Roslindale Monogatari

Furumay's last film, The Homeless Student , had a generally fine cast but didn't quite work -- mostly because the actor playing the central character was way too old for the part and wasn't a strong enough performer to overcome this handicap.  The twin heroines here, played by Riko Narumi ( How To Become Myself ) and Kii Kitano ( BandAge ), are closer to the right age and far more skilled. The film  focuses, almost entirely, on these two girls, who initially meet in passing during a junior high kendo competition (where Kitano beats Narumi by a fluke) and then later wind up in the same high school. Kitano plays a (mostly) happy-go-lucky character, who participates in kendo because she finds it to be fun (and also, one suspects, because her friends also participate); Narumi's character is the daughter of a kendo master (who lives in the dojo run by her father). Narumi is mortified to learn that Kitano doesn't even recall their prior match -- and is more than a bit f...

A picture-perfect couple (Nao Omori and Miki Nakatani) that is bored, bored, bored with their current life. Both drift into adulterous romances. He with an old college classmate (Chizuru Ikewaki), she with a customer (Juichi Kobayashi) who buys one of the cute stuffed bears she makes. Meanwhile, the couple goes on as if nothing has changed (as best they can). Can this marriage be saved? Yazaki's last film was the excellent, rather edgy Strawberry Shortcakes (about four young woman who were all in a state of romantic disarray). In this film, Yazaki takes a more classical turn, evoking the 50s family dramas of Ozu and Naruse. One gets echoes of Early Spring , Repast , Sudden Rain , Husband and Wife and A Woman's Heart (among others) -- tinged with (perhaps) a dash of HONG Sang-soo. In a nice touch, Yazaki managed to find a surviving cast member from Repast (Akiko Kazami, who also appeared in Shinozaki's Not Forgotten several years ago) to play an elderly neighbor o...

More collected capsule comments, scavenged mostly from IMDB postings earlier this year (pre-cellulitis). ;~} Tonari no Totoro / Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988) We finally got to watch (for the first time in at least 10 viewings) this animated treasure (involving two little sisters) along with two young girls (sisters aged 6 and 3½ years old). Their parents being adventurous, we watched this in Japanese (with subtitles). Even so, the girls were mesmerized -- and rarely wondered about what was being said -- mostly they understood this pretty intuitively. All had a wonderful time. (When it was over, the girls asked (nicely -- but in vain) for an immediate re-watch). Chilsu wa Mansu / Chil-su and Man-su (PARK Kwang-su, 1988) Pretty much the film that kicked off the Korean New Wave. 1988 was the year of the Seoul Olympics and of Korea's first democratic election (alas, the opponents of the former military dictatorship split the vote, allowing the election of the former dictator's h...

An assemblage of (mostly) short notes on films seen earlier this year. This post collects comments on older films (with comments on a newer version of one older film). My next post will aggregate remarks on some newer films. Gyakuryu / Backward Flow (Buntaro Futagawa, 1924) Like Futagawa's later Orochi (see below), this features silent super-star Tsumasaburo Bando as a wronged hero, pushed into seeking vengeance. In this case, the protagonist is even more floridly dysfunctional as the result of his mistreatment. Interestingly over the top. Orochi (Buntaro Futagawa, 1925) A silent chambara starring Tsumasaburo Bando (one of Japan's first great action stars). One of the few nearly complete films from this era. Bando plays a mistreated samurai who falls into bad company after escaping from prison (he was framed). When he encounters his lost love, he is forced to choose between loyalty to his crooked patron and love (though she is now married to another samurai, who seems...

Koina no Ginpei -- Yuki no wataridori / Migatory Waterbirds (Tomokazu Miyata, 1931) Mainly this is a showcase for super-star Tsumasaburo Bando, who plays Ginpei, a rural yakuza underling in love with the pretty daughter of the local innkeeper (a semi-retired gang member). Two problems, another gang boss wants to take over the territory held by Ginpei's boss -- and the innkeeper's daughter (though fond of Ginpei) is actually in love with one of Ginpei's colleagues. After doing his duty of defending his boss's turf, Ginpei becomes a wanderer. When he returns, several years later, times have changed for the worse in his old town. Some decent fights, but overall less of a visual feast than most of the other old silent chambara I've seen. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) Having recently enjoyed Gondry's third of a recent omnibus film ( Tokyo! ), I decided to check out this earlier movie. Alas, unlike his recent short film, I found it visu...

Sakasu gonin-gumi / Five Men in a Circus (Mikio Naruse, 1935) The fourth (and lightest weight) of the five films Naruse made for PCL (later part of Toho) in his first year after his departure from Shochiku. Perhaps inspired (a bit) by Ozu's Story of Floating Weeds (made in 1934), this depicts two sets of wandering performers -- a five man band of itinerant musicians (playing Western instruments) and a small-time circus run by a grumpy old tyrant (with two lovely daughters). When all the male circus performers go on strike, the circus hires the five musicians to fill in. Even if "minor" Naruse, the film is charming, visually lovely and sociologically fascinating -- showing an immense amount of westernization in the midst of rural Japan -- classical music, ballet, cabaret, etc. Bushidô zankoku monogatari / Cruel Story of the Samurai's Way (Tadashi Imai, 1963) Adauchi / Revenge (Tadashi Imai, 1964) In Bushido , Imai seems to have taken on more thematically) than he...

Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi / Jirokichi the Rat (Daisuke Ito, 1931) Denjiro OKochi plays the title character -- a master thief from Tokyo on the lam in Osaka. He gets entangled there with the travails of two women -- the sister of a thuggish barber (and yakuza boss) and the daughter of a disgraced (and dying) samurai. The action sequences are stunning -- and the perforances and story are equaly fine. A masterpiece.. Kochiyama Soshun (Sadao Yamanaka, 1936) Another masterpiece -- this one featuring Chojuro Kawarasaki as an ultimately noble criminal, Soshun Kochiyama -- a sort of urban Robin Hood in 18th century Tokyo. Kochiyama gets into trouble trying to protect an innocent street vendor (Setsuko Hara in her first major role, 15 or 16 years old) who is imperiled due to the misdeeds of her juvenile delinquent brother. Muhomatsu no issho / The Life of Matsu the Untamed (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1943) Tsumasaburo Bando (one of Japan's first grat action movie stars) appears as a good-hearted (i...