It's the end of a month, and that means movie festival time here at the Homestead. As it is Deb's turn to choose, she gets four pics in a row; her regular weekday one, and three for the festival. First, some news from around the Homestead. My most recent Meniere's attack is the fourth in a very short time period--usually I would get one or two a year, at most. But the disease seems to have entered a new phase, one I could do without. Awaking at 4 am with the room spinning madly is not pleasant.
In more happy news, we had a visit last Saturday from Amanda L., the first time we have seen her since last Christmas. We sat outside talking and sipping ales for four hours, and it was fun. Cathy, her mom, stayed for the first few hours, but had to return home to see how her five new kittens were doing.
Today Deb had her regular echo cardiogram. On the same outing we picked up four pounds of green coffee beans from Colonial. Three of them are fair trade organic, from Nicaragua, Peru, and Sumatra. The fourth was from Papua New Guinea. We did a triple roast yesterday, nearly finishing up our old supply of beans. Wednesday, being a full moon day (the first of two for October), will be a roast day, too, one of the new ones. I like having 7 different roasted beans on hand, one for each day of the week. We roast 1/4 pound at a time, and they are kept in small jars, awaiting their day of being ground and consumed.
And, in final news before switching over to movie talk, I am using a larger font on my posts. The excitement seldom stops around here.
All movies discussed below were viewed on the Criterion Channel, through Roku and screened on our big screen. First up was Kaisha Monagatari: Memories of You, from 1988 and directed by Jun Ichikawa. The film details the final few working days of a retiring Tokyo business executive, a man whose life has been given to his work. His family life is dismal: his daughter is separated and living with her parents along with her young daughter. The son is bi-polar and not a joy to have around the house. The father seems to have no relationship at all with his wife. The office workers don't really want to give him a farewell party, and no one wants to organize it. However, he is saved by his love of jazz, and the fact that he used to play drums when was young. A small group of dedicated company men get together and form a band, which will play at the party. The movie is quite mysterious for the first half, as we watch this unhappy robot of a man approaching the end of his tenure. The second half adds nice doses of sweetness, as he begins to bond with the group of elderly jazz musician buddies. Well worth watching.
Now showing on Criterion.
Second was Tony Takitani, a Japanese film from 2004. Also directed by Jun Ichikawa, we have now seen the only two movies of his on Criterion. Tony Takitani is based on a short story by Haruki Marakami, and is a truly wonderful cinema experience. It deals with loneliness, love, art, and shopping in a very unique way. The film is riveting from start to finish, even though the storytelling is as much cinematic as it is literary. Not to be missed, and the author should be checked out, too.
Third came an experimental film from 1964, the black and white Black Sun, directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara. Featuring a loud jazz score and over the top performances from the two lead characters, this is not one for all tastes. An eccentric young Japanese man, a lover of jazz and all things from Black America, has an encounter with a black marine stationed in Japan, who has killed another soldier in a shoot out and is wounded and on the run. He ends up hiding in an abandoned, mostly destroyed Catholic church, which is where the Japanese boy lives. The Japanese boy makes a good substitute for Hanuman, the monkey god, whose mind is never still and calm, but always churning and getting into mischief. There are many times when the movie is hard to take, and I am amazed it is still shown at all, let alone on Criterion. But overall it is worth a view, just for the fact that there is nothing like it anywhere else in the repertoire of film.
Now showing on Criterion.
Lastly comes the winner of the top Cannes prize in 1961, Chronicle of a Summer. Another black and white experimental film, this was a collaboration between John Rouch, an anthropolist and filmmaker, and Edgar Morin, a sociologist. It is labelled by the makers as cinema-verite, and consists of interviews with Parisians, simply asking men and women off the street questions such as "Are you happy?" and progressing to political discussions. If you have an interest in Parisian thinking from this era, then this one is for you.
Coming soon to this blog is the highly anticipated September reading summary, and another work of art from the DIA collection.
Mapman Mike
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