The '90s are not the '60s. Perhaps for this reason the prevailing tone of the new independent film is meditative. The aim is morality, and the means are aesthetic. At the same time, these new independents certainly offer criticism. The couple in Okaeri is saved by her illness.
Modern society is so anodyne that schizophrenia is more lifelike.
Duo's couple, in crisis when their inability to communicate prompts the wife's departure, decide to start over again. The criticism is covert, but the hope for a more meaningful existence is there. The new directors may not, in the manner of Oshima, be creating a new reality, but they are bravely facing the mediocrity of the day. Their most arduous struggle, in fact, is to produce any films at all. There are a few film schools in Japan, and some instruction is available from the annual Sapporo Image Seminar and a teaching program run by the Japan Sundance Festival office.