Official synopsis from Japan Cuts:
『日本前衛派の開拓者』(Nihon Aen’ei-Ha No Kaitaku-Sha)
Dir. Amélie Ravalec, 2024, 100 min., DCP, color, in English and Japanese with English subtitles. With Nobuyoshi Araki, Tadanori Yokoo, Keiichi Tanaami.
Exploring the explosion of postwar radical art in the 1960s and the rise of Japanese avant-garde, Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers is an enthralling glimpse into the outsider art of Japan’s underground movements.
Aficionados of Japanese horror and popular culture — cinema, manga, literature, and otherwise — and devotees of art, photography, and stage performances will not want to miss writer/director Amélie Ravalec’s fascinating documentary Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers.
After a riveting historical introduction about Japan during and just after World War II, Ravalec’s interview subjects discuss how growing up during wartime influenced stage performances, graphic art, photography, and the like. For example, Butoh dance broke away from both the late 1950s/early 1960s modern dance scenes and from the more traditional styles such as Noh. Original collaborators Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno developed a style that encompassed grotesque imagery and taboo topics, with performers often wearing white body makeup and moving in slow motions. The style could be seen as a predecessor and influence on some of the classic J-horror films of the late 1990s/early 2000s heyday of that subgenre.
The avant-garde photography and illustration scenes of the time also examined the beauty of the bizarre. Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers shows many examples of the various forms of art discussed. The interview subjects include influential avant garde artists such as photographers Noboyushi Araki — the documentary will show you why he earned the nickname “Photo Devil” — and Eikoh Hosoe, and international scholars and experts on the Japanese avant garde.
From the underground to the surreal to pop art, Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers is a captivating documentary focusing on styles and creatives whose influence paved the way for current artistic trends in Japan. It features plenty of bizarre and provocative works that devotees of the unusual will find enthralling.
Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers screens as part of the 2025 edition of Japan Society’s Japan Cuts, which runs July 10–20 in New York City. For more information, visit https://japansociety.org/film/japancuts/.
