Toda Siblings suit

mccaskem at georgetown.edu mccaskem at georgetown.edu
Wed Jan 5 18:24:28 EST 2011


Dear Faith,

Thank you so much for this! The information about kokuminfuku answers all my 
questions, and more. I never would have noticed all the details you point out, 
which are very helpful for me.

I guess that the wearing of partial kokuminfuku may indicate that the character 
has bought into the Co-Prosperity Sphere thing, but maybe only part of the way. 
He contrasts with all the other male relatives, done up in business suits.

I'm reworking a Kurosawa film survey course I gave last year into a new version, 
Kurosawa In Context, bringing in social conditions, plus comparisons and 
contrasts with films by others. In 1941 the film "Uma" was partly Kurosawa's 
contribution, as Unit B Director under Yamamoto Kajiro's supervision. I want to 
compare it with the Ozu Toda film and Shimizu's "Ornamental Hairpin."

It looks as if "Uma" may be the least political of the three. Only the horse joins 
the Army at the end, while Ozu's lead characters go off to help colonize China, 
and I guess Shimizu's convalescing soldier may get back into the war in China.

Anyway, I'll have quite a few more questions along the way, and if I get as great 
answers to them as your answer re Ozu & kokuminfuku, I'll be fortunate indeed.

Thanks Again,

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.



More information about the KineJapan mailing list