Lost In Translation

Spring Summer Fall Winter And Spring

I have read a lot of good things about Ki-duk Kim's 2003 film Spring Summer Fall Winter And Spring. It is a stunning film visually and also embodies some interesting ideas and concepts as well. It is a cohesive film that is broken into the stages of the titles and follows the life an apprentice monk who is raised by an older wise monk who lives out his life in a remote floating temple in the middle of a picturesque lake in a remote valley. Despite this location the world comes to them through visitors such a young woman who is suffering and then find love with the young apprentice and interjects some worldly suffering and feelings of injustice among other things. Later two detectives come to the lake and in the final scene a mysterious woman brings a young child to the temple to make a circle of life and stories taking place over time. It is a somber, quite, but powerful film about the cycles of life as personified by the changing seasons and weather that accompanies these changes.

And Yet...

It's hard to believe that Christopher Hitchens has been dead since 2011. A new collection of his uncollected essays, And Yet... (2015), from publications like Slate, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, among others has recently been published. I have probably read most of the entries from Slate, but most of the other essays are new tome. Hitchens has essays from a variety of interests, most of which I share. There are inspiring book reviews (Salman Rushdie's Shamilar The Clown, Georgina Howell's biography Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, Omar Pamuk's Snow, Clive James' Cultural Amnesia, Paul Scott'S Raj Quartet, etc.), profiles of political and cultural personalities (Che Guevera, Orianna Fallaci, A. N. Wilson, Edmund Wilson, George Orwell, etc.), political think-pieces ("Orwell's List," "Ohio's Odd Numbers," "Look Who's Cutting and Running Now," etc.), personal takes on various subjects (Christmas holidays "Bah Humbug," getting American citizenship "On Becoming an American," self-improvement ("On the Limits of Self-Improvement I-III"), etc.), and he touches on hundreds of other issues, ideas, and subjects. I always feel as though I have learned something new when reading Hitchens' essays or that I have been challenged to see something in a different light-even if it is tiresome-Hitchens' obsession with 9/11 and hatred of the Clintons ("The Case Against Hillary Clinton" and "The Tale of Tuzla"). Overall, the collection of essays is thought-provoking and entertaining, too bad there won't be any more collections now that he has died.

The Ballad Of Narayama (1958)

Keisuke Kinoshita's The Ballad Of Narayama (1958) is something of a revelation to me. The previous films of Kinoshita that I have seen were realistic humanist portraits (Twenty-Four Eyes and the early WWII films he made), and bear little resemblance to this kabuki inspired film. But in the essay by Philip Kemp, he mentions that Kinoshita was actually known for innovation-Carmen Comes Home was the first color Japanese film. Apparently, Kinoshita was also known for his versatility in terms of genres: political dramas (Morning Comes for the Osone Family), satirical comedy (Carmen Comes Home), melodrama (A Japanese Tragedy) social history (Twenty-Four Eyes), period films (The River Fuefuki), and geisha drama (The Scent of Incense). The film is full of artificiality in the appearance of a black-clad narrator (known as a joruri) who makes some introductory remarks and then pulls aside a curtain to open the film. The film is clearly shot on a sound stage rather than location and colors are manipulated throughout the film. At some points Kinoshita uses color filters like red and green. Sets are moved to transition from day to night. There are several songs, flutes, and shamisen used to punctuates the action throughout the film. It would seems to have inspired Mashairo Shinoda's bunraku-inspired film that also uses many of the theatrical conventions that Kinoshita has pioneered here in Double Suicide (1969). Periodically the joruri chimes in, narrating the action with chant-like songs. In this story, Orin (played by Kenji Mizoguchi's muse Kinuyo Tanaka) is preparing for her fate to be left to die on the mountain Narayama, known as the tradition of “ubasute”, which means abandoning the elderly or infirm on a mountain or desolate place to die. Her son Tatsuhei (Teiji Takahashi) laments this tradition and rues the day in which he will be forced to abandon his mother that he clearly feels affection for. As does his newly acquired bride, the widow Tama (Yûko Mochizuki). However, his disdainful son Kesakichi (Danko Ichikawa) makes up songs about his grandmother being a demon and pushes for having her abandoned as soon as possible. It has been suggested that Kinoshita may have been using the ruthless tradition of communal life to reflect the sacrifice of the individual for a supposedly greater cause (read WWII nationalism). The films ends surprisingly with a black and white shot of Tatsuhei and Tama suggesting that when they turn 70 they will go to Narayama together, then there is a cut to black and white film with a train steaming into a station named "Obatsue"-abandonment of old people. I am more familiar with Shohei Imamura's Cannes prize wining version that is stylized in the Imamura fashion with parallels drawn between animal life and human life. It is surprising that both directors were using he same source material a novel written by Shichiro Fukuzawa. I think both films are classics of Japanese cinema.

Smokehouse (Burgers)

I've been to Smokehouse for BBQ a few times before, but this time I stopped by at lunch and felt inspired to try one of their burgers. I went with the New Mexico Burger (pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, and tomato salsa). I was really impressed (I was not so impressed with the BBQ frankly), the burger was perfectly cooked medium rare and the toppings were tangy and flavorful and no other condiments were needed-I'll admit to being addicted to mustard on most occasions. Choice of french fries or potato salad for ¥1650 with free flowing green iced tea. I give it elite status as a burger shop-one of the best in Tokyo.

