KINEJAPAN digest 1779

[mjraine at uchicago.edu]

It seems no-one else is willing to spill the sordid gossip in
response to Michael Kerpan's question about Mizukubo Sumiko
.... so here goes! It's a sorry tale. Her father forced her to
move from Shochiku to Nikkatsu to make more money, so she
attempted suicide. After that she lost her job, then after a
failed marriage in the Philippines she ended up as a dancer,
in Kobe or perhaps in Shanghai. Sort of like the hostesses in
Shimizu's Forget Love for Now. A reminder that the film
industry was part of a culture of commodified femininity that
film's like Shimizu's both exult in and protest. Mizukubo is
indeed a striking presence in the few films she made (I highly
recommend Jogakusei to yotamono, if you get the chance). It's
odd that she plays the ideal sister in Dragnet Girl and the
much more "Japanese" looking Tanaka Kinuyo plays the gang
girl. Miscasting, star vehicle, or Ozu's joke on "cultural
mimesis"? 

Michael

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:07:06 EST
>From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu  
>Subject: KINEJAPAN digest 1779  
>To: To leave <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>
>
>			    KINEJAPAN Digest 1779
>
>Topics covered in this issue include:
>
>  1) Re: Good Naruse article
>	by Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>
>________________
>Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 09:12:58 -0500
>From: Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>  
>Subject: Re: Good Naruse article  
>To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>
>Thank you! I have forwarded the Naruse news to about 75 of my
students, and I'm sure a number of them will take advantage of
this opportunity. I get the WaPo every day, and also subscribe
to the AFI newsletter, but I missed this, and really
appreciate your posting, which did attract my attention.
>
>Michael McCaskey
>Georgetown Univ.
>Wash. DC
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Trond Trondsen <trondsen at shaw.ca>
>Date: Saturday, March 11, 2006 3:34 pm
>Subject: Good Naruse article
>
>> 
>> Director Mikio Naruse, A Name Finally in Lights
>> Washington Post
>> Friday, March 10, 2006; Page C01
>> 
>> http://tinyurl.com/gskeq
>> 
>> 
>> Trond Trondsen
>> http://www.mastersofcinema.org/
>