Peter Wollen

[Abe' Mark Nornes]

Peter Wollen is here at Michigan and related two interesting stories about
his recent trip to Japan.

---Upon arrival in Fukuoka, his hosts immediately offered to take him to
the building in _Signs and Meaning in the Cinema_. He was flabbergasted,
not knowing what they were talking about, but said, "Sure." They stopped in
front of a building, and whipped out the book. There was the building, on
page 12 and before his very eyes, the main difference being Rodan perched
on the roof in the photograph! 

---In Kyoto, he sought out the grave of Mizoguchi. The map is hosts
produced was poor, and it took two attempts and several taxi drivers. But
he finally arrived at a likely possibility, walked in and started
searching. Soon, a caretaker came up and asked, "Mizoguchi?" If you think
about it, what other gaijin had made this journey.....Godard, Wenders,
Herzog, some of you?

amn

PS: For the students of film, a revised and UPDATED version of Signs and
Meaning is about to come out from the BFI/Indiana.