I think that few people has thought about the importance of rhythm in film art.
Western tradition of drama, starting from the time of Aristotle, has been developed mainly around such concepts as "story", "character" , "catalysis" and so on.
The structure of drama in this tradition was based on the development of "story", which is played by actors, imitating fictional, historical or legendary people. They are called "characters"and have their own personalities and backgrounds.
In the "story"in Western drama the climax must be led by the conflict (even if not so clear and distinctive) between them or the growing contradiction of the main character's situation among other characters.
On the other hand, in Japanese most ancient form of drama, theater NO, "story"and "character" are not exclusive constructing elements. As Zeami wrote, "Story"in theater NO must be divided into 3 parts according to the principle "Jo-Ha-Kyu". This principle is utterly different from famous division of Aristotle; "Beginning, Middle and End".
The parts "Jo","Ha" and "Kyu" must have, according to Zeami, predetermined duration( in the play and its performance ) and each of them must have different tempo.
By Zeami's formula it is called "Jo-Ha-Kyu Go-Dan"(dan means "step").
It is a rhythmic principle, combined with rather fixed contents for each parts of the drama.
The structure of the drama looks very simple from Western view to the theater, but very complex from musicological or semantic point of view.
From semantic point of view, theater NO is a realization of true "informational polyphony"(the word used by R.Barthes for theater in general). From musicological point of view, it has a very complex set of canons for rhythmic structure and by them it embodies, in my opinion, "poly-rhythmic"structure.
Theses two aspects of theater NO will obtain much more complexity in the case of "Fukushiki Mugen No"(doubled dream play for theater NO). The genre most eloquently represents the aesthetic completion of this unique stage art.In addition, in this genre will be very interesting from narratological point of view.
Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" was made on Zeami's tought "Jo-Ha-Kyu Go-Dan" and its story is similar to those of "Fukushiki Mugen No". Almost all of the fascinating effects of this film's dramaturgy came from that principle.
Kurosawa's next masterpiece "Ran" also owes a lot to dramaturgy of theater NO.
In each case, contrast and change of tempo, rhythmic structure is combined with growing instability of giegesis and gradual erasing of subjective-objective border in the way that Kurosawa interpreted the aesthetics of theater NO.
If turning our eyes to other classics of Japanese cinema, we will find "poly rhythmic"parts in some films of Kenji Mizoguch, too.
About this theme I have written 2 academic works in Japanese, 2 in Russian, 1 critical work for special edition for the journal Kinema junpo. They have not lost their value, but
I've never tried to translate them into English, as I have little time so far and I'm so "bad English" writer.
Western tradition of drama, starting from the time of Aristotle, has been developed mainly around such concepts as "story", "character" , "catalysis" and so on.
The structure of drama in this tradition was based on the development of "story", which is played by actors, imitating fictional, historical or legendary people. They are called "characters"and have their own personalities and backgrounds.
In the "story"in Western drama the climax must be led by the conflict (even if not so clear and distinctive) between them or the growing contradiction of the main character's situation among other characters.
On the other hand, in Japanese most ancient form of drama, theater NO, "story"and "character" are not exclusive constructing elements. As Zeami wrote, "Story"in theater NO must be divided into 3 parts according to the principle "Jo-Ha-Kyu". This principle is utterly different from famous division of Aristotle; "Beginning, Middle and End".
The parts "Jo","Ha" and "Kyu" must have, according to Zeami, predetermined duration( in the play and its performance ) and each of them must have different tempo.
By Zeami's formula it is called "Jo-Ha-Kyu Go-Dan"(dan means "step").
It is a rhythmic principle, combined with rather fixed contents for each parts of the drama.
The structure of the drama looks very simple from Western view to the theater, but very complex from musicological or semantic point of view.
From semantic point of view, theater NO is a realization of true "informational polyphony"(the word used by R.Barthes for theater in general). From musicological point of view, it has a very complex set of canons for rhythmic structure and by them it embodies, in my opinion, "poly-rhythmic"structure.
Theses two aspects of theater NO will obtain much more complexity in the case of "Fukushiki Mugen No"(doubled dream play for theater NO). The genre most eloquently represents the aesthetic completion of this unique stage art.In addition, in this genre will be very interesting from narratological point of view.
Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" was made on Zeami's tought "Jo-Ha-Kyu Go-Dan" and its story is similar to those of "Fukushiki Mugen No". Almost all of the fascinating effects of this film's dramaturgy came from that principle.
Kurosawa's next masterpiece "Ran" also owes a lot to dramaturgy of theater NO.
In each case, contrast and change of tempo, rhythmic structure is combined with growing instability of giegesis and gradual erasing of subjective-objective border in the way that Kurosawa interpreted the aesthetics of theater NO.
If turning our eyes to other classics of Japanese cinema, we will find "poly rhythmic"parts in some films of Kenji Mizoguch, too.
About this theme I have written 2 academic works in Japanese, 2 in Russian, 1 critical work for special edition for the journal Kinema junpo. They have not lost their value, but
I've never tried to translate them into English, as I have little time so far and I'm so "bad English" writer.
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