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Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema (Midland Book)

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In 1959 Jean-Luc Godard released his debut feature length film A bout de soufflé, Breathless, and thereby created the film that would open a new type of filmmaking consisting of jump shots and filmed with handheld cameras. However, the true impact of French New Wave cinema was a new type of protagonist one who was "alienated, disaffected, violent, a product of media (especially cinema), this new hero was an accurate harbinger of the youthful rebellions and protests that rocked France and the Western world a little later, in the `60s" (Desser, p.1). During this same year Oshima Nagisa released his debut film Ai to kibo no machi, A Town of Love and Hope which began a new wave of cinema in Japan as well. However, while the French New Wave cinema came under close scrutiny from Western critics and film scholars, Japanese New Wave Cinema as a whole, at least in 1988 when this book was published, had received little attention from both Western and Japanese scholars. Individual directors such as Oshima Nagisa, Imamura Shohei, and Shinoda Masahiro had received some attention, but a study of Japanese New Wave cinema and its relation to the culture and history of 1960s had yet to be made, however, with this book Desser hopes to fill this gap.

The subjects covered in Eros Plus Massacre, the title take from a 1969 Yoshida Yoshishinge film of the same name, concern a number of subjects that are important to Japanese New Wave Cinema: politics, youth, identity and its relationship with sexuality, women, minority groups, and other issues specifically related to film such as cinematic time versus real time. Each chapter generally begins with a summation of the history of the time period and then how filmmakers responded to these given situations. Such as in the first chapter "Night and Fog in Japan: Ideology and Narrativity" in which Desser gives a brief albeit detailed history of the period for example the controversy of the resigning of the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Pact. After the brief history, Desser details a few films that directly address each issue. The film critique is split between issues of social relevance and an analysis of film technique. For those who are unfamiliar with cinematic terminology some of these passages can seem quite dry and because of the unavailability of many of these films in the Western market self critique can prove to be quite difficult. However, the issues of social relevance in 1960s Japan far outweigh the possible dryness of the filmic language used. It is quite valuable to understand what issues were being tossed about when the directors made there films. Also, for literature fans, it can help to give light to the concerns found in the literature of Oe Kenzaburo, Murakami Haruki, etc.

One aspect of the book that the reader will quickly notice is Desser's less than keen opinion of the scholarship performed by other film scholars such as Joan Mellen, Keiko McDonald, and especially Noel Burch. In his introductory chapter, Desser states that his method of film evaluation is not perfect and that there are many other ways that these films can be studied, however, at some points his critique of other scholars almost comes off sounding condescending.

A good book on a subject that has yet to receive enough academic attention, Desser's Eros Plus Massacre does a fine job in introducing and critiquing a number of films that might have sunk into obscurity in the West. With the recent trend of worldwide politics drifting to a far more conservative nature, the Japanese New Wave films along with their French, British, and American counterparts should come under increased study to show how cinema can be used to cast light on the problems of the world and modern society itself.

This is a terrific over-view of the major proponents of the Japanese New Wave. Taking chapter names from film milestones of this important, overlooked movement, EPM is a smart, concise look at a complex area of cinema.