I seem to have neglected this blog for almost a year. My messages in English is now mostly sent to Facebook. But maybe I will resume posting here de temps en temps...
I am now in breezy Taitung on the east coast of Taiwan. One of the hot spots for surfers, too. Ready to fly back to Taipei this afternoon. More on this trip later.
Peace. And no nukes.
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Tomatsu Shomei
There is a huge retrospective of the photographer Tomatsu Shomei going on at the Nagoya City Museum of Art. In conjunction with that, a trialogue (the word doesn't exist in English, I know) was held Saturday with the photographer himself, his long-time buddy Nakahira Takuma, and Kuraishi Shino, my colleague and critic.
It was very interesting. Tomatsu who lives currently in Okinawa couldn't participate because of his health problem. Kuraishi was as lucid as possible and did most of the talking. Then Nakahira, the great Nakahira, pronounced not a word... just nodded everything away.
I was moved. By his gesture he showed us two simple truths: that photography remains in the realm of the unspeakable, and that everything about photography should be treated with a big YES.
I recommend the exhibition to anybody who even remotely is interested in photography...
By the way the above trialogue took place at the Naka Ward Hall. The very place I as a high schooler gave a concert with my band: The Cracked! in 1974. At that time the future, this future, which means NOW, was utterly out of sight...
It was very interesting. Tomatsu who lives currently in Okinawa couldn't participate because of his health problem. Kuraishi was as lucid as possible and did most of the talking. Then Nakahira, the great Nakahira, pronounced not a word... just nodded everything away.
I was moved. By his gesture he showed us two simple truths: that photography remains in the realm of the unspeakable, and that everything about photography should be treated with a big YES.
I recommend the exhibition to anybody who even remotely is interested in photography...
By the way the above trialogue took place at the Naka Ward Hall. The very place I as a high schooler gave a concert with my band: The Cracked! in 1974. At that time the future, this future, which means NOW, was utterly out of sight...
Sunday, April 17, 2011
After so many days
I have not written here for such a long time but now I am resuming it. Japan as we know it has turned a different country since 11 March. People are suffering in the Northeast, the beautiful and poor. There is nothing I can do to help the region, but we are preparing a book as a token of our solidarity.
It is conceived as a collection of short texts (poems, stories, and essays) to be read aloud in small groups around a candle light. More than 20 writers have agreed to join this project. All the sales will be donated to the people of the damaged area through a NPO.
The book will be ready in July, hopefully.
It is conceived as a collection of short texts (poems, stories, and essays) to be read aloud in small groups around a candle light. More than 20 writers have agreed to join this project. All the sales will be donated to the people of the damaged area through a NPO.
The book will be ready in July, hopefully.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Nice wind at night
Haven't updated this blog for a while... Too many things have been going on at once. Films, mostly watched on DVD these days, are not quite the same as your old theater experience. I need to go out into the darkness of the movie theater more often.
I have been close-reading Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry and I find it to be one of the most powerful novels of my life. Will soon write a substantial review of its new Japanese translation (that appeared last year for the centennial of Lowry's birth).
A typhoon seems to be approaching... we are having a breezy night. Very comfortable and cooling. Good night then.
I have been close-reading Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry and I find it to be one of the most powerful novels of my life. Will soon write a substantial review of its new Japanese translation (that appeared last year for the centennial of Lowry's birth).
A typhoon seems to be approaching... we are having a breezy night. Very comfortable and cooling. Good night then.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
In Taipei
Films this year:
17. Seiji Hisamatsu, Chino hate ni ikiru mono (He Who Lives at the Edge of the World, 1960).
18. Stéphane Brizé, Mademoiselle Chambon (2009)
17 features Japan's great comedian the late Hisaya Morishige and is a story of an old man who spends winters alone in a hut by the northern sea. Shiretoko is full of spell-binding charm. Rather predictable in many ways, but a surprisingly beautiful scene comes as that of the hero's imagining his son's love.
18 I saw in Taipei, at Hou Shao Shen's theatre midtown. The film narrates an incredibly boring story with incredibly good acting by three principal characters. Carefully treated cinematography is a success and everything about the film is skillful. I didn't know much about these actors, but then found out to my surprise about their fascinating real-life relationship. Vincent Lindon in the film has a heartbreaking affair with Sandrine Kiberlain (his real-life ex) and his in-the-film wife Aure Atika, who senses the affair but doesn't say anything about it, is his real-life wife.
Actors are emotional monsters.
