Lost In Translation

Encounter

Encounter (2010) is a short book of essays by the great Milan Kundera. I find his prose writing as impressive as his fiction writing. This collection is no exception and stands along his three other great books of essays:The Art of the Novel, Testaments Betrayed, and The Curtain. There are a variety of essays in the collection, but most of them have to do with art in one form or another and not just literature. As the son of a composer he has extensive knowledge of classical music and devotes some of the essays to this subject, and there is a long essay on the painting of Francis Bacon.  But most of the essays focus on authors like Rabelais, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Anatole France, Patrick Chamoseau, Phillip Roth or works like Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Celine's From Castle to Castle. I think Kundera makes incisive insights about these subjects and has impeccable taste in his summations of literature. I cam away from this book looking to read Anatole France's novel The Gods Are Athrist, Patrick Chamiseau's Solibo Magnificent, and Curzio Malaparte's two great works Kaputt and The Skin.

All About Lily Chou Chou

All About Lily Chou Chou (2001) directed by Shunji Iwai is based on his internet novel about two boys who meet at the beginning of junior high school. Back at school in September for second term, one of the boys, Hoshino, (who has had a near death experince in Okinawa) takes his place as class bully and shows his newfound power by ruining the lives of his classmates. An alternative voice, that of the character Sumika Kanzaki, attributes Hoshino's personality change to the collapse of his family's business and his parent's divorce; this matches several scenes connecting the decline of Hoshino – who has had to change his name – to divorce. Hasumi, the confused and shy former friend of Hoshino, finds himself sucked into his now-tormentor's gang. He is ridiculed and coerced into doing Hoshino's dirty work, and finds solace only in the ethereal music Lily Chou-Chou makes, and acting as web editor for his fan website. The film has a discontinuous storyline, starting midway through the story, just after the second term of junior high school begins, then flashes back to the first term and summer vacation, and then skips back to the present. They both have great admiration for a fictionalized pop singer named Lily Chou Chou, who provides escape for the tormented junior high schooler. At one point a character in the film says: "These kids today are scary." Indeed they are as the film depicts extreme bullying, shoplifting, extortion, prostitution, rape, and suicide. However, the reasons for these behaviors aren't given and nor are any cures are suggested. I found it to be a compelling film that has moments of great beauty and great cruelty. The cinematography is amazing as the brilliant green rice fields of Tochigi in particular stand out. But the portion of the film where the boys take a summer vacation to Okinawa is equally amazing in which is shot by the amateur hand held cameras of the actors. The music is exceptional as well with a score largely of Debussy and pop singer Salyu, but there's also a great scene with a traditional Okinawan song in it as well. This film has stayed with me and begs for a repeated viewing, but my one complaint might be that it is over long at two and half hours.

33 1/3: Marquee Moon

Marquee Moon by Bryan Waterman doesn't seem like a typical 33 1/3 book, mostly due to its length, 210 pages. However, it is a thoroughly researched book that is as much about the CBGB scene, and the media's relationship with the band as much as it is about the seminal album. And perhaps that is one of my criticisms. Waterman doesn't really talk about the album itself in length until p.156, that being said I am a huge fan of that time and place in that I also a huge Patti Smith, The Ramones, Blondie, N.Y. Dolls, and Talking Heads fan and there's a lot of good stuff about these people and bands. I'm inspired to read a couple of his sources: Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain (which is on my shelf) and Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids.  

Le Cercle Rouge

Le Cercle Rouge (1970) is Jean-Pierre Melville's great heist film. It seems that crime films are one of Melville's passions and this one is about how a perfect heist comes together and then unravels as all great crime stories do-crime doesn't pay right? Alain Delon plays a thief freshly released from prison who goes right back to what he knows best by putting together a motley team that includes a an escaped prisoner (Italian Gian Maria Volonte) and an alcoholic ex-cop marksman (Yves Montand). They pull off the caper, but fencing the stolen jewels and evading the police will more than they bargained for. The film is famous for the extended burglary scene and lack of dialogue. I have to admit that I am gaining an appreciation of Melville's films since I have similar cinematic interests; crime and film noir. The Criterion edition has lots of extras as well: excerpts from Cinastes de norte temps: Jean-Piere Melville, new video interviews with the author of Melville on Melville, Rui Nogueira and assistant director Bernard Stora, 30 minutes of rare on-set and archival footage featuring interviews with director Melville and stars Alain Delon, Yves Montand and Andre Bourvil, and a 24 page booklet featuring an introduction from director John Woo, new essays by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, a reprinted interview with composer Eric Demarasan and excerpts from Melville on Melville.

