[HN Gopher] Japan's silent movie culture is still going
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Japan's silent movie culture is still going
Author : lermontov
Score : 117 points
Date : 2023-09-28 19:02 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (petertasker.asia)
(TXT) w3m dump (petertasker.asia)
| hotnfresh wrote:
| > The surprising thing is not that in the silent era Japanese
| audiences opted to watch films with live human mediation. What is
| strange is that no other countries -- apart from Korea, Taiwan
| and Thailand, all then under Japanese influence -- adopted such
| an excellent and fun idea.
|
| Since these performances are noted as including ad-lib commentary
| and anachronistic (to the film) references, seems like MST3K is
| pretty close, though they comment over talkies.
|
| [edit] I've also been to a couple showings with people who were
| on the production calling out jokes and commentary over it, and
| have been at film festivals where live-riffs or commentary were
| done by some set of podcasters or another. I'm in a trash-tier
| city so these are rare, but I bet they can be found in major US
| cities on a pretty regular basis, if you're not picky about the
| sort of movie you'll be seeing.
| endominus wrote:
| Not to mention the Rocky Horror Picture Show as a singular
| example of an audience taking part in a showing (a friend of
| mine showed it to me and other friends at a party, beginning
| the night by apologizing that he alone would not be able to do
| all of the normal ad-lib that a full theater would perform).
| stock_toaster wrote:
| I wonder if the prior existence of Rakugo made it more
| culturally normative.
| eru wrote:
| Maybe, but the west has similar traditions. Eg a Judy and
| Punch show perhaps?
| condiment wrote:
| Yesterday was "National silent film day" in the US, a holiday
| only celebrated by indie movie theaters. If you haven't been to a
| silent film, they're a worthwhile experience. Many original
| scores are lost, so typically a pianist (and silent film
| enthusiast) will score the film and perform live in the theater
| during the screening.
|
| Most big cities have a 1-2 day annual silent film festival, and
| several small events throughout the year. There are even new
| silent films being produced, mostly as university projects.
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| One thing that's really nice about silent movies/tv is that it's
| truely language agnostic. You'd be surprised just how much of the
| world knows "Mr Bean" for example. It's syndicated just about
| everywhere in the world and crosses language and culture
| barriers.
|
| I'm really surprised silent movies/tv isn't more common. Many
| diverse nations have a need for language agnostic entertainment
| and it's trivial to syndicate such media throughout the world.
| Papua New Guinea for example struggles to accomodate all of it's
| languages.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Papua_New_Guinea .
| Silent media is helpful there to provide a common point of
| connection across the nation (they used Mr Bean as a mascott for
| awareness during covid).
| rokweom wrote:
| Making good 'visual storytelling' films requires some real
| talent, a deep understanding of the strengths of the film as a
| medium, and a lot of resources. In comparison, a 'talking
| heads' movie can be made with a few actors sitting in a single
| room without much regard for cinematography (hell, event a
| single actor sitting in a car may suffice, like in "Locke").
| That's why there has been so few great 'visual storytellers'
| like Keaton and Chaplin.
| eru wrote:
| Many cartoons for kids don't use language much. Eg have a look
| at Tom and Jerry. But the same applies to much modern fare,
| too.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| Weren't 1940s animation shorts aimed at adult cinema goers?
|
| I don't think I can name a single cartoon in the last 30
| years that is aimed at children and mostly follow a silent
| formula.
| [deleted]
| LudwigNagasena wrote:
| Because a language barrier isn't the only barrier and it isn't
| even that important of a barrier for mass media: dubbing is
| cheap.
|
| Yes, people all around the world know Mr Bean, but they know it
| as something British and foreign. Look at how many British
| shows get adapted for the American audience despite almost
| complete absence of a language barrier.
|
| The last point is more controversial and political. But a
| common language for places like Papua New Guinea is probably
| far more important than trying to adapt everything for every
| tiny linguistic community. Even people who speak very common
| languages of advanced economies such as German or French are at
| great disadvantage if they don't know English. It is very
| unlikely that someone is going to translate a graduate textbook
| into Ipili, or share a post how they got into YC in that
| language, or even share a video on YouTube how they fixed their
| pipe at home.
| nuclearnice3 wrote:
| > I'm really surprised silent movies/tv isn't more common.
