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you can download the complete soundtrack to shabondama elegy on musicforum

here is a complete track listing

1 Bath Cream 1 mp3
2 Police Impossible 1 mp3
3 Shabondama - Bubbly Version mp3
4 Tattoo mp3
5 El derecho de vivir en pas (aka Heiwa ni Ikiru Kenri) mp3
6 Elegy - New Jazz Version mp3
7 Bath Cream 2 mp3
8 Shabondama - Electro Version mp3
9 Sad Theme - Film Version mp3
10 Black and White mp3
11 Bath Cream 3 mp3
12 Somber Anthem mp3
13 Sad Theme - New Jazz Version mp3
14 Shabondama - Solo Sax Version mp3
15 Elegy - Film Version mp3
16 Police Impossible 2 mp3
17 Shabondama - Ending Version mp3

Otomo Yoshihide
Shabondama Elegy

(Station Kids, SKCA-1002) (CD)

1. Bath Cream 1 (2:51)
2. Police Impossible 1 (2:01)
3. Shabondama - Bubbly Version (0:41)
4. Tattoo (3:28)
5. El derecho de vivir en pas (a.k.a. Heiwa ni Ikiru Kenri) (2:01)
6. Elegy - New Jazz Version (5:56)
7. Bath Cream 2 (2:43)
8. Shabondama - Electro Version (0:59)
9. Sad Theme -Film Version (2:30)
10. Black and White (5:12)
11. Bath Cream 3 (2:50)
12. Somber Anthem (2:22)
13. Sad Theme - New Jazz Version (3:56)
14. Shabondama - Solo Sax Version (1:09)
15. Elegy -Film Version (2:22)
16. Police Impossible 2 (3:20)
17. Shabondama - Ending Version (2:27)

All composed by Yoshihide Otomo, except 3, 8, 14 and 17 by Shimpei Nakayama and 5 by Victor Jara

Tracks 1-4, 7-12, 13-16: Original soundtrack of the movie Shabondama Elegy, directed by Ian Kerkhof
Tracks 5, 6, 13, 17: Additional recordings for the CD

Yoshihide Otomo (1, 2, 4, 7-12, 15, 16): guitar, turntables, electronics
Naruyoshi Kikuchi (1, 9, 14-16): tenor sax, soprano sax
Mitsuru Nasuno (1, 2, 9, 15, 16): electric bass
Tatsuki Masuko (1-3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 16): MPC-3000 effects, DX-7, organ; (2, 16): guitar
Sachiko M (sampler): 4, 10, 12

Yoshihide Otomo’s New Jazz Quintet (5, 6, 13, 17)
Yoshihide Otomo: guitar
Naruyoshi Kikuchi: tenor sax
Kenta Tsugami: alto sax
Hiroaki Mizoguchi: double bass
Yasuhiro Yoshigaki: drums, pocket trumpet

Recorded and mixed by Naoaki Kose at Earth Studio in Tokyo on January 18 and 19, 1999 (1-3, 7-9, 11, 14-16); and on July 20, 1999 (5, 6, 13, 17)
Recorded and remixed by Yoshihide Otomo at A-102 Studio in Tokyo on January 20 and 21, 1999 (4, 7, 10-12, 16)
Produced by Yoshihide Otomo
Includes liner notes in Japanese by Akihiro Suzuki

Released October 1999

this info originally appeared on japanimprov.com

2002
Réalisateur: Ian Kerkhof
acteurs : Thom Hoffman, Hoshino Mai

Le patron d’un bar de Tokyo (Thom Hoffman) sait qu’il lui reste une semaine avant d’être assassiné. Il se lance alors dans une histoire d’amour désespérée et volcanique avec une jeune prostituée (Hoshino Mai)…

