JQ Magazine: Film Review – Sion Sono’s ‘Cold Fish’ an Antisocially Acquired Taste
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“In the end, Sono really does ask us about our humanity, and what life is about. Sure, he takes the bloody, abusive, rape-filled path, but he does touch on some solid stuff. It’s a lot of big questions wrapped in a gory, misogynistic, boob-exposing gift box.” (Courtesy Salient Media)
By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. Rick manages the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY)’s Twitter page and is the creator of the JETwit column Tadaima!
I was hungry, real hungry after work and was about 20 minutes early to the New York Museum of Art and Design near Columbus Circle to see the movie Cold Fish 「冷たい熱帯魚」, so I walked a block to Good Burger and grabbed an overpriced hamburger. As I arrived back to the museum, I sat next to Shree (name changed to protect the innocent) who was midway through a burrito. With minutes left before the movie started, we headed into the museum and down some wooden steps to the theater. Walking in I was pretty surprised; we were only accompanied by seven or eight other patrons. Little did I know that it was a blessing in disguise…fewer people to feel awkward around after the movie.
Oh yes, the movie. How do I write about Cold Fish? It’s a little difficult. I suppose I can do it like this:
Cold Fish is a film directed by the controversial Sion Sono (whose month-long, eight-film retrospective wraps this week at MAD) and stars Denden and Mitsuru Fukikoshi. The film is based on real murders that took place in Fukushima. The story begins well enough: A timid man named Nobuyuki (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) with a rebellious daughter (Hiraki Kajiwara) and a hot trophy wife (gravure idol Megumi Kagurazaka) is feeling disconnected and regretful. They own a tropical fish shop. Through an awkward circumstance they meet Mr. Murata (Denden) and his attractive wife (Asuka Kurosawa), both of whom also own a tropical fish shop.
From there, shit just gets weird. That’s the only way I can explain it, folks. And it wasn’t just because the film cut out four times while we watched it. (Apparently, there were Blu-ray issues…through most of the movie. The museum might want to buy a new player before they hold another festival.) Anyway, Mr. Murata decides to bring Nobuyuki on as a partner, but not before hiring his daughter at his shop and sleeping with his wife (who apparently enjoys rough treatment, to put it mildly).
As Nobuyuki is introduced as the new partner, the old partner finds himself exiting the business via a poisonous death. This is where things kick into the next gear, and Murata forces Nobuyuki to assist with the disposal of the body. The whole body disposal process is presented with great detail. I’m serious about this part—after watching this movie, I am fairly confident that anyone could make a dead body disappear.
The plot then dives deeper and deeper into the dark comedy that is Murata’s utter disregard for human life and the director’s utter disregard for your stomach. By the way, did I mention that this film is very graphically violent? If you aren’t into that kind of thing, find another show; this movie revels in its ability to test what you can deal with gore-wise. If you enjoy severed heads and genitalia being tossed around a bathroom, you’ve found your dream movie.
Hibari-sensei: THE LAST DAYBREAK by exist†trace
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Jen Wang (Miyagi, 2008-09) is a lab tech in Dallas and a staff writer for the Japanese music website Purple SKY. Her love of cosplay and her junior high school students inspired the name for her own Japanese pop culture blog, Hibari-sensei’s Classroom.
Recently I wrote a review of THE LAST DAYBREAK, the latest EP by exist†trace, for Purple SKY. The all-female J-rock band made their major label debut this past June and are now gearing up for a U.S. tour. They will play in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, as well as Tekkoshocon in Pittsburg, in March.
THE LAST DAYBREAK opens with a primal call from Jyou, but instead of singing in her trademark growling alto, she keeps her voice light and clear in “Daybreak ~Jyusan gatsu no shikisai.” Unexpected moves like these are the highlight of exist†trace’s new album.
Read the rest of the review here.
JQ Magazine: Concert Review – DREAMS COME TRUE in New York City
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(Courtesy Chimera R. Productions)
By David A. in Virginia, special to JQ magazine.
Japanese mega-band DREAMS COME TRUE (ドリームズ・カム・トゥルー a.k.a. ドリカム) made a very rare U.S. appearance at the Highline Ballroom in New York City on October 9, the first of two shows that sold out within days of their announcement in July. Many thanks to fanpage DCT Joy for notifying its members of this wonderful event. For those of us not in New York, Los Angeles, or Seattle, we otherwise might not have known about it.
