Ichikawa Book

[Bill Glenn]

Yes, this is true.  Being an MFA member helps a little.  I also missed "Being 2
Is Not Easy", but Barnes and Noble had this in stock. Ichikawa is fantastic at
literary adaptation. "Kokoro" was based on a novel by Natsume Soseki I believe.
It was a bit difficult for me, I wish I could see it once more.  So, "I am a
Cat"  has a strange ending?  Ichikawa seems to like to make perplexing endings.
"Enjo" struck me as rather intense.

Thank you for your reply.  Did James Quandt speak before "I am a a Cat"?  He
spoke before several of the shows.  One interesting story was how Ichikawa spent
vast time waiting for a proper snowfall to film.  His studio became unfavorably
upset with him. He described Ichikawa's style as architectural.  I agree and this
serves to unobtrusively elucidate the plots.  Ichikawa was masterful in this
respect.

Bill Glenn
Boston

Michael Kerpan wrote:

>
> You got to see more films at the MFA than we did.  We wound up getting to see
> only_Yoiunger Brother_ and _I am a cat_. (Tickets are expensive when you're
> paying for five).  I  generally liked _Younger Brother_ better -- great
> cinematography and I recognized most of the cast.  _Cat_ was weird, but
> interesting -- most of our household preferred it. I thought some of the
> "villains" were too extreme (too much a parody to be credible). but overall
> this film was pretty amusing (until the last couple of minutes).
>
> > Not too many of his films are distributed on video apparently.  Does
> > someone know if Nihonbashi is available?
>
> I suspect if Facets in Chicago doesn't have something, it's not available in
> the US. (see www.facets.org).
>
> Michael Kerpan
> Roslindale, MA