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Walk the talk
The Magnificent Ambersons. “It’s only history,” Jack Valenti is reported to have said when allowing scholars access to MPAA files. (1) After studying Hollywood for over thirty years, I should be used...
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Sleeves
DB here: Earlier this month, when I was giving a lecture on Mizoguchi Kenji at our university museum, I showed two images from A Woman of Rumor (Uwasa no onna, 1954). It’s a little-known film of his,...
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Japan journey, part 2
DB here: A seesaw trip in my last few days in Japan, with notes on watching some rare movies, visiting some superheroes, and watching some children cut down swaggering samurai. Kansai wanderer On...
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Kurosawa’s early spring
The Most Beautiful (1944). For Donald Richie DB here: Cinephile communities aren’t free of peer pressure. Sometimes you must choose or be thought a waffler. In postwar France, the debate within the...
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Good and good for you
Late Autumn (Ozu Yasujiro, 1960). DB here: Manohla Dargis of the New York Times has just written a piece that refers to some ideas that have appeared on this site. If you see the article online,...
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Solo in Bologna
Kristin here: Two days before David and I were to set out for Bologna and its annual Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, back pain struck him. He decided not to go, and so our coverage this year will be...
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Mizoguchi: Secrets of the exquisite image
Sansho the Bailiff (1954). DB here: First things first: Happy birthday, Mizo-san! (He was born on 16 May 1898.) Secondary things second: This entry is based on a talk I gave a couple of weeks ago at...
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How to hypnotize the viewer: Mizoguchi’s STREET OF SHAME on the Criterion...
Street of Shame (1956). Filmmakers must study the film image and its potential for expression. This is our primary responsibility. Kenji Mizoguchi DB here: So much of contemporary film and TV...
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