The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief

One of the more defining moments of Japan post-WW2 is the extreme sub-cultures that broke out from the traditional, conservative and strict code of conduct that the Japanese culture is famous for. In the last 30 years Japanese culture has exploded; while manga and anime is more famous in Western parts of the world, East Asian societies have become obsessed with the fashion, style and hedonism that has defined the Japanese youth sub-culture.

While not completely oblivious, I do not profess an interest in Asian cultures. Mostly, they dull my senses and reminded me of the totalitarian government in Singapore. While channel-surfing on Friday night, I chanced upon the titled documentary on SBS. It was only five minutes into the documentary, but it got me hooked.



Nihilistic lifestyle

This compelling film explores the rarely seen world of Japanese host boys, men who are paid to entertain financially independent women in exclusive nightclubs. Almost but not quite gigolos - they are more akin to male geishas - the host boys of Cafe Rakkyo share their secrets with director Jake Clennell. The narrative focuses on 22-year-old Issei, Osaka's top host boy and owner of Cafe Rakkyo, but all the characters in this unique subculture are fascinating.

I felt deeply moved by the emotional and physical torture that these young men go through to pull in several hundred dollars a day. It's good money, but it takes an emotional and physical toll. As the documentary progressed, it became apparent that many of them do not like their job, as they often have to struggle with the damaging effects of lies, deceit, alcohol and relationships.

Theses are young men who have young women shelling out in excess of 1 million yen (A$10,500) a night for emotional company; they're never lacking female suitors, style or money, yet they are intrinsically unhappy at everything around them. Yet something about the job makes them come back night after night. There's an unspeakable allure of power and control that these men crave for. What most men wouldn't do to trade their lives with them.

In just an hour, my emotions went from a high enviousness to a low sympathy. These are bright young men who are trapped in their job, not because they can't get out of it, but because they know nothing better than this. Perhaps the much used cliche 'the other side of the fence is always greener' doesn't do Issei and Co. much justice, as what they have is rather green.



Frankness of the interviews

Rarely do you see the protaganist (or in this case Issei, his lackeys and the women around him) being so comfortable and upfront to the camera. There is absolutely no need for narration, as they provided all of it. There is something refreshing about the way Issei talks about his business and himself. In just an hour, I felt I knew him well enough to be a judge of his character. And because everything is unscripted, the conversations caught on camera are extremely powerful.

The host boys who work for Issei look and talk the part as well. I have no doubt that Issei have pre-empted them of Jake's prying camera, yet they didn't look like they were hamming it up for the camera. As mentioned above, everything was unscripted. The emotions, actions and physical pain that these boys go through is real. I felt like I knew them enough to want to reach out. They need help.

Style

There's something about the camera work that is unobtrusive, stylish and bloody effective. You can barely make out the interviewer's voice above the din of the loud music, karaoke, and sounds that reverberate throughout the claustrophobic and dimly lit rooms. Issei and the boys - when pulled to one side for a one on one chat - are honest about their opinions and do not waffle. The girls - mostly interviewed outside the confines of Cafe Rakkyo - are candid and upfront about their feelings and thoughts about their lifestyles and affections for the boys.

I'm also rather intrigued with the relationship between Jake/Translator and the rest of the cast. It's quite evident that Issei and Co. have never met the camera crew, yet the way they spoke to the camera, I felt like I was sitting intimately next to them, sharing a dark secret with them. If it makes any sense, they were speaking into the camera. That is incredibly haunting.

Thoughts and ideas

Jake Clenell's style of documentary is reminiscent of Nick Bloomfield's style of documentary from the digidoss. In both cases the interviewees speak directly into the camera, as if the camera was part of their everyday thing. The camera is unobtrusive, yet it captures a nugget of life that most people are completely oblivious about. Watching Nick's documentary has also given me confidence and faith for my own documentary Tell Me A Story as it involves a heap of camera work and equipment. Before watching them, I was skeptical of showing either Bree, Alex or myself on camera as part of the cut. I was also hesitant on our voice being heard as well. If Nick Bloomfield convinced me that this style of documentary-telling is right, Jake Clenell's take on a Japanese sub-culture has taken my hand and have me pointing at the right direction.

EDIT: I've found a link to the documentary from Google video. Oddly enough, this version has converted the yen to dollars. Perhaps an attempt to make it more palatable for Western viewers. Check it out.

Our Documentary Proposal - First Draft

Working title: Tell me a story
Director: Alex Todorov
Camera/ Sound: John Ng
Editor: Bree Pagliuso

The films main focus is about showing an inner world, far removed from most people; it is a small insight into significant lives. The conflict is between the learner and the learning process. I expect the film’s structure to be determined by the subject’s process of learning and their interaction with one another. Ultimately we want the audience to have an understanding of the personalities of the subject that may not be evident upon first glance as some can be quiet shy to begin with. The subject and point of view suggest the style that is unobtrusive, almost an intimate conversation with the subjects. “A fly on the wall” approach.

