I watched Tora-san 33 today. I posted some thoughts on letterboxd and decided to cross-post it here, as well. Dunno why but just wanted to see this film today. I guess due to the pandemic and the inability to feel particularly grounded or settled. I’ve seen this several times and have been to locations in Kushiro and Nemuro. I even… Read more →
Category: Film Criticism
Let’s Begin the Year of Tora-san with Some Background
I have seen only one of them. They all follow more or less the same story line, in which an everyman gets a few weeks off from his job, visits his family in their old neighborhood, doesn’t get along with them very well, and then decides to go on vacation to a famous Japanese tourist area. While there, he meets… Read more →
Shoplifters, Hakuchu Dodo, and the Florida Project
Shoplifters (万引き家族) was the first film by Hirokazu Kore-eda I’ve watched. When I first hear the story, though, I immediately thought Hakuchu Dodo (白昼堂々), a Shochiku film from 1968. which I saw at a Kiyoshi Atsumi retrospective a few years back at the Togeki. Directed by prolific director Yoshitaro Nomura, it starts Atsumi and Chieko Baisho as leaders of a… Read more →