Lost In Translation

Top 10 Films of 2013

Since I didn't go back to America during the winter break I didn't have as much of a chance to see a lot of the Oscar hopefuls this year. So I waited until the end of the month in order to try and see as many of the most heralded films of the year, but I missed a lot of highly praised films-I'll try to see as many of them as I can. Here's my limited list:

    1. Gravity-amazing film going experience on the big screen in 3D.

    2. Inside Llewyn Davis-the Coens can do no wrong, another entertaining music driven film.

    3. The Wolf of Wallstreet-Scorsese's best film since Goodfellas.

    4. American Hustle-great performances, hair, clothes, and music.

    5. Francis Ha-Noah Baumbauch's latest NY story as told channeling the French New Wave.

    6. Before Midnight-another chapter in the fascinating saga.

    7. The Grandmaster-Wong Kar-wai makes a gorgeous looking martial arts film.

    8. The Place Beyond the Pines-Blue Valentine part two?

    9. Blue Jasmine-outstanding performance by Cate Blanchett.

    10. The World's End-when Edgar Wright and co. get it right it's always entertaining.

That being said I am sure some of the following films would have made the list had I seen them and I do plan to see them: 12 Years A Slave, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, At Berkeley, and Fruitvale Station. 

Okazaki Park

The main gate for Okakzaki Park.

The flower clock.

Statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Okazaki castle to the left.

 

 

 

 

Okazaki

I decided to make a quick visit to Okazaki to see my friend Craig, above in front of his house with his tanuki, and try his new craft beers, Ale Capone ESB and Ieyesu B Ale, that he has brewed for his bar Izakaya Janai.

 

Outside Higashi Okazaki station.

Ryukai-in temple.

Sugoujin shrine.

Rokusho shrine.

In Toyohashi station to transfer to the shinkansen.

 

Giants and Toys

While I was watching Yazuso Masumura's Giants and Toys (1958) I couldn't help but compare it to Alexander Mackendrik's classic Sweet Smell of Success. Both films are about business, advertising, money, morality and ethics related to these enterprises. Giants and Toys is a critical look at a time when a particular country where work is held more highly than anything else in life. Perhaps Japan has not changed too much in that regard, but question this before achieving the economic miracle must seems a bit subversive for a Japanese film. There are some great set pieces through the film, like the opening titles sequence, the African dance cabaret scene, and the powerful last scene. An interesting film that I was unaware of until I saw the essay in Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts.

Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts

Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts (2007) edited by Alastair Phillips and Julian Stringer is another essential collection of essays on Japanese films, 24 in total, listed in chronological order. There are essays from several of my favorite Japanese films critics (Joan Mellen, Donald Richie, Keiko McDonald, David Desser, etc.) and essays on some of my favorite Japanese films (Late Spring, The Life of Oharu, Seven Samurai, Woman in the Dunes, etc.). However, there were several new critics and films to experience as well.

It turns out that the essay I selected for use in my Japanese Cinema in English class, "The Imagination of the Transcendent: Kore-eda Hirokazu's Marbosi" from David Desser was included in this volume. It is a very engaging essay about an arresting film that I felt was essential for the second semester curriculum. After that I read Darrell William Davis' essay, "Therapy for Him and Her: Kitano Takeshi's HanaBi," since it was the last film watched in my Japanese Cinema class of late. Then I read Catherine Russell's essay, "Women's Stories in Post-War Japan Naruse Mikio's Late Chrysanthemums," first since I had just watched the film and now look forward to reading Russell's book, The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity. I think she made some interesting observations about Naruse, women in Japan in the 50s, and the source material from Fumiko Hayashi (I'd like to read some of her original source material since Naruse adapted so much of it). Then it was onto to films and critics that I was familar with and like, starting with Joan Mellen's essay, "History Through Cinema: Mizoguchi Kenji's The Life of Oharu" (I just watched it a few months ago as it was given the Criterion treatment and released in 2013). I was also eager to read Abe Mark Nornes's essay, "The Riddle of the Vase: Ozu Yasujiro's Late Spring," since I have read Adam Mars-Jones single volume work on the same film, Noriko's Smiling. They both discuss interpretations from other critics like Richie, Paul Schrader, and others, while coming to different conclusions about Ozu's cinematic style. I have also seen Mizoguchi's (oneof my favorite Japanese directors) Osaka Elegy, so next in line was Toshie Mori's "All for Money: Mizoguchi Kenji's Osaka Elegy." The I got a rare chance to read an essay about one of my other favorite Japanese film makers, Shohei Imamaura, with Alastair Phillips' essay, "Unsettled Visions: Imamaura Shohei's Vengeance is Mine." I found D.P. Martinez's essay, "Seven Samurai and Six Women: Kurosawa Akira's Seven Samurai," fascinating in its analysis of women's roles in that mostly male ensemble film. I was equally disappointed in Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano's essay, "Ethnicizing the Body and Film: Teshigahara Hiroshi's Woman in the Dunes," which does little to illuminate the meaning of one of my favorite Japanese films. Daisuke Miyao in his essay, "Dark Visions of Japanese Film Noir: Suzuki Seijun's Branded To Kill," looked at the hard-boiled elements of Suzuki's film. Carole Cavanaugh's essay, "Eroticism in Two Dimensions: Shinoda Masahiro's Double Suicide," makes me want to watch the film again. Isolde Standish analyzes the controversy of Oshima's seminal film in "Transgression and the Politics of Porn: Oshima Nagisa's In The Realm of the Senses." In Linda Erlich's essay, "Community and Connection: Itami Junzo's Tampopo," she makes some interesting observations about one of the first non-monster Japanese films I ever saw. Julian Stringer's essay, "The Original and the Copy: Nakata Hideo's Ring," focuses on the films relationship to other media. "Global Markets for Anime: Mizayzaki Hayao's Spirited Away," looks at how this film became part of a global cinema. Maybe the first Japanese films I saw were monster movies as a child, Inuhiko Yomota's essay, "The Menace from the South Seas: Honda Ishiro's Godzilla," offers a critical perspective on the film and suggests that Honda is as worthy of study as Kurosawa.