Dans le maëlstrom d’images vidéo, de sensations, de pistes narratives et d’informations que recèle Shabondama Elegy, quelque chose tend à se perdre : la signification de la démarche expérimentale. Ian Kerkhof, réalisateur hollandais de passage au Japon et déjà auteur de Wasted, a beau multiplier les variations sur le même thème et tenter d’y trouver une certaine perception de l’écoulement du temps par la répétition, son film se heurte sans cesse au même obstacle, une fatalité qui ne repose que sur du convenu. Dès lors, l’expérimentation fait moins office de nerfs créatif que d’échappée brouillonne hors d’une banalité scénaristique qui se réimpose sans cesse. En d’autres termes, Kerkhof ne s’approprie pas sa propre verve créative et s’assujetti à des règles, celles du cinéma de genre, qui ne semblent pas lui convenir et aplatissent son style. Loin d’être inintéressantes, les recherches de Kherkof ne sont en l’état que des éclats, un work in progress impudique, brute et insatisfaisant. On attend encore le film.

this review first appeared here

With this feature-length film made in 1999, Ian Kerkhof pays homage to Richard Kern’s underground cinema, using extracts from his famous film “Fingered”. An article by Ben Morris has already been translated into French about this unusual film, which, like all Kaganof’s original work, is impossible to categorise. We feel it necessary to look at this film again because “Shabondama Elegy” was shown this year at the first Pornographic Film Festival which took place in Berlin in October 2006, organised by Jurgen Bruning, the producer of Bruce Labruce’s four most recent films. But first we would like to quote a passage by Richard Kern himself – he is talking about Ian Kerkhof, whose first American retrospective took place in 2000 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco: “Ian Kerkhof is the Dutch Master of modern underground filmmaking and audience manipulation. His carefully disguised visual attacks always surprise and shock me. He always delivers on the most important promise of the movie-going experience: to be transported to an unfamiliar and magical place.”
A white criminal escapes from the Japanese police in the middle of Tokyo as a nationalist parade of cars drives by. His name is Jack (Thom Hoffman), and he gets to know a pretty Japanese girl (Hoshino Mai) in a bar in the capital. After the scene of their first meeting and rape, the girl accepts to play the role of consenting victim, and puts him up in her home. They give themselves over to a veritable sexual performance over a few days. The final day Jack feels the noose is tightening around his neck. The girl slips out secretly and pays some hit men (‘Yakusas’ in Japanese) to assassinate her guest. A few seconds before his death, which she has ordered, she starts to scream in front of the spectacle of his assassination. This film has the same beginning as the film “Fingered”, which is shown in parallel editing. Only the end is different. Is Kaganof’s film misogynistic? A little, perhaps, but not totally; the roles could have been reversed between the two sexes, but the story would have been less convincing and solid. It is certainly not the product of a misogynist film-maker, even if it may give that impression in order to guarantee the exciting dimension of the politically incorrect.

This last dimension, of which Kaganof is the Current Master, is even more obvious with the Japanese nationalist song played over the credits and during the hero’s flight. We shall try and give you a rough explanation of this choice. It aims to authenticate the underground nature of the work because real underground culture is marginalised today, as are extreme right-wing parties in Japan, though not in Europe. In his latest masterpiece “SMS Sugarman”, Kaganof covers this underground culture with a commercial veneer, but it is still very much in keeping with his project - transgression. In order to prove that we are against community elitism, let us quote these words of Kaganof’s, from the Etrange Festival 2002 catalogue, where this film was shown: “’Shabondama Elegy’ has given me the chance to work in Japan, using a cast from the porn industry, and without a single constraint as far as content was concerned. I was trying to show the reality of an actress working in the porn industry, rather than just using her presence as a ‘sensation’. Most of the time I was filming I was pissed out of my head; the producer kept on pouring me whiskey – he thought I’d give in to his sexual advances sooner or later. But whatever the case, I managed to keep my anal virginity while making a film in a semi-comatose state”.