17. Seiji Hisamatsu, Chino hate ni ikiru mono (He Who Lives at the Edge of the World, 1960).
18. Stéphane Brizé, Mademoiselle Chambon (2009)
17 features Japan's great comedian the late Hisaya Morishige and is a story of an old man who spends winters alone in a hut by the northern sea. Shiretoko is full of spell-binding charm. Rather predictable in many ways, but a surprisingly beautiful scene comes as that of the hero's imagining his son's love.
18 I saw in Taipei, at Hou Shao Shen's theatre midtown. The film narrates an incredibly boring story with incredibly good acting by three principal characters. Carefully treated cinematography is a success and everything about the film is skillful. I didn't know much about these actors, but then found out to my surprise about their fascinating real-life relationship. Vincent Lindon in the film has a heartbreaking affair with Sandrine Kiberlain (his real-life ex) and his in-the-film wife Aure Atika, who senses the affair but doesn't say anything about it, is his real-life wife.
Actors are emotional monsters.
Monday, April 05, 2010
To that kind of London
Have been very slow these days; too busy at work. Apart from re-watching some familiar (to me) titles, not many new films. Still.
13. Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones (2009)
14. David Mackenzie, Young Adam (2003)
15. David Cronenberg, Spider (2002)
16. Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes (2009)
13 is great. Just watching it and you feel that Kiwi kind of aesthetics! Superb beauty rendered skillfully. The girl what's-her-Irish-name (from Atonement) is destined to become a great actress.
14 is a story of water, beautiful cinematography, and a disgusting story staged by good actors. Sex-obsessed Adam doesn't begin a lineage. But that life on a boat is quite attractive.
15 is a confusing story in which you will never know how much and what has really happened in the man's life. It might all have been in the boy's imagination. He thinks that his father killed her own mother, but it could have been him killing the mother or his father's adultery could have been his mother's. Such emotional ambivalence and factual ambiguity are everywhere; what you see is what the boy imagines his reality to be, interwoven with inescapably realist depiction of the film language. There is literally no distinction between fantasy and reality.
16 is so entertaining! I haven't watched Rocknrolla; in fact I haven't watched anything anything by Guy Ritchie since his masterpiece LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. This atmosphere of nineteenth-century London is so attractive and it's the place I least want to live in.
13. Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones (2009)
14. David Mackenzie, Young Adam (2003)
15. David Cronenberg, Spider (2002)
16. Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes (2009)
13 is great. Just watching it and you feel that Kiwi kind of aesthetics! Superb beauty rendered skillfully. The girl what's-her-Irish-name (from Atonement) is destined to become a great actress.
14 is a story of water, beautiful cinematography, and a disgusting story staged by good actors. Sex-obsessed Adam doesn't begin a lineage. But that life on a boat is quite attractive.
15 is a confusing story in which you will never know how much and what has really happened in the man's life. It might all have been in the boy's imagination. He thinks that his father killed her own mother, but it could have been him killing the mother or his father's adultery could have been his mother's. Such emotional ambivalence and factual ambiguity are everywhere; what you see is what the boy imagines his reality to be, interwoven with inescapably realist depiction of the film language. There is literally no distinction between fantasy and reality.
16 is so entertaining! I haven't watched Rocknrolla; in fact I haven't watched anything anything by Guy Ritchie since his masterpiece LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. This atmosphere of nineteenth-century London is so attractive and it's the place I least want to live in.
Monday, March 01, 2010
From New Orleans to Nowhere
Films this year:
10. Kaneto Shindo, Onibaba (1964)
11. Werner Herzog, The Bad Lieutenant (2009)
12. Yoji Yamada, Ototo (The Younger Brother, 2010)
10 is memorable for its scenes with the tall silver grass. The story itself is not all that great. 11 is a SUPERB comedy! What is he, my dear master Herzog, thinking? Whenever animals appear, it's mind-blowing. A snake, a fish, alligators, two iguanas, a dog, and the corrida on TV. Nice imagination. And the old man Mississippi, the old great snake, appears, too.
12 is a hommage to Kon Ichikawa. Nice film, but it needs more punch.
10. Kaneto Shindo, Onibaba (1964)
11. Werner Herzog, The Bad Lieutenant (2009)
12. Yoji Yamada, Ototo (The Younger Brother, 2010)
10 is memorable for its scenes with the tall silver grass. The story itself is not all that great. 11 is a SUPERB comedy! What is he, my dear master Herzog, thinking? Whenever animals appear, it's mind-blowing. A snake, a fish, alligators, two iguanas, a dog, and the corrida on TV. Nice imagination. And the old man Mississippi, the old great snake, appears, too.
12 is a hommage to Kon Ichikawa. Nice film, but it needs more punch.
