• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.343-363
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• 2018

Classical film narrative fails to reflect the increasing complexity of modern society. In this era of film narrative crisis Hirokazu Koreeda presents a new solution. The director puts an emphasis on neutral valuation over subject matter rather than empathy of audiences which leads to a biased point of view. Thus Hirokazu Koreeda choose space over story as a critical narrative enabler. Two qualitatively opposite spaces are presented and the boundary space of the two are set as a main background where the valuation over the spaces waves up and down. Audiences who get accustomed to a one-sided value judgement led by storytelling can be neutralized by pendulum movement of valuation. The specific methods of using space as a main tool of value neutralization have changed through the director's filmography. Space had been thoroughly designed through the storyboard in early works. Later the director let audiences experience the spaces to evoke a sense of place.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.757-764
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• 2021

This study analyzes the signification structure and mythical meaning of Hirokazu Koreeda's documentary . In other words, by approaching the signification structure of the semiotic elements that constitute storytelling, the mythical meaning implied by is widely examined. It is to discuss the essential characteristics of the aesthetic form he is aiming for, and at the same time, to look at the aesthetic type that expands the meaning value of documentary storytelling. In particular, Hirokazu Koreeda uses typical and symbolic elements in harmoniously in the storytelling process. By applying such a dual aesthetic form, it effectively conveys the mythical meaning required in the times to the audience. Therefore, is a signification system that emits mythical meaning, and it reflects the aesthetic intention of Hirokazu Koreeda who has confidence in the imagination of the audience.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.193-203
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• 2019

Family films with insight of the society are now recognized as significant texts to communicate with audience from the beginning of the history of film and to reflect various viewpoints on changes of the times and socio-cultural context. In such aspect, the films of Hirokazu Kore-eda are very significant in that they suggest very sharp view on modern society through family narrative. His family narratives not only presented a profound reflection on the modern society and human relations through themes on death, loss, severance, and alienation, but also formed a public sympathy based on success in the box-office numbers despite his heavy subjects. His such achievement is closely related to the format of spatial representation to record 'time' and 'daily life' as well as the family film as a narrative form to draw the meaning of a family. Therefore, this study analyzes the family narrative and the format of spatial representation in the films of Hirokazu Kore-eda, and could find the film form where life and space closely communicate each other to reach the topic. This study, concentrating on the spatial representation and the roles and meanings of formal factors in family narrative, can find its own value in its expansion out of the previous studies which adopted macro perspectives on the trend of the times.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.322-331
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• 2021

This article has attempted to explore the topic of everyday life and memory based on theoretical and methodological discussions on daily life, everydayness, sociology of everyday life, memory, social construction of memory, and social memory. In order to do this, Koreeda Hirokazu's debut feature film (Hirokazu Koreeda, 1995) which inquires about the encounters and separations, life and death in everyday life was selected as a research subject. According to the results, structured with 61 scenes talked that Yumiko's daily life was shattered in an instant due to Ikuo's death and her memory was also fragmented. But after that, her social memory can reconstruct a new daily life through the 'light' of will or hope for life. Hirokazu Koreeda tried to confirm that human encounters and partings, life and death are daily life itself or a part of it through 'light' such as sunlight and moonlight, street lamps and electric lamps in this film.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.27
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• pp.199-219
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• 2012

An innovative narrative film-making always came out of conflict and negotiation between reality and film form. A lesson we learn from their film-making is a certain reality is no more possible to be dealt with by conventional narrative. A dialectic between a real life and a representation drives a certain film-makers to make films. Kore-eda Hirokazu is internationally known as developing his own method of meshing of so-called real life and the artifice of film. As He began his career as a documentary film-maker, made several documentaries for TV and then turned to his feature film-making, documentary film-making defines the basic stance in all of his film-making. He in particular emphasized that he considered the fundamental ethical standpoint of documentary to be filming from the standpoint that one does not - or cannot - know the person one is filming. And therefore even in his fiction films he avoids subjective cinematic structures that offer easy access to the internal states of his characters. He makes his audience observe the internal states of his characters from the outside with his narrative strategy. This article will analyse two documentary films of Koreeda Hirokazu in such a way that his documentaries meshes a real life and the artifice of film and then explores such a fiction film like that changes its documentary methods into narrative strategy for the same effect on the audience.