Ensemble gives classic Asian silent films a musical context

By John Hartl
Special to The Seattle Times

"Page of Madness," 1926, Teinosuke Kinugasa's tale of a retired sailor and his institutionalized wife, is one of three Japanese silent films being presented by the Aono Jikken Ensemble.

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Silent movies were rarely truly silent. The mixture of music and cinema was always a natural, and it has been present almost from the beginning.

Whether the early silents of 100 years ago were accompanied by a symphony orchestra or a lone piano, whether they featured original scores or compilations of classical favorites, music was an essential part of the moviegoing experience.

During the past decade, the Seattle audience for silents with live music has grown. The Black Cat Orchestra, the Alloy Orchestra and organist Dennis James' scholarly Paramount series have been especially popular.

A relatively recent addition to the roster is the Aono Jikken Ensemble, which presented a 1932 Chinese silent film, "The Swordsman of Huangjiang," last year at the Seattle International Film Festival. Founded seven years ago, they've also presented their work at On the Boards and the Northwest Asian American Theatre.

Next up is a program made up of two 1929 shorts and a 1926 feature: Teinosuke Kinugasa's experimental tale of a retired sailor and his institutionalized wife, "A Page of Madness." The triple bill will play at 7:30 p.m. today through Sunday at the Broadway Performance Hall.

The shorts are 35mm prints of recently discovered films by Yasujiro Ozu: "A Straight Forward Boy," an adaptation of O. Henry's "Ransom of Red Chief," and "I Graduated, But ... ," about a young college graduate who can't find a job but convinces his mother and fiancée that he's been successful.

Event preview Aono Jikken Ensemble, accompanying three Japanese silent films, 7:30 p.m. today through Sunday, Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle; $12 (206-325-6500 or www.ticketwindowonline.com).

One of the musicians, Bill Satake Blauvelt, claims that the ensemble is "the only group in the country dedicated to creating new live scores for classic Asian silent films." They work with more than 50 instruments, including bamboo, children's sound toys and kelp that has been shaped into a horn. The score for "A Page of Madness" has been committed to CD.

"Kinugasa and his co-writer, Yasunari Kawabata, were part of the Shin-kankaku-shugi (New Sensationalism) movement," said Blauvelt. "They were inspired by all the new ideas percolating at the time, including surrealism, dadaism, cubism, impressionism, etc. — so they were looking to make and present film in a new way."

The Ozu shorts are actually the only remaining pieces of longer films, but Blauvelt claims "they both play as self-contained vignettes quite nicely." While the music for "A Page of Madness" is intended to "bring out the film's underlying humor while echoing its tragedy and complementing its bravura style," he added that "a lighter touch" will be used with the scores they've created for the Ozu films.

The program is a prelude to an Ozu retrospective, a collection of more than 30 films to be presented this winter at the Northwest Film Forum. In addition to Blauvelt and the ensemble's other regulars, Susie Kozawa, Yoko Murao, Michael Shannon and Esther Sugai, this weekend's performances will include guest artists Stan Shikuma and Marcia Takamura. Naho Shioya, an actress and performance artist, will introduce the films.

The Broadway Performance Hall shows also will be a benefit for the ensemble's upcoming multimedia performance work, "Kaiki Shoku" (Eclipse).

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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