RIP, continued

Setsuko Hara (1920-2015), aged 95. Another veteran actress, also aged 95 and named Hara has passed away - it was Maureen O'Hara recently and now we hear that Japanese actress Setsuko Hara died in September, though it has only been announced now. She was of course the muse of director Yazijiro Ozu, starring in several of his classics, most notably as Noriko in a trilogy, the most well-known and revered being the great TOKYO STORY in 1953, also LATE SPRING and EARLY SUMMER.  She clocked up a total of 77 credits, but never married and  lived quietly in her later years - she gave up acting in 1966 but was one of Japan's best-loved stars during her 30 year career. 

Her main roles saw her as the dutiful daughter looking after aged parents and she became known as The Eternal Virgin. She did six films with Ozu, and also worked with Kurosawa and Naruse. Anyone who has seen TOKYO STORY will know who wonderful she was and how she quietly commands the screen - I will be re-watching it again soon before too long. 

To Indo-china and Japan via the sea wall ....

I liked the French epic INDOCHINE a couple of years back, nice to see it again now, plus also that 1950s favourite of mine, Rene Clement's THE SEA WALL, also set in colonial Indo-China (exteriors filmed in Thailand in 1957); and also Mikio Naruse's 1954 LOST CHRYSANTHEMUMS was also screened here again, I was captured all over again ...... here are my reviews of these ....

INDOCHINE. This was a free dvd in one of our newspapers a few years ago, but I never bothered watching it till now. I like it a lot, it plays like a French GONE WITH THE WIND or a David Lean film with those crowd scenes and sampans sailing on marvellous landscapes .... as directed in 1992 by Regis Wargnier.

Indochina during the 1930s: One of the largest rubber-tree plantations is owned by French colonist Eliane who lives with her father and her native adopted daughter Camille (Linh Dan Pham). Elaine gets to know young French officer Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez); after a short affair she refuses to see him again, as Camille falls deeply in love with him. Elaine gets him transferred to a far island where Camille goes in search of him, despite an arranged marriage. Her saga is rivetting and engrossing, as the fates of the three leads play out, rather like a parable of France's place in Indochina and Vietnam. It looks marvellous - Deneuve is perfect in those 30s clothes, and striding around her plantation in jodhpurs. Colonial life is nicely depicted showing also the brutality meted out to the peasants (like that family Camille travels with to that island).

It is a vast, panoramic love story set in the twilight years of French Indo-China. Comparisons with David Lean are inevitable, considering director Régis Wargnier's use of the setting as a backdrop to the love-triangle between the three main characters. Catherine Deneuve gives a strong, emotionally restrained performance as Eliane, the plantation owner whose colonial paradise is slowly falling apart. Linh Dan Pham is affecting as Camille, Eliane's adopted daughter whose journey from aristocratic ancestry to Marxist induction personifies the changing face of South-East Asia in the period around World War Two. It won the Oscar for best Foreign Film of 1992, and Deneuve was nominated as Leading Actress.
As I said to pal Martin to encourage him to see it, it is a saga featuring glamorous ladie wearing fabulous 1930s frocks in exotic locations making grand gestures and suffering, suffering, suffering while an epic tale unfolds about France and Indo-China; there's gorgeous men in white uniforms a well and some marvellously composed images. 

Another Fifties favourite I have featured here quite a bit, but not lately, is Rene Clement's 1957 THE SEA WALL or THIS ANGRY AGE, which I liked as a kid back in 1958.

Above is a nice clip of Tony Perkins and Silvana Mangano doing their jive number.

There is a lot more on THE SEA WALL (or THIS ANGRY AGE) at the labels below. I loved it as a kid, and it still works for me now, Silvana Mangano is as fascinating as ever, and Jo Van Fleet of course is extraordinary as always, and Alida Valli picks up Tony at the cinema! It was an early international co-production, French/Italian and shot in Thailand, from the Marguerite Duras novel. Tony of course went from Silvana to Sophia Loren in his next, DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, while Clement stunned and fascinated me with his next - PLEIN SOLEIL .... but thats a whole different story. 

