<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Apr 27, 2007, at 10:53 AM, Bruce Baird wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; ">there being a vast tendency to turn Hijikata into something mystical and separated from his time <BR></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Time is what it's all about, as hinted by the title of the film. But mystical, I don't think so. Insanity, yes. The film, and that story in particular, are ultimately grounded in material practices and local identities. There are religious aspects to Ogawa Pro's take on village life, but this is part of village reality and not simply a "take." And I don't think you could call them mystical. </DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; ">rather than see him as part of an international urban-inflected avant-garde practice</SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Posers, all of them. And Ogawa was the King of Posers. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Markus</DIV></BODY></HTML>