Lost In Translation

Teens Gone Wild: Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring

I suppose every generation is seen as a "lost generation" and the latest generation is served up in two films that masquerade as morality plays: Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers (2013) and Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (2013). This is certainly Korine's most commercial film with TV actresses (Selan Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson) and Korine's wife, Rachel, playing bad girls who fund a spring break trip with a robbery. Once there they get into trouble and end up with gangster/rapper Alien (John Franco) channelling Gary Oldman's performance from true Romance. Ultimately, it is an exploitative opportunity to show scantily clad young people frolicking in the sun as there is no real message to the film, which is only mildly entertaining. That being said, it almost seems edgy in comparison to Coppola's film based on a real life scandal in which young fans of celebrities rob their hero's houses. I see that it is the first film of hers that was filmed without Lance Accord and it is noticeable. For me, it comes off like an after school special and isn't all that cinematic. I was looking for some popcorn entertainment recently, but I have to admit both films let me down and I guess I should have known better since those aspects of society don't really appeal to me, so the satire was lost on me.

A Strange Tale From East Of The River And Other Stories

I have seen several mentions of Tokyo author Kafu Nagai over the years and most recently in Stephen Mansfield's Tokyo: A Cultural History. However, A Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories  (1972) translated by Edward Seidensticker is currently out of print, but I was able to track down a used copy. There are a variety of stories from as early as 1909 ("The River Sumida") and late as 1948 ("Scavengers"). There are some recurring themes in the stories: nostalgia, geisha, the low city/shitamachi (east Tokyo), Yoshiwara and nightlife, poetry, and nature are the most prominent. My favorites were the later stories: "A Strange Tale from East of the River" (1936)-a story of unrequited love, "The Decoration" (1946)-a short but heartfelt story of the transitory nature of life, and "The Scavengers" (1948)-highlighting postwar misery and struggles in life.

Rififi

After Jules Dassin was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to cooperate with the Committee for the House Committee of Un-American Activities and name names of communists in Hollywood and went to Europe to make films. His first film set in London was the classic Night and the City, and after that he made Rififi (1956) in Paris. And along with New York in The Naked City, he captured the energy of each city with his realistic location shots that set a precedent for live locations. All three films mentioned were film noir and very popular among the French. Perhaps, Rififi was most well-known for a 30 minute set piece, without music, in which the jewelry heist crew breaks into the jewelers. Overall, it is a entertaining and beautifully shot film. Dassin won the Best Director prize at Cannes for this effort. The Criterion edition includes: a new digital transfer, with fully restored picture and sound, a video interview with director Jules Dassin, production stills, plus set design drawings by Alexander Trauner, informative production notes, and theatrical trailer.

Marunochi

I stopped in the new Kitte (stamp in Japanese) shopping center in the old Post Office in front of Tokyo station on my way to Ukiyo-e: Floating World from the Saito Collection at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum nearby.

The inside of Kitte.

There is a courtyard between the buidlings near the museum that I hadn't seen before.

Misting columns in the courtyard.

The ouside of  the museum, an old style converted brick building.

BiRd & rUbY

BiRd & rUbY is a quaint little panini and coffee stand near Sendagaya station. I found the shop in the Hanako Magazine Coffee edition and thought it would be nice a cafe to hang out at, but it has maybe three seats and is open to the elements-the blazing hot sun as of July. This sandwich was excellent though: coppa ham panini with peeper corn and other vegetables with a spicy mayonnaise sauce.

A Man Vanishes

A Man Vanishes (1967) is a fascinating film from one of my favorite Japanese directors, Shohei Imamura, that is difficult to categorize. It is intended as a documentary but takes on elements of fiction and staging throughout. However, it is the mystery of how so many people can disappear in such a small country-at the time of the film Imamura states that in the last year 91,000 were disappeared in Japan. This film looks at the case of the disappearance of a plastics salesman named Tadashi Oshima. Imamura and his crew set out to discover what happened to Tadashi by interviewing those who knew him best—his co-workers, friends, and his fiancée Yoshie. All the while gathering contradictory information concerning his character. But as their investigation delves deeper into Tadashi's dubious business ventures and his enigmatic relationship with Yoshie and, possibly, her sister, the line between filmmaker and subject, fact and fiction, blur. It can be said to be radical in its scope, aesthetic, and technique for what is essentially a nonfiction film.

The DVD is worth it for  A Man Vanishes alone but Icarus Films also includes five other fascinating documentaries by Imamura: In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers in Malaysia (45 min.) In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers in Thailand (50 min.) The Pirates of Bubuan (46 min.) Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home (48 min.) Karayuki-San, the Making of a Prostitute (75 min.)

In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers in Malaysia (1971) is Imamura's first foray into SE Asia and perhaps  the least compelling of the bunch. One of the prospective subjects of his documentary has already died apparently of drug and alcohol addiction. However, the other subject is a an Islam convert, who has found an identity, acceptance, and perhaps atonement for his role as a soldier in the war as well, was a fascinating case study. These films are interesting in how they document what SE Asia was like in the 70s as well.