Update: I now have my third copy - the first was Italian only / then a friend sourced a black and white copy in English / last year I got a copy in colour and in English with French Sub-titles, copied from French television - and introduced by Alain Delon ! - he must have been commenting on a Rene Clement season ... perfect viewing then.

LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS from 1954 is rather slow-moving and not much actually happens but Naruse creates this mood where we identify with each of his characters and the Japanese life of the time - all those sliding doors! - is nicely depicted. I have not seen any other films by Naruse or much Japanese cinema apart from the Kurosawa and Ozu classics. I love TOKYO STORY of course and Ozu's fellow classics like LATE SPRING and EARLY SUMMER (featuring the great Setsuko Hara as Noriko) and his earlier THERE WAS A FATHER and THE ONLY SON and his final, AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON. Naruse was equally prolific with 91 titles, the best known seem to be FLOATING CLOUDS and WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS - so, more Naruse to explore, then there is Mizoguchi ...

Mikio Naruse's examination of the lives of three idling, constantly complaining, single ex-geishas in post-war Japan is a marvellous character piece. What is the life of a Geisha like once her beauty has faded and she has retired? Okin has saved her money, and has become a wealthy money-lender, spending her days cold-heartedly collecting debts. Even her best friends, Tomi  and Tamae, who were her fellow Geisha, are now indebted to her. For all of them, the glamor of their young lives has passed; Tomi and Tamae have children, but their children have disappointed them. Okin has two former lovers who still pursue her; one she wants to see, and the other she doesn't. But even the one she remembers fondly, when he shows up, proves to be a disappointment. 

 As in Ozu's TOKYO STORY, sadness and nostalgia permeate LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS particularly when Tomi and Tamae are getting drunk and reflecting on their children busy with their own lives, 
while Okin comforts herself with her home and deaf-mute maid. Everyone it seems wants to borrow money from her ... Haruko Sugimura (also in TOKYO STORY as the thankless daughter) is marvellous as Okin. All the characters accept the stoic acceptance of life and their circumstances. Okin has her money and the others have their memories and companionship to keep them going. The men meanwhile, particularly, Okin's two previous lovers are desperate for money ... 

The Monroe Walk ! 
One fascinating moment has the two ex-geishas walking along when a modern Japanese girl strolls by swaying her hips.Tamae asks "Is that the Monroe walk?" as Tomi imitates it. It made me realise that here in 1954 Monroe was already a worldwide sensation since 1953 and her tour to Korea. 

All is lost, or: the old man and the sea

ALL IS LOST. Finally, a look at this very compelling film about a lone sailor battling the elements, and the only person in it is Robert Redford. I saw this just after the great 1975 thriller THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR on Sky TV, when RR was in his '70s prime, quite a contrast to the the craggy older Redford on screen here (Spencer Tracy was 58 when he made his old man and the sea film back in 1958: THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, from Hemingway, Redford is 77 here). Reading the IMDB comments on ALL IS LOST it seems a very divisive film with lots of interpretations ....

Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Is the ending left deliberately oblique so the viewer can make up their own mind? The question is does he die? Those big container cargo ships do not see him, and finally he has to set his rubber dinghy alight to attract attention. When that too fails he is left with nothing - and slowly sinks into the ocean - too deep to to be rescued perhaps, then he sees a white light, he swims to the light and a hand reaches out for him....or maybe a small boat arrives (from where?) and the hand reaches down to him which he suddenly finds the energy to swim towards ...

What I found jarring, was his total silence. Who does not or would not talk to themselves if alone at sea, facing disaster after disaster, from waking to see his boat damaged to its eventual sinking ..... he barely speaks apart from a scream and a radio message and the voiceover of the note he writes. One has to admire Redford, he is splendid tacking all these scenes. Three boats were used in the course of the film, directed by J.C. Chandor, but that ending is still a puzzle. And why does he waste water shaving? We know nothing about him, there is no back story, he does not even seem a good sailor - as per IMDB comments. It all reminded me of another man at sea drama: Kon Ichikawa's ALONE ON THE PACIFIC from 1963 where a resourceful Japanese sailor sails a boat from Japan to San Francisco bay with all the attendant hazards he faces .... (review at Japan label). Then theres the 2003 Australian OPEN WATER with that couple lost at sea ... (2000s label).

