9/30/18 (Sun), Tokyo
A liberal adaptation of the famed Lorca play of 1934. A woman who waited too long to have a child (she aborted one at 23 to her then-boyfriend’s sorrow) is now feeling the biological clock, and her unsuccessful efforts to make her body do her bidding make her increasingly obsessed. She gets battier and battier until she is finally utterly deranged. And that pretty much sums it up.
12/22/18 (Sat), Tokyo
A star really is born in this fourth iteration of the now-familiar tale. Continue reading
12/7/18 (Fri), Tokyo
One of the most loved of the many film versions of the novel. I was curious to watch it after seeing the latest stage version in LA. Continue reading
12/4/18 (Tues), Tokyo
A chilling German film set in the late 1980s in the pre-liberated East about the surveillance of a playwright suspected of dissident activity. His home is secretly wired by the Stasi, and agents are ruthless in ensuring its success, warning a busybody neighbor, for instance, that any word from her will prevent her son from getting into the university. The main agent and his assistant listen carefully to every utterance 24 hours a day, keeping detailed notes on all conversations and activity (“suspect and his girlfriend presumably engage in intercourse”). But this soon becomes a story about the listener rather than the listened as the agent charged with the case – himself threatened by his superiors if he doesn’t find something incriminating – grows increasingly sympathetic with his charge. The web of betrayals and lies leads in the end to death, shame and disgrace, leavened only by an act of deep self-sacrifice. It is just a few years later, after the Berlin Wall has fallen, when the playwright is able to view his files and learn the thoroughness of the scrutiny and corruption as well as the fate of the investigator.
A portrayal of the suffocating power of the Communist state: how it creates suspicion among citizens, its pettiness and paranoia, and its ability to crush the will of anyone in its way. Continue reading
11/30/18 (Fri), Los Angeles
A one-man version of the evergreen classic by the protean actor Jefferson Mays, directed by Michael Arden (Once On This Island revival). May is something of a specialist in playing multiple roles after notable performances in I Am My Own Wife and A Gentleman’s Guide…, both of which I loved. So my expectations were high.
11/19/18 (Mon), Tokyo
An oddball Japanese film about a lonely Japanese office worker named Setsuko (the ever-reliable Terashima Shinobu) with a knack for ruining lives. Continue reading
11/17/18 (Sat), Tokyo
A Jewish mensch named Norman (a pitch-perfect Richard Gere) makes his living by introducing powerful people to other powerful people, hoping that some of the benefits will rub off on him. He hits the big time when a minor politician that he once befriended unexpectedly becomes Israeli prime minister. Unfortunately his sudden leap to fame leaves him unprepared for the burst of people seeking favors through his connections, which, desperate to feel important, he proves utterly unable to reject. He begins making impossible promises – finding a huge donation to rebuild a flailing synagogue, getting the prime minister’s son into Harvard – that gradually become a web entrapping him. Worse, his careless blabbing to a woman on a train about a gift he innocently offered the now-prime minister leads to disaster when she turns out to be a government official, who seeks to use the information to topple the government. As the situation spirals into crisis, Norman finds the courage for action, including a bold sacrifice.
sekenbanashi 