Lost In Translation

Edo Reikishi Canal Tour

The boat left from Nihonbashi, where all dsitances in Japan are measured from.

Our final destinaiton TY Harbor Brewery in Shinagawa for lunch and beers.

BFI: A CIty Of Sadness

A City Of Sadness (2002) by Berenice Reynaud is another fascinating book from BFI focusing on a single film. This time the 1989 Golden Lion winner at Venice in 1989 and Taiwanese historical epic from director Hou Hsiao-hsien is the subject. Reynaud organizes the book into five chapter: 1) Chinese History Is Made At Night, 2) A Family in the Wind of History, 3) A Polyphony of Voices, 4) Lost Spaces, and 5) An Aesthetic of the Fleeting Moment. Reynaud looks at the historical source material of the great shift from Japanese colony to refuge for Chiang Kai-shek after his defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong. She also discuses this film in the context of the other films he had mad up to 2002. I found the chapter "Lost Spaces" especially interesting since she talks about the influence of Ozu on Hou (he hadn't seen an Ozu films until the early 80s, but felt a strong connection with his work). Reynaud compares what she calls visual motif shots with what is known as Ozu's "pillow shots"--the most famous of which was the flower vase in Late Spring.  The book is a well researched analysis of one of the great director's masterpieces. 

A City of Sadness

A few issues back, Film Comment had a feature on the best single volume books on film and one of them was the BFI A City of Sadness volume. So since I was already a fan of Hou Hsiao-hsien I decided to search out the film A City of Sadness (1989) and read the book. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Tony Leung starred in the film, this is always a good indicator that it would be a quality film--he seems to be involved with several directors that I appreciate: Hou, Wong Kar-wai, Tran Ahn Hung, and John Woo among others. It is an epic historical film about the tumultuous time between gaining independence from Japan and the post war troubles that China faced in the years 1948-1949 that would disrupt Taiwan. It focuses on a single family of four brothers who would not survive the ordeal. There are some great performances and impressive cinematography of the beauty of the Taiwanese coast and mountains from Huai-en Chan.

Menshou Yousuke

This Nakano ramen shop serves chicken based soup with slices of chicken instead of pork. It is a much lighter style of ramen served with with thin noodles and a lemon slice. It is one of my favorites in the area so far.

The Sound Of The Mountain (Film)

After reading Yasunari Kawabata's impressive novel, I was curious to see how it would be interpreted by director Mikio Naruse in his version of The Sound Of The Mountain (1954). In particular, I was wondering how scandalous material like extra material affairs and abortions would be handled, and to my surprise they were included in the film version as well. It seems the film company and general public were more sophisticated than I gave them credit for being in the mid 50s in Japan. I thought it was be suited for Ozu, who also lived in Kamakura (where Kawabata lived and where the novel takes place). But Naruse makes it his own film in a fashion by adding a bleaker ending than in the book, but he mostly adheres to the story and essence of the book about an unhappy family. It stars So Yamaura as Shingo Ogata and Setsuko Hara as his beloved daughter-in-law playing a role similar to the one she had a year earlier in Ozu's Tokyo Story. Naruse's cinematic vision is realized in seamless editing, classically framed shots and choice uses of locations to provide his vision of Kawabata's excellent novel.

The Sound Of The Mountain

In the past I have read a couple of books by Yasunari Kawabata (Beauty and Sadness and The House of Sleeping Beauties), which I enjoyed and made a mental note to read more sometime. Recently I was inspired to read more after reading Donald Richie's journals where Kawabata's primary translator Edward Seidensticker and Richie's close friend looms prominently and reminded me that there were several Kawabata novels left to read. The Sound Of The Mountain (1954) is essentially the story of an unhappy family from the point of view of the patriarch, Shingo who is nearing the end of his life. He makes many interesting observation in his daily life (he has a strong internal life) as he tries untangle the problems of his household. He has an unusually strong bond with his daughter-in-law Kikuko. She is suffering, because Shingo's son, Shuichi, a war veteran, is having an affair with a war widow. Shuichi seems to have been affected by his war experience and it has made him cynical, the war looms in the fact that the mistress, Kinu, also exhibits a cynicism since he husband never returned from the war and she has no children. Shingo troubles mount as his daughter returns home with her infant and young daughter fleeing her alcoholic-drug addict husband, Aihara. She is resentful toward Shingo since she hasn't felt loved by him, and in his internal dialogues notes how unattractive she is and more like his wife Yasuko rather than her older sister whom Shingo carried a flame for-he secretly hoped she would turn out like her aunt. Complications ensue as Kikuko gets pregnant and then aborts the child since Shingo is embedded in an affair. He later leaves his mistress only to find out that she, too, is pregnant but insists on keeping it. Furthermore, Aihara attempts suicide and fails, but asks for a divorce from Fusako. At the end of the novel, Shuichi and Kikuko reconcile and the family plans an outing to see the maples. The story takes place in Kamakura, so at first I thought it would seems natural for Ozu to direct a film version of the story, but upon reflection I think there is too much untidy human behavior and direct speaking for an Ozu approach. In addition, I could not see Ryu Chisu embody the vibrant inner life of Shingo on the screen. So I was interested to see that it was Naruse who adapted the film version of the novel (and that will be another post). I found Kawabata's simple family drama fascinating and resonant.

