Movies, Mom & Me

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chishū Ryū	Shukichi Somiya	Setsuko Hara	Noriko Somiya	Yumeji Tsukioka	Aya Kitagawa	Haruko Sugimura	Masa Taguchi
  Hohi Aoki	Katsuyoshi Taguchi	Jun Usami	Shuichi Hattori	Kuniko Miyake	Akiko Miwa	Masao Mishima	Jo Onodera
  Yoshiko Tsubouchi	Kiku Onodera	Yōko Katsuragi	Misako	Toyoko Takahashi	Shige	Jun Tanizaki	Seizo Hayashi

  
    Yôko Benisawa played the Teahouse Proprietess, who figured prominently in the film.
    On November 18, 2019, Wael Khairy wrote this meditation on the films of Yasujirō Ozu. If you have a high appreciation of Ozu's work you might find it interesting to read.
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1949
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: chishū-ryū, Criterion8, dramaG, film-art2, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 12:45    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
  
  
  
  
  
  
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    Early Spring
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Chikage Awashima	Masako Sugiyama	Ryō Ikebe	Shoji Sugiyama	Keiko Kishi	Chiyo Kaneko/Goldfish	Teiji Takahashi	Taizo Aoki
    Chishū Ryū	Kiichi Onodera	So Yamamura	Yutaka Kawai	Haruko Sugimura	Tamako	Takako Fujino	Terumi Aoki
    Terumi Aoki	Koichi Kitagawa	Kumeko Urabe	Kitagawa	Kuniko Miyake	Yukiko Kawai	Daisuke Katō	Sakamoto

    
      Release Date: 1956
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
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    Tokyo Twilight
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Ineko Arima	Akiko Sugiyama	Setsuko Hara	Takako Numata	Chishū Ryū	Shukichi Sugiyama	Isuzu Yamada	Kikuko Soma
    Haruko Sugimura	Shigeko Takeuchi	Nobuo Nakamura	Sakae Soma	Kamatari Fujiwara	Noodle Restaurant Owner	Kinzō Shin	Yasuo Numata
    Teiji Takahashi	Noburo Kawaguchi	So Yamamura	Shukichi's Friend	Seiji Miyaguchi	Policeman	Tsûsai Sugawara	Mahjong Parlor Owner

    
      Release Date: 1957
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
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    Equinox Flower
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Ineko Arima	Setsuko Hirayama	Fujiko Yamamoto	Yukiko Sasaki	Yoshiko Kuga	Fumiko Mikami	Shin Saburi	Wataru Hirayama
    Wataru Hirayama	Kiyoko Hirayama	Miyuki Kuwano	Hisako Hirayama	Chishū Ryū	Shukichi Mikami	Keiji Sada	Masahiko Taniguchi
    Teiji Takahashi	Shotaru Kondo	Chieko Naniwa	Hatsu Sasaki	Fumio Watanabe	RIchiro Nagamura	Nobuo Nakamura	Toshihiko Kawai

    
      Release Date: 1958
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
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    Late Autumn
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Setsuko Hara	Akiko Miwa	Yoko Tsukasa	Ayako Miwa	Mariko Okada	Yuriko Sasaki	Keiji Sada	Shotaru Goto
    Miyuki Kuwano	Michiko	Shin'ichirō Mikami	Koichi	Shin Saburi	Soichi Mamiya	Chishū Ryū	Shukichi Miwa
    Nobuo Nakamura	Shuzo Taguchi	Kuniko Miyake	Nobuko	Sadako Sawamura	Fumiko	Ryūji Kita	Seiichiro Hirayama

    
      Release Date: 1960
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    
    
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    The End of Summer
    Commentary:  Under construction.
      

    Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
    Nakamura Ganjirō II	Kohayagawa Manbei	Setsuko Hara	Akiko	Yoko Tsukasa	Noriko	Michiyo Aratama	Fumiko
    Keiju Kobayashi	Hisao	Chieko Naniwa	Sasaki Tsune	Reiko Dan	Yuriko	Haruko Sugimura	Kato Shige
    Hisaya Morishige	Isomura Eiichirou	Daisuke Katō	Kitagawa Yanosuke	Akira Takarada	Teramoto Tadashi	Kyū Sazanka	Yamaguch

