Lost In Translation

Criterion Editions: La Notte, L'Eclisse, Drunken Angel, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox

I decided to order Criterion editions of Italian director Michelangelo Anotioni's films La Notte (1961) and L'Eclisse (1962) for the extras they include. LaNotte has an interview with film critic Adriano Apra and film historian Carlo di Carlo, an interview with professor Giuliana Bruno, on the role of architecture in film, and a booklet with an essay by critic Richard Brody and a 1961 article by the director. The L'Eclisse edition is fully loaded with extras in comparison with a two disc treatment. The first has audio commentary by Richard Pena, program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. The second disc has Michelangelo Anotioni: The Eye that Changed Cinema-a 56 minute documentary that explores the director's life and career, Elements of Landscape-a 22 minute video piece about Anotioni and L'Eclisse, featuring Italian critic Adriano Apra and long time Anotioni friend Carlo di Carlo. There is a 32 page booklet with essays by film critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and Gilberto Perez, along with reprinted excerpts from Anotioni's own writings about his works.

I also picked up the Criterion edition of Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (1959), his first film with Toshiro Mifune as the lead. A collaboration that would last until 1964's Red Beard. This is Kurosawa's first triumph, the film where the Kurosawa style shone through as a distinct style. The Criterion edition includes audio commentary from Donald Richie, a 31 minute documentary on the making of Drunken Angle, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It's Wonderful to Create, Kurosawa and the Censors a 25-minute video piece that looks at the challenges Kurosawa faced in making Drunken Angle, and a booklet featuring an essay by cultural historian Ian Buruma and excerpts from Kurosawa's Something Like An Autobiography.

There was another double order from a beloved director in Wes Anderson. The first was a film that after watching again for the first time since it came out, that I had previously underrated, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004). As pointed out in this Onion AV review, I was probably harsher on it than I should have been since it arrived on the heels of The Royal Tenebaums with a similar story and similar aesthetics. I supposed I mistook Anderson for a one-trick pony, but i must say I really enjoyed Zissou the second time around, Anderson knows how to tell as story and create an alternate universe. There are some good extras as well including: commentary by Wes Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach, ten deleted scenes, and a "Starz on the Set" behind-the -scenes featurette.

That being said, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) is one of my favorite Wes Anderson films, so when the Criterion edition came out I got it. It has a great cast of voice actors including: George Clooney, Owen Wison, Jason Schwartzman, and Meryl Streep. Also, another fine soundtrack with: "Streetfighting Man" by the Rolling Stones, "Let Her Dance" by The Bobby Fuller Four, and "Heroes and Villains" by The Beach Boys among others. The DVD includes a DVD of extras with the following: "The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox **From Script to Screen," "The Puppet Makers," "Still Life (Puppet Animation)," "The Cast," "Bill and His Badger," "A Beginner's Guide to Whack-Bat," "Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Roald Dahl," and the "Theatrical Trailer."

Totally Tenderly Tragically

I sought out Phillip Lopate's book of film criticism and essays, Totally Tenderly Tragically (1998), due to the fact that he wrote some engaging notes for the Criterion editions of Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu and Mikio Naruse's When A Woman Ascend the Stairs-two directors who rise in my esteem after every film I see by them. Furthermore, the title of his collection comes from one of Jean-Luc Goddard best films, Contempt. There are thoughtful pieces on Mizoguchi ("Kenji Mizoguchi") and Naruse ("A Taste for Naruse") here as well. Again, I found affinity with Lopate on other directors and critics as well: with Antonioni ("Anticipation of LaNotte: The "Heroic" Age of Moviegoing" and ""Anotonioni's Conaca"-which inspired me to see it), Goddard ("Contempt: The Story of a Marriage"), Truffant ("truffaut's The Woman Next Door"), Yasujiro Ozu ("Three Ozu Films from the Fifties"), Sidney Lumet ("Sidney Lumet, or The Necessity for Compromise"), Pauline Kael ("The Passion of Pauline Kael") and Andrew Sarris ("The Gallant Andrew Sarris"). I was also inspired to seek out other films and explore the oveure of several other directors as well: ("Diary of a Country Priest:Films as Spiritual Life"-Robert Bresson), his passion for Fassbinder (but not Despair-"Fassbinder's Despair"), Luchino Visconti ("The Operatic Realism of Luchino Visconti"-I ordered five of his films on Lopate's recommendation), John Cassavetes ("The Legacy of John Cassavetes"). In general, I share an afinity in my taste for art films, but Lopate is strikingly intolerant of modern and mainstream Hollywood productions. For example, in "The 32nd New York Film Festival" he reveals that he does not appreciate Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express, and has special contmept for Krzsztof Kieslowski's Red. That being said I found the overall collection of essays inspiring, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Two of the standout pieces were the appreciation of Naruse and the profile on Pauline Kael. So I will seek out more of Lopate's essay collections in the future.