Village Of Dreams

Village of Dreams (1996), Winner of the Silver Bear at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival, directed by Yoichi Higashi is one of the film Keiko McDonald wrote about inher book Reading A Japanese Film that I hadn't seen yet. It is a curious film in that it is based on a memoir by the painter Tashima Seizo and his identical twin brother Yukihiko who is also a painter. The film begins with some documentary footage of the two brothers meeting and talking about their time growing up in Koichi in Shikoku after WWII. Then it goes into flashback to 1948 when the brothers were nine and it chronicles their escapades in rural Japan at school, in nature fishing and catching eels as well as getting into trouble with the neighbors. The recently ended war is only referred to as the villagers curse Mac Arthur adn the land reforms that gave land to the people who worked it-taking it away from the landlords. There are some stunning scenes of the beauty of rural Shikoku throughout the film. It plays as a straightforward children's idyll until elements of magic realism take occur, which seems appropriate for a childhood memoir of artists who have a rich fantasy life. It is a moving portrait of a carefree childhood in a bygoen time and place.

Reading A Japanese Film

Keiko McDonald’s book, Reading A Japanese Film: Cinema In Context (2006) is meant to be an updated text for use in Japanese film classes. In her introduction she says that sees this book as a companion to Donald Richie’s book, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. It would serve as an useful companion, but it stands alone well by itself. McDonald has chosen 16 films from various directors, genres, and periods to analyze. Many I have seen before: Sisters of the Gion (1936) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel (1948) & Madadayo (1993), Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy (1954-1956), Ozu’s Floating Weeds (1959), Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba (1963), Juzo Itami’s A Taxing Woman (1987), Hiroshi Koreda’s Maboroshi (1995), and Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return (1995). But there are several that were new to me or I hadn’t gotten around to seeing yet and I have subsequently watched: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Yoichi Higashi’s Village of Dreams (1996), and Naomi’s Kawase’s Suzaku (1997). Although, McDonald states that all of the films are available with English subtitles (and this may have been true when it was published in 2006),however, I have had trouble tracking down several of them. For example, Shiro Toyoda’s The Mistress (1954), Kohei Ogura’s Muddy River (1981), and Masahiro Shinoda’s MacArthur’s Children (1984). McDonald generally analyzes the film in a linear narrative fashion, but often draws attention to cultural details that only a person intimately associated with Japanese culture could understand. I found the essays insightful and thorough in their discussions of the themes and issues explored by the directors. It is a welcome addition to the library of Japanese film.

Tei Tei

Another Nakano establishment: karage teishoku (set lunch) lunch with cabbage, rice, pickles, tofu, and miso soup.

Flowers of Shanghai

Hou Hisiao-hsien's Flowers of Shanghai (1998) gives us a glimpse at the inner workings of Chinese brothels (flower houses) in the 19th century and it was a cloistered and claustrophobic existence. There are no scenes filmed outside of the brothel houses and there are several long takes, most notably the opening sequence. Ping Bin Lee's camera lingers around the action, which is mostly eating, drinking, and smoking opium. I recognized several Wong Kar-wai regulars in Toney Leung and Michelle Reis and it seems that a Japanese actress, Michko Hada was included as a nod to Japanese investors perhaps (it was produced by Shochiku Studios). The story is from acclaimed Chinese writer Eileen Chang. Essentially, the film chronicles the relations, their loves and betrayals, between the courtesans and Qing dynasty officials. Most of the enjoyment from the subtleties of this film requires concentration and close attention to detail.