Sen Nen no Koi

[John Dougill]

Many thanks to Mark Schilling for his information.  I found myself in broad
agreement with his review on virtually all the points.  Mind you, all my
Japanese friends seem to have had almost exactly the same thoughts.  The
question has to be raised: why on earth was the film produced with such
ridiculous Seiko Matsuda scenes since all agree they ruin the film?  My own
immediate feeling was 'bribery' or money politics: Mark's review says that
the film was 'Toei's 50th anniversary' - could it be the studio thought
absurdly that by shoving in Seiko Matsuda somehow, they would be giving the
audience an extra treat to celebrate its anniversary?!

incidentally, as regards Mark's other reviews on the Japan Times site, it's
a pity that these are listed by their headings, as they give no indication
of the title of the film reviewed. I wonder if the Japan Times could be
persuaded to list the reviews instead by the title of the film for ease of
reference?

Finally, a question for Mark: in a review of 'Ryoma no Tsuma to Sono Otto to
Aijin' you write that there are lots of other material about Ryoma Sakomoto.
I recently visited his grave here in Kyoto and have an interest: could you
give me a film title that deals with him and his life?

Thank you
JD