Lost In Translation

Commune 246

The food stall village on Aoyama-dori (Route 246) has reopened as Commune 246 and looks to be a good place to hang out once the weather starts getting warmer.

A Fugitive From The Past

Tomu Uchida's A Fugitive From The Past (1965) is forgotten New Wave classic, even though Uchida was from the Kurosawa/Ozu generation of filmmakers. It is a postwar police procedural on one level and calls to mind Kurosawa's brilliant Stray Dog in the manhunt for the man (played by Rentaro Mikuni) who evaded the police and justice for 10 years. Uchida does an excellence job of depicting the postwar chaos and poverty. This struggle for survival is manifested in the depiction of the life of the prostitute (Sachiko Hidari of The Insect Woman fame) that the criminal gives a large amount of money after making his escape. The money has allowed her to pay the debts that had her working at a brothel, support her family, and to depart to Tokyo to find better paying work than was available in Hokkaido at the time. It is this woman's gratitude and hope to see her benefactor in order to thank him for his generosity that is ultimately his undoing. She eventually finds the man despite his new identity and life in Kyoto prefecture. When she visits him and exposes him he feels the need to kill her and his male secretary. Eventually the original Hokkaido detective (Junzaburo Ban) and an new inspector, an early role for Ken Takakura, expose the false identity and get the criminal to confess. However, we learn that he didn't originally kill the family or start the fire that devastated a village-rather it was his traveling companions(recently released form prison) who committed the crime. He kept the money but used it for good in order to compensate for the crimes from which he profited, thus a third strand of the film is concerned with karma and spiritual atonement. If there is any weakness in the film, it might be that length somewhat slows the flow of the film, but also allows it to have the scope to encompass three separate stories within one film. Uchida uses a variety of special effects to depict flashbacks to the violence of the past, inventive crane shots and other effective camera angles to punctuate the action on the screen. This is an impressive film that deserves a bigger audience.

The Jinx

Andrew Jarecki, director of the engaging documentary Capturing The Friedmans, examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate heir, Robert Durst, a key suspect in a series of unsolved murders in the HBO miniseries The Jinx (2015). Durst is all over the newspapers, so I don't  think I'll be spoiling anything by saying that he has gotten away with murder since his wife disappeared in 1982. More recently he is considered the prime suspect in the murder of a woman who was known as his best friend and confident as  well as the exonerated defendant of killing and dismembering his neighbor in Galveston, Texas. It seems as though some of this may have caught up with him this time. It just goes to show that truth is often stranger than fiction, and ironic since Jarecki made a fictional film, All Good Things, based on the disappearance of Durst's first wife prior to this film.

Havana: Day Five

Victor Hugo House.

O'Reilly's cafe.

Museo de la Ciudad.

Casilla de la Fuerza.

Plaza de San Francisco de Asis.

 

 

Terminal Sierra Maedera.

Dos Hermanos bar.

Nazastovie, a restaurant owner by Charlie's hometown friend serves up tasty Russian fare.

I had my birthday dinner here.

Rolled cabbage and stuffed green pepper.

Beef stroganoff.

Havana: Day Four

Police station.

Necropolis Cristobal Colon.

Ferrer Diaz from the Buena Vista Social Club.

Plaza de la Revolucion.

Mabodofu and gyoza in Chinatown.

Plaza Vieja.

Havana: Hotel Telegrafo

I decided to stay in one of the luxury hotels, Hotel Telegrafo, in Havana for my last two days. Nice, but not really worth it, given how nice some of the casa paticulars are.

Santa Clara

Parque Vidal and surroundings.

Teatro la Caridad.

Monumento Ernesto Che Guevara.

Catedral de las Santas Hermanas de Santa Clara de Asis.

La Casa de la Ciudad.

Cigar rolling factory.

Monumento a la Toma del Tren Blindado.

Estatua Che y Nino.

The garden in Restaurant Florida Center.

Stewed beef.

Santa Clara: Hostal Buena Vista

The owner of the casa particular in Trinidad set me up with another beautiful colonial style casa particular in Santa Clara a few blocks from Parque Vidal-the city center. This one was only 25 CUC per night ($25). The English speaking taxi driver who picked me up also arranged for me to join two others in a private taxi to Havana the next day instead of taking a later bus. They also had recommendations for a casa in Havana, but I had already booked a luxury hotel for my last two nights.

Mr. Turner

Mr. Turner (2014) is perhaps the most visually stunning Mike Leigh film to date and succeeds under Timothy Spall’s commanding performance as the laconic English artist, J.M.W. Turner. One might suggest that the artist is a stand in for the director. This is the second Leigh film that is concerned with the creation of art, much like his earlier impressive period piece, Topsy Turvy. There are several artist story tropes that are examined in the film: the misunderstood artist, artist vs critic, art vs commerce. I found it amusing that one critic took umbrage from Leigh's portrayal of the critic John Ruskin as a simpering effeminate ninny. There are some scenes of extreme beauty about the artist who is compelled to create and not just for fame or reward, but for the sake of creating something beautiful.

Trinidad: Day Four-Sugarcane Valley Tour

Valle de los Ingenios.

Plantation lookout tower.

Plantation home.

The chapel.

A larger lookout tower.

Stewed lamb for lunch.

Ceramics workshop.