Our film focuses and follows a class of intellectually disabled students. The subject is “Creative writing and stories”. In this class the students vary in age and ability and of course in personality. Each bringing different elements to the class, and the overall learning process.

The class takes place on a Thursday morning from 9:30 til 11:30, at the CAE collage on Flinders lane. The class in run by Pauline Walker She has been a teacher for 15 years and specializes in teaching young adults with learning disabilities. The class structure includes group activities, watching films and television programs, writing short stories and discussing certain subjects of interest.

Most of the sequences will be observational, an almost “Fly on the wall approach” we believe that the best way to capture our subjects is to allow them to go about their learning in class in a natural way, as if were not there. Sequences within the film will include the students interacting with each other, sharing stories and experiences.

One sequence will take place on an excursion with the students to the Ian Potter art gallery. The exhibition currently ties in with what the students are learning, “Indigenous Art”.
Any symbolic imagery will come out of the process, we’ve chose not to predict what will happen, but let it come naturally. However if there is something in particular that catches our eye, we will follow it and use it. We hope to capture the differences in their learning ability to those of the same age.

The film will also include interviews with specific students, centring on their experiences in learning. Also including their hopes and dreams, and in particular why they come to class to learn. It will focus on their individual quirks and personality.
Shots included will be: close-up of hand, writing, facial expressions, through this we hope to capture the implications of their disability.

At this point in the process we are undecided on which characters to focus on, each student brings different aspects to our film. We are considering all students as main protagonists as we want give perspective of the class, and not single out anyone in particular until we discover each character in depth.

This will help us determine who want to focus on, and whether in fact we want to have a focus. Below is a list of the students.

Debbie - blunt, straight forward. Tends to shy away from the class, doesn’t speak unnecessarily. Wheel chair bound, uses a computer that is hooked up to the white board.
Carrie - Lyn’s best friend. Cheerful. A hobby is watching movies. Not afraid to talk in class.
Robert - Loud, extraverted, works part time as trolley boy at Safe way. Not afraid to voice his opinion, constantly talking over the teacher and other students. A ladies man.
Jenny - wheel chair bound. Quiet and shy. Only really interacts with the teacher.
Frank - class clown, blunt. Swears a lot. Comes up with great one-liners. Likes to be a smart-ally to the teacher.
Lee - nick name “Speedy” for riding his wheel chair fast. Works part time selling newspapers on the corner of flinders street. Loves “The Rolling stones”. The oldest member of the class.
Mark - Autistic, quiet and reserved. But very intelligent.
Danny - plays basketball, coy and shy. Sits next to Mark, pleasant and very polite.
Michael - working cleaning microphones in a sound studio. Loves music. Cheerful.
James - wants to be apart of the action, but is a bit reserved.
Lyn - has been studying of 15 years at CAE. Loves to talk and is more than willing to be apart of the film. Asks lots of questions. Takes on the mother figure of the group.
Martin - nervous, quiet, yet seemed interested in the filming process. Articulate. Works with his computer.

The conflict is between the learner and their ability to learn. From an outsiders perspective we see the struggle they face with simple tasks, which they themselves don’t recognize. What we’ve come to understand is that we are faced with the issue of being respectful and understanding of their needs. We don’t want to be patronising in any way. We have realised there is a fine line between using our subjects as experiments, rather we need to focus on their personalities and show they are humans and ought to be respected just like any one else.

This film will show, how there is no difference in people when learning is involved. We are all given the right to learn, no matter what our ability is. The core of our film is based on this premise. Everybody has a right to learn if they are willing to grasp the opportunity, no matter what hurdle stands in their way.

Our motivation comes from being socially conscious individuals, with a passion for learning and people. We each are interested in the individual and how and individual fits within a group of individuals. It is the communication and interaction between people, which our films focus, is on. We want to be responsible media practitioners portraying people in a respectful way. None of us suffer learning disabilities, and we have a passion to understand and learn about their hardships. It’s a window into a life that we are far removed from.

Our indented audience is anyone who is interested in the quirks of personalities and how learning affects and enlightens different people. There are no expectations from our audiences only that they are respectful of our subjects and their experiences. We can expect some negative prejudices regarding their disabilities. Yet in saying that, we know that our audience will find a positive from our film, they too will take from our subjects what we have begun to and that is, how a learning disability may shape your learning process but not the entire person. There is so much more to these people than their disability.

To camera Interviews
Were considering both Lyn and Rob to be our main protagonists, but as we said above we haven’t decided how were going to approach our main characters as we have twelve very eager participants with very interesting individual personalities and stories to tell.

