"Tokyo Story" Is Beautiful And Haunting, But Not The Devastating Experience I Was Expecting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       Among cineastes, it is fairly common knowledge that this film's director, Yasujiro Ozu, was inspired by Leo McCarey's 1937 Hollywood film, "Make Way For Tomorrow."  I saw that film when young, and to this day could never view it again.  For years, when I heard "Tokyo Story" was a Japanese version of the McCarey film, I avoided it all these years.

                                       But, inspired by age to catch up on films I am embarrassed not to have seen, I watched "Tokyo Story" yesterday, and was surprised to find that I would gladly view this film again, if given the opportunity to see it on the big screen.

                                         An elderly couple living in a distant suburb outside Tokyo, decide to travel to the big city to see their children, who never come to see them.  That, and the indecision about what to do with their parents once they are there, call up comparisons to "Make Way For Tomorrow."  However, the children in this film, while self-absorbed, are not the selfish, cruel monsters they are in "Make Way For Tomorrow."    They even send the parents on a trip to a gorgeous spa, where a walk along a wall results not only in a beautiful camera shot, but the foreshadowing to come.

                                          The separation in "Make Way For Tomorrow" was forced on the couple by their children, when the only daughter living on the West Coast, agrees to take the father.  When the couple part at the train station, the viewer knows, sadly they're seeing each other for the last time.  Death is more present in "Tokyo Story," when the mother dies, but does so with all her children around them and given a beautiful memorial service.

                                             The film, through the parents, talk about parent and child expectations, or the lack thereof, how the elderly become invisible with change, and how the cinematography uses recurring images of smoking sky high tower chimneys, ancient pagodas, and trains recurrently passing over the tracks to highlight social change.   Imagery is key in foreign films, and these plus the geometric patterns and panels of business buildings and personal residences give the film a visual beauty unique to its nation's culture.

                                              The parents are played by So Yamamura and Cheiko Higashiyama.  They are moving and touching, and so is Setsuko Hara as daughter-in-law Noriko, widow of their dead son, and the only really kind person to them, though as the father says, "not even a blood relative."

                                                So, yes, "Tokyo Story" is a form of "Make Way For Tomorrow," but if I may be so bold as to state it, America is still cruel toward the aged, while the Japanese revere them in a more loving way.

                                                 I urge you to see "Tokyo Story." It is warm and moving, but not emotionally crippling.

                                                  And what does that say about cultural differences?????????????????

                                                

Don't Let This Movie Make A Monkey Out Of You, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    My equally movie knowledgeable friend Chris, and I, talked about seeing this in the theater.  Chris, dear, I am here to tell you how lucky we were that we did not.

                                       Because we got home late from our dinner, which was an experience in itself, we could not watch the movie I had planned on viewing.  That film will be screened tonight and written about in the forthcoming week.

                                        So last night, because it was short enough to be on time to watch The Eleven O' Clock News on Channel 2, we watched "Primate."

                                          Now, older viewers will remember the name Ben used for the lethal rat in both 1971's "Willard," and its sequel.  I will not even TALK about the 2003 remake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           What "Primate" actually turns out to be is a feature length expansion of the sequence in Disney's "Old Yeller," where Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran had to shoot the beloved pet they once loved, who is now a rabid monster.

                                             Ben is turned into a rabid monster, when he is bitten by a mongoose, in Hawaii, yet, but without the build-up of warmth and love that made so many of us cry at the climax of "Old Yeller."  I was so done with this movie before it ended, girls, that, much as I love animals, I could not wait to see the monkey get beaten over the head.  Or electrocuted. Or anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                Besides, Old Yeller was a real dog.  So was Toto.  Ben here is just some CGI manufactured thing, so who cares?

                                                 He becomes rabid within minutes and goes on a rampage.  I was fascinated for his fascination in wanting to pull people's faces apart by removing the jawline and their mouths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Perhaps he was overdue for a dental appointment.

                                                  The problem with "Primate" is that it took itself too seriously.  I was hoping for a delicious camp romp that would make me laugh.  Instead, my mouth hung open at the sheer stupidity.

                                                   Troy Kotsur, who played the deaf father in the 2021 A list film "CODA," here is cast as a deaf scientist.  He is barely in the film, and his role is thankless, but when one is a deaf actor, I suppose you have to take what is out there.

                                                     Rumor has it that both Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep turned this one down!  I do not blame them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Monkey see, monkey do!  Do NOT watch "Primate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                                    

Charles Dickens Created Scrooge!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Did Anyone Really Ever Name A Child Ebenezer??????????????????????????

                                                                               

                                The first picture is a Victorian representation of the Alaistair Sim Scrooge, from 1951, still the best live action version of the story.  The second is "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," which is truly second best!

                                    But that first name--Ebenezer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Where, beside this story, have you heard the name?  Certainly not in this day and age, and when grade school kids are old enough to catch on, anyone with the name would endure merciless teasing.  

