Lost In Translation

Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart To Hades

Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart To Hades is the third Lone Wolf and Cub film directed by Kenji Misumi in 1972. However, he still manages to make each one different from the others. here he spends a lot of time on the natural surroundings of the story with inserts of animals and insects as well as stunning scenery shots of the lush green surroundings in summer. There is very little gore until the end, and, even then, it is considered subtle compared to the last film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to the River Styx. However, there is some ridiculousness as Lone Wolf makes and discharges a primitive Gatling gun to dispose of an army of attackers. He also fashions some hand grenades to emerge victorious against all odds.

Five Star Billionaire

I enjoyed Tash Aw's first two novels, The Harmony Silk Factory and Map of the Invisible World, so I was looking forward to his most recent Five Star Billionaire (2013). It did not disappoint, however, it was a much different novel than the two previous ones. This novel follows the lives of five Malaysian migrant workers who move to Shanghai looking to reinvent their lives. Justin the fixer in a real estate development family, Phoebe who leaves factory jobs for the big city, Gary is a pop star on the rise, Yinghui has found business success, and lastly the mysterious billionaire Walter. These characters sometimes are in direct contact with each other, but other times they merely cross paths. Slowly through the course of the novel, the character's past lives are revealed as they try and reinvent themselves in the staggering metropolis of Shanghai. The arcs of the character's stories feels somewhat like a critique of capitalist society as it exists in China. It chews up and spits out migrants as the city expands and lives on no matter who is crushed in its path as towards progress. There are subtle critique of the lack of concern for preserving the past as well. In a sense, every character has something of a significant failure that profoundly changes the direction of their lives at the end of the novel. It is also, on another level, a tale of revenge. Aw has a strong grasp on the overlapping cultures of Malaysian Chinese, Taiwanese, and mainland Chinese. It is a fascinating, if not troubling, portrait of modern China.

A Man Escaped

I was inspired to see Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956) due to Richard Howard's essay on the film in Writers At The Movies. it is based on Andre the true life exploits of Andre Devigny, a resistance fighter who escaped from the Montluc prison. Incidentally Bresson was also a resistance fighter who was imprisoned during WWII. This film is testament to the courage of those resisters. In this film Bresson used amateur actors in meticulously planned scenes that propel the story of escape without wasting time on exposition. Unlike most escape films the guards not characterized as being sadistic or kind they merely function as obstacles in the was of Fontaine's (Francois Leterrier) escape. They way that the story is presented by the director through medium shots, close ups, and insert shots creates a kind of tension throughout the film's 99 minutes. The sparing use of Mozart's Kyrie at the beginning and the end are very effective as well. I think this is Bresson's masterpiece, for me it was more compelling than his two other celebrated films Pickpocket and Diary of a Country Priest.

Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart At The River Styx

The second Lone Wolf and Cub film of 1972, Lone Wolf And Cub: Baby Cart At The River Styx , has plenty of action and exploitative violence. In this film Ogami and Daigoro face a team of female assassins led by the seductive Sayaka (Kayo Matsuo), a band of ninja, and finally a trio of deadly brothers who are adept at unusual and deadly weapons (a claw, a spiked mace, and spiked iron gloves. Once again Kenji Misumi is at the helm and uses unusual shots and montages as well as a number of different perspectives of spurting blood coming from the victims of the orgy of violence. In this episode his young son sometimes aids his father in the carnage-he is learning these deadly skills early in life. There are essentially two stories taking place, in one the Shadoiw Yagyu clan continues to try and kill Ogami and he takes a job where he has to kill a an indigo dyer rather than let him teach the technique to the shogunate and puts his community as risk of losing their livelihood. Another action packed Lone Wolf and Cub adventure with plenty of gore and killing.

The Village of Waiting

I have been a fan of the writing of journalist George Packer, notably his reporting for The New Yorker and his book of reporting on the Iraq War, The Assassin's Gate. When I heard that he wrote a Peace Corps memoir, The Village Of Waiting (1988), about his experiences in the West African country of Togo I was interested to read his perspective about it. Already his reporting and narrative story telling was strong. The reader learns a lot about the country, community, and the exasperation of Africa from the perspective of a white westerner. It was a powerful experience in the per-internet days and it was a testament to his resolve that he lasted over a year-he did not complete his assignment, he failed to return for his last six months after taking a trip to Europe. Similarly another Peace Corps inspired book from another writer I liked, Chasing The Sea by Tom Bissell in Uzbekistan, also was ultimately about a failed Peace Corps stint where he basically had a nervous breakdown and was inspired to go back and find closure in the country. This is a different book from that one, but in the Afterword by the author we learn about how the country and the people he met there continued to be a significant part of his life as he returned to report there and help the friends that he made there over time. These experiences were exasperating and soul crushing in the recounting of struggles and set backs these people encountered over the years. In that sense the last part calls to mind Paul Theroux's exasperation with Africa in his last foray into the country that defeats him and sends him home packing before he planned to go home in Last Train To Zona Verde. There's also a Foreword by Philip Gourevitch, another reporter and writer about Africa that I respect. I found this to be a powerful first person account full of detailed descriptions of life in Africa in the early 80s from the point of view of an idealistic Peace Corps volunteer.

