settima

japan

隠し砦の三悪人 [Kakushi-toride no san-akunin / The Hidden Fortress] (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)

Nov

25

White Ribbon Day

隠し砦の三悪人 (1958)

General Makabe (Toshirō Mifune) facing us with Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) seemingly standing high above him on the fortress' wall, facing away. DP: Kazuo Yamazaki.

“I don't know what to do with her Highness. Say right and she'll go left, say left and she'll go right. And though she is a girl, she has never shown me a tear.”

– old lady-in-waiting

In Kurosawa's 隠し砦の三悪人, a couple of greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines after the man has promised them a share of the gold they're carrying. Unknowingly, the fools not only protect their bounty, but a general and princess trying to escape an enemy clan so they can rebuild their kingdom. And also unbeknownst to the tricksters, Makabe and Yuki are not as helpless as they may seem.

儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1971)

Nov

11

World Origami Day

儀式 (1971)

A man kneeled in front of a Shintō altar. Ceremonial origami, known as origata or girei origami can be seen hanging from the altar. This is 幣帛 [heihaku], an offering made of cloth or paper. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.

Goshogaoka [御所ケ丘] (Sharon Lockhart, 1998)

Nov

6

Play Basketball Day

Goshogaoka (1998)

Girls from the Moriya City Goshogaoka junior high school girl basketball team practising their blocking technique. Cibachrome print © Sharon Lockhart, 1997 (via).

Within the boundaries of Sharon Lockhart's static camera, girls from Goshogaoka junior high school practice #basketball. In six uninterrupted 10 minute scenes, we see them warm up and train several typical moves, shots, and blocks. With the camera set in one position, some of the action happens off-screen, resulting in unrehearsed synchronised choreography.

瘋癲老人日記 [Fūten rōjin nikki / Diary of a Mad Old Man] (Keigo Kimura, 1962)

Oct

29

World Stroke Day

瘋癲老人日記 (1962)

Utsugi (Sō Yamamura) lusting after his daughter-in-law Sachiko's (Ayako Wakao) feet while she takes a shower. DP: Nobuo Munekawa.

みな殺しの霊歌 [Minagoroshi no reika / I, the Executioner] (Tai Katō, 1968)

Oct

26

みな殺しの霊歌 (1968)

A claustrophobically framed black-and-white shot of a man (Makoto Satō) handling chopsticks close to his face. DP: Keiji Maruyama.

心中天網島 [Shinjū: Ten no Amijima / Double Suicide] (Masahiro Shinoda, 1969)

Oct

10

International Stage Management Day

心中天網島 (1969)

Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura ) and his children with a stagehand visible between them. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.

心中天網島 is based on a 1721 文楽 [#bunraku] puppet theatre play]. As traditional in this style of theatre, the puppeteers are in full view of the audience wearing all-black cloaks. 心中天網島 does the same, but substitutes the puppets with flesh and blood actors.

 

The puppeteers are 黒衣 [kuroko, litt. “black clad”, though there are colour variations depending on the scene's requirements], guiding the performers towards their destiny.

鉄輪 [Kanawa / The Iron Crown] (Kaneto Shindō, 1972)

Sep

20

fried eggs

鉄輪 (1972)

Meg Flower as the young woman eats a fried egg straight from a spatula. She's naked. DP: Kiyomi Kuroda.

狂つた一頁 [Kurutta ippēji / A Page of Madness] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)

Sep

12

狂つた一頁 (1926)

The servant's wife (Yoshie Nakagawa) eating. She looks up at someone offscreen, and smiles. DP: Kōhei Sugiyama.

0課の女 赤い手錠 [Zeroka no onna: Akai wappa / Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs] (Yukio Noda, 1974)

Sep

12

National Police Woman Day

0課の女 赤い手錠 (1974)

Rei (Miki Sugimoto) wielding the red chain of her handcuffs. DP: Yoshio Nakajima.

Rei (Miki Sugimoto) is a member of Division Zero, a top secret division of #Tokyo's police department. Hired to investigate a high-profile #kidnapping, she infiltrates the gang and kills them off with her signature blood-red handcuffs.

 

ねこぢる草 [Nekojiru-sō / Cat Soup] (Tatsuo Satō, 2001)

Aug

30

National Grief Awareness Day

ねこぢる草 (2001)

Nyāko taken away by Jizō with little brother Nyatta telling Nyāko to come back home. DP: Masaru Takase.

Nyatta is not ready to have Jizō take away his big sister Nyāko to Ne-no-kuni, the land of the dead. The kitten grabs his sister's paw, resulting in her soul being ripped in two and leaving Nyāko in a state of limbo. The cats' mother then sends the two off on a mission to buy fried #tofu. Maybe now Nyatta can find a way to put Nyāko's divided soul back together. But first, there's a circus to visit!

 

ねこぢる草 is based on works by mangaka Nekojiru / ねこぢる (1967—1998) whose trademark crudely drawn #cats caused a ripple in Japan's underground #manga circuit. Nyatta and Nyāko continued their surreal adventures by way of widower Yamano Hajime after Nekojiru's tragic suicide in 1998.