Lost In Translation

Suspiria (1977)

I have heard good things about Dario Argento, but up to this point I hadn't seen any of his films. I decided to start with Suspiria (1977), since there is a re-make that has been made. The first impression of the horror film is the eye catching set designs and visual splendor of the film. Perhaps next the viewer will notice the futuristic synth music score by Italian prog rock band Goblin. A young American ballerina (Jessica Harper) is accepted to a prestigious German ballet company only to arrive on a dark stormy night when a former student was brutally murdered. Horror isn't my favorite genre, but I could very much appreciate the artistry that was involved in making this one and can see how it became something of a cult classic.

She And He

Susumu Hani is often cited as one of the leading directors of the Japanese New Wave movement, but his films are somewhat hard to come by with English subtitles. I was finally able to track down She And He (1963) featuring future New Wave stars Sachiko Hidari (who would go on to star in Shohei Imamura's seminal The Insect Woman) as the wife and Eiji Oka (who would go onto star in the equally seminal Hiroshi Teshigahara film Woman in the Dunes) as the husband. Hani is a documentary film maker as well and this style carries over creating a neo-realistic effect. The young couple is living in the suburbs west of Tokyo (near Yurigaoka station on the Odakyu line), where young families in new condos live side by side with the disadvantaged, a Fellini-esque looking lot of extras, who have erected a shanty town in a vacant lot nearby. She is drawn to a rag picker who has a large black dog and looks after a blind little girl-it turns out the rag picker had gone to college with her husband. Her concern for that family unit causes discord between the wife and husband. There is some great cinematography and Hidari won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for her performance. I am definitely interested in seeing more films by Hani.

A Very English Scandal

Even though I was not familiar with the real life events that inspired Stephen Frears' TV miniseries, A Very English Scandal, I quite enjoyed it. I think this mainly had to do with the performances of the two lead actors, Hugh Grant as PM Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Wishaw as Norman Cooper. I suppose it was very English in that some of the major themes were related to class, appearances, and respectability. I suspect I missed out on some cultural references or in-jokes during the course of the production, but I felt it was an entertaining and well-made series.

Chimes At Midnight

Orson Welles is one of the seminal directors of American cinema and Chimes At Midnight (1965) is known as one of his masterworks. The story focuses on the larger-than-life Falstaff (played by Welles himself) in a mashup of William Shakespeare's Richard II, Henry IV Part I and II, and Henry V. Given that he dialogue is that of Shakespeare and heavily reliant on it-Welles manages to keep the film dynamic with inventive camera angles, editing, and other elements of mise en scene. The film also is known for the many excellent ensemble actors Welles gathered for his opus: Henry IV (John Gielgud) and his son, Prince Hal / Henry V (Keith Baxter), Hotspur (Norman Rodway), Margaret Rutherford (as the hostess of Falstaff’s favorite tavern), Jeanne Moreau (as his prostitute lover, Doll Tearsheet), and Marina Vlady (as Hotspur’s wife) among others. Overall, it is an impressive and entertaining take on one of the great literary creations of all-time.

Cocaine Coast

The latest entertaining international series from Nextflix is Cocaine Coast, a crime series set on the Galician coast of Spain in the 80s about drug smuggling. The series is based on true events that explore how the vast coastline of the area that was rife for tobacco smugglers who then went on to smuggle the more profitable cargo of cocaine and hash. Essentially the series, which dedicates a year to each episode from 1980 to 1990 tracks the events of the smugglers and a local policeman, Sargento Darío Castro (Tristan Ulca) who is dedicated to taking them down no matter the length of time it will take. There are various factions among the smugglers, but the focus is on the kingpin, Sito Monaco (Javier Rey) who leaves his dissatisfied wife for a Panamanian beauty, Camilia Reyes (Janan Perez). In the final episode the fictional characters are shown side by side with their real life counterparts and reveals their current status. Another fascinating look at a region and culture distinct from others.  

