Japanese Cinema Eclectics日本映画撰集

A multi-part series devoted to unexplored tangents of the Japanese film curated by Donald Richie
Film: "Hentai Kazoku: Aniki no yomesan" aka Abnormal Family
Written and directed by Masayuki Suo 1984, 62mins.



Language: Introduction by Donald Richie in English
Film in Japanese with English subtitles (film to be followed by a Q&A moderated by Donald Richie)



"Abnormal Family" is the first film of Masayuki Suo who is best known for his Japan Academy Prize-winning film "Shall We Dance?".This is a pinku eiga (blue film), and a film derived from Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story and "playing with the various elements that typify Ozu's style.The film tells a story about a woman and her relationship with the family of her husband's, in particular her husband's younger brother and father-in-law. Her husband, on the other hand, has an affair with a dominatrix and is obsessed in S&M games.

This program consists of a short talk on Ozu's style, and will feature a screening of Masayuki Suo's Ozu pastiche An Abnormal Family.

Donald Richie

Named by TIME magazine, "the dean of Japan's art critics," and acknowledged as the foremost authority on Japanese cinema, Donald Richie has also written widely - some forty books in all - on other aspects of the country and its people. The Inland Sea has been called a classic and its film version has won prizes at international film festivals as well as the National Geographic Earth Award. His Public People, Private People has been called "unforgettable" by Tom Wolfe and of his two collections of essays, A Lateral View and Partial Views, Susan Sontag has said: "Donald Richie writes about Japan with an unrivaled range, acuity, and wit."

Richie has lived in Japan for most of his life. Arriving on New Year's Day, 1947, he worked as feature-writer and film critic for The Pacific Stars and Stripes. After graduating from Columbia University in 1953, he returned to Japan as film citic for The Japan Times. He has written for Newsweek, The Nation, Variety, The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and all major films magazines. In addition he presented the first retrospective of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival and has since acted as guest director of the Telluride Film Festival, and served on the juries at the Hawaii, Lacarno, Thessaloniki, and Kerala Festivals.
In addition to writing a column for The Japan Times, lecturing around the world, and continuing to lend his distinctive voice to Japanese studies, Donald Richie teaches film at Temple Universityfs Japan Campus.
Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies-ICJS
The ICJS is an organization dedicated to fostering study and research on various topics related to contemporary Japan. The Institute hosts lectures, seminars, and symposia that provide a forum for Japanese studies scholars to present their work on issues related to contemporary Japanese social, cultural, and political issues. The ICJS reflects TUJ's commitment to offering research and study programs linking Japan and other countries, fostering greater overseas understanding of Japan, and serving an innovative role in International Education in Japan.

For information, please contact:
Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies Temple University, Japan Campus
tel. 03-5441-9800, ext. 709
e-mail. icjs@tuj.ac.jp

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