    
      Release Date: 1961
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    

Labels: chishū-ryū, Criterion8, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 19:23    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Although I won't be receiving and viewing this movie until a few days hence, I'm pretty excited about it. This film has gone through many iterations and, during yet another routine scrounge for not just this movie but others I have on an extended list, I noticed that Criterion released the second-to-the-longest, best reviewed version, yet, a few years ago. I stumbled across it this evening, noticed it was at an unusually good price for a brand-spanking-new disc (I mean, I never expected to see it at this price, at least not new), being sold through a vendor with whom I've dealt before and trust, so I snatched it up.
    Something tells me that this will not be the last version released, so this movie might be one of the very few of which I end up obtaining more than one version. But, I've waited for a long time and I'm thinking I'll wildly appreciate this version of it. It might even satisfy me. Of course, I'll let you know.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Solveig Dommartin	Claire Tourneur	Chick Ortega	Chico Rémy	Eddy Mitchell	Raymond Monnet	William Hurt	Sam Farber/Trevor McPhee
  Adelle Lutz	Makiko	Sam Neill	Eugene Fitzpatrick	Rüdiger Vogler	Philip Winter	Kuniko Miyake	Mrs. Mori
  Chishū Ryū	Mr. Mori	David Gulpilil	David	Jeanne Moreau	Edith Farber	Max von Sydow	Henry Farber

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1991/2019 version
    Directed by Wim Wenders.

Labels: apocalyptic, chishū-ryū, Criterion6, science-fiction2, william-hurt

# posted by gail @ 21:39    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Tatsuya Nakadai	Kaji	Michiyo Aratama	Michiko

  
    This presentation is divided into three parts, none of which are complete without the other two. Thus, the best reviews of this trilogy acknowledge the relationship among the parts. Below are two of the best reviews I've found for the trilogy:
    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
      Although the title above seems to indicate that it covers only the first part of the trilogy, the essay actually covers all three parts.
    The Human Condition Movie Trilogy Review: Japanese Cinema Classic
  
    The films in this trilogy are:
      
  
  No Greater Love
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chikage Awashima	Tōfuku Kin	Ineko Arima	Shunran Yō	Sō Yamamura	Okishima	Keiji Sada	Kageyama

  
    Here is a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi.
      
  
  Road to Eternity
       

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Kokinji Katsura	Sasa Nitôhei	Jun Tatara	Hino Jun'i	Michirô Minami	Yoshida Jôtôhei	Kei Satô	Shinjô Ittôhei

  
    Here is a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi.
      
  
  A Soldier's Prayer
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Tamao Nakamura	Hinannmin no Shôjo	Yûsuke Kawazu	Terada Nitôhei	Chishū Ryū	Hinanmin no Chôrô	Taketoshi Naitô	Tange Ittôhei

  
    Here is a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film
    Release Date: 1961
    Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi.
  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film series.
    Release Date: 1959 - 1961
    Directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

Labels: chishū-ryū, Criterion6, masaki-kobayashi, tatsuya-nakadai, war3

# posted by gail @ 01:15    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Keiji Sada	Heiichiro Fukui	Yoshiko Kuga	Setsuko Arita	Chishū Ryū	Keitaro Hayashi	Kuniko Miyake	Tamiko Hayashi
  Haruko Sugimura	Kikue Haraguchi	Shitara Koji	Minoru Hayashi	Masahiko Shimazu	Isamu Hayashi	Kyoko Izumi	Midori Maruyama

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: chishū-ryū, Criterion6, dramedy3, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 00:09    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
  
  
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Shin Saburi	Mokichi Satake	Michiyo Kogure	Taeko Satake	Kōji Tsuruta	Non-chan/Noboru Okada	Chishū Ryū	Sadao Hirayama

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1952
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: §3, chishū-ryū, Criterion4, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 22:35    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Toshirô Mifune	Kōichi Nishi	Masayuki Mori	V.P. Iwabuchi	Kyōko Kagawa	Yoshiko Nishi	Tatsuya Mihashi	Tatsuo Iwabuchi
  Takashi Shimura	Admin. Ofc. Moriyama	Kō Nishimura	Contract Ofc. Shirai	Takeshi Katō	Itakura	Kamatari Fujiwara	Asst. Chief Wada
  Chishū Ryū	Public Prosecutor Nonaka	Seiji Miyaguchi	Prosecutor Okakura	Kōji Mitsui	Reporter	Susumu Fujita	Detective

  
    Here is the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
    Release Date: 1960
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Labels: §2, akira-kurosawa, chishū-ryū, Criterion2, detective1, mystery2, neo-noirA, toshirô-mifune

