The Funeral

Kbudah- Torah Musah

April 21, 2014

Japanese Film

          

The Funeral is a film by Juzo Itami that was produced in 1984. It has an aspect ratio of 1.85: 1. The film begins with the father in-law of the leading actor unexpectedly dying of a heart attack. The remainder of the film moves from one thing to another over the course of a three day funeral, which had been held (as it is normal to do so) within the home of the daughter and son in-law of the deceased. There is a woman by the name of Chizuko who is played by Nobuko Miyamoto (the same actress who played as Tampopo) who is the daughter of the deceased and she has a husband by the name of Wabisuke who is played by Tsutomo Yamazaki (the main male character from Tampopo). Both Chizuko and Wabisuke play the role of actors. Chizuko’s father, Kikue Amamiya unexpectedly dies. Chizuko’s mother, Shokichi Amamiya requested that Chizuko and her husband conduct the funeral at their house. This three day funeral keeps them busy.  Despite the fact that this film is supposed to be very serious and sad, there are many comic reliefs throughout this film. The majority of The Funeral was narrated.  

            The film begins with Wabisuke narrating the events that occurred before the death of Kikue. In the beginning of the film when Wabisuke is narrating, he begins to tell us that Kikue had just come from seeing his doctor and he was in a good mood. Kikue told his wife, Shokichi that the doctors told him that he was fine. Kikue and Shokichi sit down and enjoy the meal that they have prepared. Shortly after this Kikue goes to bed and is awoken by this unbearable pain in his heart. He crawls out of his bed to the balcony. Kikue began to call out for his wife but she told him that she could not hear him and asked him to wait a minute. Shokichi finally comes to assist her husband and she notices the amount of pain that he was in. Kikue told his wife that looking out towards the ocean usually makes him feel better, but this time it did not work. Shokichi asked Kikue if she should call the doctor and he said no, maybe if he laid down the pain would stop. Kikue was eventually rushed off to the hospital, hours later he died.

            Shokichi called Chizuko and Wabisuke to tell them that Chizuko’s father died. Shokichi asked if the funeral could be held at the home of Chizuko and Wabisuke. Wabisuke was uneasy about having the funeral at their house and eventually agreed. This film review will be on the part of the film when Kikue’s body is being moved from the morgue to Chizuko and Wabisuke’s house. The clip that will be discussed is the one that shows Kukue’s body being moved from the morgue to the home of Chizuko and Wabisuke.

 In this clip the older brother of Chizuko, Wabisuke and their children have arrived at the funeral. The grandchildren, children, Kikue’s elder brother and his wife are all sitting in the waiting area of the morgue, each of them are mourning in their own way. Kikue and Shokichi’s youngest daughter is silently crying, the two grandchildren are sitting on the floor not fully aware of what is going on. The husband of the younger sister has his head down and so does his mother in-law. Kikue’s older begins to explain that he is Kikue’s older brother; he says “There were seven of us, all gone now but me”. As he says this his head remains bowed.

In this screenshot, Kikue’s family has entered the room in which he is lying.  Chizuko’s younger sister see’s the body of her deceased father and looks frightened remains in her state of mourning. She held her hands closer to her body and gripped tighter to the tissue that is her hand. Chizuko is behind her younger sister and she looks distraught.

In the clips above, the TV studio guard tells Wabisuke that he will go and pay the hospital bill. As Wabisuke and the TV studio guard walk in unison to put their cigarettes out, Wabisuke asks how much does he think the bill will be, they TV guard responded by saying “I don’t really know”. As they turn back towards the camera Wabisuke say’s “I’ve only some 200,000 yen”. The TV studio guard tells him that he hopes that it is enough and goes into the hospital. While in the hospital the guard from the TV studio begins to laugh at the amount that was being charged for the work that the hospital did. He was laughing because earlier in the film he and Wabisuke were concerned about whether or not Wabisuke had enough money to pay the hospital bill. The laughter  of the TV studio guard confused the woman behind the desk, due to this confusion she began to explain why they were being charged this particular amount. The woman behind the desk told the TV studio manager that the bill covered “It includes washing the corpse and death certificate”. The woman behind the desk did not understand why the TV studio manager was laughing. It just so happens that he was not laughing because he thought that the price was a joke and they were requesting too much. He was laughing because Wabisuke gave him 200,000 yen expecting the bill to be high and in reality it was way cheaper than they had thought. The TV studio manager counted out the amount of cash that he needed to pay and handed it to the woman behind the desk. After he took a look at the bill his laughter continued because he could not believe that the bill was way less than he and Wabisuke assumed it would be.  The woman behind the desk remained confused about the laughter of the guard from the TV studio. Those scenes were a minor example of some of the comic relief that was portrayed throughout the film.

