悲愁物語

this was an awesome shot/scene. i couldn't find more pics from the scenes i loved, and i don't have screenshot taking capabilities

Story of Sorrow and Sadness was released by Cinema Epoch as "Tale of Sorrow", but I like "Story of Sorrow and Sadness" better...has a better ring to it and is a more accurate translation (as far as I can tell).  I may as well call it by whatever name I like, because their subtitles were pretty bad (sorry guys).

The opening credits are really great with just the shots of various interesting golf clubs and the cool old song. I wish I knew what song it was!  I also wish I could find a video of the opening online.  Oh well!  I need help with being able to make videos & screenshots...someday I'll work on that.

The film follows golfer and up & coming celebrity Reiko Sakuraba.  She's embroiled in some kind of golf rigging scandal...the explanation of the golf stuff wasn't very clear... Actually, the beginning of the movie was all boring golf stuff and I was kind of worried, but then the film got to the heart of its true subject--celebrity obsession and ruin.  A neighbor of Reiko's gets obsessed with and blackmails her, and that (along with the golf stuff) prove to be Reiko's ruin.  The film examines what makes and breaks a celebrity and why people are obsessed with celebrities but simultaneously anticipate their ruin.

The nail polish colors were an interesting theme.

This was a very unique Suzuki film because it was made in the 70s.  It isn't like his 60s yakuza flicks...the atmosphere is totally different.  It was just a contemporary movie about contemporary subject matter.  His films after this were period pieces, so this was really interesting and unique.  It was a lot less surreal than his other works as well.  I loved the ending.

^ as far as I know, anyway

PS: the spellcheck on here is pretty terrible

陽炎座

In watching Kagero-za, I finally finished Seijun Suzuki's  Taisho trilogy.  The Taisho is an interesting period in Japanese history, and Suzuki's take on it is just fascinating.  I'm glad he made this trilogy!  The Taisho is a great period to make a film about because there is just a lot of material available for great visuals eg. a guy in a suit wearing a tophat and a woman in kimono, etc...  Kagero-za is really good, along with Yumeji. Oh, the trilogy DVD covers are pretty funny, too.  Like 90s photoshop awesome.

As far as I can tell, "kagero" means "mist" or "fog"--a reference to the ghostliness of the story and characters. The film is really surreal and that's what I love about Suzuki (my favorite director of all time).  This film makes more sense story & theme-wise than some of Suzuki's other surreal films, and that's what really makes this work.  The acting in the movie is really deliberate; every action was taken so delicately, it was amazing.  The actors were all just great.  Most of them moved (or held still) like professional acrobats or dancers.   They were all really good at portraying sadness as well, it was so real and palpable.

The film had interesting themes as well...the man with two wives, one Japanese and the other German masquerading as Japanese...classic East vs. West themes?  I wonder...

drag geisha

super arty sex scene

this scene was just amazing...filmed using reflections in water.  ghostly.

ok ok another amazing scene

in closing: an awesome picture i found of my favorite director

その護送車を狙え

Take Aim at the Police Van was directed by Seijun Suzuki, my favorite direct of all time.  ALL TIME.  It's a lot more straightforward than his other works (read: it makes sense).  It's just a standard noir story, but Japanese.  If you like noir and you like Japanese cinema, this is the flick for you!  I own the DVD--got it with the Nikkatsu noir box set when Criterion was having one of their sales.  Now to watch the rest of the set!