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<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Dear
Alex,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006></SPAN><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">They are very
reasonable questions! What a coincidence! I saw the film a little while ago.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Dogra Magra was based
on a famous novel written in 1935 by Yumeno Kyusaku and it was his last work
that took him almost ten years to complete. The plot is really long and consists
of the complex pros and cons. It might be important to read the
original novel because it will be understood that the film is
a short version of the original story. Unfortunately in the film
the important contexts are lost, which was criticised by some
critics. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Then it is
wondered how far we can answer the questions you have posed. There are
at least two significant characteristics to the clues. Firstly the last
part of the novel comes the first sequence in the film that
consequently denies the simple scheme of the filmic
plot. Secondly Dogura Magura is presented in the film in the form of
the novel written by the main character so that the construction of
the novel itself has also become uncertain, like the effect of
the mirror in the mirror. In fact the construction of the novel develops in
a more complicated way than the film. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006></SPAN><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Interestingly it is said that the person who has managed to
read the whole would become insane. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
class=900202613-22062006></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">In order to
answer all the questions that you have asked you had better read the novel
but the aftermath of your reading would be disastrous! So
you cannot still get the answer!</FONT> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">(In fact it's fun to
read it as I did!!!)</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Additionally the
actor, who played the role of Dr. Masaki used to be a very talented kansai
based <EM>rakugo-ka</EM> but unfortunately he </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">committed suicide because of his
serious depression a few years ago.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT
face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック">Toshie
Mori</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=900202613-22062006></SPAN><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
class=900202613-22062006><FONT face="ＭＳ Ｐゴシック"
size=3> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
class=900202613-22062006> </SPAN>----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Alexander
Jacoby<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 22, 2006 10:22 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu<BR><B>Subject:</B> Dogra
Magra<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>Dear All,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Having just watched Toshio Matsumoto's Dogra Magra, I wonder how people
on the list have reacted to it and how much of the story people think is
real. In Matsumoto's early Pandemonium / Shura, there are many scenes
where the director plays tricks with the viewer so that's it's initially
confusing as to whether a particular scene is supposed to have really
happened, or be taken as fantasy (an example the murder of the young
couple early in the film). In Pandemonium, however, these issues are usually
resolved so that by the end of the film one knows basically what has happened.
Dogra Magra is not like this, since the film is seen from the perspective of
an amnesiac. I'm wondering how much of the narrative one can have any
confidence in at all. My basic questions are:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1) How many people, if any, were really murdered - when and
where?</DIV>
<DIV>2) Who by? Is the young man really guilty either of the murder shown in
the flashback, or of the one which allegedly took place inside the
asylum?</DIV>
<DIV>3) Is the young man really the person who the doctors claim he is?</DIV>
<DIV>4) Is it possible that the whole incident has been fabricated by the
doctors for their own purposes? - ie experimental research?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If people feel that the answer to all these questions is, We don't know,
and that's the point of the film, then fair enough. But I'm wondering if I may
have missed some subtle clues as to which of the events we're to interpret as
really real!<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Thanks,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>ALEX<BR></DIV>
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