The new era may come soon

 Looking back the human history, 20th century seems to have been the unprecedented era of mass consumerism. In other words, it was the era of global devaluation of noble spiritual values.
 Also, it was undeniably the unprecedented era of mass destruction of Life on Earth, the era of insane producing, using and accumulating of toxic gas, nuclear weapons, chemical and radioactive wastes, causing mutation and extinction of numberless species.

 These two tendencies made human being more and more close to "civilized barbarians" during the last century. Moreover, from the end of the last century, the economic-growth engine of modern society finally stopped its function. Currencies began to circulate in far more large numbers than they should be in normal demand and supply relations.The system was characterized by loans, credit cards, "derivertives"and recently it almost ended up with global economic crisis and disappearance of  Middle Class as the main cluster of demography.

 The resolution of this situation must not be easy. Human being can't go forward without giving up many, many things, mainly in developed countries (including some comfort in everyday life, unnecessary luxuries, goods for entertainment ). But, there are two fields which can be demolished without suffering almost all the people.

Military industry and current financial system (including rending money with "interest").

Some historians and archaeologists insist that War as a constant element of human life appeared only recently, after the beginning of agriculture. And even after that in middle ages Byzantine Empire tended to avoid war in contrast to Western feudal kingdoms of its time.
As to current bank system, it is 400 years old at most. Capitalism, as it is considered in economics , probably, is the same age. Before that time human being lived more naturally, sometimes with developed civilizations and cultures

Military industry and current financial system are not even inevitable elements of  Capitalism. So they can be more easily demolished than Capitalism itself. If only enough number of people would really want so. 

Changing worldview and the twilight of Sci-Fi

 Russian famous historian Andrei Fursov points out (in some of his lecture and television talks ) an interesting tendency in the contemporary popular culture.
 In his youth, he says, Science Fiction was a very popular genre. But after 1980s, instead of  Sci-Fi fantasy has become more and more popular (he also draws examples of recent Hollywood films based on the fantasy novels that must have been waiting for their time for decades).

 Though being much younger than Fursov, I also belong  to the generation when Sci-Fi was a popular genre in fiction and cinema. In my childhood the genre easily draw my attention with its inherent belief in rational thinking of human being and in the unlimited achievement of natural sciences in the future.
 Even then, the future on Earth and in Space was depicted not always "futuristic", as in "Soylent Green", "The planet of apes"and "Rollerball". But in those films the technologies were supposed to be far more developed than today.The reality is that today, almost none of those technologies (space travel to another solar system, totally artificial-looking food made from unknown materials, A.I. with the ability to do real conversation with individual human  etc.) has not been realized yet. These future technologies will, if being realized, serve to the intellectual development and widening the cognitive overlook of human being as species.

 Instead,technological developments for these 20-30 years have achieved to the contrary purpose: ENTERTAINMENT and BUSINESS. To make human being more dull, more active consumers of goods, having lesser interest in history, philosophy, and works of arts.

 Recently I walk around in a rental DVD shop to see which genres of movies are now popular (the numbers of stock DVDs and percentage of empty cases among them approximately show the popularity of each genre). For my surprise, "Harry Potter"series are far more popular than any kind of Sci-Fi series( not to mention classic Sci- Fi films of 1980s and before).

 What kind of intellectual labor is needed to see such fantastic tales, totally alien to the social reality of any historical period?  And what kind of anxiety or philosophical thought will they stimulate in the viewer?
 Nothing. Such films are not so different from amusement parks, the only difference is the existence of strong mythological, or irrational elements. In these films only the mythological, irrational elements have their roots in human history.

 I don't insist that fantasy is a "bad"genre, that they are secret propaganda of irrationality. But if remember such films of 70s and 80s as "Solaris", "Andromeda" , "West World", and "Blade Runner" and the "zeitgeist"of the time of their release,  the prevalence  of fantasy on screen today seems something unhealthy. Do people really want only such fairy tales with "initiation"of kids?

 Strangely enough, recently made Japanese anime film "Mardock Scrumble" based on the Sci Fi novel of the same title, also has strong irrational elements and "initiation"-like development of the plot. In mid 90s, we saw  also "Evangelion"and "Serial experiments Lain". In all these anime films and TV series, dominant tone is made from irrational, uncontrollable things in human (basic instinct, unconsciousness,  dream and fear of death, passions). They are total contrast to the Japanese classical Sci-Fi anime series made from late 70s to early 80s with clear human drama and hi-tech machines as tools.

  Fictional technology has become to be depicted  as some kind of "magic" on the one hand, the human physical body --as a hi-tech machine with inner "ghost" at its best ("Ghost in the shell" and "Innocence"),  mutated or mutilated flesh at its worst--on the other ("Evangelion"and "Mardock Scrumble") .
Technology as "black magic" wipes out the border between the reality and nightmare, as it happens in Cronenberg's "Videodrome" and in later works of Ph.K.Dick.

As we know, Dick hadn't (and Cronengerg in "Videodrome" neither, I think) been indulged in the depiction of such "black magic" technologies. He rather feared it.

