Monthly Archives: July 2023

A Look Back: La Cage Aux Folles (musical)

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  • A Look Back: La Cage Aux Folles (musical)

With the opening of the UK’s latest revival of La Cage Aux Folles at the wonderful Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, I figured it was a good time to rerun my modest rewrite. The musical is great fun, but I’ve always been bothered by its preachiness. It shakes a virtual finger to lecture us (rather than subtly lead us) to love gays and hate bigots and so forth. As I noted, the fact that the message seems so obvious “is partly a function of the changing times, a trend that the musical itself helped bring about”. But the show is looking more like a period piece than the pure farce intended in the French play and film. The French are clearly much more relaxed about sexual matters like this – the original work dates from the 1970s, when openly gay-themed shows in English were pretty rare – and their approach was more cunning in underlining the couple’s basic humanity. Continue reading →

A Look Back: Madame Butterfly (Japanese production)

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The NY Times ran a typically overwrought article today entitled, “Reimagining ‘Madame Butterfly,’ With Asian Creators at the Helm“. It talks as usual of the piece as problematic and describes how the Asian community in the US is trying to address that. It mentions in passing a production by Japanese director Amon Miyamoto, which I discussed a few years back. I also touched upon Japan’s own relationship with the work, which remains one of the nation’s most frequently performed operas. Here is a rerun of that piece.
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May 26, 2020

The iconoclastic Japanese stage director Amon Miyamoto has a problem with Madame Butterfly. The stereotypical image of a spurned geisha? The sexual exploitation of a 15-year-old girl? A warped Western view of his country?

No, he feels that the opera mistreats the American.

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The Sword of Doom (大菩薩峠 )

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  • 大菩薩峠 (The Sword of Doom)

6/27/23 (Tues)

Okamoto Kihachi is known for his offbeat approach to his material, so I wasn’t ready for this decidedly bleak 1966 film, which was apparently imposed upon him by the studio. The Japanese title Daibosatsu Toge (The Great Bodhisattva Pass), referring historically to an important mountain pass on the road to Edo, was also the title of an epic 41-volume novel that was published over a 30-year period and had already been filmed multiple times. The name of the peak, these days a relatively easy hike not far from Tokyo, implies the border between this world and a more exalted state and was presumably used in the book as a metaphor. It’s hard to judge that here since the intended trilogy ended with the first film after flopping in Japan (though it did better overseas). Okamoto soon returned to form in the wacky Kill!, but this work has gained in reputation over the years.

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Samurai Spy (異聞猿飛佐助)

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  • 異聞猿飛佐助 (Samurai Spy)

6/25/23 (Sun), home, 4:30-6:15p

Shinoda Masahiro’s 1965 Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke (literally The Extraordinary Tale of Sarutobi Sasuke) revolves around the fictional ninja character who had already been a staple of manga, film and television for decades. Supposedly inspired by a real person (or persons), Sasuke is the most famous member of an invented group of ten ninja who sided with the Toyotomi clan in its unsuccessful battle against the Shogun. He is often portrayed with magical powers and is sometimes said to have been raised by apes – Sarutobi means “leaping monkey” or “flying monkey”. The English title is misleading in that respect since the subject is really ninja, but it falls in line with the predilection for the word “samurai” those days in other drastically renamed Japanese period films (Samurai Rebellion, Samurai Vendetta, Vendetta for a Samurai). That’s Hollywood, I guess.

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Scarlet Street

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  • Scarlet Street

6/23/23 (Fri)

Fritz Lang’s 1945 film is usually categorized as noir, but that description doesn’t feel quite right. At the opening, the cutely named Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson), a timid bank cashier and amateur painter, is receiving a celebration for 25 years of faithful service at the bank, which in movie-land means he’s boring. He is envious of his boss, who leaves early to tend to his beautiful mistress, and appears a lonely soul. Upon walking home, he comes across a woman, Kitty Marsh (Joan Bennett), being accosted by a large man (Dan Duryea). He almost accidentally strikes the man down from behind with his umbrella (and immediately cowers in fear of a reprisal). But when he goes for a policeman, the woman is strangely uncooperative – it turns out that the attack was simply a spat with her lover Johnny, who has quickly escaped.

SPOILERS AHEAD

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Monster (怪物)

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  • 怪物 (Monster)

6/11/23 (Sun)

Director Koreeda Hirokazu’s films are always an event, and the latest opens on the heels of its win at Cannes for best screenplay by television writer Sakamoto Yuji – the first time Koreeda has directed someone else’s work in nearly three decades. It is also noted for its music by Sakamoto Ryuichi, who was dying of the cancer that would kill him earlier this year before the film premiered. He was only able to complete two new numbers, the remainder of the score being chosen from his extensive back catalogue. Less publicized here was its Queer Palm Award, a prize given for selected works entered at Cannes, which hints at one of the underlying plot points.

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