# posted by gail @ 20:10    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This film is a series of biographical vignettes from an extremely personal perspective. That may sound like it's difficult to watch, but, in fact, it is, like it's title, dreamy and extraordinarily engaging. As you watch, you can either consider it a Kurosawa statement, or you can meander through the vignettes as individual statements being made by the characters.
    The fact that this collection of films is "hosted, of sorts, I sometimes find annoying, but then another vignette begins and I lose myself. Again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Actor Name	Role Name	Actor Name	Role Name	Actor Name	Role Name	Actor Name	Role Name
  Akira Terao I, Dreamer	I, Dreamer	Mitsunori Isaki	I, Young Dreamer	Mitsuko Baisho	Dreamer's Mother	Martin Scorsese	Vincent Van Gogh
  Chishū Ryū	Old Man	Mieko Harada	Snow Spirit	Yoshitaka Zushi	Private Noguchi	Toshie Negishi	Woman with Child
  Hisashi Igawa	Nuclear Power Plant Man	Chosuke Ikariya	The Demon	Akira Kurosawa	Self	Matt Sloan	Host

  
    Here is a link to the Wikipedia write-up on this film.
    Release Date: 1990
    Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Labels: §1, akira-kurosawa, chishū-ryū, Criterion2, fantasy4, magical-realism

# posted by gail @ 18:22    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This movie is the Japanese version of Make Way for Tomorrow. Literally. Ozu admitted, at one time, that he was influenced by Make Way for Tomorrow to create this movie. This is also my favorite Ozu film, if I can be said to have a favorite. I also love Ikiru, although I don't own it (yet), and, of course, I do own An Autumn Afternoon, which I also love. Ozu had a way with the subject of aging. Tokyo Story is never maudlin, never particularly editorial (although, of course, fiercely editorial in the choice of subject matter). Tokyo Story is also not pointedly about aging, but, rather, about inter-generational conflict when aging is involved. And yet, despite its trajectory, it does not strike me as tragic. Perhaps that's because I was my mother's enthusiastic companion through her last almost two decades and subtly nurtured her amazing belief that she was going to live forever in the flesh. She, by the way, informed me that I would also live forever in the flesh, a prophecy that I happily embraced. Are you kidding? The two of us living, together, forever? Oh, my what adventures we'd have (to misquote Dr. Seuss)!
    Roger Ebert was so impressed with the movie that he wrote two reviews of it: the second, a "Great Movies" review, linked to the title of this post and the first, his review after the first time he saw it, which is linked a bit further down in this post. They are somewhat similar, but I think any readers will get a kick out of comparing the two.
    In addition, the cinematography and the choices made in regard to connecting scenes are intuitively brilliant, from my perspective. The mood is preserved, throughout, by these delicate, connecting links in the chain of the story.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chishū Ryū	Shūkichi Hirayama	Chieko Higashiyama	Tami Hirayama	Setsuko Hara	Noriko Hirayama	Haruko Sugimura	Shige Kaneko
  So Yamamura	Kōichi Hirayama	Kuniko Miyake	Fumiko Hirayama	Kyōko Kagawa	Kyōko Hirayama	Eijirō Tōno	Sanpei Numata
  Nobuo Nakamura	Kurazō Kaneko	Shirō Ōsaka	Keizō Hirayama	Hisao Toake	Osamu Hattori	Teruko Nagaoka	Yone Hattori

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1953
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: §1, aging, chishū-ryū, Criterion1, drama2, film-art1, psychological1, spiritual1, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 10:51    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  Although I am a staunch fan of Ozu's movies and have seen several, this is the only one I own, so far. Inexpensive copies are few and hard to find. I looked for some at Hastings' going-out-of-business sale. This is the only one I found, in mint condition. I suspect the previous owner probably bought the movie by mistake. This is Ozu's last and, if I can be said to have favorites of his movies, it is one of them. As a follower of his movies, I've developed an ability to detect his changing moods through his work. This is the last and most precious, and I'm not using that word in a satirically critical manner. Hopefully this won't be the last Ozu film in my collection.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chishū Ryū	Shūhei Hirayama	Shima Iwashita	Michiko Hirayama	Keiji Sada	Kōichi Hirayama	Mariko Okada	Akiko Hirayama
  Teruo Yoshida	Yutaka Miura	Noriko Maki	Fusako Taguchi	Shin'ichirō Mikami	Kazuo Hirayama	Nobuo Nakamura	Shūzō Kawai
  Kuniko Miyake	Nobuko Kawai	Eijirō Tōno	Seitarō Sakuma	Haruko Sugimura	Tomoko Sakuma	Kyōko Kishida	Kaoru Proprietor

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of this film.
    Release Date: 1962
    Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Labels: §2, chishū-ryū, Criterion2, drama5, me-favorite1, yasujirō-ozu

# posted by gail @ 18:37    0 comments    email......this post