Something has changed, really.

Now on Amazon Instant Video...

 This online Video(Amazon Instant Video) contains my 2 short films.

 Both films were mainly shot in 2002, but some parts of them were shot/made in 2003( "Ritual of White Night") or even more later ("Lithuania: the twilight of the Gods").

 There are some interviews in them, which may seem to be "ideological" or "nationalistic". But if one watch them more carefully, it will be clear that I didn't have any ideological position when making them.

  

These documentaries are about "art " & "culture". Only those who can't discern them from "entertainment"and the products of "cultural industry" may think  that they are based on some kind of ideology.  I don't recommend them to the people who are eager to think and behave according to "global standards",  because the concepts of such "standards"doesn't match any kind of cultural and artistic activity of human being. 

Rhythm of theater NO and Japanese cinema

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.

Paradox of Cultural policy

After the mid 2000s, something strange is happening in cultural policy in Japan.
Starting from late 1990s, Japanese government has kept supporting audio visual cultural industry with a hope of exporting "Cool Japan"cultural products. At first they gathered scholars, famous Manga-artists and some other people to make a general concept of "Media Geijutsu"(Media arts). This concept was the starting point with which, in their opinion, Japanese popular culture(with its related industries) could grow into the global-scale  source of income of the country.
It's natural that they thought the concept doesn't need any historical and academic accuracy in its definition. The concept included; Video-art, computer games, ANIME, MANGA, installation, and among  the others, cinema(practically ignored now)

To some extent their initial intention  was realized. But only in the limited fields.
The reality of cultural industry is not defined by abstract concepts, "promotion" and  "marketing" by advertising companies and donations by the government.
One graduate school intended to bring up "producers" has recently gone bankrupt and ended its very short life because of the absence of the demand(its foundation was approved by the government in the mid 2000s).  Specialists of "marketing", "financial engineering" , "accounting",  producers of TV and films could do nothing to improve the financial situation of the school. Now it's clear that it was dead-born child from the start.
Why did it happen?
First, any movement of culture and art can't be controlled, be predicted by mere  economic theory or collected works of interdisciplinary researches. In addition, the starting point, the concept  "Media arts" had not gone through the check of experienced historian and theorist of cinema, popular culture and others academic fields. The dominance of economics has misled the cultural policy of Japan for these 10-15 years.  
As financial "derivatives" that caused world economic crisis in these years, economic-centered cultural policy and its "derivatives", like the concept of "Media  arts" will lead the human races to the soulless dead-end.

Economic globalization and deformation of languages

Recently I received an E-mail from one reader of my book in English(translation).
The person accused me for translating my own book from Japanese into English because I have made mistakes in grammar and diction of English. And the person advised me not to translate any other books by
myself, saying that I need an editor who knows English(Who? Is there any volunteer?).

But  I rather wonder why other readers have never complained with my bad English if it is really so bad.

The book criticized  is "Tarkovsky and His Time"(revised Edition, paperback) .
There had been many books on Andrei Tarkovsky in English. But I think there is no other book concentrating on his own life, trying to be as objective as possible, with the natural sense of respect to him as a physical human having noble ideal.
In addition,  the information I have explored from the Russian books and Russian websites must have certain value for English native speakers who can't read Russian and have never been in Russia.

Every national culture is bound to its language and the land where it was born and brought up.
More than 20 years ago I bought a book written in English but published in Moscow. Its translators were, apparently, Russians. The book is titled "About Tarkovsky". And it was sold in Tokyo, namely they exported the book for foreigners.
I think, there must be mistakes of  English in that book, but its value for young researches and fans of great master's works is not there.The "information" contained in that book( originally written by those who knew Tarkovsky in his lifetime, of course, in Russian) is undeniably true.  

I would rather say that today's horrible situation of economic globalization and apparent decline of culture-art value system formed from 18th to 19th centuries, are inevitable outcome of Western modern civilization. Namely it is self-destructing in its cultural aspect.
And the  deformation of the dominating language actively used  there in business and  popular culture, academies and politics, is also inevitable.
Who has enough time to care about the elegance of the words in translation if one or two countries are dominating in the large part of cultural industry of his or her homeland? Publication of  a decent book in Japan, especially a book on so-called arthouse cinema, now brings the publisher only Deficit.

Our situation will become better if Hollywood and MacDonalds stop exporting their "culture" to the countries whose languages and cultures the leading global companies know only superficially.

In short, we don't want to see another Mr.Beans, another "G.I Joes" and destructing "derivatives"(totally worthless papers which our mega-bank and leading insurance companies had bought from USA ).  Main effort of our generation for these 2 decades has been made for struggling against consumerism of the masses who smack their lips over degradaded popular culture made in USA.
   

"Lithuania.The Twilight of the Gods"(subtitled) was release from CreateSpace

Now available on CreateSpace stroe https://www.createspace.com/360246
This disk contains also another short documentary about Moon Far Away, "Ritual of White Night".
This DVD will be soon released on Amazon.usa and Amazon Video on demand, too.