YEAR 1 SOULS ON A ROAD: A Japanese Landmark in Early Filmmaking
Hailed as "the first landmark film in Japanese history" by film critic Mark Cousins, Souls on the Road is a film to which many students and scholars of modern filmmaking give a hard pass. Some criticize the film as offering a patchy narrative and overly melodramatic character portrayals. It has also been criticized as being "messy" by modern standards, in terms of directing, lighting, camera angles, and in its unconventional, non-linear storytelling. However, all of these criticisms can also be viewed as groundbreaking in these very areas.
Once again, scholars, Context reigns as King! It is imperative to note that at the time this film was made in Japan, live musicians played traditional instruments to one side of the screen, while a narrator or troupe of narrators called "Benshi"
elaboratively explained ("setsumei") the action of the film and its dialogue during the screening. When intertitles arrived in Japan, Benshi would often incorporate these titles into their own scripts, which may also include commentary during the screening never intended by the original filmmakers. This may have added a series of other meaning layers to the work!
While this film may certainly be appreciated by all for its historical significance alone as Japan's oldest feature-length film, and for the ethereal "ball of light" style influenced by early film master DW Griffith, it's merely a fragment now in overall impact as we view it outside of its original geographical and historical-cultural context. Serious students and producers of films must always remember to consider and evaluate early works like this one within their original contexts, as well as their technical boundaries.
The film, directed in 1921 by the very creative and daring Minoru Murata, was actually quite artistically and technically ambitious for its time. It was also long: close to full, feature-length at 91 minutes. Greatly influenced by Japanese Kabuki Theater, it presents a reversal of fortune story that is, at times, quite ruthless in its tragedy.
Read the blog article from A Cinema History and view the film by going to the link here: http://www.acinemahistory.com/2015/05/rojo-no-reikon-1921-souls-on-road.html. Then, comment on three film elements you noticed while viewing the film. How did they impact you, the viewer? How do you think Murata contributed to the world of Film? Finally, comment on aspects of the film's cultural context you saw evidenced in this film.
I look forward to reading your insights and discussions!
While watching the film, I noticed that the plot wasn't linear as stated in the blog. It follows four stories; one of two ex-convicts, Kaichiro and his wife and daughter, Kaichiro’s father and his servants, and Yoko and her servants. I also noticed that there was a nix between Japanese culture and Western culture throughout the film. For example, the audience in the orchestra had a mix between men in suits and bow ties and women in kimonos. I would also like to point out how the lighting style almost resembles German Expressionism in that it makes the characters extremely pale and some of their features (such as their eyes and lips) more prominent. I feel that this almost adds a sense of discomfort and offers a lot of contrast between the characters and the background. I think Murata contributed to the world of film by offering the first Japanese film that was not only breaking boundaries with its length (91 minutes), but bringing in Western influences along with traditional Japanese influences. The cultural context I saw referenced in the film are the traditional Japanese elements and the time period. As stated before there is a mix between Western and Japanese cultures in things such as costuming and even the sets, but even with things such as the Yagibishi dancers. Along with this, the fact that there was a live band playing music to the film adds to the cultural context, making this film even more impressive for its time.
ReplyDeleteThe film "Souls on the Road" would certainly be considered unconventional for the time of the film as well as in the context of modern film from many angles. The story follows four main perspectives: Kaichiro (a man who dreams of being a violinist) and with his wife and daughter, Kiachiro's father and his two servants, and Yoko (a wealthy girl). It was unlikely that a story strays from the linear format of following one main protagonist, but in doing so, the director was able to capture multiple viewpoints of the story, allowing the audience to understand the full scope that the film is trying to portray with the cutting from one perspective to another. There is heavy Japanese influence in the film with the customs of the characters, including the cultural dances of Yagibushi dancers, whom are performing when Yoko and Taro (one of Kiachiro's father's servants) meet. At the same time, there are many Western elements in the film as well from much of the attire the characters are seen wearing to sets that are not unlike those of American and European films at the time. With the story following four smaller stories, more time is required for the film at 91 minutes, again being unconventional for films at the time. The film experiments with camera angles to create emotion with zoom-ins and showing the same scene from different standpoints. So while the style is influenced by the Japanese Kabuki theater, the camera angles differentiate it from a stage production. Murata's film is groundbreaking in more than one aspect such as by the cultural boundaries broken in film with a Japanese film having western influence, by the length of the film, or by the story uses for main groups of stories to create a whole plot and having the stories coming together.
