DARTH KITTY

I saw this on LOST AT E MINOR, an arts website, and I really liked it. Hope I don't get tracked down and beaten for posting it here, but it really made me laugh. So creative, people are. Weird, but creative.

A LINE I LIKE

"They were not the hot, phosphorescent colors of India, but the cool, black-and-white stick drawings of winter trees against winter clouds, white geese flying across a gray mountain range in the snow." Bharati Mukherjee, Desirable Daughters

MAO'S LAST DANCER

Tonight I watched the very nice movie, Mao's Last Dancer, a biopic about Chinese dancer Li Cunxin (based on his autobiography), who was trained in Communist China and later defected to the United States to dance with the Houston Ballet. Directed by Bruce Beresford, best known for Driving Miss Daisy and Breaker Morant, with screenplay by Jan Sardi, best known for Shine,, the film portrays the difficulty Li faced in achieving his desire to escape the rigid state-controlled Chinese dance in order to study, and then stay, in America, especially in light of the penalties heaped upon his family and the long years of not knowing about their welfare. Despite scenes and acting that reminds one of a Hallmark Classic, the film nonethless touches the heart; I will admit to tearing up several times. One of my favorite scenes is when young Li is given a contraband tape by his soon-to-be-banished teacher (for daring to insist on classical training) of Baryshnikov dancing, and the young Li's face lights up as he watches (and is inspired) as the star performs. The viewer roots for continued success for the dancer. Some of the ballet scenes are beautiful, especially the penultimate Rites of Spring, which I have never seen before. The cast did a credible job, and I love just about anything Joan Chen is in. Although the action officially takes place in Houston, most of the dancers are with Australian companies, and they are very good. Chi Cao, who portrays Li, is an exceptional dancer, and I loved his performce, especially in light of the fact that this apparently was his first tiem on the big screen. I encourage anyone who enjoys dance to see it.

KABEI

Tonight I watched an excellent Japanese film, Kabei: Our Mother, about a mother of two girls whose scholar husband has been arrested by the militaristic government during the invasion of China, and then follows her efforts to provide for her children while remaining loyal to her man. She makes great sacrifices, and gets some help from a sister and a former student of her husband (who falls in love with her). It is a sad movie about the strength of a mother, undying love, the tough times the Japanese people had to suffer for their expansionist dreams, the perils of blind conformity, as well as the goodness and failing of many people. Based on Teruyo Nogami's memoirs, the film is lovingly presented by director Yoji Yamada. Sayuri Yoshinaga is wonderful in the main role, as are the two young actresses who play her daughters. The movie is a wonderful insight into the attitudes and culture of Tokyo during the war. I recommend it.

MIDNIGHT MASS 2011

Iranian Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLotJZoYF74&feature=player_embedded

BALLAD OF NARAYAMA

Life was pretty rough in remote regions of Japan, especially for women and children, as well as everyone not the head-of-household, and communities often struggled to maintain a balance that threatened to collapse with poor harvests or difficult times. The plight of poor Japanese is well represented in Imamura’s The Ballad of Narayama (1983), an award-winning movie of heartrending insight and beautiful cinematography. Too many mouths to feed can result in infanticide (or a child being sold away, which I understand is still a common practice in places such as Thailand and Cambodia), and the aged (anyone making it to 70) are expected to take a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain where they are exposed to the elements and left to die (sometimes unwillingly). The social structure that privileged heads of household, left the young and female vulnerable, and relegated most everyone to inferior status. Younger brothers could only hope for hard work, deference, and occasional opportunities for happiness (for example, sex). Ballad is primarily about a grandmother, embarrassed by her good fortune in health, who is approaching her own trip to the mountainside (willingly) and is tying up loose ends and preparing a new daughter-in-law for her role as a matriarch. The movie pulls few punches and openly shows the realities of infanticide, patricide, violence, deviant sexuality, hardship, and misogyny. Yet, it also shows the high level of responsibility, sacrifice, cooperation, humor, and order that kept total destruction at bay.
For a foreign viewer or individual not well versed in Japanese culture (such as myself), this movie can be a troubling experience. The punishment of an entire family (being buried alive) for stealing is partially understandable in a society whose existence is so close to the edge, but it was extreme and cruel, especially to the innocent victims (as it seems the actions of one family member is applied to the entire clan). Women have little say in how they are sexually treated. Children, especially girls, are treated little better than calves (an opportunity to make money). The scene where the salt merchant is marching away a small group of children is emotionally heartrending. A widow forced to have sex with the lesser males in the community to atone for the sin of her husband is appalling. The film does show what the domestic life was like, unvarnished.
I am amazed that no one got frostbite in this film. I also thought it interesting that there seemed to be no official (ie, police or local government) presence portrayed. The photography is often beautifully done, though the interspersed nature scenes were roughly cut in, and there seemed to be a special interest in snakes (all seemingly trying to relate that what was going on in the village was just part of the natural order of things). The acting was excellent, especially Sumiko Sakamoto as grandmother Orin.