The last couple of weeks in review (2013-08-31)

The last three weeks have been quite busy. First, I applied to two new jobs without success. Then my twelve year-old cat took suddenly ill and stopped eating. After a week he was only the shadow of himself and finally left us. He was my best cat ever. It made me very sad.

Then the Montreal World Film Festival started. I had previously put myself in the mood by writing about two movies screened last year that I hadn't commented on yet (The floating castle, The little girl in me and the short B&W Foxes and the Cave of Light). So far I've managed to see almost all the japanese movies (I still have one tomorrow), but could put only three of them online (Botchan, The Flower of Shanidar, and The devil's path, plus the Australian short Tau Seru -- I'll do my best to finish the others and post them as soon as possible). The first movies I've screened didn't impress me at all, but they got better and better each day. Up to now my favourite is Mourning Recipe. I've strayed a little from my japanese targets and screened an italian movie for a change: L'amore è Imperfetto (I might comment on it eventually if I have time). Don't worry, I'll also soon resume commenting on manga... (I am currently reading several of them)

I managed to keep an eye on the news. Lately, it's all about the chemical attack in Syria and how the world should (or shouldn't) respond. There was still a few interesting stories that were worth bookmarking and I'll share them with you after the jump:

L'image du chat-medi (2013-08-31)

Saya: La dernière image du chat-medi de l'été / The last cat-urday picture of this summer

L'image du Mer-fleurie

Tournesol, photo prise dans le jardin le 17 juillet / Sunflower taken in the garden July 17th

Tau Seru

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“In the vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. ” (Festival's Program)

It's “a simple story, with practically no dialogue, that of a young nomad hoping to leave this place. Capturing endless, vertiginous landscapes Tau Seru is a physical, earthy film offering a tender portrait of a father and son in the silence of the lambs.” (Baptiste Etchegaray, on Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes website)

This cute short is not Japanese, but since it was opening for one of the Japanese movies at the World Film Festival, I thought that I might as well talk about it a little.

The director is Australian and it was shot in the Indian Himalayas in a region called Ladakh, near the city of Leh.

A father and son bring their herd of sheep and goats to the “alpine” pastures of the Himalayas. One sheep is sick or too tired and refuse to go further. The father ask the son to go sell it to a nearby camp. The son take the money of the sale, hops on a bus and leaves, presumably for the city. An age-old story beautifully told, with almost no dialogues (in fact, I don't remember any!). The scenery and the photography is just gorgeous. A nice little gem.

Tau Seru ( Small Yellow Field ): Australia / India, 2013, 8 min.; Dir./Scr./Prod.: Rodd Rathjen; Phot.: Michael latham; Ed.: Marco Treglia, Mischa Baka, Rodd Rathjen; Co-Prod.: Tashi Wangail; Cast: Deskong Namgyal Nurla (boy), Tashi Wangail (father). Short Film opening for The devil's path, screened at the Montreal World Film Festival August 25th, 2013 (Cinema Quartier Latin 9, 16h20) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
Tau Seru © 2013 Rodd Rathjen.

[ Traduire ]

The devil's path

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“Journalist Shuichi Fujii receives a letter from convicted killer Junji Sudo. Writing from death row, Sudo wants to confess to crimes unknown to the police. Visiting Sudo in prison, Fujii learns about "Doc" who masterminded a string of murders. Set up by Doc, Sudo seeks revenge and implores Fujii to find the evidence needed to arrest his former boss. Working from Sudo's sketchy memories, Fujii begins to piece together a grizzly tale of extortion, torture, rape, and arson. But as his desire to see Doc brought to justice nears a climax, he runs into resistance from unexpected sources.” (Festival's Program)

The Flower of Shanidar

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“The "shanidar flower" only grows on certain women. Mysterious buds germinate on their skin and then bloom into beautiful flowers whose extracts lead to a new miracle drug at the "Shanidar Laboratory". Kyoko and Ohtaki work at the lab, and are always on the lookout for new donors, but not all women are cooperative. That's when Kyoko's charm comes into play. Meanwhile, abnormal side effects begin to appear stemming from the flower-removal surgery. Harvesting these flowers may be triggering something dangerous.” (Festival's Program)

Spotty (c. 2002 - 2013)

Requiescat in pace
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Spotty on Saturday, August 24. He is survived by his “parents” Clodjee and Miyako, his lovely “brother” Saya, his “grand-parents” Claude-Eugène and Laure, his “aunts” Luce and Francine, as well as his “cousins” Vanille, Cendrine and Pépi.

Spotty came out of the back alley and chose us to take care of him. He was a gentle and overwhelmingly loving cat. He left us after a short sickness. We are immensely grateful for the time he has spent with us.

We want to express our deep gratitude to Dr. Odette Girard and the Clinique vétérinaire de la Promenade.

Please do not send flowers, but instead give a hug to those you love dearly or send donation to your favourite animal shelter or charity (Animal Rescue Network, SPCA Montréal, WWF Canada, etc.).

There won't be any Cat-urday picture this week (Pas d'Image du Chat-medi cette semaine).

