Lost In Translation

Solitary Man

 Solitary Man is a fairly entertaining film directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (who are probably better known as a writers for films like Ocean's Thirteen and Rounders). It's the story of a man who is diagnosed with a heart disease and decides he has been living his life the wrong way, so he begins cheating at work and on his wife. It is a sort of The Life of Ivan Illych in reverse. Jesse Esienberg has a small role as the impressionable protegee of the ladies man and student of human nature. Predictably he sees the wrongs of his ways and finds redemption in the end.

Client 9

I really enjoyed watching Alex Gibney's 2010 documentary about Eliot Spitzer's fall from power, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. I think Gibney's track record with documentaries has been pretty consistent, I really enjoyed: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Taxi to the Darkside (2007), Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008), and still plan to see Casino Jack and the United States of Money (2010). It was disappointing to see a progressive old school Democrat like Spritzer fall from grace-he had gone after Wall Street and brought down some really corrupt people and practices but he angered the wrong people and who wanted to get him and he was prosecuted by a Bush appointed judge in a rare case of prosecuting a john rather going after the Call Girl company. There's an interesting aspect ot he talking heads portion of the film where Gibney uses an actor to read the lines from an interview by the call girl who was Spitzer's regular. It works and doesn't detract from a fascinating portrait of a man self-admittedly guilty of hubris.

Downfall: The End Of The Imperial Empire

Downfall (1991) by Richard B. Frank is considered the definitive book on the end of the Pacific War with Japan in World War II. It was one of the sources I used for a history paper I recently wrote for a correspondence course I was taking in Modern American History. It is extensively researched and uses original and secondary sources including recently declassified Japanese governmental documents and sources. He does an excellent job refuting the claims of "Hiroshima revisionists" who argued that the Japanese were willing to give up, that causalities of an invasion wouldn't be as high as some (like Stimson) suggested, and that Nagasaki was not necessary. He shows how all of thee conclusions are inaccurate and gives lots of other factual information about how and why the Japanese waited so long even though their loss was inevitable. Even after the two bombs were dropped some militarists still wanted to force the U.S. to invade so that they could inflict high causalities and use this as leverage to broker a better peace deal they were afraid of losing the imperial government and wanted to save themselves from punishment. Hirohito had to declare surrender since the war council could not or would not give in to surrender. It took two bombs and the declaration of war by the Russians to finally drive Hirohito to do it. It is an extremely informative and important book to remind people of the horrors of the Pacific War: the bloody battles at Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa with harsh tropical conditions, the poor treatment of prisoners of the Japanese, the harsh treatment given to the locals by the occupying Japanese forces, the cruel human experiments carried out by Unit 731, banzai charges and kamikaze attacks-these need to be considered when judging whether the Japanese deserved to be bombed or not. They were given a chance to surrender after the Potsdam Declaration but stubbornly refused to accept.

Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy in itself is a very enjoyable B film noir from 1949. It is also the part of the inspiration for one of the 60s paradigm shifting films of the decade, Arthur Penn's Bonnie And Clyde (1968). This film was recommended to the screen writers when drafting the screenplay, which was recounted ina book I'm reading now by Mark Harris called Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies And The Birth Of New Hollywood. The AMC filmsite suggests that it is one of a tradition of fugitive mad lovers on the run (amour fou). The cinematography is crisp and engaging as are the several long takes filmed in the heist sequences. An entertaining classic.

Violence At Noon

Violence At Noon (1966) from Nagisa Oshima's Criterion Collection of films from the Eclipse series Oshima's Outlaw Sixties is generally considered the masterpiece of the collection. It is inspired by a short story by Taijun Takeda about a true story from the 50s of the daylight demon who murdered and raped 50 women. Oshima has taken this story to express his highly stylized feelings on the failings of the left which resulted in some leading members committing suicide and other resorting to violence to as a means to an end. The principal characters used to work on a farm collective and are bound to each as victimize, ex-wife, and victim. Oshima used 2,000 cuts in 99 minutes displaying an impressive visual vision. 

From Those Wondeful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor

I first heard about, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina, reading capsule reviews of Mad Men. And it would seem that some of Femina's stories were influential in certain story lines if not in spirit generally speaking. I found his informal writing style was akin to his speaking style a bit tedious by the end of the book, but it does give you a sense of who this character is complete with outdated lingo. I'm sure that Matt Weind¥ner mined several sources for inspiration for the story, notably Richard Yates' excellent novel Revolutionary Road, however this book is not in the same category, but provides some validation that the show is true to life in many of the details and story lines regarding advertising. I'm not sure this would be of interest to anyone not a Mad Men fan or in advertising.