Next: Before the London BFI's 2015 LGBT festival, a gay mini-festival here, with PRIDE / CUCUMBER / THE DRESSER / HOCKNEY / LOVE IS STRANGE.
Then: that HOUSE OF CARDS re-boot, Plus dipping into that Shakespeare lot: Olivier's OTHELLO, Orson's FALSTAFF (CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT), Polanski's MACBETH (plus McKellen's and Nicol Williamson's), HAMLETs by Olivier, Branagh, Richardson, Zeffirelli, Kosintsev and the BBC, Olivier's Shylock for the National's MERCHANT OF VENICE and more ...plus some more Trash Classics, and a return to European cinema with more Romy Schneider, Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni ...

Late Chrysanthemums

Mikio Naruse's examination of the lives of three idling, constantly complaining, single ex-geishas in post-war Japan is a marvellous character piece. What is the life of a Geisha like once her beauty has faded and she has retired? Okin has saved her money, and has become a wealthy money-lender, spending her days cold-heartedly collecting debts. Even her best friends, Tomi  and Tamae, who were her fellow Geisha, are now indebted to her. For all of them, the glamor of their young lives has passed; Tomi and Tamae have children, but their children have disappointed them. Okin has two former lovers who still pursue her; one she wants to see, and the other she doesn't. But even the one she remembers fondly, when he shows up, proves to be a disappointment. 

LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS from 1954 is rather slow-moving and not much actually happens but Naruse creates this mood where we identify with each of his characters and the Japanese life of the time - all those sliding doors! - is nicely depicted. I have not seen any other films by Naruse or much Japanese cinema apart from the Kurosawa and Ozu classics. I love TOKYO STORY of course and Ozu's fellow classics like LATE SPRING and EARLY SUMMER (featuring the great Setsuko Hara as Noriko) and his earlier THERE WAS A FATHER and THE ONLY SON and his final, AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON. Naruse was equally prolific with 91 titles, the best known seem to be FLOATING CLOUDS and WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS - so, more Naruse to explore, then there is Mizoguchi ...

 As in Ozu's TOKYO STORY, sadness and nostalgia permeate LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS particularly when Tomi and Tamae are getting drunk and reflecting on their children busy with their own lives, while Okin comforts herself with her home and deaf-mute maid. Everyone it seems wants to borrow money from her ... Haruko Sugimura (also in TOKYO STORY as the thankless daughter) is marvellous as Okin. All the characters accept the stoic acceptance of life and their circumstances. Okin has her money and the others have their memories and companionship to keep them going. The men meanwhile, particularly, Okin's two previous lovers are desperate for money ... 

The Monroe Walk ! 
One fascinating moment has the two ex-geishas walking along when a modern Japanese girl strolls by swaying her hips.Tamae asks "Is that the Monroe walk?" as Tomi imitates it. It made me realise that here in 1954 Monroe was already a worldwide sensation since 1953 and her tour to Korea. 

My friend Martin sums it up pefectly:
Unlike those of his contemporaries, Mizoguchi, Ozu and Kurosawa, the films of Mikio Naruse are mostly unknown in the West and yet they are just as relevant and just as powerful. The "Late Chrysantehmums" of this extraordinary film are four ageing former geisha's with money problems and this is one of the most insightful of films dealing with the role of women in post-war Japanese society and not just the women at the centre who once sold their bodies but who now have nothing to barter but also the daughter of one of them who is prepared to marry an older man for financial security. Money is at the basis of everything that happens in the film and it taints the lives of all the characters. It is superbly played, particularly by those great Japanese actresses Haruko Sugimura as the moneylender Okin and Chikako Hosokawa as the drunken Otamae. Like Naruse, these two actresses never really 'crossed over' to the West and yet their work in Japanese cinema is as fine as any to have graced international cinema while this is a film on a subject that, in hindsight, would never have been tackled in Western cinema at this time. Of course that, in itself, does not make it a masterpiece but a masterpiece it is, nevertheless. It is one of the greatest of all films on the disappointments that life throws at us. A bit like THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE (below) then ....

