Lost In Translation

Lady Macbeth

William Oldroyd's feature length debut Lady Macbeth (2016) is a challenging film. It is the adaptation of Nikolai Leskov's novel, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. It is the story of a young bride, Katherine (Florence Pugh) who has been sold into marriage in 19th century rural England. It is something of an understatement to say that her husband and his relations are cold. so she finds solace in arms of a young servant, Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis) and then her troubles begin, the title can give insight into the her ruthless behavior. Some scenes were very difficult to watch, but all in all it's an impressive debut from the director.

Crista

Last night I had Christmas dinner at Crista, which used to be Beacon, a beloved restaurant. I started with a Vesper Martinin (aka the James Bond Martini).

Raw oysters from Iwate-the vinaigrette was great.

I also couldn't resist clam chowder, something of a rarity in Japan.

And some New Orleans style BBQ shrimp in spicy butter lemon sauce.

Cajun ribeye steak 300g.

Z

Costa-Gravras' film Z (1969) may have lost some of its urgency as it was based on incidents that occurred in Greece in the mid 60s, it still remain a better than average political thriller. Zei (Z) meanss "he lives." The Greek-born director Costas-Gravas based this left-wing political thriller on the novel by Vassili Vassilikos. The film is based on the 1963 killing at a political rally in Thessaloniki of the independent socialist pacifist parliament deputy Lambrakis, in which the investigation by a young magistrate named Christos Sartzetakis uncovered a network of police and government corruption. Gavras sets it in an unnamed Mediterranean country that's clearly Greece (it was shot in Algeria and backed by the French). The film is a reaction to the oppressive right-wing military junta in Greece. Mikis Theodorakis provides a stirring musical score of traditional Greek music. The last third in particular is something akin to a courtroom drama as the state attorney unfolds the right wing conspiracy. The coda of the film was unexpected but appropriate for the film and the time.

Love For An Idiot

Love For An Idiot (1967) is director Yasuzo Masumura's modern adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki's novel Namoi, about a young mogaru (modern girl) who makes a fool out of a middle aged man. The more films I see by Masumura the more I am impressed with his cinematic style. Sexual obsession seems to be something of a common theme in many of Masumura's films such as Blind Beast, Manji (another Tanizaki adaptation of the novle Quicksand)i and Red Angel. The mogaru , Naomi (Michiyo Ohkusu) is transformed into a swinging 60s girl looking to have her cake and eat it, too. While the obsessive Joji (Shoichi Ozawa) is left to pay for her lifestyle and welcome her back even when she has cuckolded him with younger guys. He employs the usual impressive framing in the film, but also uses still photos to reflect the obsessiveness of Joji's fascination with Naomi's body and youth.

The Look Of Silence

The Look Of Silence (2014) by Justin Oppenheimer is a companion piece to his earlier and equally disturbing documentary, The Act of Killing. I found both films hard to watch because of the lack of remorse, nonchalance, and lack of introspection exhibited by the mass murders of communists in the purges of the mid 60s in Indonesia. This one is effective since the interviewer, Adi Rukun, is a man whose brother was killed in the cleansing and he knows who the murders are since they still live in the same community-he can confront them and make them come to terms with their actions many do not or refuse to do so when confronted and stop the interview and tell him to leave. I'm surprised that the May 1998 riots that erupted prior to Sukharto's resignation weren't referred to-I guess it's like apples and oranges, but essentially, it did happen again. many of these murders also are still free living among their victims. The amount of bloodshed from these two events is troubling, one can only wonder if it could happen yet again?

Mudbound

Dee Rees' Mudbound (2017) is another interesting and well-made film produced by Netflix. This film follows the postwar lives of two men who fought in WWII and returned home to their hardscrabble lives in rural Mississippi. The fact that one is white, Garrett Hedlund as Jamie McAllan, and one black, Rob Morgan as Hap Jackson, highlights the racism of the time in the region. There are some good supporting actors like Jonathan Banks as the hard-nosed racist Pappy McAllan and Carey Mulligan as Jamie's sister-in-law. It s compelling drama with impressive cinematography form Rachel Morrison that shines a light on a shameful time in the south.

Cafe Orchestra

Cafe Orchestra is another great curry restaurant on the south side of the station. They serve a variety of types of curry for lunch I got the keema curry that comes with a salad for ¥980. I'd definitely come back to try another style.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017) was made to be award season bait and deservedly so. Christopher Nolan's film is amazing to look at. It has great locations, special effects, and some fine acting. There are basically three different story lines that simultaneously taking place in the film-soldiers escaping, a fighter pilot trying to survive and citizens who sailed to Dunkirk to help in the evacuation of the troops. It is a dramatic story that is well executed by Nolan and his team.

Farewell To The Ark

Shuji Terayama's last film is a loose adaptation of Gaberiel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude, Farewell To The Ark (1984). It reminded me of Shohei Imaura's Profound Desires of the Gods in several ways-it seems to have been filmed in Okinawa and there is a theme of incest that is often in Imamura's films. In this film Suetekichi (Tsutomu Yamazaki best known to me for his role in Tampopo) is married to his cousin Sue (Mayumi Ogawa) but cannot consummate their marriage because of her chastity belt. It is a visual spectacle with the on location shooting, green filters and classical framing stand out most, Tatsuo Susuki has done an impressive job as cinematographer.

And Then

And Then (1909) by Natsume Soseki is one of a three novels considered a series that Haruki Murakami called among his favorites (the others are Sanshiro and The Gate). Like those other novels there is little that happens in the novel, but the inner lives of the characters are in tumult for various reasons-in this book it is because freeloading Daisuke, a spoiled son of a wealthy businessman, is in love with his best friend Hiraoka's wife Michiyo. Diasuke is both repellent and admirable, he looks down on his father and brother since they resort to working to earn a living while Diasuke remains to high minded to lower himself to work. But he has high ideals even though he is approaching 30 unmarried after turning down several marriage proposals arranged by his father-he is on his last leg as far as that goes. He hasn't bothered contributing by earning his own living. For some reason in spite of himself he helped Hiraoka marry Michiyo, the sister of his best friend who passed away at a young age without considering marrying her himself, which is how he arrived at his dilemma. Daisuke is something of cypher, but his problems seems very much to be those of a first world variety-there is little to upset him in his regular day to day life in which he has a houseboy and a maid looking after his needs. I must admit that the excellent afterword written by Norma Moore Field gave a full biography of Natsume Soseki and helped me situate this novel in Soseki’s biography-and within the trilogy of book mentioned earlier in particular.