Wild Life

I recently wrote an essay comparing and contrasting Shinji Aoyama's film An Obsession with the film that inspired it, Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog. So while researching that film, specifically listening to Jasper Sharp's commentary about Aoyama and the 90s Japanese film scene, I was inspired to search out Wild Life (1997). The irony of the title is that the protagonist, Iijima (Jun Kunimura) an ex-boxer working for a pachinko palor owner who lives a strictly regimented life, gets caught up with the yakuza when his boss is kidnapped. It is something of a parody of the genre in Aoyama's approach. He uses a complex flashback structure to tell the story. Aoyama also employs some intersting camera work such as when the camera a couple of times circles his principals in a way suggesting those shifting elements laying at the centre of his story. While elsewhere the director also blocks character entries and exits through camera movement, which essentially puts the viewer slightly on edge wondering what will happen in the next frame. The DVD also has an interview with the director and another comentary by Jasper Sharp. 

Akita: Day Two

Akita is known for their Kanto Festival in August when they parade these huge lantern effigies.

Akita International University site of the International Society for Language Studies 2014 Conference.

Lots of rice fields outside the city, it is known as Japan's rice bowl for rice production.

Shenshu Park.

Akita castle.

The 1912 red brick buidling, now a museum.

At Chawanya, a local restaurnt specializing in local fare. The manager is a saucy one. 

Damako nabe, hot pot with mochi-like rice balls, tofu, vegetables, and meat. Similar to the kiritampopo nabe-the local speciality.

Since rice is a speciality, thus nihonshu is also a speciality.

Babaylon reggae bar.

Akita: Day One

I have come to Akita city, capital of Akita prefecture in Tohoku, the northeastern part of Honshu, for the 2014 International Society for Language Studies Conference.

I had to search out the excellent beer from Aqula at Aqula Brau House Akita.

Akita Bijin (Muencher Helles).

Fake snow shrine.

Craft beer festival.

Diary Of A Country Priest

Diary Of A Country Priest (1950) by Robert Bresson was another inspired choice from a Phillip Lopate essay who chose this as the film that changed his life. I was familiar with the director through his inclusion in Paul Schrader's book on transcendentalism (which also included references to Yasujiro Ozu and Carl Dreyer). Bresson has created a visually spare and spiritual film dealing with faith, alienation, and perseverance. Using minimal dialogue, introspective journal entries, and isolated long and medium shots, Bresson presents a harsh reality and misunderstood existence of a man of faith in a secular world, where altruism and devotion are viewed with cynicism and distrust by people in the village. Metaphorically, the physical illness of the priest reflects his spiritual health and his vanishing idealism, as his affliction moves from a passing discomfort that is treated with abstinence and self-denial, to an illness that slowly consumes him. The final image of an isolated cross represents the life of the nameless priest: a symbol of suffering, alienation, and human cruelty - yet seemingly, transcendent. These films and novels of the crisis of faith no longer affect me the way they did when I was younger and still challenging my belief system, but I can appreciate the stark portrayal of faith in this film.

