Library Reviews
SOU FUJIMOTO – ARCHITECTURAL WORKS 1995-2015
Beginning with small, medical consultation rooms in 1995, Sou Fujimoto’s portfolio now also encompasses grand, exhibition scale works. Evident even from his lesser scale designs is a signature, creative partitioning of space. Walls and even floors and ceilings are seldom the conventional flat boundaries they normally are. His designs also tend towards a love of nature either incorporating actual trees or a blooming, tree-like multi-dimensional structure.
Fujimoto is the Expo Site Design Producer for the 2025 Osaka Universal exposition. Some of his most internationally known works are his 2013 build of the Serpentine Galleries Pavilion in the UK and the L’Arbre Blanc (White Tree) in France. Despite these, it is clear that Fujimoto is also proud of designs that haven’t been actualised. They may not have won the award or contest for which they were intended but these unrealised works now tantalise architecture buffs and are waiting to catch the imagination of the correct client.
Background image photo @sou_fujimoto
KABUKI-ZA – THE FINAL CURTAIN
“Every nook and cranny is redolent of its long history….”
The iconic Kabuki-za theatre in Ginza has served as the premier stage and spiritual home of kabuki performance. It first opened in 1889 and has been rebuilt several times since. The penultimate incarnation was established in 1951 and served until 2010 when it closed for reconstruction. This DVD is produced by Shochiku, the owners of Kabuki-za, and pays tribute to the ancient theatre. Viewers are taken on an intimate tour of the venue, its inner workings and the lives and history of many involved. Large parts of the program are narrated by illustrious actors who share their memories and personal experiences at the theatre. Produced in the shadow of impending closure, it includes events from the farewell year, final performances and closing night ceremony sequences.
Though a documentary, this DVD manages a theatrical flow of its own. The opening is a fairly stately, slightly sombre affair. Mainly composed of interviews and recordings of famous scenes from famous plays. After about 30 minutes, the scene depicted is Ichikawa Danjuro XII in his signature role of Benkei. He must make his exit via the hanamichi while executing a particularly rigorous routine in heavy costume. The magic happens when video switches to slow motion, highlighting every exertion as the actor picks up speed and hurtles towards the exit curtain. Then, from inside, a reverse angle captures Danjuro bursting into the stage room, gasping and exhausted. The camera follows Danjuro as he half-staggers through a catacomb of tunnels and staircases on his way to his dressing room. On the way he passes fellow actors and co workers all of whom exhort words of congratulations. Danjuro is battling leukemia, but despite this, is adamant in fulfilling a schedule that will see a typical actor on stage for 25 performances each month. It is poignant to note that Danjuro would later succumb to the illness seen afflicting him here.
As the Kabuki-za is steeped with history so is the DVD unabashedly overflowing with nostalgic imagery. Aged wooden benches are seen in dim light through the cloudy glass of old window panes. The camera lingers on ladders and staircase rails before panning slowly over walls of peeling paint to an old sink cluttered with appliances and conveniences. Beneath the revolving stage is a mass of gears and iron work, adjoining are an underworld of passageways referred to as “Hades”. All the various people who work in and call the theatre home provide the human element of the program. Door keeper, stage manager, costume tailors, wigmakers, the dramaturge… not just the actors, but all of the players are afforded a share of the spotlight. The anecdotes of childhoods spent playing in the stage works and memories of naming ceremonies fill this commemorative production with a life of its own.
http://jpf.softlinkhosting.com.au/liberty/OpacLogin?corporation=JapanFoundationSydney
Series= Kabuki meisakusen (歌舞伎名作撰)
(Previously reviewed 2016. Edited.)
THE EIGHTH DAY
Struggling with her deteriorating life, a woman discovers her chance at a better future lies in remembering her childhood and the mother who kidnapped her.
In a moment that will have far reaching consequences, an emotionally injured Kiwako absconds with the baby of her married lover. Without the benefits of premeditation, Kiwako is wholly ill equipped for both life on the run and for being a firsttime mother. Her efforts to stay ahead of authorities takes her on a desperate and at times surreal journey in which she finds temporary refuge in bizarre places and meets a procession of colourful, offkilter characters.
Midway through the book, the author takes the unusual step of changing narrative. This proves a pertinent measure as the second half of the story takes place some 20 years after the opening events. The main character is no longer Kiwako but her former baby, now an adult. To her own chagrin, Kaoru’s life begins to mirror Kiwako’s. With some unexpected help from the past, she begins to reconcile her future and her convoluted upbringing.
Readers may want to avoid the synopsis found on the inlay of the wraparound jacket cover. The precursors to Kiwako’s actions are initially unclear, presumably by design of the author. Indeed, the story opens directly in the midst of Kiwako’s impulsive act. Among other things, the jacket blurb is too accurate in condensing into a paragraph what is properly revealed in a gradual process and dilutes the book’s inherent element of discovery.
The English title of the novel refers to the lifecycle of the cicada. Specifically, the disproportionately long first years of its life spent underground before finally emerging to spend the final week of its life above ground. It is recurring motif throughout the story and resonates with the exploration of fairness, opportunities to love and peace to be found in spite of adversity.
The film adaptation of this story “Rebirth” screened at the 15th Japanese Film Festival.
(Previously reviewed 2010. Edited.)