Reading a Japanese Film

n recent years, the popularity and availability of Japanese films in the West-including but not limited to those belonging to the animation and horror genres-have resulted in new, more diverse audiences for some of the most critically acclaimed and thoroughly entertaining films ever made. Reading a Japanese Film, written by a pioneer of Japanese film studies in the United States, provides many of these viewers with the necessary tools to construct a deeper understanding of Japanese cinema. In her introduction, Keiko McDonald presents a historical overview for those with little or no knowledge of Japanese cinema and outlines a unified approach to film analysis. Sixteen "readings" of films currently available on DVD with English subtitles put theory into practice as she considers a wide range of work, from familiar classics by Yasujiro Ozu (Floating Weeds), Kenji Mizoguchi (Sisters of Gion), and Akira Kurosawa (Drunken Angel), to the films of a younger generation of directors, including Hirokazu Koreeda’s Maboroshi, Yoshimitsu Morita’s The Family Game, Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return, and Naomi Kawase’s Suzaku. (Amazon.com)