Deep Kyoto Walks

After my first two trips to Kyoto, which were essentially identical since I had visitors with me the second time and felt the need to take them to the most well known sites like Kinkakuji, Kiyomizudera, Ginkakuji, etc. It was on the most recent trip two years ago when I realized that I would need to visit many time to see all that is worth seeing there. So Deep Kyoto Walks (2014) edited by Michael Lambe and Ted Taylor is the perfect guide for someone like me who wants to know about things off the beaten track, since it gives personalized views of what to see and do in Kyoto by people who have lived there for extended periods of time. In a sense, it offers a personalized curated guide to one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world. Full disclosure, I am friends with the editors, but the contributions in this books come from a variety of informed viewpoints and expertise. As pointed out in the forward by Lambe, the size and layout of Kyoto make it perfect for walking and exploring and as Taylor mentions in the introduction most of Asian life is lived out of doors, so there is much to take in while out exploring in the city. There are useful interactive end notes throughout to explain aspects of Japanese culture or history and other digressions, links to places mentioned, as well as 12 maps with links to Google maps. Thus, it is very user friendly guide.

"Time Travelling on Gojo" by Jennifer Louise Teether is unique in her exploration of her neighborhood through a Gojo Pottery festival co-mingled with musings on Japanese aesthetics in general and pottery in particular. Lambe contributed two essays in the collection and the first, "Red Brick & Sakura: A Walk in Modern Kyoto" was of particular interest to me since I also enjoy seeking out notable architecture. Lambe is particularly interested in the Meiji (1868-1912) era architecture. But he also discusses some of the more controversial buildings in the city, like the Kyoto Tower (1964), which Alex Kerr describes as a "symbolic stake through the heart of the city," but contrarily, Lambe accepts it as a Kyoto landmark. However, he agrees with Kerr, unlike me, with the assessment of Kyoto Station as being out of place and garish. Lambe's second essay, "Up and Down the Ki,'" is a meditation on the drinking culture of Kyoto. He recounts a 10 bar crawl with a local musician duo playing for an hour at each location that he took on November 30th in 2103, the 9th such event.  Bridget Scott contributed to the collection with "Ghosts, Monkeys, & Other Neighbors" and brings thoughts on her expertise in butoh to light in her essay about her neighborhood. A more personal account of a place is found in Miki Matusmoto's musings on her many memories related to "Climbing Mount Daimonji." Cultural and historical references abound in Robert Yellin's essay "Not Sure Which Way To Go" on the Philosophy Path route. Perhaps, the best known writer in this collection is Pico Iyer, author of several books on travel and other subjects, who praises the melding of the new and old in Kyoto in his essay "Into the Tumult." Chris Rowthorn's essay, "Old School Giaji Kyoto" is personal look at old Kyoto haunts on a return to a city he had lived as a young man arriving in 1992. It seems that not all of his remembrances are happy ones, but it also seems that he has since come to terms with these demons. History and poetry are at the forefront of John Doughill's "Kamogawa Musing." John Ashburne's (a noted food writer) essay "Gods, Monks, Secrets, Fish" is notable for a focus on the food based culture of Kyoto including a  detailed look at Nishikikoji Market, and a map of some of the noteworthy stalls discussed in the essay is provided in the maps appendix. Co-editor Taylor's first of two essay is "Across Purple Fields" which is a personalized account of typical walk he takes with his young daughter in his neighborhood and includes musing about zen philosophy. His second essay, "A Long March" broaches the political with the personal as he recollects a protest march he participated in after the 3.11 tsunami caused the nuclear accident in Tohoku. Stephen Henry Gill also brings an unusual perspective to his essay, "Blue Sky" seeing that he is a conservationist and poet-so both of those aspect get their due in the account of his walk near Mt. Ogawa and the splendid Arashiyama area. An event is at the heart of Sandborn Borwn's essay, "Hiking Mount Atago," a group event that takes place every summer. This essay was informative in that I learned about the Giant Salamander and 10 cm poisonous centipedes that inhabit those parts. I am now interested in visiting both Koto-in and Shodenji after reading Joel Stewart's descriptions of them in his essay on his walk in North Kyoto, "In Praise of Uro Uro." Izumi Texidor Hirai has also piqued my interest in her subject with her lively descriptions in "The Botanical Gardens." Perrin Lindelauf's final essay, "Rounding Off: The Kyoto Trail" is fitting since this 75 km trail encompasses most of Kyoto. According to the essay there are four sections: Higashiyama (25km), Kitayama East (18km) and Kitayama West (19km) in the north and Nishiyama (12km) in the western Arashiyama district. I found his four day-69 km walk inspiring. "The Epilogue: On Foot in the Ancient Capital" is provided by 40 year resident Judith Clancy, author of several books on Kyoto, in which she discusses the small changes and details she has observed over the years in the ancient capital.

