Go / Sen

[M Arnold]

Strange.  It seems I haven't been getting all of the list messages.  I went 
looking through the archives and found a bunch of posts in the last week or 
so that were never delivered to me.

Thanks Aaron and Mark for posting your reviews and comments on the list.  I 
have to admit that my biggest reservations with "Go" were the deus ex 
machina death of Sugihara's friend and the lovey-dovey ending.  I think they 
both took away from the film... the death seemed little more than an excuse 
for Sugihara to say a few cool lines, even though it brought sniffles to all 
the guys sitting around me in the theater, and I was a little surprised and 
dissatisfied that the girlfriend suddenly decided to come back.  Regarding 
Aaron's concerns, I am having a hard time imagining how the story would 
resonate for an audience that wants to escape "being Japanese," but even 
while watching the film I kept thinking about how things Korean currently 
seem to be "in" for a lot of young people here.  At the time I was mostly 
convinced that I was watching more of a poltical statement than a fashion 
statement though, and as such I enjoyed the movie.

I rented the new DVD of "Gaki Teikoku" a couple of weeks ago.  The box said 
"Japanese subtitles" and I, knowing nothing about the film, assumed that 
mean there were Japanese subs throughout the film.  When I started watching 
I discovered that the film has several characters who are Korean, and the 
Japanese subs are for when they speak in Korean.

Mark responded to my comments on "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi," and the 
"Alice in Wonderland" book.  I skimmed through the book after watching 
Miyazaki's film but I also reviewed the Disney film version, and I thought 
there were several visual similarities between the two movies as well.

Michael Arnold

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