They All Look Alike

[Mitch Cullin]

Good point, Tim.  It is "acting" after all.  Still,
can't quite get worked up about MEMOIRS, either. 
However, I did love the tap-dancing at the end of
ZATOICHI, but for reasons that are best describe as
ineffable.

--- tim.iles at utoronto.ca wrote:

> All issues of "authenticity" and "name recognition"
> aside (which have been
> quite interesting from a film-industry point of
> view), I wonder whether
> one of the challenges for an actor as an actor isn't
> just this sort of
> thing--convincingly playing a character from a
> different ethnic
> background. The theatre director Suzuki Tadashi
> wrote in _Engeki to wa
> nani ka_ (if I recall correctly) that seeing an
> actor actually cry on
> stage just wasn't acting--the trick is for a
> dry-eyed actor to make you
> believe s/he's really crying. Having a non_Japanese
> actor effectively
> portray a Japanese character is one of the
> interesting bits in the
> performance. 
> 
> On the other hand I can't get worked up about seeing
> _Memoirs_ at
> all--because of the source, subject matter, and
> people involved.
> 
> The remarks about _Zatoichi_ were quite interesting,
> too--I was
> disappointed by the last ten minutes, to the point
> of losing what respect
> I'd had for the rest of the film. Asano Tadanobu was
> good, Kitano was
> amusing, the sword-play wasn't _that_ bad--but that
> tap dance sequence
> was just embarrassing... Oy gevalt what was he
> thinking...!
> 
> 
> 
> 


=====
Most recent propaganda (updated on June 20, 2004):
http://www.lostatsea.net/LAS/archives/features/literature/mitchcullin/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/international/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000508115
http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/tidecull.htm
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2000-11-10/books_set2.html
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24lewist.html
http://www.fetchbook.info/Mitch_Cullin.html
http://generationrice.com/index.phtml?talk=peterichang_1
http://www.minsky.com/branches.htm

"As the movie industry becomes more like the merchandising industry, the book business becomes more like the movie industry.  There's more pressure.  I think it's very difficult to be a young writer today.  I fear that young writers, after one or two books, will disappear the way young film directors do."  --Don DeLillo