I think this volume is indispensable for short term, long term, and repeat visits. There is wealth of suggestions for a prolonged visit. And it can also provide assistance for a short time visit; in that it provides local knowledge for that day or afternoon when you want to get off the tourist trail. The amount of incidental information about Japanese history, culture, and society collected in these essays is invaluable in itself. For people like me, who live in Japan and have the opportunity for repeat visits, it provides inspiration and a variety of courses for exploration deep in the heart of Kyoto.

The Story Of A Love Affair

I am a fan of Michelangelo Antonioni's films and was inspired to seek out his first film, Story Of A Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore 1950), after reading critic Philip Lopate's essay "Antonion's Cronaca." Antonioni was 39 and had extensive experience writing and working as an assistant director to such respected directors as Robert Rossilini, but it is still an auspicious first film. It is one of his more traditional films in terms of plot and narrative. There are essentially two parts to this stylish film noir. In the first part a millionaire industrialist (Ferdinando Sarmi) hires a detective agency to investigate about his beautiful young wife, Paola (Lucia Bose)  of whose past he knows very little. This spooks since there  is an incident that she is trying to forget her and this draws a former lover, Guicdo (Massimoto Giroti), back into her life. From here the film treads familiar territory as Paola takes up with old lover. She wants Guido to kill her husband so that they can be together, something thats can be seen in films like The Postman Always Rings Twice. Lopate points out that this is the film that Antonioni discovered his trademark "slow cut" wher ehe keeps the camera running after the actor has completed the scene and walked off and focuses on the setting of the scene. The effect is not unlike that used by Ozu's focus on object at the end and beginning of scenes. He would go onto use this approach more in subsequent films. It is an impressive first film-that is still entertaining today. 

Travels Without My Aunt

Now that I have read all of Graham Greene's novels, I am reduced to reading books about the author and his books, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Julia Llewellyn Smith's book Travels Without My Aunt: In the Footsteps of Graham Greene (2000) is satisfying on two levels: it does a good job of summing up the settings of Greeneland novels and the state they were in circa the late 1990s as well as illuminating the the sources and inspirations for said novels. I like how she interweaves the history and recent political highlights to give a background to her journeys as well. Greene's memoir Ways Of Escape is frequently referred to as Smith recounts Greene's inspirations. Smith begins with an introduction set in Brighton, the site of Greene's first really successful novel commercially and critically. Smith is English, so it is fitting that her book begins and ends in England even though it is about the far flung unstable locales that Greene was drawn to and wrote about. 

The first section is set in Mexico and specifically Chiapas where he travelled following the antic clerical campaign that was taking place. This trip would be the inspiration for two books, arguably he greatest novel, The Power and the Glory and his fascinating travel book, The Lawless Roads. I was surprised and amused to find that Greene has so detested Mexico. Of the tow I had most recently read The Lawless Roads, which I remember mostly for elegant prose descriptions of the arid and barren countryside as well as his musings on religion and life of priests among these people. Somehow I missed the venomous declarations of the place and people that Smith constantly brought out in this section. I feel as though I ought to re-read it. Perhaps for my next Mexico visit. I got the feeling that Smith also didn't have such a liking for the country either.