At dusk, around 6:30, the line already was down the block for admission to the inconspicuous Highline Ballroom in Chelsea. On this unseasonably warm October Sunday evening, the anticipation was palpable, the “DCT Joy” bringing alive the night. One walks upstairs to the ballroom, spare and easy to navigate. The management asks those seated on the floor of the “pit” to stand so that the crowd can fill the room.
First of all, a big shout-out to Justin Tedaldi (Kobe-Shi CIR, 2001-02) at JQ magazine. This reviewer cannot thank you enough. Also, thanks to Reiko from the DCT organization for her kind words.
Prior to the show, the house PA played a recording of some of DCT’s most well-known melodies, such as “Ano Natsu no Hanabi” and “Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki!”, performed on soft bells.
Promptly at 8:00, introductions were made first by a woman in Japanese, to great enthusiasm from the audience; then a man said, “New York City! Are you ready for DREAMS COME TRUE?!” “A theme of the WONDERLAND” played as the fifteen-piece band-and-dance ensemble walked on stage, followed by Masato Nakamura (中村 正人). Although the Highline Ballroom has a standing capacity of 700, with a few dozen dinner tables on the balcony, the roar from the crowd was as if they were in an arena. With the theme concluded, Miwa Yoshida (吉田 美和) arrived, with her hair tied back and wearing a loose-fitting, light pink outfit; and, with her familiar exclamation “DREAMS COME TRUE in WONDERLAND….!!!”, the band launched into a heavy version of “Nando Demo,” as the crowd danced, waved, and cheered, encouraged by Miwa in all of her boundless energy.
By Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) and Vlad Baranenko (Saitama-ken, 2000-02) for JQ magazine.
Presented by The Playwrights Realm, the drama Crane Story stars Angela Lin (a veteran of JET alum Randall David Cook’s Sake with the Haiku Geisha) as Cassis, a young Japanese American on an odyssey to rescue her brother’s soul from the land of the dead.
Written by Jen Silverman and directed by Katherine Kovner, Crane Story runs through Oct. 1 at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York’s Greenwich Village. Here’s what JQ‘s critics had to say at a Midtown diner after a recent performance.
Justin Tedaldi: What were your thoughts about the production?
Vlad Baranenko: Given the limited resources that they have being Off-Broadway, they did a very good job with the imagery and the special effects.
JT: I really liked the way the creative team put everything together with the scenery and the costumes, especially the sound effects. There’s a raised wooden stage where most of the action happens, and at the very beginning they describe rain, but you see the rest of the cast drumming their fingers on the stage, which creates the illusion of falling rain. Very creative ways of getting around the limitations that come with being an Off-Broadway production.
VB: I agree on that. The cast obviously remembered their lines really well. It didn’t seem forced, actually; very natural. In that regard, I give them high marks.
JT: I’m reading here that the actor who plays Ishida, Louis Ozawa Changchien, appeared with Adrien Brody, Topher Grace and Laurence Fishburne in the movie Predators.
VB: He looks like someone who’s got some pretty good experience under his belt. He comes off as very authentic in the way he acts, and that’s one of the first things that I noticed.
JET alum James Kennedy reviews “Super Mario” for WSJ Book Review
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James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of the acclaimed young adult novel The Order of Odd-Fish, just did a Wall Street Journal book review of SUPER MARIO, Jeff Ryan’s history of Nintendo.
In the article, James apparently also had the chance to correct some bad Japanese in his book. (Who says the JET program doesn’t teach marketable skills?)
“Errors crop up. Speculating on the name of Mario’s evil twin, Wario, Mr. Ryan claims that “in Japanese, wariu means bad.” Actually, the Japanese is warui.”
The book review was in Friday’s print WSJ, and here it is online: http://on.wsj.com/paNu5f
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘The Beautiful One Has Come,’ short stories by JET alum author Suzanne Kamata
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“The stories in The Beautiful One Has Come have a universal appeal but will strike a familiar note in particular with those who have spent considerable time outside their comfort zones.” (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing)
By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona works at a literary agency in New York City. She is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction.