Dionysos ANDRONIS

translated from the french by lucy lyall grant

A hood running from the cops and the mob shacks up with a young woman who’s been sexually abused by her father. Director Ian Kerkhof creates a scrambled and highly synthetic space in this digital video shot in Tokyo: not only is the editing disjunctive, but as the woman watches TV, images of her intermix with those on the tube, while in other scenes digital effects posterize the colors, turning supple skin into pools of solid hues. The story is so disjointed and minimal that it’s hard to care at all about the characters, but the rotating camera and other devices used during the many sex scenes intensify their eroticism and capture the couple’s uncontrolled passion. (FC)

this review originally appeared in the chicagoreader.com

Avec ce long métrage de 1999, Ian Kerkhof rend hommage au cinéma underground de Richard Kern en utilisant des extraits de son film célèbre «Fingered ». Nous avons déjà traduit un article de Ben Morris sur ce film inclassable et hors normes de Kaganof, comme toute sa filmographie originale. Une relecture s’impose par nous puisque « Shabondama Elegy » a été projeté cette année au 1er Festival du Cinéma Pornographique qui s’est passé à Berlin en octobre 2006, organisé par Jurgen Bruning, ce dernier étant le producteur des trois derniers films de Bruce Labruce.
Mais d’abord nous aimerions citer un paragraphe de Richard Kern lui-même. Il parle de Ian Kerkhof quand ce dernier a eu sa première rétrospective américaine en 2000 au Yerba Buena Center for the Arts à San Francisco : « Ian Kerkhof est le maître du cinéma underground moderne et de la manipulation des spectateurs. Ses attaques visuelles faites avec précaution me choquent et me surprennent toujours aujourd’hui. Il nous offre la plus importante promesse cinématographique : le transfert vers un endroit étrange et magique» (ce texte de Richard Kern était sur la plaquette de la rétrospective en question ).
Un malfaiteur blanc échappe à la police japonaise en plein Tokyo pendant qu’un défilé de voitures nationalistes passe auprès. Il s appelle Jack (Thom Hoffman) et il fera la connaissance d’une jolie fille japonaise (Hoshino Mai) dans un bar de la capitale. Après leur scène de première rencontre et de viol, la fille accepte de jouer le rôle de la victime consentante et l’héberge chez elle. Ils s’adonnent tous les deux à une véritable performance sexuelle pendant trois jours. Le dernier jour Jack sent que l’étau se ferme autour de lui. La fille partira en secret et paiera des tueurs à gages (des yakusas en japonais) pour assassiner son invité. Quelques secondes avant sa mort, qu’elle a commandée, elle se met à crier devant le spectacle de son assassinat. Ce film a le même point de départ que le film «Fingered » qui revient en montage parallèle. La fin est seulement différente. Ce film de Kerkhof est-il misogyne ? Peut-être un petit peu mais pas totalement. Les rôles pourraient être changés entre les deux sexes sauf que la fiction ne serait pas si convaincante et solide. Ce n’est sûrement pas le produit d’un cinéaste misogyne, même si ça nous donne cette impression afin de garantir la dimension excitante du politiquement incorrect.
Cette dernière dimension dont Aryan Kaganof est le Maître Actuel, est encore plus évidente avec la chanson japonaise nationaliste entendue pendant le générique de la fin et pendant la scène de la fuite du héros. Nous allons essayer de vous donner une explication approximative de ce choix. Elle vise à authentifier le caractère underground de l’œuvre puisque la véritable culture underground est aujourd’hui marginalisée, comme le sont les partis d’extrême droite au Japon mais pas en Europe. Dans son dernier chef d’œuvre «SMS Sugar Man » Kaganof couvre cette culture underground d’un vernis commercial mais très en rapport avec son projet de transgression comme toujours.
Afin de vous prouver que nous sommes contre l’élitisme communautaire, nous allons vous citer ces mots de Ian Kerkhof tirés du catalogue de l’Étrange Festival 2002 où ce film a été projeté : «Shabondama Elegy m’a donné l’occasion de travailler au Japon avec une distribution issue du milieu du porno et sans aucune contrainte concernant le contenu du film. Je tenais à montrer la réalité d’une actrice travaillant dans ce milieu en opposition à l’utilisation «sensationnaliste » faite de sa présence. La plupart du temps je tournais ivre mort, le producteur me servant constamment du whisky – il pensait que je céderais tôt ou tard à ses avances sexuelles. Quoi qu’il en soit, j’ai gardé ma virginité anale et j’ai réussi à monter le film dans un état semi-comateux » (op.cit. , page 12).

