There’s no denying the fact that, when we look to the future, we look east. The far east, that is. Cliched as it might be, the countries of the far east are taking over as the big dealers of the international race for power and their level of sheer innovation and invention is shaping the face of the world around us. The far east has long been ahead of the rest of the world and yet, it is perhaps only recently that we have started to take it truly seriously. Whilst before, we may have viewed its inventions as mere gimmicks, now, we are beginning to understand the understated beauty of their creations, their way of life and their vision of the future. Most recently, Spike Jonze’s Her depicted a future city not as something overbearing and isolating but rather, a soft and hazy place which was subtly geared towards something ever so slightly more slick. The film represented a quasi-future Los Angeles but was in fact filmed in Shanghai.
The cities of the far east look like the places we would like to be inhabiting in 30 or 40 years time. They are geared towards their inhabitants and the technological changes which have come to mark their lives. Yet, we remain mystified somewhat by the way over life over there. Whilst we can suppose and guess until the cows come home about the cities of the far east, it would perhaps be best to look to the master themselves. Some of most poignant and affecting moments in cinema have come directly from the lap of the east. And indeed, some of the most thrilling and tense plot lines have been formed there. The countries and directors of the far east continue to thrill and surprise us precisely because their vision of the world is so singular, so unlike anything that we have ever considered. Through their work, they continue to teach us something of a different way of life.
Tokyo Story
The master film from the master of Japanese cinema himself, Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story is perhaps one of the most famous films about the Japanese capital. Made in 1953, the film painstakingly depicts the lives of two parents who travel from the countryside to the city to meet their self-absorbed children. Of course, city life has claimed their son and daughter, who are perpetually too busy, too distracted or too narcissistic to even notice the presence of their failing parents. Despite the obvious country versus city dichotomy, Ozu’s film never feels inherently in kinship with one place over the other. Ozu’s camera work was singular for its time, presenting characters looking almost directly down the lens of the camera. As a result, it is impossible to judge any of the characters over the other. Ozu’s vision is plain, straightforward and without agenda. A master storyteller in the midst of one of the greatest cinematic runs in all of film.
Godzilla
Of course, there can’t be Japan without green monster and, inevitably, this has to come in the slithering form of Godzilla. The ghosts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki could not be felt quite more prominently in any other film of the time; the destruction left in the wake of the film’s eponymous character only brushes the surface of the grief felt in Japan after the attacks. The film elegantly poses the threat and destructive powers of nuclear weapons without explicitly spelling out its purposes. Everything lies in what is not said and is all the more lasting for it.
In the Mood for Love
Perhaps one of the most famous films by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, In the Mood for Love gently and heartbreakingly tells the story of an unrealised relationship. Posing questions of fidelity, time, memory and the human condition, the film’s message runs deeper than many other films which I have seen. In Wong Kar Wai’s inimitable slow motion sequences, all of the imperceptible nuances of a bashful, fledgling relationship are played out, to painfully accurate degree. The director’s ability to represent the tiny triumphs and smallest wounds of everyday humanity is unparalleled across the whole of cinema.
Audition
Of course, we know that Asia is home to some of the best horror films in the whole world. Playing on the countries’ ancient heritage, the horror films from the far east are completely terrifying precisely because they are so alien to us. Audition works so well because, despite the explicit nature of the film, it shows relatively little. A bloody sack here, a tap of the hammer there, the violence in the plot is so deeply disturbing because, for the most part, it is unnervingly absent from the screen.
Seven Samurai
Inspiration for The Magnificent Seven, Seven Samurai is the adventure film which started the whole obsession off. Representing a poor village endlessly attacked by bandits, the film plays out the story of how seven samurai, recruited as a final measure, band together and save the villagers from their certain death. Whilst the narrative arc of the film is relatively simplistic, the way in which the drama is represented on film is utterly captivating. The heart of the film is rooted entirely in ancient Japanese culture (the notion of the samurai) and yet, its presence in the culture of the time makes it remarkably contemporary. In Seven Samurai, the old meets the new and that is a feature overwhelmingly present across the whole of Asian culture and cinema.
Tying together ancient traditions and slick innovation, Asia represents a culture like no other on the planet. And perhaps this is why its cinematic output is so singular. Relationships and emotions do not make up merely part of human life; they serve a greater purpose. In films such as In the Mood for Love, we see the timelessness of human relationships, in Godzilla, the way in which human action becomes marked on the places it affects. Asian cinema continues to be ahead of the game and the only question that remains now is, what next?