Lord of Chaos: The Cinema of Sono Sion
In December, the 29th Torino Film Festival (TFF, 25 November – 3 December 2011) honoured Sion Sono by featuring his oeuvre in their Rapporto confidenziale(Confidential Report) section. This annual programme aims to take note of emerging auteurs, genres, and other trends in international cinema.
In honouring Sono, TFF describes him as an “eccentric and mesmerizing Japanese poet, novelist and director” whose works had never before been screened in Italian cinemas. They go on to call him a “visionary” and a “provocative and dynamic filmmaker. . . [who] mixes mixes psychoanalysis and Grand Guignol, melodrama and pop culture, horror and politics, serial killers and dark ladies.” (source)
In addition to presenting almost all of Sono’s films, TFF teamed up with the Italian blog Sonatine: Appunti sul cinema giapponese contemporaneo (Sonatine: Notes on contemporary Japanese cinema) to publish a book of essays and film reviews called Il signore del chaos: Il cinema di Sono Sion (Lord of Chaos: The Cinema of Sono Sion).
The book is edited by Dario Tomasiand Franco Picollo and features the writing of not only the editors but also Claudia Bertolè, Matteo Boscarol, Luca Calderini, Giacomo Calorio, Emanuela Martini, Grazia Paganelli, and Fabio Rainelli. The cover features a photograph of the director taken at TFF. The book includes a complete filmography with titles in Japanese/romaji/English/ Italian
For non-Italian speakers, I recommend checking out the Sonatine website using Google Translate. As Italian sentence structure is very similar to English it is quite readable – unlike the bizarre world of Google JP to EN!! Check out the following reviews on Sonatine:
1984 Rabu songu (Love Song)
1985 Ore wa Sono Sion da! (I Am Sono Sion!)
1986 Ai (Love)
1986 Otoko no hanamichi (Man's Flower Road)
1986 Ai (Love)
1986 Otoko no hanamichi (Man's Flower Road)
1988 Kessen!Joshiryō tai danshiryō (Decisive Match! Girls Dorm Against Boys Dorm)
1990 Jitensha toiki (Bicycle Sighs)
1992 Heya (The Room)
1990 Jitensha toiki (Bicycle Sighs)
1992 Heya (The Room)
1997 Keiko desu kedo (I Am Keiko / It's Me Keiko)
1998 Dankon - The Man (Dankon: The Man)
1998 Dankon - The Man (Dankon: The Man)
2000 Utsushimi (Utsushimi)
2002 Jisatsu sākuru (Suicide Club)
2005 Yume no naka e (Into a Dream)
2005 Kimyōna sākasu (Strange Circus)
2005 Kimyōna sākasu (Strange Circus)
2006 Hazard (Hazard)
2006 Noriko no shokutaku (Noriko's Dinner Table)
2006 Kikyū kurabu, sono go (Balloon Club).
2007 Exte (Exte: Hair Extensions)
2009 Ai no mukidashi (Love Exposure)
2009 Chanto tsutaeru (Be Sure to Share), 2009
2009 Ai no mukidashi (Love Exposure)
2009 Chanto tsutaeru (Be Sure to Share), 2009
2010 Tsumetai nettaigyo (Cold Fish)
2011 Koi no tsumi (Guilty of Romance)
2011 Himizu (Himizu)
Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012