In Search of the Unreturned Soldiers in Thailand (1971) was more interesting than the previous film mainly due to the three fascinating characters that Imamura has brought together for this film. Imamura is interested in why they chose to remain behind rather than return to Japan after the war. I found it fascinating that two of the three still have strong pro-emperor feelings and are visibly upset when one of them states that the emperor is human just like them. There is frank discussion about the atrocities they committed and their disrespect of the kempeitai (secret police), their officers that made them do questionable things as well as the fact that they raped and kept women. All of them plan to die in Thailand and feel that there must not be anything left for them in Japan.  Imamura is particularly moved by Matsu who refuses the interview fee and rode 16 hours 3rd class with his own money back to Chang Mai and is revisited when Imamura makes another documentary about him: Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home.

Before that, Imamura went to the Philippines to film The Pirates of Bubuan (1972). It was another fascinating analysis of truth versus subjective reality. Are there pirates in Bubuan? There is a great build up at meeting these dangerous bandits, but once Imamura gets to the island he meets a serious young man and his family who seems to be on the run, but not overly hostile to others trying to survive among the islands. There is a group of sea gypsies who are discriminated against by Muslims because of their so-called lack of religion, who live a subsistence lifestyle. Imamura investigates their history religion and other traditions and finds much sympathy for them.

In Outlaw-Matsu Comes Home (1973) we get another true life drama unfolding on film. Matsu has come home to make sure his younger sister is being taken care of and finds that she is living with her children after divorcing and fleeing his violent alcoholic older brother who beat her and her daughters. He is a piece of work, with five divorces and somehow retained custody of a nine year old daughter, who he says will be the sole heir to the family fortune, which he has obtained by dubious means. He declaring Matsu killed in action even after learning of this mistake. Matsu confronts him to no avail and leaves Japan disgusted by the greed he sees in contemporary Japan:"I think Japanese people are all insane with greed. I came home and found why Japan had achieved this development...It was for money, wasn't it? The Emperor must've started the war because of he wanted money,too."

The last documentary in this collection is Karayuki-San, the Making of a Prostitute (1975), which is yet another devastating personal narrative of suffering, tragedy, and humility. It is a documentary on one of the Japanese "karayuki-san," who were women who left their homes in Japan to work as prostitutes in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II. Many of these women were told that they were doing this to support their families because of the extreme poverty in wartime Japan. This woman, Kikuyo Zendo, one of the countless Japanese women who were kidnapped or otherwise sold into sexual slavery in order to service the Japanese military in Southeast Asia. She was tricked and then was resigned to her fate. She was coming form a poor family that were burakumin, a caste that was discriminated against in Japan.  She was 74 years old at the time of filming, and she offered a frank and harrowing testimony into her horrific wartime experiences, and the reasons that have led her to choose exile over repatriation. Perhaps, the most powerful and heartfelt of Imamaura's excellent documentaries in this set.

Also included is a 12 page booklet with an original essay on Imamura's documentary work by Japanese critic Tadao Sato.

Imamura uncovers an underground network of “rogue” Japanese soldiers who stayed put in Southeast Asia permanently. Was this exile voluntary? Three hardened ex-soldiers in their fifties answer the question over a reunion dinner, semi-nostalgically recounting an unending torrent of battle atrocities committed in the name of “victory”. Their resilience is a testament to human will — and the actions they divulge provide a lifetime of ethical debate. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/in-search-of-the-unreturned-soldiers-in-thailand-outlaw-masu-returns-home/#sthash.8bArwo2y.dpuf

Imamura uncovers an underground network of “rogue” Japanese soldiers who stayed put in Southeast Asia permanently. Was this exile voluntary? Three hardened ex-soldiers in their fifties answer the question over a reunion dinner, semi-nostalgically recounting an unending torrent of battle atrocities committed in the name of “victory”. Their resilience is a testament to human will — and the actions they divulge provide a lifetime of ethical debate. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/in-search-of-the-unreturned-soldiers-in-thailand-outlaw-masu-returns-home/#sthash.8bArwo2y.dpuf

Imamura uncovers an underground network of “rogue” Japanese soldiers who stayed put in Southeast Asia permanently. Was this exile voluntary? Three hardened ex-soldiers in their fifties answer the question over a reunion dinner, semi-nostalgically recounting an unending torrent of battle atrocities committed in the name of “victory”. Their resilience is a testament to human will — and the actions they divulge provide a lifetime of ethical debate. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/in-search-of-the-unreturned-soldiers-in-thailand-outlaw-masu-returns-home/#sthash.8bArwo2y.dpuf

