French poet and film-maker Jean Cocteau once described himself as a 'poet who uses the camera as a suitable vehicle for allowing us to dream the same dream together'. Japanese director Shunji Iwai, subject of a retrospective season at the Broadway Cinematheque at the end of this month, could well have said the same thing.
Over four short films and two features, Iwai has demonstrated a poetic sensibility: his films are both emotionally resonant and beautiful to look at.
What is more, Iwai has enjoyed huge commercial success in Japan and in Hong Kong. His 1995 film Love Letter was a smash in his own country - a big achievement considering how bad Japanese dramas fare at the home box office nowadays - and he was touted as the main hope for a revival of Japanese film industry's fortunes.
Featuring Japanese idols like Miho Nakayama and pop queen Chara, his films managed to appeal to the key female audience while shunning the country's usual formulaic teem dramas. Soon the 35-year-old director was being treated like a pop star.
In Hong Kong, Love Letter captured the imagination of the teens and twenty-somethings. It ran for 204 days at Cine-Art and took an unexpected $7 million, as well as launching a nicely packaged soundtrack CD.
It was also picked up for distribution by New Line in America. And although New Line seems to be stalling the film's release, there are even plans for an American remake to be overseen by actress Meg Ryan.
The Broadway retrospective, aptly entitled The Combination Of Films And Poetry, features Love Letter and four shorter made-for-TV works: Fireworks, Undo, Fried Dragon Fish and Picnic. The season also has the Hong Kong premiere of his latest feature Swallowtail Butterfly, a sprawling post-modern epic that, a little unsuccessfully, sees the director bring a more chaotic bearing to his work.
