Lost In Translation

Passing Fancy

I have been impressed with Yasujiro Ozu's maturity in the 30s that is reflected in his impressive direction in the Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies. This is true of Passing Fancy (1933) in particular. Here, Ozu explores the life of bemused day laborer Kihachi (Takeshi Sakamoto) and his cheeky son Tomio (Tokkan Kozo who also starred in I Was Born But...). Kihachi considers a late marriage and then becomes invovlked in brokering the marriage of his workmate and struggles with his son's sickness and almost leaves him behind to go to Hokkaido to earn the funds to pay back a friend for his son's medical expenses. Family stories would become Ozu's bread and butter in his better known late career masterpieces such as Tokyo Story and Late Spring. Already in the 30s he is using the cutaway still shots, ellipsis in story telling and the tatami level camera for conversations on the tatami. It fascinating to see the director's development from the silent dramas to the late masterpieces that he is famous for.

Tokyo Chorus

As Michael Koresky points out in his accompanying essay to the Eclipse Series 10 film Tokyo Chorus (1931), it is something of a turning point for director Yasujiro Ozu. It marks the beginning of his mature era, it seems that at this point Ozu already had made 21 films, and seven previously that year alone. This silent film has a more realistic approach to his usual comedy tropes. Okajima (Tokihiko Okada) is looking forward to his annual bonus to buy luxuries for his family. However, a surprisingly dark turn of events finds the family in financial turmoil. This film was written by long time Ozu collaborator Koga Noda and has some great sight gags among the more realistic aspects at the onset of the worldwide Great Depression that was taking place at the time. The film also shows that even at this early stage, Ozu was using trademark visual elements such as still life cutaways and tatami view camera views for conversations in the family's house. According to Ozu scholar David Bordwell, from this point on Ozu is a major director.

Thirst For Love

The final film in the Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara is Thirst For Love and it was my favorite in the collection. That being said I enjoyed all of them and most of them were revelations. This films is an adaptation of a Yukio Mishima novel. it is the melodramatic story of a beautiful young widow, Estuko (Ruriko Asaoka), who drifts into the role of mistress to the tyrant-like patriarch of the family, played by Nobu Nakamura, on a small estate outside of Osaka. However, she finds herself attracted to the young indifferent caretaker, Saburo (Tetsuo Ishidate) and this brings out the worst in her character: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned..." It calls to mind the Douglas Sirk films of Hollywood like All That Heaven Allows. The execution of the film is full of artistry in the myriad of techniques used by Kurahara: exquisite framing, dolly camera movements, aerial shots, still frames and freeze frames, slow motion, the use of mirrors, strategic use of color in two parts, close ups and panning away. It seems unfortunate that he morphed into a semi-documentarian of animal films for the masses. It seems as though he was as much a victim to the changing of the times sand the rise of television that ended Japan's third golden age of film making of the 60s.

Black Sun

Black Sun (1964) is the fourth film in Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara and probably his masterwork. It seems like a companion to his earlier intense, high energy youth inspired film, The Warped Ones. In this film Akira (Mei) (Tamio Kawachi who also starred in The Warped Ones) is squatting in an abandoned church getting by as a petty criminal with a passion for American jazz. A black American soldier on the run, Gil (Chico Roland), decides to hole up in Akira's squat and welcomes a black America, of which he identifies with jazz. However, the American cannot speak Japanese and bullies the captive without understanding his compliance. The film works despite Roland's strange whisper -like delivery of his lines. There are some interesting racial semantics that ensue as the two try to come to terms with each other. One episode results in Mei donning blackface while putting Gil in whiteface in order to evade capture. The tone is set during the introduction to the film that features an inspired piece of music by Max Roach, who was responsible for the score, and an impressive vocal performance. Throughout the film there are various camera techniques that were effectively used: high angle bird's eye views, hand held cameras that give a documentary feel , as well as exquisite framing in the decaying church that was apparently a true location that was torn down in Shibuya during the filming of the movie. The backseat camera of Mei driving through the city was also impressive. This is one of the best postwar Japanese films of the 60s on par with classics like Woman in the Dunes and The Insect Woman.

I Hate But I Love

I Hate But I Love (1962) is the third installment in the Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara, and so far my least favorite. However, that's not to say that there is nothing worthwhile about the production. My main complaint lies in the fact it is was conceived as a conventional star vehicle for two of the biggest stars of the day in Yujiro Ishihara and Ruriko Asaoka. Ishihara plays Dasaku Katu a multi-media star that was cultivated by his manager-girlfriend Noriko Sakakita (Asaoka). They have decided to avoid kissing and sex and they are getting frustrated and bored by the lifestyle of hard work and no release-Kurahara finds plenty of opportunities to have them have dressed despite these limitations. Dasaku decides to take up a an offer to drive a jeep for a woman living in Tokyo to a doctor, whom she is having a long distance romance with, living in the mountains of Kyushu. Noriko tries to stop him and bring him back to fulfill commitments for his career in the media and as a result becomes a media sensation himself as his story is covered by all outlets of the media. The movie become more interesting for me when Ishihara starts driving south-this is the only film from the series in color-and the images of a postwar Japan before the economic miracle are fascinating to see. The viewer is treated to undeveloped locations from Tokyo to Kyushu, but also major landmarks in Oasaka, Kyoto, and Kyushu while exposing the viewer to the types of cars, ferries, and roadside stops of that era. The culmination of the story in the green mountains of Kyushu is impressive.

