An early short film from the legendary Nagisa Oshima, in the style of a trailer for a feature that doesn't exist.
Who would have thought that one of the founding fathers of the Japanese New Wave could be named as one of the possible orginators of this trend? Not me, but check this out. Here is one of Oshima's first films, the 1959 7-minute short "Tomorrow's Sun", a trailer for a fictional film. It's surprising to see a director known for such serious examinations of sex, politics, racism in Japanese society produce something that's so much fun.
Nothing but pure pleasure here. Tomorrow's Sun was Nagisa Oshima's first film, and its seven minutes are an absolute delight. Taking the form of a preview for a film that never existed, Tomorrow's Sun showcases Shochiku's then current stable of young stars in a dizzying array of scenes ranging from Samurai swordplay, teenage beach movie romance, singing, dancing, and even some rock n roll, all in gorgeous color. After this high spirited little gem, the studio was convinced that Oshima had the right stuff to be a movie director and gave him the green light to create feature length filmsOne could debate whether this fits the category of a fake trailer. When I saw it at the Bungeiza as part of an Oshima retro, it was labelled as being one of the many self-promotional shorts studios made, assignments which were often given to ADs to get them to hone their directorial skills. This one advertises Shochiku's new actors in their various roles without pretending any of this is one movie.
This trailer was screened this month at the BFI by Tony Rains as part of his introductory talk, where he trailed the trailer as being 'extremely rare' (I think we got the 35mm print, so perhaps I can't sue under the Trade Descriptions Act).Tony Rayns' point was that it rehearsed a series of genre depictions that were never to reappear in Oshima's later work.The film, which seems of a kind with other company-promotional films, is listed in the 'complete works' by Turim, Jacoby and others, so I'll stop there.
As Oshima recalls about Asu no taiyô, this kind of "salutation movie (?)" (aisatsu eiga) were screened in movie theatre as well as feature films. They were neither trailer of upcoming films nor movie in itself, but something what aimed at introducing Shôchiku new faces. Something like a short PR film... And I assumed that this kind of short film would be packaged with full-length feature films, thanks to the nihondate system (double feature).For this Asu no taiyô, Oshima claims to have directed everything, from scenario to casting of actors and staff, editing, etc. I imagine that's why it is often considered as Oshima's first film, and why it should not be regarded on the same level as the trailers he made for Oba Hideo for instance.Anyway, would not Jonouchi Motoharu Gewaltpia trailer (1969) be an example of the "fake trailer" we are now talking about?