Dionysos ANDRONIS

ian kerkhof filming shabondama elegy, tokyo, 1998

Mai Hoshino é uma antiga favorita: faz 27 anos agora no início de julho, é uma atriz pornô japonesa. Mas alto lá que a moça tem classe: se faz filmes eróticos de um lado, faz também arte. Ela é a protagonista de Shabondama Elegy, thriller moderno do cineasta sul-africano Ian Kerkhof.

Um resenhista já descreveu Shabondama Elegy como “David Lynch em vídeo após tomar um ácido em Tóquio”. Conta a história de um capanga da Yakuza holandês interpretado pelo ator Thom Hoffman, de Dogville. Ele mata dois policiais após ter traído seu capo mafioso – está sendo perseguido e há um juramento de que não viverá mais que sete dias. Numa boate, conhece uma atriz pornô – nossa querida Mai – e dedica sua última semana a cura-la de seus traumas sexuais. A narrativa não tem nada de linear, por vezes é violento ou soa como videoclipe de rock pesado, tem seu valor.

Há quem confunda japonesas com chinesas – gente o suficiente para que Hollywood ponha uma chinesa para fazer uma geisha sem culpas. Mas, embora adoráveis, são bem diferentes as moças de um e de outro país. Segundo o antropólogo geneticista Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, não têm qualquer relação as etnias – embora japoneses e coreanos sejam aparentados. (Que não ouçam a notícia.)

Pegue uma chinesinha bonita, pode ser a moça de nosso Calil aqui ao lado, e vejam só: nos olhos chineses, as pálpebras de cima e de baixo se fecham ao centro, nas japonesas a pálpebra debaixo quase não mexe, é curta; no rosto das chinesas, quase que só o nariz sai para fora, fora isso ele parece plano, bidimensional – nas japonesas é o contrário, os olhos são mais fundos, o nariz bem marcado, os lábios também. Há que ter ciência para admirar as orientais – ciência o suficiente para manjar que Mai, por bela que seja, pôs lá silicone nos lábios. Resultado devidamente aprovado.

Outra diferença, e esta é de moda, é que as moças de Tóquio, modernas como são, pintam os cabelos – de louro, de rosa, ou de ruivo, sempre um tom exagerado. Como Mai o faz. Pois é: dá para entender o que Zico foi fazer por aquelas bandas. Oss.
Publicado por Pedro Doria - 22/06/06 12:01 AM

this review first appeared here

Reviewed by Jason Van Bergen on 6/29/2004

Director Ian Kerkhof is considered to be a sort of anti-film film-maker, tackling the underground activities, mostly illegal, that mainstream film-makers would not touch with a ten foot pole. Kerkhof’s most notorious effort thus far is “Naar de klote!” (Dutch for “Wasted!”), a sordid look at Holland’s drug-infested underbelly.

With his follow-up effort, “Shabondama Elegy” (“Tokyo Elegy”), Kerkhof lends his touch to the world of sex and criminal life, with a highly artistic take on a couple’s sexually charged love affair in Tokyo. The male protagonist is a Western resident on the lam from the Tokyo police, and his lover is a Japanese porn queen, with demons of her own resulting from a lifetime of sexual abuse from her father and every man since.

Indeed, “Shabondama Elegy” is only a step away from adult entertainment itself, with the couple’s escapades providing the source of the film’s entertainment throughout. For its North American release, the DVD features Japanese-style genital blurring, a somewhat redundant necessity due to everything the film’s imagery implies.

Ian Kerkhof’s latest film is by no means particularly good, but it certainly retains the director’s reputation for edgy film-making on the margins. An international audience is already well-aware of Kerkhof’s efforts, now all that remains is for the director to gain some recognition in America.
Rating: 4/10

this review originally appeared on thecritics.org