It¡¯s not often a documentary is made in response to another documentary, but this year two movies have addressed the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary ¡°The Cove,¡± which was about the capture and killing of wild dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. First-time filmmaker Keiko Yagi¡¯s ¡°Behind the Cove¡± came out last spring, and it is clearly a rebuttal to the American film, which Yagi criticized as being one-sided.
¡±,¡± the other documentary that responds to ¡°The Cove,¡± had its world premiere at the in South Korea earlier this month. Its director, Megumi Sasaki, a Japanese filmmaker based in New York who previously directed ¡°Herb and Dorothy,¡± may suffer the unfortunate luck of having her film mistaken for Yagi¡¯s since it came out afterward. However, the differences between them couldn¡¯t be starker.
¡°I don¡¯t want to use the word ¡®neutral,¡¯¡± she said during the Q&A following a screening of her film, which was also attended by residents of Taiji, including the mayor. ¡°I think neutrality is impossible ¡ª we all have opinions. But I wanted it to be balanced.¡±
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