MOC Suggestion and Thanks

[Michael McCaskey]

Thank you for the Masters of Cinema link. I've bookmarked it, and will consult it frequently.

Since you're part of Masters of Cinema, I have one request/suggestion that has no connection with Japanese film.

There is a very fine Swedish film from the 1950s, with the English title "One Summer of Happiness." I believe it is fairly important in the history of Swedish film making
--at least I have a book on Swedish film that indicates this.

It's not a Bergman film, but sort of pre- or proto-Bergman. I saw it in a theater years ago, with English subtitles, and liked it very much, but I have never been able to find it on DVD, though I've looked often. It would be really great if MOC considered adding this film to its excellent collection....

I was very impressed to find "Pitfall" (Otoshi-ana) in the MOC collection. I saw it in a Tokyo underground theater (it really was below ground level), and it was a highly interesting Kafka-esque Abe Kobo scripted film, with several really disturbing scenes. Especially the unforgettable scene with the shopkeeper trying to pick swarms of bugs off the food she had for sale with chopsticks, followed by her encounter with the policeman. In addition, since the film was set in Kyushu, some of the dialogue was in Kyushu dialect--there were Standard Japanese subtitles in those cases, as I recall.

I ordered the MOC DVD, and look forward to seeing Otoshi-ana again soon. Many thanks.

Michael McCaskey



----- Original Message -----
From: "Trond S. Trondsen" <trondsen at shaw.ca>
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:30 pm
Subject: Re: Imamura Shohei

> 
> > Thank you for this information. It is sad to hear, but it is 
> also  
> > good to be informed. As it happens, one of my former students 
> just  
> > discovered last week that Imamura's "Vengeance is Mine" (Fukushu 
> 
> > suru wa ware ni ari, 1979) has recently become available with  
> > English subtitles in the UK (Region 2 DVD). It's part of the  
> > Masters of Cinema Series, a sort of UK complement to the 
> Criterion  
> > Collection, which has some titles not available in the US.
> >
> > www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc
> 
> ...and it even comes with a fine essay by kinejapan's own J. 
> Sharp.  :)
> 
> Trond Trondsen
> Masters of Cinema
> http://www.mastersofcinema.org/
> http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/
> 
>