Tokyo Biyori

[Frances Loden]

My responses to Mark Schilling's remarks:

1)  The "semi-deranged woman" and "the fascist cult leader" on the subway
are not man and wife.

Then she's deranged.

2) The "facist cult leader" is an actor in costume.
3) The "rally" is a play in which the actor is performing.

My mistake.

4) Yoko does not "moulder at home." She works at a travel agency and is, in
fact, supporting her husband.

Of course she works to support her husband.  And she certainly gets no joy
out of that job.  I'm saying that when she's at home she seems to do
nothing but 1) mope for his return or 2) try to get the neighbor boy to
wear girls' outfits.  Whereas her husband, although not working to bring
food on the table, seems to have a life outside the home.  Even though he
frets that she could conduct a life independent of him, the only possible
example of such an independent life is with another man.  As always, this
is more a comment on Shimazu's mental state than on Yoko's.

5) Yoko's "liaison with a younger man" amounts to a few brief encounters in
a public park in broad daylight, all initiated by the younger man and all
of which come to nothing.

Yeah, that's clear.  I'm saying that when she's not with her husband Yoko
is LIABLE to display unstable behavior or behavior threatening to him.

6) Yoko is not "pushed into unconventional behavior with her husband"; She
is the  first to notice that the rock is shaped like a piano. She is also
the first to go to it and begin "playing" it.

OK, probably I didn't make myself clear.  Yes, she initiated the
piano-playing on the rock.  But the moment is happy and successfully
unconventional because Shimazu is doing it with her.  If she tried anything
like that alone, she'd be hauled off to the mental hospital.  On the train,
an empty can rolls toward her foot.  Nervously she stops it and looks at
Shimazu with an expression like, What do I do now?  Later they befriend the
can, giving it a voice and a gender.  It's like he has to teach her how to
enjoy life, play make-believe, use her imagination.  When she's alone, she
loses her bearings and gets hit by trucks.

It's tough to judge this film on its merits as a film alone when it has
such an unabashed reverence for this Araaaaaaki (Markus TM) character.  And
I wouldn't have the heart to compare it to Howard Stern's "Private Parts"
since the Japanese film has almost no sense of humor despite its being a
portrayal of an "unconventional" person.


Frako Loden
Tokyo, Japan
(03) 3247-5332
Keitai: 010-04-97072