I Got Pulled In by This Japanese Film Called Blue

Blue (2002)

I’ve been watching a lot of Japanese films recently. I went through a Takeshi Kitano phase in my late teens, and I went through a Kinji Fukusaku phase in my mid-20s. I’ve been rewatching them because I wanted to learn more about cinematography. I’ve been buying cameras and I don’t want to waste them.

There’s something about how some Japanese filmmakers create their visuals that compels me.

The other day, I stumbled upon this video essay about Sonatine, which led me to music videos made with Japanese films in particular. That then led me to one of Mombasa by post-metal band Deafheaven featuring the 2002 film Blue, based on a manga of the same name by Kiriko Nananan.

That movie pulled me in. Hard.

The story is about two high school classmates who become good friends, then eventually fall in love. It’s a lesbian high school romance that climaxes with them being conflicted with their feelings only to then make up and kiss by the roadside. It ends somewhat ambiguously, but it’s understood that they went their separate ways after graduation.

The way it’s shot and how the characters are presented suggests alienation and listlessness as both girls try to figure out what to do with their lives once it’s no longer just about going to school and hanging out with each other. The story isn’t really that deep, but the film makes me feel a certain way, and I can’t forget it.

It tells me that film and storytelling doesn’t have to get that deep. It just has to make you feel.

I’ll be playing with my wide angle lens a lot more because of this.

On a tangent, Kitano’s films, especially Sonatine and Hana-bi, are shot in a way that make them resemble video game cutscenes and machinima. The movements of the characters are deliberately made not dynamic, just standing right next to each other as if they’re copying a storyboard to a T.

In a way, this style can be used to direct beginner actors who are not yet that comfortable in front of the camera. However, while I feel encouraged by that, I also think that describing it as such may be an insult to Kitano’s direction. Despite that, that’s what I’m taking from it.

Hey, I really like the style, so it’s not like I’m shitting on it.

It’s also somewhat similar to how Kinji Fukusaku shot The Yakuza Papers. Those films have elements of theater play, especially with the same diorama-like positioning of characters in shots, the reusing of actors throughout the films, the occasional exaggerated body language and facial expressions to denote villainous characters, and so on.

While some of its elements make Fukusaku’s style somewhat an antithesis of Kitano’s, especially in the same genre, I see them as more complementary than contrasting.

Also, Kitano acted in Fukusaku’s final film Battle Royale, so they’ve directly collaborated.

I’m inspired by these films to flex my creative muscle a bit more throughout 2025.

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