Just joined!

[Michael E Kerpan Jr.]

On Thursday 08 April 2004 04:54, John Dougill wrote:

> There's a lot about the treatment of women in Joan Mellen's The Waves
> at Genji's Door....  The whole of Part 4 for instance

She certainly writes about this topic  -- but I'd take what she says with a 
pretty full cellar of salt.  Her analysis of the material I am most familiar 
with (Ozu's films) seems pretty thoroughly off the mark.  She simply crams 
him and his work into her preconceived theories, without making any attempt 
to actually understand what he was doing.  I imagine she does pretty much the 
same thing to the other film makers she discusses.  All in all, except as a 
guide to how Ms. Mellen thought at that time, the books struck me as 
virtually useless.  

Michael Kerpan