Still tickled from the scene that occurred within the hospital the TV studio guard re-enters the morgue. As he open opens the door he is still laughing not fully taking in the fact that everyone else is in a mourning state. Not understand why he is laughing the family members turn around and look at him with both confused and sad facial expressions, they gave him a facial expression that read “Why are you laughing? This is not a laughing matter”. Once the TV studio guard took note to this, he stopped laughing and looked embarrassed. 

In the screenshots above Kikue’s family is discussing how they would transport the body from the morgue to the home of Wabisuke and Chizuko. Kikue’s family decided that they would put Kikue’s body into the coffin while they are at the morgue, transfer his body to their house and leave him in there. This confused Kikue’s older brother. In the first screenshot Kikue’s elder brother began to pace back and forth in the room due to confusion he asked “Then you take him out and out him to bed at home?”. Kikue’s brother continued to ask questions until he fully understood what was going to happen to his brother’s body. After the conversation was over Kikue’s older brother was still slightly confused but pretended to know exactly what his family members had decided to do. This was another example of comic relief.  

In this scene Kikue’s family is told that they will be moving his body into the coffin. One of the family members touched Kikue’s body and became excited because they were under the impression that Kikue was still alive. The family member announced that their grandfather was still warm. Everyone rushed over to touch his body and became very happy and excited because they thought that Kikue was still alive, they began to tell him to wake up. Kikue’s elder brother touched Kikue’s body and realized that his brother’s body wasn’t warm but the shroud that was covering him was “It’s the shroud that’s warm”.  When everyone was ready, they lifted the body of Kikue and placed him into his coffin. (This must have been extremely hard)

As Kikue’s family leaves, these four nurses came out and tell say “We’re sorry we couldn’t do more”. Each of the nurses looked extremely sympathetic and humble. After the nurses said this to Shikichi they bowed to her out of respect and watched her as she left. When I saw this scene I was confused about the nurse with her arm in the sling. I thought to myself “Was she one of the nurses that tried to revive Kikue, if so what did she do…”

In these screenshots the men are removing Kikue’s body from their car and moving it into the house. As they were doing this Kikue’s wife ran towards they and put her umbrella over the head of the TV studio guard and he coffin. As they were transporting the coffin, the men realized that it was upsidedown and turned around so that the area where Kikue’s head was located was going up the steps first.

In the screenshots above, Kikue’s body has been placed within Chizuko and Wabisuke’s home. Kikue’s older brother is under the impression that his brother’s coffin isn’t facing north like it should be. He asked Wabisuke is the coffin facing north. Being confused with the question that Kikue’s older brother asked him. Wabisuke began to question whether or not the coffin was facing in the right direction. Both Wabisuke and Kikue’s elder brother began to figure out which direction is north. It turned out that the coffin was facing north the whole time. After figuring this out all of the men moved away from the coffin and Kikue’s elder brother remained where he was. While standing in front of the coffin, Kikue’s brother was still trying to make sure that his brother’s coffin was facing north like it should. He once again touched his head out of confusion and continued to debate with himself whether or not top of the coffin where his brothers head was, was facing north. After a while he was satisfied and put himself as ease by deciding that his brother’s head was facing north.

Juzo Itami’s The Funeral was a film filled with everything from comic reliefs to sad scenes to overly dramatic scenes. This film was not as sad as I expected it to be but I am not disappointed. Juzo Itami  provided a film that you can both laugh and cry at.  With comic reliefs such as, the hospital scene and the confusion of Kikue’s brother.  This is a film that everyone can enjoy because it is filled with so many different genres. 

Screen Shot: Sansho the Bailiff

Kbudah- Torah Musah

March 17, 2014

           

In Mizoguchi’s film “Sansho the Bailiff”, Mizoguchi presented us with a film that explains that when something’s are lost they can be found and when you give up remember. There was a little girl named Anju and she had an older Zushio, who were separated from their mother during their travels to a new home. Anju and Zushio were sold to Sansho and their mother Nakagaimi was sold to a brothel. Zushio, Anju and Nakagaimi longed to be reunited. For a second Zushio lost himself and Anju was there to remind him of what his father had told him as a child. Zushio escaped and became a governor who liberated the slaves. During this time Anju committed suicide. Unfortunately when Zushio and Nakagaimi were reunited Anju was no longer around. 

In the film “Sansho the Bailiff” there were various sound, imaging and different forms of narrative techniques used throughout the film by Mizoguchi. Some of the imaging techniques that were used in “Sansho the Bailiff were black-and-white print, deep focus shots, master shots, close-up shots, medium shot, two shot and etc. The sound techniques used when recording this film were direct sound, back stage musicals, asynchronous sound, nonsynchronous sounds and dialogue. The narratives that were used are flashbacks and dissolve.

            In this shot Zushio is walking on the beach trying to find the brothel that his mother was sold to. Zushio is being presented as alone. His sister committed suicide, his father died and he is on a desperate voyage to find his mother because she is the only person he has left. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. This is a master shot because the camera isn’t zoomed in on Zushio, the view of the beach and the plants that are lying around are in clear view of this shot. We are being shown Zushio walking away from the audience.  The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.