|
| Interesting comment.
|
| I gave it some thought. One place you can see the dynamics and
| opportunity for a language agnostic entertainment like you
| describe is YouTube or TikTok. There are plenty of videos
| across all kinds of categories that are language free or nearly
| so.
| mrob wrote:
| >no other countries -- apart from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, all
| then under Japanese influence -- adopted such an excellent and
| fun idea.
|
| Some movie theaters in Uganda also have live commentary and
| translation, provided by "video jokers". You can hear such
| commentary by VJ Emmie in the famous Ugandan action movie "Who
| Killed Captain Alex?", which you can watch on the Official
| Wakaliwood Youtube channel:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEoGrbKAyKE
|
| Despite the very low budget, the movie is surprisingly
| entertaining, and the commentary makes it even better.
| tetris11 wrote:
| > Squibs used to simulate gunshot wounds were made from condoms
| filled with red food coloring and tied to fishing lines before
| being taped to the actors' chests; Nabwana previously used cow
| blood, but was forced to discontinue it after one of his actors
| developed brucellosis.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_Captain_Alex
|
| On the more lighter side of things:
|
| > Throughout the film, a panpipes cover of the Seal song "Kiss
| from a Rose", as well as a piano cover of the ABBA song "Mamma
| Mia", can be heard.
| syntaxing wrote:
| Is this the movie with the awesome helicopter scene?
| twic wrote:
| Yes, where the Tiger Mafia steal a police helicopter, and
| blow up a building, with incredible CGI.
| soulofmischief wrote:
| The commentary is the best part. Everybody in Uganda knows
| Kung-Fu!
| gascoigne wrote:
| This was a fascinating read. Do the benshis change the story? Or
| interpret it differently than intended? It sounds so foreign to
| me that I'd love to experience it.
| DrPhish wrote:
| The movie Katsuben or "Talking the Movies" is a very funny and
| overall entertaining dramatized love-letter to Benshi era
| culture https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11147106/
| [deleted]
| anjel wrote:
| For those further interested, Hamilton College has collated a
| digital archive of historical and modern (including VR) benshi
| content
|
| https://benshi.hamiltonlits.org/main/
| theNJR wrote:
| I'm reading Kurosawa's autobiography and, somewhat related to
| this post, I found it interesting that his brother was a
| regionally famous narrator for silent films. When talkies
| exploded on the scene he committed suicide because of it.
| langsoul-com wrote:
| Anyone know good places in Tokyo that show Benshi movies? Sounds
| interesting enough to try.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| I'd actually never heard of benshi.
|
| _The General_ is a silent film that you can show to any modern
| audience, and they 'll love it. I actually did this once in a
| movie Meetup.
| jonah wrote:
| Our local theater - which held the West-coast premier of Gone
| with the Wind - renovated their organ and showed The General
| with live accompaniment as the first event. Was fantastic.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Well, it's not the Stanford, but thanks for making me check
| this!
|
| http://rick.stanford.edu/stanford_theatre.html
|
| they were closed for a LONG time.
| jonah wrote:
| The Arlington Theater:
|
| https://www.arlingtontheatresb.com
|
| https://www.arlingtontheatresb.com/gallery?pgid=kxxp519a-a6
| f...
| hotnfresh wrote:
| Silent comedies hold up exceptionally well. I've enjoyed nearly
| everything of Keaton's and Chaplin's I've watched, which is
| quite a bit. Haven't dug into Lloyd yet, but I'm expecting that
| to go well, too.
|
| Dramas are more hit-or-miss and benefit more from some effort
| at acclimatization, I think--that is, I think the average
| viewer is likely to bounce off even the very-good ones without
| putting some time & work into getting used to the medium.
| e0 wrote:
| Huh! Coincidentally YouTube suggested this older video about
| _benshi_ to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWc__spYakA
| IOT_Apprentice wrote:
| Isn't this an extension of Kabuki culture to film? It would make
| sense in that context.
| xrd wrote:
| The author seems like an interesting personality. He's a (self
| described, but...) finance guru. Great writing.
|
| I'm sad I didn't go see a benshi film when I was in Tokyo a few
| months back.
|
| I wonder if there is a connection to the rakugo tradition? Seems
| like it could be an offshoot.
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