The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (East Asian Popular Culture)

__The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema__ draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for __Shoplifters__, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye.The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From __An Elemental Cinema__, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics.__An Elemental Cinema__ presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxii Introductory Thoughts (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 1-17 Earth/The Documentary Impulse: Mō hitotsu no kyōiku—Ina shōgakkō harugumi no kiroku/ Lessons from a Calf—Record of the Spring Class at Ina Elementary School, 1991 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 19-27 Water: Maborosi no hikari/Maborosi, 1995 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 29-57 Water: Aruite mo aruite mo/Still Walking, 2008 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 59-66 Water: Umi yori mo mada fukaku/After the Storm, 2016 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 67-75 Liminality: Wandafuru raifu/After Life, 1998 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 77-90 Liminality: Daremo shiranai/Nobody Knows, 2004 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 91-114 Fire: Distance, 2001 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 115-127 Fire: Sandome no satsujin/The Third Murder, 2017 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 129-143 Air: Kūki ningyō/Air Doll, 2009 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 145-158 Air: Kiseki/I Wish, 2011 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 159-164 Air: Soshite chichi ni naru/Like Father Like Son, 2013 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 165-172 Air: Umimachi diari/Our Little Sister, 2015 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 173-178 Metal: Hana yori mo nao/Hana, 2006 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 179-192 An Elemental Cinema Re-examined: Manbiki kazoku/Shoplifters, 2018 (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 193-216 Endings (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 217-236 Final Thoughts (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 237-263 Selected Filmography (Linda C. Ehrlich)....Pages 265-269 Back Matter ....Pages 271-298 The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters , Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye.The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema , readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives. The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu. With his recent top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda is arguably Japan’s greatest living director with an international viewership. He approaches difficult subjects (child abandonment, suicide, marginality) with a realistic and compassionate eye. The lyrical tone of the writing of Japanese film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich perfectly complements the understated, yet powerful, tone of the films. From An Elemental Cinema, readers will gain a special understanding of Kore-eda’s films through a novel connection to the natural elements as reflected in Japanese traditional aesthetics. An Elemental Cinema presents Kore-eda’s oeuvre as a connected whole with overarching thematic concerns, despite frequent generic experimentation. It also offers an example of how the poetics of cinema can be practiced in writing, as well as on the screen, and helps readers understand the films of this contemporary director as works of art that relate to their own lives.