            In this shot Zushio has arrived to the island in which the brothel his mother belongs to is located. It is obvious from Zushio’s facial expression that he is looking for someone.  Zushio is starring in a different direction from the camera. This is an eye-level shot because the camera is placed at the height of Zushio. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. Everything that surrounds Zushio is being presented in this shot; therefore this is a master shot and a long shot. There is a woman to the right of Zushio who is kneeling on the ground.

    In this shot Zushio entered the brothel looking for his mother. When he called out for her another woman with the same name answered. The woman invited him in and told him she was ready for him. Zushio was extremely disappointed because this woman was not his mother. You can see the pain in Zushio’s facial expression as he tries to get the woman to let go of his arm as he walks away. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.   This would be considered a medium shot because you cannot see Zushio’s entire body. The three women in the back also belong to this brothel. During this shot their faces are blurry. Zushio and a piece of the woman’s body are in focus. This would be considered to be in deep focus.

           

In this shot Zushio is looking at the woman to see if she really is his mother. He places his hat on the ground and kneels so that he can get a better look at the woman who is sitting down. This woman is Zushio’s mother, Nakagaimi. Nakagaimi is sitting in a slouched position. She has a stick in her hands; she is using the stick to keep the birds away from the crops. We can only see the back and side of her. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.  This would be considered both a two-shot and master shot.  A two-shot because Zushio and Nakagaimi have the same visual weight in this single shot.  A master shot because the scenery of the island along with Zushio and Nakagaimi.

            In this shot we are being shown Zushio as he moves closer to Nakagaimi. We now see Naskagaimi’s face. She looks tired and depressed. In this scene she was singing a song that she created after she was separated from Zushio and Anju. This is a medium shot. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. This shot is in deep focus because we can see Zushio and Nakagaimi along with everything that is surrounding them.

            Zushio has confirmed that this is his mother. Zushio is very emotional and is on verge of breaking.  This would be considered a close-up shot because the camera is close to Zushio’s face. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. In this shot Zushio is presented as vulnerable. He reminds me of child who has been through a traumatizing experience and has come running to his mother for comfort. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.

The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. Nakagaimi does not believe that this is the real Zushio because she was used to people coming along and trying to trick her by posing as Zushio and Anju. She began to push Zushio away in this close-up shot. From Zushio’s facial expression, you can see that he is hurt because Nakagaimi has rejected him and told him that he couldn’t fool her anymore.

            This is a close-up shot. Zushio is both hurt and in shock from the way his mother reacted to him. In this shot his mother has walked away and left him sitting on the ground crying. At this point Zushio is no longer facing the camera, he is looking in the direction that his mother has walked towards. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. This is a deep focus shot.

           
 Zushio is begging his mother to believe that it is actually him and not someone who is trying to trick. He has handed her the bodhisattva that his father gave to him as a child. The light that is shining through the side of Nakagaimi’s home would be considered emulsion. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.

           

            Zushio has handed Nakagaimi the bodhisattva that his father gave to him before they went their separate ways. When he handed the statue to Nakagaimi, she appeared to be in a state if disbelief. She began to walk away from Zushio so she could get a better look at the bodhisattva. In the background you can see Zushio reaching for his mother, as she walks into the light. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.

           

            This is a close-up shot of Nakagaimi examining the bodhisattva. Nakagaimi is using her hands as her eyes because she could not see. This is a close-up shot of Nakagaimi examining the bodhisattva. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print.



Nakagaimi has come to the realization that this man truly is Zushio. She begins to touch his face because she cannot see. Nakagaimi’s mouth is slightly open. Her face shows the amount of disbelief she is feeling because she never thought that she would see her children again.  This is a close-up shot.  

            Nakagaimi has asked Zushio where is Anju and his father. Zushio has to tell his mother that Anju and his father are dead. This is a two shot because Nakagaimi and Zushio are at the same height. Zushio began to cry because it hurt him because his father and his sister were no longer alive. He has to relay this information to his mother.

 Zushio has told Nakagaimi that Anju and his father are dead. Nakagaimi is now moving away from Zushio after hearing this information. This is a deep shot because everything including the actors are being shown and aren’t being presented as if they are fading away. The film stock that is being used in this shot is black-and-white print. This is a master shot because everything surrounding Zushio and Nakagaimi are being shown in this clip.

            These two cliffs with the space between made me think of the distance between Nakagaimi, Zushio, Anju and Masauji.  The empty made me think of the emptiness that each main character may have felt. Nakagaimi as a mother who was not allowed to raise, teach and guide her children. Masauji, who was exiled and separated from his wife and children, Anju and Zushio, who were sold into slavery at a young age and had to grow up without their parents. This is a master shot of the island.