                                     I am beginning to wonder if the first name was also created by Charles Dickens.  Having read my way through his works, the Brontes, George Eliot and Jane Austen, I cannot find the name anywhere else.  Nor in Thomas Hardy or Henry James.

                                      So, I have come to accept the name Ebenezer as a dramatic conceit.

                                      If anyone can show further example, then come forward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

                                      And remember, in Winter, to take your gruel, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                

For Darren McGavin And Carl Kolchak Fans Only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          Really, darlings, if you have never seen it, or are fans of the above there is no other reason to tune in to "Svengoolie's" screening of the 1972 film "The Night Stalker."

                                            David and I had planned to watch something else, which I was saving as a surprise, but now, with questionable dinner plans in play, that takes care of that.  Oh, David said we could watch tomorrow, but, as Baby Gojira will be the first to tell you, without our Saturday movie the weeknight is just not the same!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Besides, we saw this the last time it was shown and once was quite enough for me.  We may even have seen the follow up, "The Night Strangler."

                                               I am happy this did something for Darren McGavin's career, but it did absolutely nothing for me.

                                               Still, I almost would trade it in for the questionable dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching Fellini's "8 1/2" Is Like Staring At A Renaissance Master Painting In Motion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                                

                          The beauty of this film cannot be overestimated.  Let us start with the color white and how it is used--in the fabric of women's garments, the tables and chairs in the nightclub scenes, the pure cleanness of the spa, with its crucifix like cross to remind us that this is definitely a Catholic film, but one that dares to question the very nature of Catholicism.

                             And the women--Claudia Cardinale, Anouke Aimee, Barbara Steele--yes! --and Eddra Gale, who, as prostitute by the sea Saraghina, steals the show!  The whole question of the morality of the boys visiting her just to dance, with the ocean as a stunning backdrop asks the question of Catholicism how something so innocent and beautiful could be so immoral.  I have to hand it to Fellini for taking on these issues.

                             One surprise of the film is that the viewer gains insight into the type of film Guido (Marcello at his most Mastroianni) is going to make--a dystopian sci-fi epic with a launching pad set worthy of a surreal production of Sondheim's "Company."

                               It comes as no surprise that Piero Gheradi's costumes won the Oscar for Best Black And White Costume Design for 1963.   And the film won Best Foreign Film.

                               To think when I was a child such films were considered "dirty."  The visuals, and Fellin's use of geometrics and textures is inspired, as is his use of women--not just anorexic looking models, but plus sized, curvy ones.

                                While there are some sad moments--Guido and Lusa, Guido and his parents--the film literally ends as a circular celebration of life.  I cannot wait to see this on the screen.

                                    Those having never seen it at all, like me, it is time you did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where Are The Big Literary Events Of The Year?????????????????????????????????

                                                                              

                         I am talking about books that readers like me would instantly dash to their home bookstore to pick up a copy in hardback.  Take Jonathan Franzen and Donna Tartt.  Oh, I am sure they are working, but, guys, when are we going to see something?  Tartt has not published anything since "The Goldfinch" in 2013, while Franzen's "Crossroads," published in 2021, promised readers a trilogy, of which this was the first volume.  So, where are the other two, Jonathan??????????

                          What would Charles Dickens say?  And, Donna, I know, like me, you are a devoted Dickensian.  So, chop chop!  Give us readers something worth reading.  Haven't we waited long enough?

                             And Jonathan, you may be dreamy, but dreaminess alone does not satisfy the reader!

                             Last year was a bad book year.  And I fear this one is shaping up to be another!

                            Bring on the literary events--even some surprises!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                          

Coming Next Week--The Raving Queen's Criterion Closet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

       

                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Yes, girls, I finally have assembled all the DVDs I compiled for my "Gay Film" list, so beginning next week, I will be watching and posting.

                          Though some words are in order.  I do not expect anyone to agree completely, or at all, with the list; these are just the most formative films of my youth, and the choices that came to me easily.

Others may have included "The Children's Hour," "Brokeback Mountain," "The Boys In The Band," "The Killing Of Sister George," or "Death In Vencie," and they would not be wrong.  But since I am limiting the list to ten films, I am going with what I have assembled, and they will be announced as I post after my viewing of them.

                            One more thing.  The films selected are not in any rank or order except the year in which they were made.  I can tell you this much--the years span from 1938 to 1937

                          Girls, think of how much fun this will be.  I want to hear your choices too; if one of them is something I have not seen, it may drive me to watch.  I have resigned myself to not reading every book out there, but even for a fast reader like me, a film is quicker to watch.  So, I stand a greater chance of catching up on movies I want to.

                            The klieg lights are up, darlings!  So, look for my closet posts starting next week.

                             As I bring these films out of the closet and into the light!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!