Transnational Japan in Hollywood
Sun 6 - Sun 27 July
Curated by Yuriko Hamaguchi (Pitch to Park Circus 2024 winner), Transnational Japan in Hollywood is a season exploring representations of Japan as "Other" by revisiting a collection of Hollywood films that depict Japaneseness through external lenses. Japan’s transitional images observed in the selected films not only reveal Hollywood’s construction and reconstruction of Japaneseness through pivotal historical moments, but also serve as a mirror, signalling America’s self-reflection, anxieties, and affirmation of its evolving position in the world.
From the interracial romance between an American man and his "kimono girl" portrayed in Samuel Fuller’s CinemaScope film noir House of Bamboo (1955), to Ridley Scott’s Black Rain (1989) produced at the height of Japan’s bubble economy, the selected films contain representations that require critical reflection, including racial stereotypes, objectification of Asian women, and Orientalism.
This season invites audiences to explore and engage in nuanced conversations about the interactions and reciprocal influences shaping narratives, aesthetics, and cultural codes across national borders. Neither a simple celebration nor critique, Transnational Japan in Hollywood exists in a fluid mode, seeking to challenge and expand the discourse around representations of Japan / Japaneseness and cinema’s transnationality.
This strand is presented in collaboration with Park Circus and Cinema Rediscovered, and curated by Yuriko Hamaguchi (Pitch to Park Circus 2024 winner).
Upcoming screenings in this season
The Yakuza
classified 15 PS Transnational Japan in Hollywood
Set in the aftermath of upheavals like the Vietnam War and Watergate, The Yakuza – which turns 50 in 2025 – reflects the sense of uncertainty that characterised 1970s America.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
classified U PS Transnational Japan in Hollywood
British filmmaker David Lean’s Academy Award®-winning The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) offers a nuanced character study of Colonel Saito, portrayed by Sessue Hayakawa in an Oscar®-nominated performance.
Black Rain
classified 18 PS Transnational Japan in Hollywood
Produced at the height of Japan’s bubble economy, Ridley Scott’s Black Rain (1989) captures a sense of cultural anxiety.
House of Bamboo
classified PG Transnational Japan in Hollywood
Samuel Fuller combines two favourite topics, crime and GIs, with this gangster film involving crooked ex-soldiers organising a syndicate in occupied Japan.