There were several films that I hadn't seen and could access, so I watched them first and then read the following essays: "A Cinematic Creation: Ichikawa Kon's Conflagration" by Keiko McDonlad, "Moderation without Modernity: Masumura Yasuzo's Giants and Toys" by Michael Raine, "Questions of the New: Oshima Nagisa's Cruel Story of Youth" by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, "Playing with Postmodernism: Morita Yoshimitsu's The Family Game" by Aaron Gerow, and "The Salaryman's Panic Time: Ozu Yasujiro's I Was Born, But..." by Alstair Phillips. There were a few films that I wasn't able to track down but read the essays anyway: "Turning Serious: Yamanaka Sadao's Humanity and Paper Balloons" by Freda Feiberg, "Country Retreat: Shimizu Hiroshi's Ornamental Hairpin" by Alexander Jacoby, and Donald Richie's "Transgression and Retribution: Yanagimachi Mitsuo's Fire Festival."

Inside Llewyn Davis

I'm not really a fan of musicals, but the case can be made that Joel and Ethan Coen have made two entertaining musicals: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). I can say that I enjoyed both films immensely, however, they are two different creatures. O Brother has a much lighter tone and is essentially a comedy. Whereas even thought Inside Llewyn Davis has comedic scenes, it is a much darker film about an artist's (the talented Oscar Isaac) inability to compromise or interact socially with people. The clothes, music, and folk sensibilities add to recreate a specific place and time. As usual there a whole host of impressive supporting layers from usual Coen brothers stlawarts like John Goodman to some more contemporary actors like Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake. it has a typical inscrutable Coen brothers ending, but it is a very satisfying and entertaining film. 

I Was Born, But...

It seems that the silent film I Was Born, But... (1932), from Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu) marks a departure for celebrated director Yasujiro Ozu. It was his first social commentary picture. He had intended it as a comedy about children, but it became a dark film about adults, compromise, and survival. That being said it does have an episodic quality to it, but by far the most powerful episode revolves around the discovery of by the salaryman protagonist Yoshii's sons, that their father has a subservient position in society and must kowtow to another neighborhood child's father who is his superior at the office. This is displayed in that superior's home movies where he goads Yoshii to mug for the camera and the boys are aghast by it and go on a hunger strike after throwing tantrums. In the end it is peacefully resolved among the family members, but difficult lessons about society and the world have been learned.

American Hustle

David O. Russell channels the gritty 70s and Scorsese with his American Hustle (2013). The sets, hair, cars, and music genuinely recreate that era, but it is probably the performances that will standout for most viewers and all of the lead performances are great: Bradley Cooper as the ambitious federal agent, Christian Bale as the charismatic con man, his partner is the cunning Amy Adams, Jennifer lawrence is Bale's unstable wife, and the mark is a Jersey-fied Jeremy Renner.  Russell is showing his diversity after last year's romantic comedy, Silver Linings Playbook, with Cooper and Lawrence-who are becoming his go to actors. I'm curious to see where he will go on his next production. This was certainly one of the most entertaining films of the year, but perhaps less thought provoking than other Russell films such as Three Kings.

A Cruel Story of Youth

Nagisa Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth (1960) is usually seen as Oshima's cinematic breakthrough. It is a political film that makes statements about the consumer society that Japan was becoming during the economic miracle recovery of the post war years. He does this by also using the "sun tribe" film tropes like motorcycles, motorboats, and the sea side. A young girl Makoto (Miyuki Kawano) and her student boyfriend Kiyoshi (Yusuke Kawazu) set up an extortion scam where they find wealthy middle aged men who and extort money after they make passes at Makoto. Kiyoshi also has a middle aged lover who gives him money so that Makoto can have an abortion from her sister's ex-lover who does abortions on the side to make ends meet. It is a cruel and sordid tale of the frustrations of the new up and coming generation.

The Wolf of Wallstreet

Martin Scorcese's latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), is easily his most entertaining and accomplished since Goodfellas. Like that film, the focus is on amoral criminals, but who wants to see a film about ordinary people doing ordinary things, that's not good drama or film. I was impressed by the different film angles set ups that Scorcese used throughout the film. I had heard that it was repetitive and overlong and I may have to agree that it could have been somewhat shorter, but I was entranced basically from start to finish, even though we all knew where it was headed-it was fun to go along for the ride. Great performances from the main and supporting cast. So far one of my favorites from 2013.