The Longbow Papers

It took far longer than expected to hit the big screens in China, but the film 'Tokyo Trial,' which regular readers of these pages will remember was once ungainly titled 'International Military Tribunal for the Far-East' when I labored mightily on it some 13 months ago, finally opened nation-wide this past weekend to rave critical reviews. In all honesty, folks, I can happily, and as objectively as is possible, say that it is a Must See film--if you live in China, mainland or Taiwan, of course, and also Japan (oddly enough) and much of South East Asia quite soon.

You can read what the critics and news-writers say about the movie in links provided below, but I finally had time to see it Sunday night and will make a few comments here. This post cannot truly serve as a review since I was too intimately involved with its making during two physically exhausting months in June and July of 2005.

Unquestionably it is an important film and, apparently, somewhat unprecedented in Chinese filmmaking--as you will read in the links below. For starters, almost 80% of the film is in English and Japanese, rather than Chinese; there are Chinese subtitles throughout. While its subject is the trial and eventual punishment of Japanese "war criminals," and by historical fact can only be viewed as anti-Japan's "war of aggression," it is not anti-Japan, or more precisely, it is not anti-Japanese people, much to the contrary to my surprise.

We judges had fully translated scripts to what happened in the courtroom; we only had a brief synopsis of the fictional sub-plot, which is much more sensitive and compelling on the screen than it appeared in brief plot points.

It is a powerful film; it is an emotionally wrenching film; it is a mostly accurate reproduction of an important but little known story from the conclusion of the Second World War (with a few minor transgressions, which some Chinese historians and at least one surviving participant points out in one of the articles linked to below.)

I just learned this morning--while auditioning for a small part in a big-budget American film, "The kite Runner," which is filming in China throughout this fall--that 'Tokyo Trial' was number 3 at the box office for the weekend in China, which is exceedingly good for a Chinese film with such a heavy message. However, I am still concerned that it will not turn a healthy enough profit and thereby continue to discourage such risky filmmaking in China.

As stated, I will not actually review the film thoroughly here for reasons of subjectivity, but I will make a couple of observations about how director Gao Qunshu chose to pictorially tell his tale.

Perhaps because this was his first theatrical film after enjoying huge success in Chinese television dramas he went for a couple of stylistic conceits that, while innovative for the market here, without some stellar acting and story telling, could have proven fatally repetitious.

For one, the story is told visually almost exclusively in extreme close-ups. Although they are powerful often enough, after awhile one begins to become aware of it as an effect thereby in truth weakening the message.

For instance, while my role as one of the 11 international judges is important more as an historical set-piece than a narrative character, there are many minutes at a time when this ugly face is full screen yet I speak not a word during those long minutes. Thank god, I had enough acting experience to realize that the tightness of some shots meant that something damn well better be going on in my mind and on my face. As to how well I did that, I will mostly let other folks decide. However, quite strangely, after many years of seeing my face on too many television screens and hating every second of it, I will, immodestly perhaps, say that I did not feel that way about this visual experience.

Why? Frankly, I am more than a little perplexed by this new dynamic in my professional, creative life. Perhaps, as has been said before by far better thinkers and writers than me, I have finally grown into the face that I deserve, or at least can accept. It also certainly has something to do with the very special person with whom I watched the movie, someone who seemingly cares not a whit that I am now old and ugly.

The second powerful stylistic conceit that I think is used too often is that every scene cuts to black before the next appears. It is a very dramatic device no doubt, but I liken it to a writer who falls too deeply in love with the exclamation point. The very dramatic and quite wonderful score of the film musically reinforces each cut to black, therefore adding to the self-consciously repetitive effect of the device.


Having said the above, I must confess that I am exceedingly proud to be a small part of a film that should be seen and discussed by as many folks who can because of its gripping, ripping, soulful historical subject that to this very day still has front-page relevance for all of East Asia. It is also a damn good story and motion picture.

Note: I did not identify the actors and their characters in the photos above for design and space reasons. You can learn more than just who they are and the characters they play in the articles linked to below.

Tokyo Trial Website

Variety.com

People's Daily Online

China Through a Lens China.org

Shanghai Daily

Jiangsu News

Hong Kong Cinemagic

Xinhua Online

Sina.com

China Daily.com

English EastDay.com

CRIEnglish.com

 

4:57 PM / Editor / permalink    2 comments

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2 Comments:

It is an important movie, regardless of the government's push, because it finally showcases the Tokyo Trial...Hollywood and independents have long ignored post-war Japanese and focused instead on Europe...

I wonder if your anonymous critic even saw it before pronouncing that it bore little semblance to reality....

By  Lonnie, at 11:21 PM  

As a non chinese, I will probably see both this movie and the Japaneese version Tokyo Saiban. I will assume that they are both biased, and that the truth may lay somewhere in between them concerning this important event.

By  sr, at 9:25 PM  

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