The Warped Ones

The second film by Koreyoshi Kurahara in the Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara, is The Warped Ones (1960). This films seems as though it owes something to Jean-luc Goddard's Breathless, which came out the same year. The soundtrack has a hard driving jazz score and there is a lot of hand held camera work that seems innovative for the time in which it was used. It is a tale of delinquent youths who engage in petty theft, prostitution, and run around looking for kicks by stealing cars and heading out to the beach. On this trip Akira (Tamio Kawachi) stumbles on the journalist that saw to him getting arrested for a robbery and knocks him down and abducts his girlfriend, Fumiko (Noriko Matsumoto) and rapes her. His best friend Masaru (Eiji Go) and his trick turning girlfriend Yuki (Yuko Chishiro) ride along for kicks. It is a film full of energy and must have been ground breaking at the time and has a very distinct style. It does not seem like the same director that made the genre picture, Intimidation in the same year.

Intimidation

I wasn't aware of Koreyoshi Kurahara until I was introduced to him via Criterion's Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir, which included his film I am Waiting (1957). It was an entertaining noirish vehicle for Yujiro Ishihara. Since then I have learned that he was a very commercially successful director and was active during the New Wave period, despite not being considered a member of that particular film movement. Criterion saw it fitting that he get his own series, Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara. The first film in the collection is another film noir gem, Intimidation (1960). This lean film, it clocks in at a mere 65 minutes, tells the story of an arrogant bank assistant manager, Takita (Nobuo Kaneko), who rides his success over a former school mate and subordinate, (Akira Nishimura who also starred in Kurosawa's High and Low in 1960) before coming face to face with a rude comeuppance. It is a well-plotted film with several reversals of fortune. It is an entertaining genre piece executed with precision and artistry-there are some well crafted set pieces and scenes throughout the film. As a result I am looking forward to seeing what Kurahara will do in his other four films in this series.

The Stranger

The Stranger (1991) is the last film in the Eclipse Series 40: Late Ray as well as Satyajit Ray's final film. I found it to be the most satisfying film, artistically, in the series as well, as it was written by the director as well. Manomohan Mitra (Utpal Dutt) returns to Calcutta after 35 years traveling abroad and want sot reunite with his remaining family. however, his last remaining relative Anila Bose (Dipankar Day) and her husband are suspect about this man who left when Anila was only two years old. He is charming man and easily makes friends with their young son and his friends. It ends in an uplifting and positive manner. Most of the action takes place in the house and resembles the other films in this series in that it is essentially a talking heads sort of film that would also be effective as a play. that being said this one feels more cinematic in the camera angles, framing, and effective use of close ups and other aspects such as vibrant colors and music, which Ray also composed. It is clear that even in Ray's late period he was making important films that were philosophical and thought provoking.

An Enemy Of The People

The second film in the Eclipse Series 40: Late Ray is Satyajit Ray's adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play, Enemy Of The People (1989). At the time of the filming of the production Ray was ill and regaled to making a film indoors on sound sets, thus, the choice of making a adaptation of a play. Dr Ashoke Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) has found that the water from the local temple has been making people sick and he plans to share this information against the wishes of the status quo who depend on the popularity of the temple for the town's prosperity. The theme of science versus superstition and religion is one that is surely more volatile in India where there is much religious fundamentalism. The idea that holy water is polluted also speaks to the water problems in India. However, the result was static and somewhat subdued and lacked the cinematic flourishes that a viewer has come to expect from a Ray film, this film remains a minor one in the director's oeuvre.

The Home And The World

After recently finishing up "The Apu Trilogy" from the renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray I am in the process of viewing Eclipse Series 40 - Late Ray and the first film was The Home And The World (1984). It is an adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize winning author Rabindranath Tagore. It is the story of a love triangle that develops during a crisis in India that was caused by the British partition of Bengal in the early twentieth century. A progressive aristocrat, Nikhil (Victor Banerjee), introduces his sequestered wife, Bimala (Swatilekha Chatterjee) to his best friend, the radical Sandip (The Apu Triology's Soumitra Chatterjee). His wife falls for the radical, but then realizes her mistake and returns to her husband's graces. This film feels very different form his earlier films in that most of the film takes place in doors and it seems as though there is less innovative cinematography and the soundtrack seems more muted. That being said Ray uses mirrors cinematically several times throughout the film and some of the few location scenes are memorable-especially the one where Nikhil comes across a mob in  a village as he rides through a bamboo forest and riot that light sup the nights with bonfires. The final scene is very effective and masterly, which involves time lapse photography and conveys a lot of emotion and information. I am curious to see what Ray does in the next two films in this series.