Surprisingly, the chaotic and decrepit African location, Sierra Leone, the setting for the first Graham Greene novel I read The Heart of the Matter, was one of Smith's favorite places. In the late 90s it was torn apart with civil war (1991-2002) with rebels with a child army committing unspeakable atrocities as the infrastructure of the county continued to erode. Smith explains this due to the beauty of the country and the nature of its inhabitants who can always find something to smile about. It was and remains one of the poorest and un-developed countries in the world topping most lists of infant mortality and shortest life spans, while having among the lowest income per capita in the world, 70% of the population lives in poverty. Smith has almost convinced me that I need to visit it.

The third section is concerned with a country that I have been to fours times and first visited about the same time as Smith (1999-2000), Vietnam.  Again, Smith has found much to like about this location for one of my favorite Greene novels, The Quiet American. She didn't seems as impressed with Hanoi as I had been, but I travelled there much later. However, I can attest to the charm that Vietnam exuded before the China-like liberalization of the economy that has so changed present day Vietnam. It is curious that Greene has a thing against the American government throughout his life and that attitude was probably born through his observations in Vietnam in the 50s.

In between England and America lies the Caribbean that would be the setting for several novels and in sections three and four Smith visits Cuba and Haiti. In regards to Cuba, Smith makes the same assessment of the beleaguered communist country and capital city of Havana of Fidel Castro as that of Greene's hero of Our Man in Havana, Wormold that it was  a "city to visit , not a city to live." This novel was another favorite that was co-opted into another fine book with homage by John LeCarre with The Tailor of Panama. Haiti, the setting of The Comediennes, is another place that Smith cam ot love despite the wretchedness of the quality of life of the inhabitants. It rivals Sierra Leone in poverty and quality of life, but like that country the people are presented as happy go lucky in their approach to life. It, too, has a sort of natural beauty. It is a fascinating place with a equally fascinating history as the first free slave republic and the birthplace of voodoo. It is probably at the top of the list of Greene novel settings that I want to visit as well.

Smith travels to South America for the location of another favorite, The Honorary Counsal, in the fifth section about Argentina and Paraguay. Last year I traveled to Argentina and thoroughly enjoyed, but found it less exotic than Peru and Brazil. I had forgotten the role Paraguay played in the novel, but it is apparently a cesspool of crime, greed, and corruption where criminals, terrorists and fugitives gather. It is the location for major smuggling operations. It sounds terribly interesting to me and goes on the list of places from Greene novels to visit. 

In the epilogue, Smith returns to England and Berhamsted, the birthplace of Greene and the setting for The Human Factor. It is a fitting way to put Greene's life and travels in perspective. Allin all, I quite enjoyed the investigations of Green locations, occasionally I found the author a bit off putting with her editorial comments about her opinions of people and incidents, but Smith was mostly objective in her opinions.

Older Brother, Younger Sister

In some ways Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953) encapsulates many of the themes and motifs in Mikio Naruse's woman pictures. It is the story of the tumult that has come to a struggling family. The film starts as San returns home from the city where she is studying to be a midwife and meets the oldest daughter Mon (the sensuous Machiko Kyo) who has gotten impregnated by a student while supporting the family working as a hostess in the city. The father who has lost his business and pride and older brother Inokichi (a menacing Masayuki Mori), a rough neck who plays pachinko and chases prostitutes, are livid with shame and anger that she has brought upon the family. The relationship between Mon and Inokichi has a tinge of the forbidden when he confronts Mon's lover, the student Kobata (Eji Funakoshi) when he has come to ask forgiveness and give condolence money. He states that he used to share a bed with her and lead her to the toilet at night when they were little. Furthermore, and saw her face everyday until she was 17. Things really come to an impasse in the third act when Inokichi beats Mon on her return after a stillborn childbirth during the obon holiday. As with many Naruse films it ends on an ambiguous note, nothing has been solved but Mon doesn't seem to be overly upset by her traumatic physical fight with her brother, she tells San she will still come to visit the family even if she doesn't have a good brother.