Lyn - Has been studying for 15 years at CAE. Loves to talk amongst her classmates and is more than willing to be apart of the film. Asks lots of questions. She seems to take on role as the mother figure within the class. She studies three days a week. And lives in the suburb of Chadstone.

Robert - Studies three days a week on his days off he works part time as trolley boy at Safeway. He is loud and extraverted and is not afraid to voice his opinion in class; he is constantly talking over the teacher and other students. It is also clear that he is a ladies man.

Style
Our shooting style will be observational; we will be observing our subjects in their everyday lives. We will most likely use a hand held camera for a natural effect. Our interviews will preferably be an intimate conversation with subject rather than question and answer, and it’s less obtrusive and will allow for the students to express themselves at their own pace. Our hope is to feel as though we are part of the class.

Tone
The mood is light hearted, we are defiantly avoiding being hard going as were not physiologists or professionals or familiar with these disabilities and want to be careful with how we portray the students. We certainly don’t want to imply we are more able than our subjects. Our desire is to show the positives of their experiences within the class and outside.

Structure
We are still working on how we want to approach the structure, as we feel there is no beginning, middle and end to our story. However we’ve decided that the theme of storytelling, will tie the film sequences together, either through voice over, or with the students on camera reading their own story. We want individual introductions of the students but in an informal style.

The learning process and journey will structure the film. Important information will emerge through individual interviews as well as the interaction in class.

Resolution
There is no physical ending to our film, these are people’s lives and their learning will continue beyond our short film. Perhaps the only resolution will be our journey as film makers. We hope to continue our relationship and film with the students as we can imagine it as a full length feature.

The Center for Adult Education

Naughty Briana, Alex and I decided to cut Paul's tutorial yesterday and made a trip to CAE for some pre-shoot material. With the Draft Treatment (worth 15%) due today, we made an educated decision that we cannot write a three page draft without making a dedicated attempt to understand the subject of our focus: Intellectually disabled students.

First things first, hats off to the guys and spin doctors at CAE for coming out with that acronym. From where I come from, physical and intellectual disabilities are 'frowned' upon, as the Government only wants to create an army of robots who think and talk alike. So, a disability means you are imperfect. And thus, should you be going to school, the school will proudly display the 'Special' tag. But over at CAE, the name is respectable - while mildly misleading as I discovered later - and it does not undermine the students' determination to be treated like normal people. And that's the feeling I got when I first stepped into the building.



We spent about two hours with the students. Actually, I daresay the adults would not like to be called 'students'. After introducing ourselves and having gone through a round of introductions, the three of us sat behind the classroom and observed the proceedings. Some of the 'students' have been to CAE for over a decade. There must be something about the program that encourages the 'students' to keep returning.

After chatting with a few 'students', I realised that a lot of them return to CAE for the physical and emotional company. These 'students' do not have many friends outside their school, home or work network and return to CAE as the people here are 'similar' to them. I was struck with how the entire class eagerly responded to the teacher's questions. I couldn't help but feel drawn to the whole experience.


(Above): Bree with Lee, the oldest student in class. You might have seen him before, selling newspapers along Flinders Street.

My brush with disability came early in my life. Okay, perhaps it's not fair to compare myself with what I've witnessed yesterday, but I'm trying to put things in perspective.

I was born with a slight speech impediment - I used to stutter a lot. It was only in recent years that I have managed to control it. Speaking out in public and having the confidence to speak to people took me many years to overcome, but I'm mastering my own imperfections.

Also, I have an autistic cousin. I used to see her rather regularly in family gatherings, but since then the family ties had worsened. 'Generation problems', I'd like to call them. Stuff between my folks and their siblings. Whatever. So I haven't seen her for almost a decade now.

Many people live their entire lives without experiencing the pain or joy of someone's imperfections. What the 'students' go through, I can only begin to understand. But I felt their loneliness, as ostracism due to something that was beyond their control is unfair. I was in that position once, and I empathise.

Anyway, while the team has yet to decide what angle the documentary should work on, I am leaning towards showing the loneliness of these adults. At only four to seven minutes, there's really not a lot to capture, but I hope it gives people a brief insight to another world that most 'perfect' people will never experience.

The Documentary

Todorov, Pagliuso (that's Alex and Bree) and I have agreed to dig a little deeper with Bree's idea. She had suggested doing a docu on kids in Melbourne who learn English. The docu might possibly cover the teachers who give their time and energy to these wonderful and colourful kids.

I reckon we've got a gem here in our hands. But more on that soon when the team meets up tomorrow.

Sex with vegans docu

This should be interesting.

A documentary on why these vegans and vegetarians who're obviously off their meds have decided to forgo sex with humans who consume meat.

Well, let's just say they've discounted about 99% of the world population. Slim pickings indeed for them.

Looks like they'll be touching themselves a lot in the privacy of their own room.

Sex-less and loveless. Oh woe is you.