ArtiFact #31 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Orientalism | Ezekiel Yu, Alex Sheremet

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Although Ryusuke Hamaguchi has been a well-known Japanese film director for some time, it was only with 2021’s Drive My Car that his name entered the West. In ArtiFact #31, Alex Sheremet and Ezekiel Yu dissect Hamaguchi’s two best-known films: 2018’s Asako I & II, a romantic drama with strong anime overtones, and Hamaguchi’s breakthrough film, Drive My Car. Neither Alex nor Zeke are impressed with these films – from the cliched scripts, to poorly sketched characters, to cinematography which adds little to the films’ lacks, to a strange Orientalism (as well as Occidentalism) in the portrayal of women and love, neither Asako I & II nor Drive My Car deserve much staying power.
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B side topics: Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019); objectivity & subjectivity in the arts; the perils of artistic reflexivity, as in the rap world; why even the best critics & writers will have blind spots; Dan Schneider’s artistic blueprint; the coming of art that we might not even recognize as art; objective criticism is often accused of pretentiousness, yet subjective critique can just as easily be accused of narcissism; objective criticism is expansive; why removing most constraints eliminates true freedom; Zeke’s desire to bridge analytical criticism with James Baldwin-esque cultural comment; Alex’s method of writing means a lot gets thrown out; turning one’s back to the future means one will ultimately not be accepted by it
Ezekiel Yu’s review of Asako 1 & 2: https://www.automachination.com/beauty-filth-ryusuke-hamaguchi-asako-i-ii-2018
Ezekiel Yu’s review of Drive My Car: https://www.automachination.com/vacuum-taciturn-ryusuke-hamaguchi-drive-my-car-2021/

Alex Sheremet’s review of Haruki Murakami’s “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage”: https://alexsheremet.com/review-of-haruki-murakamis-colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years-of-pilgrimage/

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Timestamps:

0:18 – introduction; Orientalism in Hamaguchi’s Asako 1 & 2, Drive My Car; the “anime” qualities of Asako 1 & 2; Baku as a JRPG hero; Asako and Baku have no reason to be attracted to one another; why the English title is potentially good, but wasted; the two forms of bad writing in Ryusuke Hagamuchi

21:04 – Ethan Pinch on Orientalism; the John Williams / Stoner connection; both films feature badly written women; women presented in animalistic fashion with no internal life; the awful motorcycle scene in Asako 1 & 2; why the film’s side characters are more interesting; how a good scene goes off the rails; more mechanistic problems with the writing; how the goofy landlord character is the Orientalist “weak Asian male”, a trope familiar to those who follow right-wing journalist Andy Ngo; how anime techniques get misused without a real object; the hypocritical portrayals of Asako; critiquing a bad ending; some of the film’s worst lines

52:07 – Ryusuke Hamagushi’s Drive My Car; how the film begins with an absurd setup which can only let the viewer down; puerile “slice of life” drama; the Orientalist reviews of Drive My Car; contrasting Hamagushi’s films with “Some Prefer Nettles” by Junichiro Tanizaki; an hour in, Hamagushi offers little depth to the characters; the ‘inner’ drama of Uncle Vanya; Occidentalism in Hamaguchi; Alex on Murakami’s fiction; Misaki’s character is just as empty as everyone else’s; on forced characterization; the weird necessity to “redeem” bad characters (if they’re pretty women); the objectification of Oto by all characters; mystery requires substance; the lamprey Orientalism; the film’s notion of an all-forgiving, all-illuminating love

Tags: #Hamaguchi, #JapaneseFilm, #Orientalism