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<\/a><\/p>\nIntroduction by director Kazuhiro Soda.<\/p>\n
Kazuhiro Soda on Donald Richie:
\n“Yesterday [5\/21\/07], a special preview of Campaign was held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo. Donald Richie introduced the movie. Mr. Richie is famous as the person who introduced Japanese cinema to the West. I don’t know how many times I have read his book, Ozu. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that he loved Campaign and that he was going to give an introduction at the screening. But in fact, he began his introduction by saying, ‘Today, we are going to show you a very important documentary.’ It was perfect. I am very lucky that there’s someone who fundamentally understands my work this well.”<\/p>\n
Richie was always interested in new films and young, emerging directors. He valued Kazuhiro Soda (1970- ) highly for his observational cin\u00e9ma verit\u00e9 style illuminating the fundamental problems of Japanese society and the Japanese way of thinking. Soda follows his college classmate Kazuhiko “Yama-san” Yamuchi, a self-employed, inexperienced, uncharismatic, ordinary man running for a seat on the Kawasaki City Council in the suburbs of Tokyo. Yama-san is fully supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which faithfully adheres to the idiosyncratic Japanese style and method of running electoral campaigns.<\/p>\n