Monday, February 01, 2010
In Korea, in Seattle
Films this year:
4. Kim Ki-duk, Samaritan Girl (2004)
5. Kim Ki-duk, Address Unknown (2001)
6. Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
7. Drew Barrymore, Whip It (2009)
8. Scott Hicks, The Boys Are Back (2009)
9. Brandon Camp, Love Happens (2009)
I rewatched 4 with some friends; still an engima. 5 is another masterpiece that deals with Korea-US relationship in a striking way. 6 is good, but it may cause a nightmare (to me).
7 is fabulous! Drew growing into such a fine director... that's the girl! Ellen Page's childish-look is very funny. 8 is very good for its nice opening, especially. 9 makes me miss Seattle! Jennifer Aniston is as lovely as ever. All of these were in-flight movies. I'll watch them again at a theatre!
4. Kim Ki-duk, Samaritan Girl (2004)
5. Kim Ki-duk, Address Unknown (2001)
6. Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
7. Drew Barrymore, Whip It (2009)
8. Scott Hicks, The Boys Are Back (2009)
9. Brandon Camp, Love Happens (2009)
I rewatched 4 with some friends; still an engima. 5 is another masterpiece that deals with Korea-US relationship in a striking way. 6 is good, but it may cause a nightmare (to me).
7 is fabulous! Drew growing into such a fine director... that's the girl! Ellen Page's childish-look is very funny. 8 is very good for its nice opening, especially. 9 makes me miss Seattle! Jennifer Aniston is as lovely as ever. All of these were in-flight movies. I'll watch them again at a theatre!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Whitman
This year, to me, will be that of Walt Whitman. All his lines touch my heart and kick my butt... with his simple and immense truth! See the following, for example:
After me, vista!
O I see life is not short, but immeasurably long,
I henceforth tread the world chaste, temperate, an early riser, a steady grower,
Every hour the semen of centuries, and still of centuries.
I must follow up these continual lessons of the air, water, earth,
I perceive I have no time to lose.
(Leaves of Grass, 193)
After me, vista!
O I see life is not short, but immeasurably long,
I henceforth tread the world chaste, temperate, an early riser, a steady grower,
Every hour the semen of centuries, and still of centuries.
I must follow up these continual lessons of the air, water, earth,
I perceive I have no time to lose.
(Leaves of Grass, 193)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
World Cinema Continues
Films in 2009:
83. Wei Te-Sheng, Cape No.7 (2008)
A charming and well-conceived film that calls for a subtle socio-politico-ethnic reading of it. Historical complexity of Taiwan is stunning. Now is the time to pay attention to Wu's Pariah Manifest.
Films this year:
1. Toshifumi Matsushita, El regalo de la Pachamama (2009)
2. Chung-Ryoul Lee, Wonangsori (Old Partner, 2009)
3. F.W.Murnau, Sunrise (1927)
1 is a very ambitious staged documentary that deals with the Quechua life today. I liked it immensely.
2 is fascinating, riveting. This documentary was a blockbuster in Korea; you will cry when you watch it.
3 is Murnau's masterpiece that changes its atmosphere totally according to which of two sound tracks you choose.
83. Wei Te-Sheng, Cape No.7 (2008)
A charming and well-conceived film that calls for a subtle socio-politico-ethnic reading of it. Historical complexity of Taiwan is stunning. Now is the time to pay attention to Wu's Pariah Manifest.
Films this year:
1. Toshifumi Matsushita, El regalo de la Pachamama (2009)
2. Chung-Ryoul Lee, Wonangsori (Old Partner, 2009)
3. F.W.Murnau, Sunrise (1927)
1 is a very ambitious staged documentary that deals with the Quechua life today. I liked it immensely.
2 is fascinating, riveting. This documentary was a blockbuster in Korea; you will cry when you watch it.
3 is Murnau's masterpiece that changes its atmosphere totally according to which of two sound tracks you choose.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
He never repeated himself (?)
Here is what Stephen Spender says on T.S. Eliot:
"What is immediately striking about the poetry of T.S. Eliot is the difference between the work of the early, middle, and late periods. It is not just that Eliot never repeated himself and that he wrote a new poem only when he had something new to say and a new way of saying it, but that, at successive stages of his development, the poetry seems to proceed from a different consciousness." (T.S. Eliot, 3)
This itself is striking. Is it ever possible that one never repeat oneself? How does he know before he actually writes that he has found something new to say?
"What is immediately striking about the poetry of T.S. Eliot is the difference between the work of the early, middle, and late periods. It is not just that Eliot never repeated himself and that he wrote a new poem only when he had something new to say and a new way of saying it, but that, at successive stages of his development, the poetry seems to proceed from a different consciousness." (T.S. Eliot, 3)
This itself is striking. Is it ever possible that one never repeat oneself? How does he know before he actually writes that he has found something new to say?
