« Because This Kind Of Thing Never Happens... | Main | And news on another Oscar nommed short doc... »
February 22, 2006
Remember, Remember The Sixth Of August
It is easy to give short shrift to the short doc category at the Oscars, but after seeing all but one of the short docs that are nominated, I have a pretty distinct favorite.
Steven Okazaki’s 35 minute film takes a look at a club that sounds like a joyous anime’ title, but could not be less so. The Mushroom Club looks at Hiroshima, 60 years after the bomb was dropped by America.
Okazaki’s voiceover is the weakest part of this film, though you can feel how personal it is to him. Fortunately, what he lacks in auditory style, he makes up for with the vision to show us the small parts that make up the tragic, unforgettable whole. Whether it’s a look at the author of Barefoot Gen, a comic and then anime’ about the bombing, as seen though the author’s own young eyes or 60 year olds who were in utero when the blast came and still have the minds of children or the woman who collects artifacts of the destruction that still wash up in the river bed every time the tide shifts, the memories are overwhelming. Buttons… she find buttons… and each one represents a dead person… each button tells a tale of its own… and the tears are unstoppable.
60 years later, they are still finding mass grave sights around town that they didn’t know were there… so many dead… and so much ritual in trying to deal with the loss. But still, today’s youth rebels even against a singular moment of death.
The Mushroom Club is an important, powerful, holocaust documentary. It is not the holocaust we usually see covered in movies and it is not a holocaust that Americans can be comfortable considering. Like Imamura’s great Black Rain, a feature about the bombing that is almost never seen on cable television (unlike that mediocrity starring Michael Douglas in black leather) and is not available on DVD, it is easier for Americans not to watch.
But we must never forget. The memory in Hiroshima itself is under the threat of time. They must never forget. We are our history, for better or for worse.
Forget. Rinse. Repeat.
But it is films like The Mushroom Club that must stand to pay respect to the truth. And we must pay respect to them. I hope that respect comes due on March 5 and I hope Mr. Okazaki brings a survivor along and stops the party for longer than his 45 seconds to remind the world of the power of truth and in reflection of same, the power of film.
Posted by poland at February 22, 2006 02:05 PM
Comments
Some network or cable station really has to get on the ball and start creating blocks to show these small films, the doc's, the Oscar nominated shorts, etc. There is a market for this stuff. Because it is a shame that it never gets seen except by industry people.
Posted by: joefitz84 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 22, 2006 02:51 PM
Isn't that what IFC or Sundance Channel is for? Do they even show stuff like this anymore? Everytime I turn to IFC these days it's some stupid "original series."
Posted by: Wrecktum at February 22, 2006 03:21 PM
I live North of San Francisco and some of the art houses here chunk up all the short docs and animation docs and run them. They should do more of that...
Posted by: PetalumaFilms at February 22, 2006 04:00 PM
IFC and Sundance should be showing things like this. Yet, they show originals or bad movies. IFC has been a complete disappointment as a channel.
Posted by: PandaBear at February 22, 2006 04:04 PM
Thanks, Dave Poland, for plugging these Oscar-nominated docs: Steven Okazaki's ''The Mushroom Club'' and Dan Krauss' ''The Death of Kevin Carter.'' For those of you who live in New York City, there'll be a ''Docu Day,'' where the various feature and short documentaries will be shown on Saturday, Feb. 25, from 10 a.m.-midnight. They're being presented by the International Documentary Association and the Sundance Channel. And they'll be shown again in Los Angeles on their ''Docu Day,'' Saturday, March 4. For details, go to www.documentary.org/.
Congrats to all the documentary filmmakers and break a leg on Oscar Night!
Posted by: Wayman_Wong at February 22, 2006 08:55 PM
There has been some really good doc's lately that just don't get publicity or play anywhere.
Hopefully this changes. There is a market for them out there.
Posted by: Charly Baltimore at February 22, 2006 09:06 PM
Oh, man of many aliases. I love it when you state the obvious.
Posted by: James Leer at February 23, 2006 02:11 AM
Scatterbrain
You can also call me Sam Caine.
If it was so freaking obvious why don't doc's get they get any pub?
Should we hire you to work in the PR dept?
Posted by: Charly Baltimore at February 23, 2006 06:54 AM
Well said. Why don't docs get they get any pub?
Posted by: jeffmcm at February 23, 2006 01:51 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)