I began reading Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-1990)’s new collection of short stories with no idea what to expect and a sense of up-for-anything enthusiasm. Luckily, that feeling stayed with me throughout the collection and renewed itself automatically as I approached each new story.
There’s an enjoyably uncomfortable tension contained within the pages of The Beautiful One Has Come and it’s precisely that tension, paired with Kamata’s ability to glide between narrative points of view, that makes this collection so strong. The characters who inhabit the pages feel so true I could practically hear their pulses.
The physical settings of the stories vary from Cuba to Egypt to France to Japan among other countries, but the characters seem to inhabit spaces all their own: their minds are the true sites of conflict. The stories deal mostly with women in various states of transition; feeling like outsiders while negotiating their own identities, striving for something just out of reach, or trying to come to terms with loss. There is the foreign housewife who longs for the comforts of her native land, the elderly artist whose husband wrongfully gets the credit for the paintings she has created and the Japanese girl who is obsessed with studying abroad in Egypt.
Though these profiles might sound familiar, each story is buoyed by unique and unexpected details which keep the characters from sinking into stereotypes.
JQ Magazine: Theatre Review – Amon Miyamoto’s ‘The Temple of the Golden Pavilion’
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Go Morita in a scene from 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' at New York's Lincoln Center Festival. (Stephanie Berger)
By Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) for JQ magazine. Lyle is entering a master’s program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (MIA 2013) and has been writing for the JET Alumni Association since 2004. He is also the goalkeeper for FC Japan, a NYC-based soccer team.
In 1950, a young Buddhist monk committed a notorious act of arson and destroyed the ancient Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Yukio Mishima, Japan’s preeminent novelist at the time, fictionalized the events in Kinkakuji, published in 1956 and translated into English as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion in 1959. While the actual arsonist was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Mishima presented an elaborately detailed psychological study of a disturbed man, incorporating elements of Buddhist and ancient Greek philosophical reflections on the impermanence of beauty and the conflicts between idealism and reality. The novel helped cement Mishima’s worldwide literary reputation and inspired numerous adaptations, including an opera, a modern dance ballet and two film versions.
Now, the director Amon Miyamoto, previously represented in New York by his production of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, has adapted the story into a full-fledged theatrical production. Having premiered last year at Miyamoto’s Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, the production was presented intact by the annual Lincoln Center Festival in New York from July 21-24 with its original cast, led by J-pop star Go Morita of the boy band V6.
In presenting his version of the story, Miyamoto (who co-wrote the script with Chihiro Ito) relies on an arsenal of visual conventions, from multimedia projections to Western theatrical blocking to Japanese austerity. Most of the play is presented on a wooden stage suggestive of an old classroom, a fitting visual component of the temple grounds’ claustrophobic enclave. Mizoguchi, the monk’s name in Mishima’s version, is played by Morita as an awkward stutterer who creates a vibrant interior world at odds with his disappointing reality.
Jen Wang (Miyagi, 2008-09) is a lab tech in Dallas and a staff writer for the Japanese music website Purple SKY. Her love of cosplay and her junior high school students inspired the name for her own Japanese pop culture blog, Hibari-sensei’s Classroom.
Since there have been a couple posts here about JAPAN CUTS film festival in New York, I thought I would write about a Japanese movie I saw at the Asian Film Festival of Dallas last week. The festival was in its 10th year and ran from July 14-21. Among the Japanese films screened was the 2010 live-action adaptation of the popular shoujo manga series, Kimi ni Todoke (in English, From Me to You).
Haruma Miura as Shota Kazehaya and Mikako Tabe as Sawako Kuronuma
Filled with a young actors, the movie seemed like a typical high school romance in which shy loner Sawako Kuronuma, who is made fun of for her resemblance to Sadako of The Ring, catches the eye of class heartthrob Shota Kazehaya. However, it is more a story about Sawako coming out of her shell and forging tight bonds with the people who reach out to her. The muted colors and leisurely pace make the film light and gentle, yet there are moments that remind us that adolescence years can contain heartache. More importantly, Kimi ni Todoke reminds us that a little kindness can go a long way.
For a complete review of the film, click here.