Saturday, January 02, 2010
My new year's resolution
This year I will reorganize my life around... READING. This will be, once again, the focus of my life. See the great quote from my old mentor (in my heart) Gaston Bachelard:
"J'étudie! Je ne suis que le sujet du verbe étudier."
Philosophers pretend they THINK rather than STUDY, but what you need to do seriously is STUDY, namely, READ. Writers tend to think they WRITE rather than READ, but writing in essence is a series of RE-READING in which one's own writing is in constant struggle with one's predecessors'.
Happy reading to us all.
"J'étudie! Je ne suis que le sujet du verbe étudier."
Philosophers pretend they THINK rather than STUDY, but what you need to do seriously is STUDY, namely, READ. Writers tend to think they WRITE rather than READ, but writing in essence is a series of RE-READING in which one's own writing is in constant struggle with one's predecessors'.
Happy reading to us all.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
On water
Some titles I have forgotten to include:
81. Roman Polansky, Knife in the Water (1962)
82. Yves Allégret, Une si jolie petite plage (1949)
81 is so memorable for the rain falling on the lake. Then again, in 82 falls a lot of rain. 82 is all about sexual abuse of a young boy by a much older woman. The title should be read: Un si jolie petit garçon. Stunningly dark, but the beauty is undeniable.
81. Roman Polansky, Knife in the Water (1962)
82. Yves Allégret, Une si jolie petite plage (1949)
81 is so memorable for the rain falling on the lake. Then again, in 82 falls a lot of rain. 82 is all about sexual abuse of a young boy by a much older woman. The title should be read: Un si jolie petit garçon. Stunningly dark, but the beauty is undeniable.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Back then in London and its environs
78. Roman Polanski, Oliver Twist (2005)
Nobody alive today really knows 19th-century London, but this film reconstructs quite convincingly the life of an orphan in the historical setting. Especially charming is the dog; seemingly an Olde English Bulldogge, it is very handsome and looks quite powerful. I wish I could keep a dog like that. And the film probably leads me to read this Dickensian masterpiece after so many years (this time in the original).
79. Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Surprizingly beautiful moments. Of them I like the best the horse eating apples on the sandy beach... simply unforgettable. The film is not really focused on one character, but follows a group of characters intermittently. Of them one remembers Marcia and the camera that incarnates her own eyes in the forest. A great film.
80. Claude Chabrol, Les cousins (1959)
One of the well-known masterpieces of the Nouvelle Vague, this cruel film is full of charm because of its freely moving camera, very retro fashion, and the firmly constructed, literary plot. In fact the film is very novelistic, if you know what I mean. Our sympathy goes to Charles, the provincial boy. And we hate the girl who fell so easily for his cousin, but this hatred was already gendered.
Nobody alive today really knows 19th-century London, but this film reconstructs quite convincingly the life of an orphan in the historical setting. Especially charming is the dog; seemingly an Olde English Bulldogge, it is very handsome and looks quite powerful. I wish I could keep a dog like that. And the film probably leads me to read this Dickensian masterpiece after so many years (this time in the original).
79. Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Surprizingly beautiful moments. Of them I like the best the horse eating apples on the sandy beach... simply unforgettable. The film is not really focused on one character, but follows a group of characters intermittently. Of them one remembers Marcia and the camera that incarnates her own eyes in the forest. A great film.
80. Claude Chabrol, Les cousins (1959)
One of the well-known masterpieces of the Nouvelle Vague, this cruel film is full of charm because of its freely moving camera, very retro fashion, and the firmly constructed, literary plot. In fact the film is very novelistic, if you know what I mean. Our sympathy goes to Charles, the provincial boy. And we hate the girl who fell so easily for his cousin, but this hatred was already gendered.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
México, the other side
I have been very slow in viewing new films; over the past weeks all I watched were Jean Cocteau's Orphée (1949, one of my all time favorites), Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes Are Flying (1957, ditto) and Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (an interesting film I can never say I love). Rewatching is good, but having to rewatch is not very much so.
77. Luis Estrada, La ley de Herodes (1999)
Eiko introduced me to this politico-satirical Mexican comedy. Nicely rendered and a bit reminiscent of The Milagro Beanfield War because of its scenery and setting of the remote village. The landscape I suspect is that of Sonora? Just like southern Arizona. Bloody and often hilarious. Animals are especially funny.