Divorce In Japan

Divorce In Japan: Family, Gender, and the Sate 1600-2000 (2004) by Sophia professor Harald Fuess is an academic look at divorce in the last four centuries in Japan. The chapters are as follows: (1) The Forgotten History of Japanese Divorce, (2) For the Sake of the House: Edo-Period Patterns, Perceptions, and Precedents, (3) Testing A Spouse: The Trial Marriage System, (4) Unsuitable to the Family Tradition? Popular Divorce Customs in the 1870s, (5) Between French Law and Japanese Customs: Codifying Divorce in Meiji Japan, (6) When Marriage Was on the Rise: Declining Divorce Rates 1898-1940 (7) Forward To The Past: A Historical Perspective on Japanese Divorce After WWII. There are several interesting observations and conclusion made by Fuess throughout this academic study. For example, In the Edo period (1600-1868) there was little interest by the government in controlling divorce. The exception was among samurai families that used it as a control for political unrest. It was known as a dark age for women who received the most disadvantages from divorce. The most common reasons for divorce, which were among the highest in the world at that time were not bearing children, lack of obedience and disease.  During the Meiji era the causes for divorce were: ease of marriage and divorce, parental interference, lack of consent at marriage, deception by the go-between, cupidity (desire for wealth), simple poverty. One of the reason for the decline of divorce rates was honor/loss of virginity needed to be compensated and that mean that divorce had become a shameful event. The book is probably only of interest for academics or those with a great interest in Japan. Additionally, it has lots of charts and graphs and stylistically can be quite turgid at times.

The King Of Marvin Gardens

The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972) is another pairing of director Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, probably best known for their collaboration on Five Easy Pieces. However, I think this tragic film really belongs to Ellen Burstyn and Bruce Dern (Dern also impressed me in The Driver). I would have expected Nicholson to play the huckster brother rather than a philosophic, depressive radio host, but Dern puts in a fine performance as the small time deal maker with the big dream. Burstyn is also great as his aging, worshipping girlfriend complete with a gamely nubile step daughter, Julie Anne Robinson, thrown in for good measure. In the beginning there are some great moments of whimsy, where you can see the power of Dern's character's charisma and dream. It is all set in a depressive gray winter in Atlantic City that casts an air of dread over the proceedings. It's an American tragedy and a 70s classic.

Vile Bodies

Vile Bodies (1930) is Evelyn Waugh's second novel and it is as entertaining as his first satire, Decline And Fall. Even though he is making fun of the decadent bright young bright people that live for parties and amusement, they are much more likable than the old guard that is also satirized in the novel. I particularly liked the exchanges between the the main protagonist Adam Fenwick Symes and his fiance's father and those with the character known as "the drunk Major." He also manages to make fun of the press, the clergy, car races, film, politics, and many other aspects of society. The dialogue is lively and witty and the action is nonstop. I found the conclusion that takes place during wartime somewhat confusing-was he predicting WWII or was the novel set earlier-in the beginning of the century before WWI. A very enjoyable book which makes me glad that there are still several other Waugh books I haven't read yet.

Chess Garden

Chess Garden is a gourmet burger joint/bar near Hatagaya station. They have large, chewy homemade buns that make eating the burger tricky as it slips down as you eat. The burger itself was well-grilled and made from high quality beef with melted cheddar cheese. I do give them points for providing squeeze bottles of ketchup and mustard, but I don't think it's as good overall as Sasauka's own gourmet burger joint, Air Burger.

What Time Is It There?

What Time Is It There? (2001) by director Tsai Ming-Liang is an unusual film with little dialogue. A watch salesman who still lives at home has a chance encounter with a woman going to France who wants to buy his personal watch with dual times so she can know the time in Taiwan and France. His father dies and his mother struggles with his absence, the man starts becoming obsessed with French films and wine and wonders about the woman in France who is also feeling estranged in the country and tries to make a pass at another Chinese woman she encounters in France. The style is like that of the European neorealists and has very little dialogue, long takes shot with a stationary camera. I have to admit I wasn't really in the mood for such a slow film with little action, maybe had I been in a better mood I would  appreciated it more.

Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologues

I was reminded of Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologues (2005) when I watched Steven Soderbergh's impressive documentary on Gray's life, And Everything's Going Fine. I think I had read everything in print by Gray up to his suicide, so I somehow had overlooked his last works. And as usual they were entertaining and full of witty observations and stories. However, the bulk of the book was tributes from friends in memorial services at Lincoln Center and in Sag Harbor, his home. Many are from figures in the world of books and publishing;his agent, Suzanne Gluck; novelist A.M. Homes; essayist Roger Rosenblatt;others from show biz, like Laurie Anderson, John Perry Barlow, Eric Bogosian, Eric Stoltz and several others. Perhaps, only for the devoted Gray fans, but I proudly consider myself one of them. It's sad to know there won't be anymore monologues.