A House For Mr. Biswas

I have been a fan of the writing of V.S. Naipaul for some time, and I've been meaning to getting around to reading his career-making novel A House For Mr Biswas (1961). It is a rather long novel, so it has remained on the shelf (metaphorically speaking-since I read the ebook version). However, Naipaul's recent death and Barack Obama's recommendation as a summer read moved it up my book reading queue. And I'm glad I finally got around to reaing it. It is an epic comic novel with great dialogue and written in a grand style about the comic-tragic Mr Biswas. The scale and execution calls to mind another great darkly comedic novel-Cormac McCarthy's Suttree. Biswas is an Indian born on the tropical island of Trinidad who spends his life trying to live with dignity and achieve his life-long dream of becoming a home owner. It almost seems as if his life is merely a series of tragic-comedic events that follow one after another-humor and pathos can be found in every aspect of his life from his birth, too his life as a sign painter, to his marriage, and subsequent post-married family life spent mostly in the company of his wife's family and relations that gives that story much of its comic vitality as the petty squabbles and other interactions between the family relations and inhabitants of the shared housing community drive the story. Naipaul has created many unforgettable characters, Biswas and his manner of speaking is not the very least of these. I daresay I am tempted to add the job description of "crab catcher" to my arsenal of personal insults.  I must say I unexpectedly enjoyed this novel much more than I anticipated and will probably steer me toward his earlier comedic novels as well. That being said, I am looking forward to getting around to the several other Naipaul penned books that I have designated for future reading.

RBG

It seemed to be a fitting time during the Brett Kavanaugh Nomination fiasco to see Julie Cohen and Betsy West's documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, RBG (2018). It's a shame that there aren't more judges on the bench who have distinguished themselves the way she has. This documentary highlights the work she did to create equal rights among men and women. I hope she can outlive the Trump administration so that someone more like herself will be nominated when she decides to retire.

Kinsai

I recently tried a modern Japanese restaurant in Nakameguro Kinsai and ordered the dinner set moderately priced at ¥5000. The first dish was sesame tofu.

It was followed by an assortment of five types of sashimi.

Then chamushi (egg custard) topped with fresh uni.

I sampled several types of nihonshu during the meal as well-this vessels were stylish as well.

The grilled meat dish had gindara (sablefish), shishito (Japanese pepper), and pork.

Ankimo (Monkfish liver pate) is a well-known delicacy in Japan but it was a first for me.

Shrimp meatball soup.

Bamboo shoots and chicken meatball.

Sushi-hirame (flounder) and isaki (chicken grunt).

Campari ice cream and green tea.

The Angry Street

The Angry Street is one of four films Mikio Naruse directed in 1950. The screen play was written by Motosada Nishiki, who also worked on Naruse’s subsequent 1950 films, White Beast and The Battle of the Roses. This film is seen as a flawed genre film-it's Naruse's version of a film noir about two college students, Sudo (Yasumi Hara) and Mori (Jukichi Uno), who work together seducing wealthy young women and scamming them for money to pay for college. Mori comes up with the plans and the dashing Sudo executes the scams. As the film progresses Mori has a change of heart inspired by a meeting with Sudo's younger sister Masako (Setsuko Walkayama) and tries unsuccessfully to get Sudo stop his petty life of crime. Along the way he is played by an older women, Tagami (Yuriko Hamada) who dabbles in the black market. Naruse uses mostly location Tokyo scenes of street life and the neon signs of the nightlife that are fascinating. Furthermore as pointed out by Catherine Russell in her book, The Cinema of Naruse Mikio:

Naruse represents life in the metropolis not only through location shooting, but also through a detailed depiction of the material culture of everyday life in the city. Specifically, several scenes actually open with close-ups of objects from which the camera either tracks back or cuts abruptly away. Functioning almost like inverted establishing shots, these "still-life" images set the scene from the inside out.

Thus, the distinctive Naruse touch that is brought out in the genre film is fascinating to me, since this such a departure from Naruse's bread-and-butter women and family dramas that built his reputation. These flawed films like this and White Beast stand out for me because they are departures in genre and tone from how I usually think about Naruse.

Icon

There's a fairly new burger place in Minami Shinjuku, Icon, that is known for specialty burgers such as the Mac & Cheese Burger and an Apple Burger. I usually mark my first visit to a burger shop with a cheese burger ¥1100 yen that comes with soup and a side of mashed potatoes. It was serviceable, but my burger had some gristle so I'm not sure I'd bother coming back since there are other places that are more accessible.