Alone On The Pacific

I can't call ALONE ON THE PACIFIC  a forgotten movie - I remember it vividly! This 1963 Japanese film played in at the prestigious Academy Cinema in London in 1964, I saw it then aged 18 and new in town, and it made a vivid impression on me, so it was interesting to see it again after 40+ years !

A powerful hymn to the human spirit, ALONE ON THE PACIFIC (or ACROSS the Pacific) by renowned Japanese director Kon Ichikawa (AN ACTOR'S REVENGE, THE BURMESE HARP) tells the extraordinary real-life story of one man's obsessive quest to break free from the strictures of society.

In 1962, Kenichi Horie (Yujiro Ishihara) embarks on a heroic attempt to sail single-handed across the Pacific Ocean. Leaving Osaka in Japan in an ill-prepared vessel, The Mermaid, the young adventurer must overcome the most savage of seas, the psychological torment of cabin fever, and his mental and physical breaking point, if he is ever to reach the fabled destination of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. 

Using Horie's best-selling book as his source, Ichikawa portrays the epic struggle of man against nature. 'Scope cinematography - with Horie isolated in the oceanic expanse of the frame - and a score by Toru Takemitsu, add to the drama of a film for whic Ichikawa received accolades. As the 'Masters of Cinema' dvd put it.

There are fearsome storms at sea, and longeurs of our sailor becalmed on the ocean in his tiny boat in the heat, when there is no wind, also encounters with ships at sea, and that moment when he almost encounters a shark! We also get flashbacks to his preparations, the items he takes with him, as he has to leave Japan in secret, as well as family scenes with his worried mother and sister. It is very emotional though when he finally sees land and finds himself outside San Francisco bay, after 94 days at sea - what a stunning achievement. The last scene has him fast asleep as his parents are on the phone from Japan.

Yujiro Ishihara (1934-1987) was a big star in Japan, but died aged 52 of liver cancer. His only non-Japanese role was as one of THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES in 1964. Kon Ichikawa went to to make that terrific film of the 1964 Olympic Games: TOKYO OLYMPIAD. 

I must also return to my Ozu boxset - TOKYO STORY (right) will always be a top 10 movie for me, but I must see the other 2 of the "Noriko Trilogy": EARLY SUMMER, LATE SPRING as well as his earlier THERE WAS A FATHER and THE ONLY SON. I also received as a gift 8 '60s Japanese films by Yoshishige Yoshida (AFFAIR IN THE SNOW, CONFESSIONS AMONG ACTRESSES, ESCAPE FROM JAPAN) so lots to investigate there too ...

Marie Colvin, Remi Ochlik, R.I.P.

Here at the Projector we try to keep out of political stories as others' opinions will differ, but sometimes one cannot ignore what is going on in the world (as with the tsunami in Japan last year) and one simply has to salute astounding courage and bravery. So it is with reporting the deaths of war correspondent Marie Colvin, 56, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, who were covering the bombardment of Homs in Syria, where the regime there were determined to remove the foreign press.

I had been aware of Marie Colvin's by-line for years as one of the principal journalists of "The Sunday Times" as she reported from war zones all over the world, losing an eye in the process. Colvin worked for "The Sunday Times" for 20 years and twice won the British press award for Foreign Correspondent of the Year. Today's press reports the appalling danger they were in by still sending out news reports from Homs, as those determined to silence them could lock on to satellite signals and home in accordingly.... One can only salute their bravery and that of all the others following the recent changes in Egypt and Libya.

Japan

A moment to be serious. This photo of a woman and cat at a rescue centre in Japan really caught my attention. We may be innured to tragedy after all those natural disasters hitting much poorer countries but seeing large parts of Japan reduced to matchwood makes one wonder how on earth can people get over this when one's home and town have just vanished, not to mention family and neighbours .... and of course animals too.

But we learned a new word today: " gaman" - alongside the chaos and utter devastation wrought by nature have been scenes of heartbreaking orderliness and self-control as people try to remain calm and carry on. There seems to be no looting or panic. Western news crews search for images of fear and anguish as the survivors try to maintain their dignity. This stoicism can be summed up by the word "gaman" roughly meaning calm forebearance, perseverence and poise in the face of events beyond one's control. It is so commendable. Japan has emerged from devastation before so it will have to do it again.