Roslindale Monogatari

Haru no mezame / Spring Awakens (Mikio Naruse, 1947) I watched this unsubtitled film with a visitor (Don Sallitt, a fellow Naruse fanatic -- and a director) for whom I tried to provide a running (very loose) translation. Despite several prior viewings, I run onto the rocks with a couple of final conversational scenes -- just as the plot has taken a bit of a veer. (I don't feel too bad -- as the few published notes on this film are almost totally wrong in their plot comments). While I feel comfortable that I can mostly follow what happens here, Dan (not so used to the uncharted waters of watching unsubbed cinema) wasn't entirely convinced, I fear. Regardless of total comprehension, this unheralded film (which didn't make it into even the fullest versions of the traveling centenary retrospective) is almost certainly one of Naruse's greatest films of the 40s -- and a genuine (if small) masterpiece. It is, as far as I can tell, a remarkably innovative film -- in that ...

Tange Sazen yowa: Hyakuman ryo no tsubo / The Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Sadao Yamanaka, 1935) One of the funniest historical comedies ever made. A samurai lord gives away an unprepossessing-looking heirloom pot to a younger brother as a (stingy) wedding present. Shortly afterwards, he discovers the pot actually served as a clue to finding an immense hidden treasure (one million ryo). He sends an emissary to reclaim the pot. only to find his brother's young wife has sold it to junk collectors. Meanwhile, the young man is feeling a bit smothered by his wife's solicitude -- and welcomes the chance to go out and search for the pot. As it turns out, the pot has wound up in the household in which Tange Sazen (a one-eyed, one-armed, and comically lazy samurai sword master) resides. Tanga Sazen lives with a lady friend who runs an archery gallery -- and the two of them acquire an orphaned boy, who uses the sought-for pot as a fishbowl for his gold fish. No plot summary can do jus...

Paris nous appartient / Paris Belongs To Us (Jacques Rivette, 1960) Rivette started making his first feature film not long after the science fiction stories of Philip K. Dick made their first appearance in Paris. While this film does not track any specific story, it not only creates the paranoid ambience characteristic of Dick's fictional universe, it also has a whacked-out emigre American author as a main character (whose initials are P. K -- for Philip Kaufman). Many features of Rivette's later work show up here -- including preoccupation with staging classical drama and the existence of sinister conspiracies looming somewhere in the background (and sometimes foreground). The new UK DVD of this film makes it look markedly better than any previous incarnation -- and it contains the full version of the film (as opposed to the American one, which was missing 20 or so minutes). Joi gin a long / Where a Good Man Goes (Johnnie To, 1999) A romance starring Sean LAU Ching Wan and ...

Moved on to Out 1 , parts 3-4. Jean-Pierre Léaud is a hoot as a pan handler who extorts donations from cafe patrons by means of very obnoxious harmonica assaults. Juliet Berto (Celine and Julie) is also charming -- as another sort of schemer. El ángel exterminador (Luis Buñuel, 1962) The new UK DVD stupidly excises LB's deliberate re-showing of the arrival of guests early on -- under the misapprehension that he made an editing goof that needed "correcting" (apparently following routine British practice). Otherwise, though, this looks vastly better than the prior VHS version. Céline et Julie vont en bateau (Jacques Rivette, 1974) I liked this more than ever on this revisitation. ;~} Tian ruo you qing III feng huo jia ren / Moment of Romance III (Johnnie To, 1996) A wonderful romance set in WW2 China -- with Andy Lau as a scion of a wealthy family serving as a pilot (somewhat to the chagrin of his wealthy mother) who makes an emergency landing near a rural village and ...

Started re-watching Beating Heart , a Korean show about one "ordinary" middle-class family -- that is actually six inter-connected films (each written and directed by a different team). Starring (among others) BAE Doo-na ( Take Care of My Cat , Linda Linda Linda ) and BAE Jong-ok ( Jealousy is my Middle Name ). Two episodes seen. Started watching Rivette's Out 1: Noli me tangere . Episodes 1-2 seen. Funnier than I expected (but no less weird than I imagined).