remarkable and revealing documentaries of the last fifty years.Hara was born in 1945, a year which saw Japan fall to America and consequently live under its rule for his formative childhood years. Whether this has had an influence on his work is a subjective matter, but his films exude a silent attitude of what America constantly states it is about; freedom and equality for all, and in empirical Japan someone making films with this idealism is likely to ruffle more than a few feathers. This is an achievement Hara is aware of but plays down the shock element of his work: “A documentary should explore things people don’t want explored.”As a young man he says that he was greatly touched by the student movements of the late sixties and early seventies, but has always made the effort to point out he was never a part of them. His voyeuristic tendencies saw him engaged to watch so many focused young people not afraid to speak of their opinions in a social climate that had not always had free speech at the forefront of its agenda. As a consequence to his fascination with watching these fervent demonstrators Hara finally stuck a camera between himself and the world around him.Having wanted to bring Japanese documentary work to the festival for a while, the organisers finally got their chance after combining their efforts with Lucia Nagib of Leeds University and flying Hara, his wife and long standing producer, Sachiko Kobayashi over for a two week spell in Leeds. After spending some time at the University, Hara and Kobayashi were free to introduce all their films over the first four days of the festival with a question and answer session in the Carriageworks lower bar bringing the series to a conclusion.
Never having heard of Kazuo Hara before receiving a copy of my free festival guide and reading the brief synopses of the five films I had a natural curiosity to hear what the pair had to say about each film. Unfortunately, Hara is completely without English and Kobayashi spoke a bare minimum. Therefore all the introductions were sieved through a translator and when one of them had spoken for a few minutes on the film it was only to be relayed as a short introduction from the student translator – leaving one with the feeling of being left out of the loop. A lack of suitable translation is something that spreads into the films as well. Particularly in his earlier works, when even the Japanese sound is out of sync with the action, something Hara puts down to not being able to afford a camera with both visual and audio recording capabilities. However, as a counter point to this short-coming, the relentless first person filming, the juxtaposition between subject matter and the world around it and the gradual dissection of characters illustrate the point of the films so succinctly that one needs no sound at all.
The retrospective kicked off on the festivals opening night with Hara’s second film “Extreme Private Eros – Lovesong’ (1974). Screened in the Hyde Park Picture House, a poultry amount of people showed up for what was billed as one of the key attractions of the festival. Lovesong is a documentary following the tri-lateral relationships between Hara, his ex-lover, Myuki and his current lover – producer Sachiko Kobayashi. The primary focus of the film is on Myuki as she endeavors to find a place, both spiritually and physically, in a Japan heavily populated by American soldiers. A film that feels as if it has gone beyond intimacy with its protagonists, the shaky narrative reflects the scattered attitude of its lead, Myuki. Culminating with two fully shot pregnancies. Lovesong is a film that would shock but when put into context of ourselves, it discusses only the very common of topics, that being the world in which we find ourselves.
The following evening I was once again in the Hyde Park Picture House, this time watching Hara’s first film Sayonara CP (1972). Following a group of cerebral palsy sufferers Hara’s film tries to broaden both an understanding of the disease itself but also the social taboo that it has created in Japanese society. With long point-of-view shooting following continuously struggling characters both in speech and in movement one does feel unsettled and in ignorance it perhaps raises the question of whether Hara is being exploitative. Not so, as the film progresses we learn more about each characters take on their life and they choose to cope with their affliction and further express themselves beyond it. The last shot of the film shows poet Yokota Hiroshi on his knees naked in the middle of a road. The prolonged shot included to deliberately force people to confront the reality of a deformed man with a sound mind. Hara’s latest documentary, A Dedicated Life (1994) focuses on the left-wing writer Mitsuharu Inoue. Originally meant to investigate the blurred line between Inoue’s fictional writing and his accounts of his past, this was interrupted when Inoue was diagnosed with cancer. Finished after Inoue’s death the film manages to paint a rounded image of Inoue and his past, with Hara finding people a lot more willing to talk about Inoue once he had past. Hara’s debut directing a feature ‘The Many Faces of Chiko’ (2005) was written by Kobayashi and its narrative explores the life of Chiko. Using five different actresses to play the lead character the film transgresses time boundaries making the experience a little disorientating. With more money to spend Hara indulges himself sparing but illustrate a keen eye for shot selection and composition, incorporated into subtlety saturated tones.
The final documentary of the retrospective saw Hara’s most famous film screened to a near packed Carriageworks auditorium. “The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On’ (1987) follows a disgruntled World War II veteran track down the truth surrounding his friends execution for desertion after the end of the conflict. Following Kenzo Okuzaki into downright bizarre confrontations drags the viewer through a constantly swinging pendulum of sympathy for a small man trying to fight his just cause but so often through a misguided aggression, which culminates in his attempted assassination of a fellow veteran.
Hara’s films are provocative and full of substance. A lot is left for the viewer to question and answer for themselves while Hara and Kobayashi sit back and provide complete coverage of all the relevant arguments. In the future Hara hopes to be working on one of two potential projects; one being another documentary about a disease caused by pollution and the other a feature about a famous murder case.
As for the rest of the festival there was simply too much to catch it all, but the stand out moments would have to be a take on the myth of ‘vagina dentata’ called ‘Teeth’. A truly horrific black comedy and the hilarious Korean animation ‘Aachi & Ssipak’, two heroes living in an age when the government rewarded people with food for providing them with fresh poo. As well as a great host of shorts and alternative cinema the organisers stepped up to the challenge and created a truly diverse array of entertainment.