Revenge Of The Mekons

The Mekons are a band that I've always wanted to explore more deeply given their prodigious output. I think I only had one of their major label releases-the impressive 1999 album "Rock 'n' Roll." They are a 1977 era punk band that has adapted over time to take on different styles and remain relevant or what rock critic Greil Marcus says: "the band that took punk ideology most seriously." In fact Marcus has championed them in his column "Real Life Top 10"-a compendium of which I am currently reading as well. That coupled with my new iTunes subscription that has allowed me to chase down their catalog and catch up with all that I've missed since I learned a lot about the band and their legacy in the documentary Revenge Of The Mekons (2013) directed by Joe Angio. It is a charming portrait of people who love to create on their own terms and have forged a career out of staying true to their own standards. There are several talking head interviews from label heads to the likes of novelist Jonathan Franzen and critic Marcus interspersed with live performances and interviews with band members.

A Personal Matter

I was inspired to read Kenzaburo Oe's A Personal Matter (1964) after reading the translator John Nathan's memoir, Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere. Previously I had read two short novels J & 18 as well as the book about his actor-director brother-in-law Juzo Itami, The Changeling. Those books were interesting, but this one felt more vital and seems to be the one that was cited for the Nobel Prize in Literature that he won in 1994. I suspect that his politics also helped him get the prize-he is a notorious anti-nuclear left wing intellectual and there's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it is hard to respect the committee's decisions, because they are not always based on literary merit. It is an unusual book in which the protagonist is not the least bit sympathetic until the last few pages where decides to do the right thing. It seems somewhat out of the blue, but I suspect that the character had to go to the brink of making a decision that he would regret for the rest of his life before realizing what his fate was meant to be. It was a realistic portrait of a man trying to come to terms with a very human dilemma.

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)

I originally saw Takeshi Kitano's The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) in the theater without subtitles. It is essentially an action film so I think I got the main ideas and concepts, but I always thought I would go back and watch it with subtitles. This was the right timing since I have just finished watching all of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films. Apparently this homage was suggested to Kitano by a colleague in the industry. The films has many of the subplots of the original stories including the subplot of the noble ronin who will be Zatoichi's 8Kitano sporting blonde hair as the sightless masseur) dueling partner. This time it Tadnaobu Asano plays Hattori Genosuke, a reluctant bodyguard who needs money to help his sick wife become cured. In another subplot there is a team of two murderous geisha that are bent on avenging the murder of their family by tracking down the murders and dispatching them after seducing them. Kitano uses CGI to enhance the bloody fighting throughout. There are familiar tropes such as Zatoichi's skill without sight such as when he helps the old woman with chores and stacks the wood without facing the pile. Then there is the obligatory fixed dice game that Zatocihi exposes. There are several incidents of comic relief throughout. Perhaps the main innovation that Kitano brings to the film is a sense of musicality and rhythm seen among the villagers working in the fields and later on a house which eventually leads to a tap-dance clog production number that closes out the film.This is probably Kitano's most successful film artistically as well as commercially.

The Clouds of Sils Maria

I have been a fan of Olivier Asssayas and would probably see nay film he has directed, but The Clouds Of Sils Maria (2014) has been getting rave reviews as one of the best films of the year. Critics have been saying it has been a great year for films, but I have seen few films that I thought were exceptional, which might be more an issue of access than anything else. But that being said this meta-film about an aging star, Maria (Juliet Bionche) playing her superior's role opposite a younger version of herself, Jo An (Chloe Grace Mortez) which was her breakout role. Part of the meta-film here is that Assayas wrote Binoche's first breakout role in 1987 in reality. Then there is another drama taking place between Maria and her assistant Valentine (Kirsten Stewart of the Twilight series). Stewart has garnered much critical praise in her supporting and Caesar, the French version of the Oscar-a unprecedented event. It is mostly a talking heads movie (could have worked as a play perhaps), but Assayas manages to write in the mountains of Switzerland that occupy the background in some of the main dramatic sequences in the film. There is a curious mystery that echoes the dialogue of the characters in the film-that I found curious and thought-provoking. So essentially, it is one of the more interesting films I've seen that was released this year.

Blind Beast

Blind Beast (1969) is another arresting film from Yasuzo Masumura. This film, based on a Rampo Edogawa story (Japan's Edgar Allen Poe), borders on the exploitation/pink film margins. A model, Aki (Mako Midori) is kidnapped by a blind sculptor, Michio (Eiji Funokoshi) and held captive with the aid of his mother (Nioriko Sengoku) in order to complete his greatest sculpture. His studio is a surrealistic playhouse with massive female bodies and other body parts adorning the walls of the large studio structure. Overtime he breaks down Aki's will and they descend into a rabbit hole of physical sensation. This was perhaps my least favorite Masumura film that I've seen to date-one that I respect for it's audacity rather than it's entertainment value.

Risotto Curry Standard

A new Michelin Bib Gourmet category in Tokyo is curry. Risotto Curry Standard is nearby in Shibuya, so I stopped by to check it out. Even though its namesake is the curry (see below), they have a full menu of items under ¥600. I had the potato salad with heaping portions of pork in balsamic sauce on top for only ¥550.

The signature dish is tasty and only ¥880, but not very filling, hence the appetizer. There is a ¥300 seating charge as well, but I'd like to go back and try some of the other tapas portion dishes that I saw other diners trying.