77. Luis Estrada, La ley de Herodes (1999)
Eiko introduced me to this politico-satirical Mexican comedy. Nicely rendered and a bit reminiscent of The Milagro Beanfield War because of its scenery and setting of the remote village. The landscape I suspect is that of Sonora? Just like southern Arizona. Bloody and often hilarious. Animals are especially funny.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ah, Madagascar!
Films this year:
76.César Paes, Angano, angano (1989)
A masterpiece of ethnographic documentary. "Angano" means folk-tale in Malgache. The film follows nicely the lives of people on the island of Madagascar and how traditional storytelling lives on to teach people a cosmology and the way to deal with their reality.
Astonishingly beautiful sceneries appear unexpectedly. Highly recommended.
76.César Paes, Angano, angano (1989)
A masterpiece of ethnographic documentary. "Angano" means folk-tale in Malgache. The film follows nicely the lives of people on the island of Madagascar and how traditional storytelling lives on to teach people a cosmology and the way to deal with their reality.
Astonishingly beautiful sceneries appear unexpectedly. Highly recommended.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
In Berlin
Films this year:
75. Tom Tykwer, Run, Lola, Run (1998)
Watched this for the first time in a decade... still lovely after these years. And as was expected, some graduate students who watched it with me loved it immensely. Now is the time for some slow action...
75. Tom Tykwer, Run, Lola, Run (1998)
Watched this for the first time in a decade... still lovely after these years. And as was expected, some graduate students who watched it with me loved it immensely. Now is the time for some slow action...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Telling the future?
Films this year:
74. Kim Ki-duk, Birdcage Inn (1998).
Emotionally far-fetched and often tepid and boring, the film shows its true color in the final 10 minutes or so. You'd be chilled to see that many of his future works are foretold in this odd piece. Spiritual sisterhood (the undertone is lesbianism) played against the theme of the sacred whore; like that in his later masterpiece Samaritan Girl.
And who else lets the snow fall in the summer? Lets a gold fish swim in the sea? Marvelously insane.
74. Kim Ki-duk, Birdcage Inn (1998).
Emotionally far-fetched and often tepid and boring, the film shows its true color in the final 10 minutes or so. You'd be chilled to see that many of his future works are foretold in this odd piece. Spiritual sisterhood (the undertone is lesbianism) played against the theme of the sacred whore; like that in his later masterpiece Samaritan Girl.
And who else lets the snow fall in the summer? Lets a gold fish swim in the sea? Marvelously insane.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Dangerous Altitude
Films this year:
71. Lu Chuan, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004)
72. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Café Lumière (2003)
73. The Coen brothers, Blood Simple. (1984)
71 is a visually stunning pseudo-documentary which is based on the true story of the porchers and the privately organized mountain patrol of the region. I am not sure if actual killing of the animals has been involved in the production, but it looks that way. The quicksand is chilling. The beauty of the land over 4700m or thereabouts is divine.
72 is a masterpiece set in Tokyo with almost unbelievable performance from the singer Hitoto Yo. Her portrayal of a young woman who choses to become a single mother is so convincing, uncannily natural. Asano Tadanobu is good, too.
It seems that Zhang Yimou is remaking 73! This already classic thriller is so... Coen-like. What other than this tautology can explain their films. Weird and fascinating.
71. Lu Chuan, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004)
72. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Café Lumière (2003)
73. The Coen brothers, Blood Simple. (1984)
71 is a visually stunning pseudo-documentary which is based on the true story of the porchers and the privately organized mountain patrol of the region. I am not sure if actual killing of the animals has been involved in the production, but it looks that way. The quicksand is chilling. The beauty of the land over 4700m or thereabouts is divine.
72 is a masterpiece set in Tokyo with almost unbelievable performance from the singer Hitoto Yo. Her portrayal of a young woman who choses to become a single mother is so convincing, uncannily natural. Asano Tadanobu is good, too.
It seems that Zhang Yimou is remaking 73! This already classic thriller is so... Coen-like. What other than this tautology can explain their films. Weird and fascinating.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
In Bangkok
Films this year:
70. Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Last Life in the Universe (2003)
Fresh and nice, with immer breathtaking Chris Doyle's cinematography. The story has some subtle moments, which are pleasing, and some incongruities, which are interesting. Asano Tadanobu is an interesting actor who may possibly have a pan-Asian appeal. Got to see more from this director.
70. Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Last Life in the Universe (2003)
Fresh and nice, with immer breathtaking Chris Doyle's cinematography. The story has some subtle moments, which are pleasing, and some incongruities, which are interesting. Asano Tadanobu is an interesting actor who may possibly have a pan-Asian appeal. Got to see more from this director.
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