JQ Magazine: Book Review – “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet”
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"Brimming with potent imagery, the novel is suffused with a generous dose of personal observation and philosophical musing, much of which sounds strikingly contemporary." (Random House)
By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona works at a literary agency in New York City. She is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction.
A former Japanese colleague of mine once described his homeland to me as an “island of repression.” He spoke with mixed emotion of the burdensome pressure Japanese feel to fulfill their cultural and societal duties and how his lifelong dream was to escape for a year and live abroad. He lamented his kinsmen’s gradual loss of “Japaneseness,” fearing that despite the superficial Westernization, or perhaps because of it, Japan was barely keeping up with the rest of the world. Interested to hear more I pressed him to elaborate. He shifted his eyes downward, paused a moment, and took a long deep breath before finally responding, “Maybe…it’s complicated.”
Complicated indeed. David Mitchell’s historical novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet which takes place at the turn of the 19th century, paints a vivid portrait of a bygone Japan with its rugged landscape, samurai lords and characters who commute by horse and palanquin. Medicine is administered in the form of crude herbal concoctions and the natural world is generally viewed through a lens of superstition. Nevertheless, those who know Japan well will recognize a familiar current running throughout the narrative. To read the book is to get a feel for the seeds of what would eventually flower into the complexity of modern day Japan as we know it.
The story is set near Nagasaki on the island of Dejima where the eponymous hero lives and works for a Dutch trading company. Dejima has been designated a Dutch trading post and its foreign denizens are strictly forbidden from entering the mainland, their interactions with the Japanese governed by rigid rules and careful monitoring. Jacob’s original plan was to come to Japan for five years, accrue a nice fortune and return to Holland to marry his fianceé Anna. His plan, however, is thrown off kilter by unforeseen complications including dubious business practices, a bleak future and most profoundly, his burgeoning secret love for Orito Aibagawa, a Japanese midwife on the island. Orito is highly educated and hardy, unlike the other women we encounter in the novel. Something of a feministic anachronism, she is more concerned with scholarly pursuits than domestic life. With her ironclad will and opinions expressed without equivocation, one imagines that even today she would stand out in Japanese society. (And due to her strong character she still wouldn’t care.)
Orito’s physical appearance is marred by a burn scar on her left cheek, putting her at a considerable disadvantage in finding a suitable Japanese marriage partner. To Jacob, though, her beauty is unique; he is unfazed by her scar and perhaps even more intrigued with her because of it. Unfortunately, he knows that as a foreigner she is entirely off limits to him. Captivated by her exoticness, he ponders, “to what God would a Japanese midwife pray?”
Burger King Japan’s “Meat Monster” reviewed by JET writer for Esquire Magazine
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Meat Monster: "Oishisou! (de ha nai)"
Current Mie JET Patrick St. Michel shared the below about his recent “Meat Monster” review in Esquire Magazine, which JETwit believes is very much worth your time to read.
An Unexpected Burger Benefit of Life in Japan
Posted by Patrick St. Michel (Mie-ken, 2009-present).
Having now lived in Japan for nearly two years, I’ve discovered a host of benefits—from convenient public transportation to a copious amount of vending machines—that come with residing in this island nation. Recently, however, I encountered a completely unexpected benefit—one that involved consuming—in a single sitting—the FDA-recommended caloric intake for a herd of plus-size elephants.
Prior to joining JET, I attended—and graduated from—Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. My pre-JET life also included working at three newspapers, an online music site, and an online magazine that I co-founded (http://www.northbynorthwestern.com). One of the friends I made along the way now works at Esquire magazine. Word had apparently spread stateside that Burger King Japan was launching a medically ill-advised burger aptly dubbed the “Meat Monster.” Knowing that I live in Japan and generally don’t give much thought to my arteries’ continuing ability to function, my friend asked if I would write a review of the Meat Monster for Esquire. Fortunately, I had inadvertently prepped for this unexpected assignment, having just reviewed McDonald’s “Mega Teriyaki” in my blog about life in Japan—http://www.japantrick.wordpress.com/. (I’ve also previously reviewed McDonald’s line of Big America burgers)
Some 1,160 calories and 2,290 milligrams of sodium later, I filed my Esquire story—http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/burger-king-meat-monster-042611
As a postscript, my plan is to pursue a post-JET writing career in Japan. Toward that end, if anyone has suggestions—or knows of openings at traditional or online publications or public relations/marketing positions—I would love to hear from you! Reach me at mailto:patrickstmichel@gmail.com. If you’re still not sure about me, learn more at http://www.patrickstmichel.com, and if you’re interested in the Japanese music scene, follow my blog—http://www.makebelievemelodies.wordpress.com/.
