Cinematic Theory of Matsumoto Toshio and Hani Susumu and the Avant-Garde Art Movement: Consideration of their activities in the 1950s to the early 1960s

Abstract

This paper illustrates the differences between the activities of Toshio Matsumoto and Susumu Hani in the 1950s and early 1960s as they sought new ways to decipher complex realities.

First, it is shown that the artist of the time, especially those in the Japanese avant- garde art movement led by Kiyoteru Hanada and Kobo Abe, shared in the belief that there was a necessity for these new assessments. In their works, this group addressed realism, directly, which included their investigation of artistic and political superiority and the writer’s attitude toward power. The younger filmmakers of the newer generation, including Matsumoto and Hani, shared an awareness of these problems.

In the second section, I consider Matsumoto’s avant-garde theory of documentary cinema, especially his critique of the Japanese Communist Party and its use of movies to illustrate their policies. In fact, he intended not necessarily to enlighten his audiences but rather to destroy their stereotypes in an appeal to their sensibility.

In the third section, I describe Hani’s cinema theory and discuss how it differs from Matsumoto’s. Hani’s focus through the camera was on the person surrounded and illuminated by the inconvenient world surrounding them. Matsumoto was critical of Hani’s work, and by using his criticism as a point of discussion, I examine the differences between the two.