Ichikawa Book

[Michael Kerpan]

On Friday 21 September 2001 22:03, Bill Glenn <vze29fhz at verizon.net>wrote:

> 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.

It has a sad ending (especially in the viewpoint of my children).  ;~}  

We bought the video of _I am Two_ a while back.  (I refuse to use the 
American mistranslated title).  Everyone enjoyed this.

> Thank you for your reply.  Did James Quandt speak before "I am a a Cat"? 
> He spoke before several of the shows.  

No one spoke.  We only got to see the final re-showings.  Maybe they had 
speakers the first time these were shown.

> 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.

I can imagine a studio would disappprove.

I found _I am a cat_ (especially) rather similar in certain ways to Imamura 
in _The eel_.  I wonder how much of an influence, Ichikawa was on Imamura.  
What I sense in both is a sort of combination of "grandness" and "messiness" 
(the latter meant in a "nice" way).


Michael Kerpan
Roslindale, MA