ReplyDeleteThe film fades whenever it is a flashback it it circles on the subject when going to a different setting and just jumps from perspective to perspective. By having different types of editing for each scene and helps the viewer with knowing what is happening even though there is not much sound.
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ReplyDeleteThe film tells a story through multiple people. It seems that the plot is to represent the culture of the land the film is set in. The lighting seems to be a bit gloomy to show some realism. What probably hooked many people in is how realistic the problems the main characters must face. They jump from person to person and shows us their perspective and their own problems in the film. The many angles the cinematographer takes breaks the boundaries of filmmaking as it captures the story more in an artistic way. What hooks many in my opionion is how it tells a complicated story without the use of sound, only music.
DeleteThis film showed reversal of fortune, which is where the person that seems more merciful is mean, and the one who seems mean ends up being merciful and kind. There's a morale towards the treating of others and how would you like to be treated, but with the most melodramatic and tragic consequences. I was really sad when this finished, specially since I didn't understand most of the attitudes that came from one character, that while disappointing it was still rather harsh and ruthless. The film is a wonder and it's a beauty to see this many advances in Japanese cinema this early on.
ReplyDeleteOne film element that a lot of importance to this movie is flashback. This was used to show the audience what life was like for kaichiro up until the point where he and his wife were kicked out of the musical society. the film also juxtaposes the cruelty of kaichiros father with the kindness of yoko and her servants by showing how they treat people in need. On one hand there is kaichiros father who cruelly refuses to give anything to his starving son and family because of the grudge he holds toward his son for leaving him. On the other hand yoko treats 2 ex convicts with kindness and invites them to her Christmas party despite the fact they had just attempted to steal from her. Another thing the film would do is fade people in and out. Sometimes this actually served as a unique way to show the audience what's going on. It can show you kaichiros dream as he imagines it or people quickly coming and going as the master or kaichiros father talks to them and they leave. Other times it was really confusing and long after it would happen I would wonder what the point of that was. This was a cultural landmark for Japan as it was the countries first feature length films. It was also the first Japanese film to integrate aspects of western culture in their movies. People wear a mix of eastern and western clothing and the western holiday of christmas is being celebrated by yoko.
ReplyDeleteThis film was quite perplexing but interesting at the same time, the intertwining plots mixed with the fast, montage-style editing had my head spinning for a bit until I watched it again. The film also intertwined a lot of Japanese culture such as pride and the importance of music, as well as western ideas especially relating to Christmas and lifestyle such as Yôko's. This intermingling of cultures allowed for a contrast from the traditional style of Japanese culture and the more modern style of western culture. This concept of contrast also applies to the intolerant nature of Koichiro's father and the tolerant nature of Yôko and the impacts that they had on the people on the receiving end. The nonlinear narrative structure is definitely confusing at first, but upon watching again becomes clearer, and helps illustrate a more complex storyline as well as telling a more fascinating story. Murata's use of creative storytelling and meticulously planned shots definitely influenced films to be more creative and explore deeper stories as well as tell them in a nuanced and creative way.
ReplyDeleteComing into watching the film I had low expectations, but that is where I went wrong because despite the lower quality and the lack of audio. I can still see the creativity and the imagination that took place to make the film. One of the first things I noticed when watching this film is the music. The music was composed so carefully so that you can get the vibe the scene was trying to portray. And the instrument choice of a violin also made this even better. When the storyline starts taking sad turns violins start slowing down having a more deep tone. I was surprised with all the western culture references introduced in the film like Jesus and Santa because of how it was a Japanese film. But you can see how the western culture was being spread around the world. I also like how memories and dreams were portrayed in this movie, and I think may have inspired how dreams are portrayed in modern day movies as well. And the cuts and transitions were obviously old for their time but probably surprised audiences back then. The impact that the film had one me was very minimal, I believe this is because I am so used to modern movies and cinema that this was too slow and boring for me that I had a hard time dissecting it. I think that sometimes its good to look back and take in where we've come from to see where we could go.
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