JETAA DC Film Festival: How was it?
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On December 3 and December 5, JETAADC held its first ever JETAA DC Film Festival. And they did it in style at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute. Here’s a write-up of the event courtesy of JETAADC.
In an attempt to increase awareness of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program and to showcase Japanese or Japan-related films to American audiences, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Alumni Association of Washington, DC (JETAADC) partnered with the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution to screen two films from December 3-5, Linda Linda Linda and The Harimaya Bridge.
On Friday, December 3, JETAADC showed Linda Linda Linda, a quirky comedy about a band of four girls and their rehearsals leading up to their talent show performance during school festival. Prior to the film, JETAADC Vice President Nick Harling provided some opening remarks, discussing the JET Program, JETAADC, and adding a bit of context to the film. Approximately 130 people attended the show on December 3, and after the film, about 40 audience members congregated at a local bar to continue discussing the film and Japanese culture.
On Sunday, December 5, JETAADC and the Freer Gallery screened The Harimaya Bridge, written and directed by Aaron Woolfolk, a JET alum from Kochi-ken. The film follows an American man who must travel to rural Japan to claim some important items belonging to his late son, from whom he was estranged. While there, he learns several secrets his son left behind. Mr. Woolfolk attended the screening, which drew over 200 people from the greater DC metro area, including representatives from local media. After the film, Mr. Woolfolk responded to questions from the audience regarding his inspiration for the film, the process of making the film, and what it was like working in Japan, both as a teacher and a filmmaker. About 50% stayed for the Q & A.
Afterwards, Mr. Woolfolk said, “It was a special honor to have the film shown at the Smithsonian Institution, and I am especially grateful to JETAADC for playing a pivotal role in making that happen. Moreover, spending time with the DC alumni before and after the screening reminded me how very fortunate and proud I am to be a part of the JET community.”
JETAADC President Maurice Maloney added, “JETAADC was honored to have Aaron Woolfolk and The Harimaya Bridge as part of our film series. In two and a half hours at the Freer Gallery, the film, along with Aaron’s discussion, conveyed the JET experience to a broader audience than we could have reached in months.”
Maloney added, “In light of discussed budget cuts to the JET Programme and JET Alumni Associations across the globe, it is more important than ever for JET Alumni Associations to showcase the breadth of their alumni and the positive effects they have on their communities.”
Click “Read More” to see photos from the event, courtesy of JETAADC.
James Kennedy reviews “Pluto killer” book for Wall Street Journal
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James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of the acclaimed young adult novel The Order of Odd-Fish, has a great review in the Wall Street Journal of a sugoku omoshiroi book titled, How I Killed Pluto, And Why It Had It Coming by professor of astronomy Mike Brown.
Here’s the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704243904575630683559145518.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
Lars Martinson’s “Tonoharu: Part Two” reviewed by BoingBoing
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JET alum Lars Martinson recently released his follow-up graphic novel Tonoharu: Part 2. Here’s the review by Mark Frauenfelde of BoingBoing:
“Tonoharu Part Two: Excellent graphic novel about an English teacher in Japan”: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/10/tonoharu-part-two-ex.html
(Editor’s note: I have a copy of Tonoharu: Part 1, and every time I show it to a fellow JET alum and they start reading it, they end up reading the whole thing (which takes about 15 minutes). It’s really terrific and very unique.)
Tom Baker interviews “Airbender” cast
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. As another example of JET ROI, he is one of at least four former JETS to have been on the newspaper’s staff in recent years. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Recently he interviewed two members of the cast of “The Last Airbender” movie during their promotional visit to Tokyo, asking them for their views on the “racebending” controversy surrounding their film. He also covered an insect show now running at a Tokyo museum, reviewed the manga “Otomen,” and weighed in on a couple of other movies now playing in Japan. Here are some excerpts:
“Last Airbender”
In the United States, some fans of the anime-style cartoon on which the movie is based have protested against the casting of Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, who are white, in roles the fans saw as Asian.