Cultural Conundrums: A Little Hairy

Kate Elwood in her latest Cultural Conundrums column discusses the Japanese custom of cutting one's hair after suffering a heartbreak. I heard about this before and I often tease students who have a big image change by asking them if they broke up with their girlfriend/boyfriend, and now I know the Japanese word for it shitsuren:

Of course, Japanese people may remark casually on another's appearance, but it is generally less de rigueur than it is in North America. And in Japan, chopping off one's locks may hold a particular cultural significance. Several years ago, I commented on a female acquaintance's extensive haircut, from long and flowing tresses to short bob. She smiled wryly and said that she had felt like a change. Not, she added, because she was suffering from a broken heart (shitsuren), however. I was somewhat at a loss regarding what to say to this but managed to stammer out, "Um...I'm glad to hear that."

My acquaintance's declaration was intended as a mild joke related to the traditional Japanese custom of cutting hair following a romantic breakup. In May last year, the online dating section of the Internet portal and search engine Excite Japan published the results of a survey that asked whether users of the site had ever cut their hair after a relationship ended. About 24 percent of female respondents and 11 percent of male respondents answered affirmatively, suggesting the custom has not completely died out. The android diva Hatsune Miku, created by Crypton Future Media in 2007, sings a song titled "Watashi ga kami o kitta riyu" (The reason I cut my hair). In it, the 16-year-old virtual idol declares, "The reason I cut my hair is not to forget you, but to say goodbye to the weak me who can't forget you." In order for the song to be realistic, Miku's hairstyle changed from two long cerulean pigtails to a short bob.

There is no equivalent in the United States for the notion that cutting the hair implies lost love. In the classic song from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, the female lead Nellie Forbush sings "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," but this is simply an expression of Nellie's intention to give up her complicated romantic relationship. The song itself was apparently prompted by a request by Mary Martin, the actress playing Nellie, to add a shampooing scene to the musical since she felt like giving it a try on stage. In the 1961 movie Splendor in the Grass, directed by Elia Kazan, which takes place in 1928, the main character Deanie, played by Natalie Wood, cuts her hair short in the flapper style after her break up with Bud, played by Warren Beatty. While Deanie's hair-cutting is clearly triggered by lost love, the short style is an attempt to win back Bud by transforming herself into the modern, sexually liberated woman she believes he wants.

Adam's Rib

Adam's Rib (1949) is one of the most famous pairings of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn directed by George Cukor (who also directed Hepburn in another seminal screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story). The couple who are lawyers (DINKS incidentally) were certainly the yuppies of their era making curry and having cocktail parties. It is a battle of the sexes that seems ahead of the times in some regards. I suppose it is representative of screwball comedies and the tradition of fast talking molls and their men.

Silence

I've heard good things about Shusaku Endo's writing and have wanted to read one of his books for some time. The opportunity came when I was invited to attend a book group that was reading David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet and Endo's novel Silence, under the general theme of life during the Edo period. It is the story of seventeenth century Portuguese priests who are smuggled into Japan to promote christianity despite the official ban and persecution of christians that had been taking place at the time (it is based on true events). It was championed by Graham Greene and calls to mind his novel about persecuted Catholics in Mexico-The Power And The Glory. The mood of dread and foreboding is heightened by the fact that the story is set in the rainy season. These religious problem novels aways seem have the opposite effect from which tye were written-further strengthen faith in a god that doesn't participate in day to day life. It is also good description of what this era was like for the persecuted.There is a film version by director Masahiro Shindo (1971) in which the only English subtitled version is a region 2 English edition. It has been rumored that Martin Scorcese is planning to film a version of the story with Daniel Day Lewis and Benecio DelTorro.

Rainy Dog

Rainy Dog is the second film in Takashi Miike's Black Society Trilogy. However, the three films (Shinjuku Triad, Rainy Dog, and Ley Lines) apparently don't have much to do with each other from what I have read, since this is the only film from the trilogy I've seen so far (Ley Lines has also gotten a lot of good press). That being said, Mark Schilling, a film critic for The Japan Times, gave it high marks in his book, Contemporary Japanese Film, which was one of the reasons I decided to watch the film. Of course,  I have previously seen some films by the director, Takashi Miike, before. He is famous for some over the top films; he is responsible for like Ichi The Killer. Dead Or Alive, and Audition, among the hundreds of films that he has directed. In fact, it is one of four films he shot in 1997! It is not characteristic of the previous films I mentioned, because it doesn't have any of the graphic sex and violence that is associated with Miike and the earlier films. Several reviewers have pointed out that this film seems to channel Takeshi Kitano in pace and themes. This can be seen in the deliberate pace, music, and restraint seem to call to mind certain Kitano films. There's an informative commentary from Tom Mees, one of the authors of the Midnight Eye Guide To Contemporary Japanese Film.