Silence

Silence (2016) is Martin Scorsese's passion project that he has been trying to get made for 30 years. It is an unlikely sell, it is based on the 1966 novel of the same by Shusaku Endo about two Jesuit priests who go to Japan looking for their mentor during the active ban of Christianity in Japan. The two young priests are played by rising stars Andrew Garfield (Father Rodrigues) and Adam Driver (Father Garrpe), and their mentor, Father Ferrier, is played by Liam Neeson. The principal Japanese roles include Issey Ogawa as the Inquisitor, indie film star Tadanobu Asano as the Interpreter, director Shinya Tsukumoto as Mokichi, and Yusuke Nobuzuka as the traitorous Kichijiro. There was already a well-made Japanese film made by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971, so I'm not sure why Scorsese thought it should be re-made-I suppose he was moved by the story. I suppose it should come as no surprise since he has made two other films about religion faith in The Last Temptation of Christ and Kudan. I found the book as slow going as the films. That being said, the film looks great thanks to the sets designs, locations and cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto. I also like the fact that he essentially eschews from the traditional soundtrack instead using ambient sounds such as the cries of cicadas as the back ground score.

Good Town Bakehouse

The group behind Good Town Donuts and The Great Burger have opened a new shop in Yoyogi Uehara that combines the best of both in Good Town Bakehouse. They specialize in coffee, premium ice cream, donuts and other bakery items, breakfast, burgers, and have five craft beers on tap. It is a comfortable space, however, it is a bit out of the way for me, but certainly my kind of place.

Sankt Gallen IPA (US pint) with a slider (¥750).

Lone Wolf And Cub: Sword Of Vengeance

I have a big interest in Japanese cinema and chambura (marital arts films) are among those films-I guess something like westerns in American cinema. Recently I watched the Zatoichi collection that was put out by Criterion, and now I am watching the Lone Wolf And Cub collection from Criterion. The first film in the collection is Lone Wolf And Cub: Sword Of Vengeance (1972). It was directed by Zatoichi collaborator Kenji Misumi-no surprise since Shintaro Katsu produced the series with his brother Tomisaburo Wakayama in the lead role of Ogami Itto. Misumi knows how to stage a sword fight and always brings some artistry to he exploitation samurai film. The screenplay was written by the original manga writer Kazuo Koike as well. It was an entertaining start to the series with spurts of blood spraying all over the place as Ogami escapes a frame up and earns his keep for him and his infant son as assassin for hire.

Toni Erdman

Director Maren Ade has done something unusual-she has crafted a funny 2 hour and 42 minute German film in Toni Erdman (2016). Toni Erdman is the comic alter ego of Winnifred (Peter Simonschek) the father of an ambitious, if not humorless, corporate daughter, Ines (Sandra Hueller) stuck in Bucharest working on a project that seems to be stalling. Winnifred shows up in Bucharest and complicates his daughter's life with his unplanned visit. Finally he leaves after few days, and the film switches gears and becomes something altogether different. I very much enjoyed this film-it was truly original and entertaining.

Rice, Noodle, Fish

I guess Matt Goulding's Rice Noodle Fish (2015) is essentially a travel book, but it is a also a collection of stories about people, known as shokunin, who have devoted themselves to perfecting an aspect of the food culture of Japan. Although some of the people profiled by Goulding are not Japanese by birth. The book starts out with a correspondence with Anthony Bourdain-in which Goulding gets his blessing for the project. The book is divided into the different regions that he traveled (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Noto) followed by Plus-a feature that focuses on some aspect of Japanese culture as well as other mini-essays on Japanese food and other things Japanese. Much of the information was somewhat redundant for me, but I did learn some things about the food culture. I enjoyed the stories. But  I enjoyed meeting Ken Yokoyama, former hotel concierge that helped Goudling navigate kaiseki ryori in Kyoto, and Fernando Lopez the Guatemalan Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki grill chef, as well as the Flatts (an Autsralian / Japanese couple), who run a ryokan on the Noto peninsula and keep the food culture of the region alive. I enjoyed Goulding's food journey and look forward to reading his second book, Grape, Olive, Pig:Deep Travels Through Spain's Food Culture.