Asked to comment on that, Rathbone said: “I originally was a finalist for Prince Zuko [a Fire Nation role that went to Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel]. Almost a year later, I was brought back in for the character of Sokka…I think what they were really looking for was the qualities that people represent, not so much focusing on race…All these characters [in the cartoon] have so many different features, you can’t really say that they are one race…It’s a shame that people really focus on the race thing and they don’t understand that it’s a story for everyone.”
“And there are over 120 different types of people in the film,” Peltz added.
“In terms of a big-budget film, it’s the most ethnically diverse cast there’s ever been,” Rathbone agreed.
Read the rest of the interview here.
“Insects festival”
Open your window on a hot summer day and you may hear a sound that caught the ear of haiku poet Matsuo Basho in the 17th century: the voices of cicadas, seeping into the rocks. Of course, Japan today is a lot more urbanized than it was in Basho’s time, and cicadas are more likely to sing against a background of asphalt and cement. Yet year after year, the buzzing bugs never fail to show up, even in the heart of Tokyo.
Visitors to Insects Festival, an exhibition now running at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku, Tokyo, are reminded of such persistence right away with a display of six-legged critters that live in three different Tokyo zones: mountains, fields and downtown areas.
While city-dwellers often resent sharing space with the likes of cockroaches and ants, the emphasis of this show is on seasonal outdoor insects whose diverse shapes, bright colors and occasional songs actually enhance city life…
Read the rest of the article here, or visit the exhibition’s site here.
“Otomen”
Anyone writing a graduate thesis on the presentation of gender in Japanese pop culture will find abundant material in the manga series Otomen. Readers looking for laughs will also find what they seek in Otomen, but rather less abundantly.
The main characters are a trio of high school students, with the focus on Asuka (a boy who has a name more common for girls), who is in love with Ryo (a girl who has a name more common for boys). Their would-be romance is complicated by the constant presence of their friend Juta, who tries to play cupid, but is more often a third wheel.
Asuka is the captain of the school kendo team, and is admired by everyone as a “real man.” But he is secretly an “otomen,” a boy who is into girly things, such as cute stuffed animals and delicate pastries. He is at least as skilled at cooking and sewing as he is at sports, but he keeps that side of himself hidden. Ryo is Asuka’s mirror image in that she has been raised by her socially inept father to follow in his footsteps as a martial arts champion, but she strives to put up a feminine front at school. Juta has a secret, too, as he is actually a best-selling manga artist who is using the couple as a model for his stories…
Also playing…
You can read Tom’s review of “Inception” here, and his review of “Zombieland” here.
Tom Baker reviews “Crazy Heart” and “Brothers”
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Recently he reviewed movies, “Crazy Heart” and “Brothers.” He found poetry in both of them. Here are some excerpts:
“Crazy Heart”
Country music singer-songwriter Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, sweats like a pig, and urinates into a plastic jug while driving from town to town. As I watched him perform under hot lights at a variety of small and unglamorous venues in the movie Crazy Heart, I could almost smell him. He didn’t smell very nice.
…
On the bright side, Bad’s personal problems are grist for the mill. One of his most popular songs looks back on a dissipated life with the refrain, “Funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’/for a little while.”
Anyone who doubts that country music is the primary home of modern American poetry should meditate on that line. “Funny how fallin’ feels like flyin'” is alliterative and catchy, but also trenchant. And Bad has flown and fallen quite a way…
Read the rest of the review here.
“Brothers”
In William Shakespeare’s play about his life, King Richard II is forced to surrender his crown to his usurper cousin Henry IV. In doing so, Richard compares himself and Henry to two buckets in a well: “The emptier ever dancing in the air,/The other down, unseen and full of water:/That bucket down and full of tears am I,/Drinking my griefs while you mount up on high.”
The title characters in Brothers, although they dwell in an American suburb rather than an English castle, are not unlike the tragic royal cousins.
Sam (Tobey Maguire) is an upstanding husband, father and U.S. marine who is about to be separated from his family for a tour of duty in Afghanistan. On the eve of Sam’s departure, his surly brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), a ne’er-do-well with a drinking problem, rejoins the extended family after a stint in prison…
Read the rest of the review here.