Imamura uncovers an underground network of “rogue” Japanese soldiers who stayed put in Southeast Asia permanently. Was this exile voluntary? Three hardened ex-soldiers in their fifties answer the question over a reunion dinner, semi-nostalgically recounting an unending torrent of battle atrocities committed in the name of “victory”. Their resilience is a testament to human will — and the actions they divulge provide a lifetime of ethical debate. - See more at: http://www.cinefamily.org/films/in-search-of-the-unreturned-soldiers-in-thailand-outlaw-masu-returns-home/#sthash.8bArwo2y.dpuf

Ripley Under Ground

Ripley Under Ground (1977) by Patricia Highsmith is another series of adventures from our favorite amoral protagonist. Ripley is not afraid to take extreme measures in order to maintain his comfortable lifestyle. He has managed to survive the Dickie Greenleaf incident (also with Dicke's money) to marry an equally morally challenged French woman and has been involved with a painting forgery racket that is quite profitable until an American collector comes to England to test his forgery theory. This leads Ripley to impersonate the dead painter and do more suspect things to cover the tracks. The is book is unusual in that it ends as cliff hanger. The story is not completely resolved at the end. It took Highsmith a bit of time to get into the mystery/thriller part of the novel, but it makes me interested enough to continue the series and see what Mr. Ripley gets up to next. 

Black River

I really found Masaki Kobayashi's film, Black River (1956), to be a fascinating look at corruption and moral decay set on the outskirts of the American Atsugi Naval base. It is the third film in the Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System. This film anticipates Shohei Imamura's break through film of the same theme, 1962's Pigs and Battleships. The films begins with Saul Bass-like images of cutouts accompanied by a jazzy atoanal score during the credits sequence and this sets the tone for the noir-like exploration of moral degradation surrounding the American naval base. A place where shady dealings in sex, black markets goods, extortion, and other crimes freely take place day in and day out. This film is also auspicious for being the great Tatsuya Nakadai's first starring role (he would go onto star in Kobayashi's seminal films The Human Condition and Hara-kiri). In this film Kobayashi presents several personal stories including that of a love triangle between Nakadai's yakuza, Killer Joe, a local girl (Ineko Arima) and a student (Fumio Watanabe). Add to this is Killer Joe's plan to turn out the residents of a slum apartment for a unscrupulous landlady (Isuzu Yamada). They attempt to stop this behind the organization of a zanichi communist, but fail. Some of the other colorful characters are the devoted house husband, whose wife is prostituting herself behind his back, a pimp, and variety of other misfits. It is a record of a bygone era when people were still desperate before the Japanese capitalist miracle had taken place.

The Samurai Film

Alain Silver's The Samurai Film (1977 revised in 2006) has a lot of insight into the genre. It seems that Silver has written several books on film including many on film noir. Part One begins with The Introduction which discusses samurai in a historical context and is followed by Chapter One: "The Samurai in Fiction." He then devotes a whole chapter to Akira Kurosawa (rightly so in my opinion). Chapter Three is called "Genre Types" and is devoted to Daisuke Ito's film The Ambitious(which I have yet to see) as well as two classics directed by Masaki Kobayaski:Hara-Kiri and Rebellion. Chapter Four, "The Alien Hero," has three sections of which the first two, "The Blind Swordfighters: Zato Ichi and the Crimson Bat" and "Kyoshiro Nemuri, 'Son of the Black Mass,'" are new to me. However, I have seen the third section focusing on the film trilogy of "Miyamoto Musashi." Silver venerates director Hideo Gosha enough to give him his own chapter as well. Chapter Six, "The Slayers" looks at directors Kihachi Okamoto and Masahiro Shinoda and "The Red Slayers." Chapter Seven "The Evolution of the Genre" has three sections: "Violence, East and West: The Last Samurai," "Style and Political Statement," and "The Samurai at the Millennium." Part Two is comprised of: filmography, video distributors, VHS/DVD rental outlets, bibliography, glossary, notes, and index. There is a lot of good information here and some interesting discussions of the genre and films. If there's one drawback, it would be the lengthy plot summaries that are sometimes difficult to follow. Silver is more compelling when making observations about directors he admires like Gosha-which inspires me to seek out more of his films since I have only seen Sword of the Beast, which I quite enjoyed.

Twenty Four Eyes

Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty Four Eyes (1954) is powerful tear jerker that is also an effective anti-war film. The power of this film lies not in showing that war is hell, but rather by showing the emotional fallout of the destructiveness of war on those who stayed at home. The themes of aging, war, and death are interpreted through the experiences of Hisako Onishi (Hideko Takamine) a rural school teacher in an island community in the inland sea of Japan. Her first meeting of the class of twelve pupils takes place in 1928 and continues until the end of WWII and the occupation into the modern Japan era. It is interesting how the film treats the repressive atmosphere of the imperial state during the warring years where teachers were branded as "reds" for being anti-war. Also, part of the beauty of the film lies in the way Kinoshita captures the beauty of the region and the simple way of life people lived there 70 years ago. The Criterion edition includes a video interview with Japanese cinema historian and critic Tadao Sato about the film and its director, theatrical teasers, and a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Audie Bock and an expert from a 1955 interview with Kinoshita.