[ Traduire ] [ 翻訳する ]

Botchan

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“Tomoyuki Kaji, 28, is socially inept and thoroughly lacking in self-confidence. "If you die, are you happy then?" he asks on the Internet. An employment agency sends him to work at a factory in Nagano where he meets Tanaka, a co-worker who suffers from narcolepsy. "To the stars, we're all alike," he muses, and the pair become fast friends. This is new territory for Kaji, and he is exhilarated. Out for a drive one night, they meet Yuri, a young girl who has fled the clutches of their co-worker, Okada. Charmed by Yuri, they attempt to protect her. But this isn't as simple as they imagine...” (Festival's Program)

L'image du Mer-fleurie (2013-08-21)

Buddha (1)

“Osamu Tezuka’s vaunted storytelling genius, consummate skill at visual expression, and warm humanity blossom fully in his eight-volume epic of Siddhartha’s life and times. Tezuka evidences his profound grasp of the subject by contextualizing the Buddha’s ideas; the emphasis is on movement, action, emotion, and conflict as the prince Siddhartha runs away from home, travels across India, and questions Hindu practices such as ascetic self-mutilation and caste oppression. Rather than recommend resignation and impassivity, Tezuka’s Buddha predicates enlightenment upon recognizing the interconnectedness of life, having compassion for the suffering, and ordering one’s life sensibly. Philosophical segments are threaded into interpersonal situations with ground-breaking visual dynamism by an artist who makes sure never to lose his readers’ attention.”

“Tezuka himself was a humanist rather than a Buddhist, and his magnum opus is not an attempt at propaganda. Hermann Hesse’s novel or Bertolucci’s film is comparable in this regard; in fact, Tezuka’s approach is slightly irreverent in that it incorporates something that Western commentators often eschew, namely, humor.” [ Text from the publisher's web site ]

B/W Foxes and the Cave of Light

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“In a world of black and white, ore dug from the cave is shedding colored light. Mikuro, identifying himself as the “Black Fox” bandit appears in front of the white-haired boy Kohaku who is captured in the back of a cave by a gang of thieves. Mikuro who collects the ore shedding “colored” light, says proudly that he has a “dream” to fulfill in this world of black and white. “It's decided! From now on you will be my little brother.” Kohaku has lost hope for life after his parents were murdered, but he is forced to be Mikuro's little brother and together they start running towards the world out of the cave.” (from the movie Press Book)

The little girl in me

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

“When Kensuke Adachi is fired from his job for a mistaken order, he is devastated. He withdraws from society and locks himself in his room. His father Kenzo and his sister Yuko are worried but can do nothing besides supporting him. One day Kensuke finds a web site for people who love dressing up in female clothing. Kensuke is fascinated by the drag queen depictions on the site posted by users who proudly display their glamorous alter egos. At first Kensuke thinks the images are demeaning, but gradually he begins to become very interested in the lifestyle depicted on screen.” (from The Montreal World Film Festival program guide)

Dororo (1)

“Hyakkimaru est né sans bras, sans jambes, sans yeux, sans oreilles, sans nez... Pas moins de 48 parties de son corps lui ont été ôtées, chacune ayant été emportée par un démon avant sa naissance. Devenu un jeune homme, il se découvre d'étranges pouvoirs, en particulier celui d'attirer toujours vers lui les monstres et démons. Accompagné de Dororo, un petit voleur assez particulier, il part à la recherche d'un endroit où il pourra enfin vivre en paix. Mais son voyage ne sera qu'une suite ininterrompue de luttes contre les pires esprits malfaisants du Japon.”

“Dororo est un manga de samouraï d'un genre plutôt inhabituel.”

[ Texte de la jaquette intérieure de couverture ]


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L'image du chat-medi (2013-08-17)

Saya, en avril de l'an dernier

L'image du Mer-fleurie (2013-08-14)

Une fleur de mon jardin / A flower in my garden

Récolte attendue / Grape expectation!

Kirihito (1)

“Pour découvrir les causes d'une maladie mystérieuse, la “monmô”, le Dr. Kirihito Osanaï se rend au village de Inugami-sawa, dans une région très retirée du Japon. Il va y faire une découverte incroyable et sera victime d'une monstrueuse machination...”

“À travers ce drame bouleversant, Osamu Tezuka plonge son scalpel directement dans un des “foyers infectieux” qui rongent notre société contemporaine.”

[ Texte de la jaquette intérieure de couverture ]




Continuez après le saut de page >>

Fantasia 2013 Overview

To follow up on my presentation of the Fantasia 2013 programmation, I am adding here a few comments on this 17th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival that just concluded.

This year the Japanese selection of the festival was offering thirty-three movies (including eight anime and three shorts). Unfortunately, I don't have time anymore to queue to watch every Japanese movies like I used to do, and I also feel that I don't fit with that kind of young, over energetic crowd anymore. But at least I was able to watch one movie and review two: Thermae Romae and Library Wars. There are a few more movies that I wished I would have been able to screen, like the Rurouni Kenshin live-action or Garden of Words, the latest Makoto Shinkai's anime.

Press Review (2013-08-11)

The last month was relatively quiet in the news department. No big event that I feel I must report on absolutely. However, I nevertheless gathered about an hundred links of little information that I found interesting. And I want to share them with you after the jump:

Domestic log (2013-08-11)

We've finished watching Bleak House and, staying with the Gillian Anderson theme, continued with The Fall, a modern police drama set in Belfast and which ends abruptly letting suspects that there will be a second season. Now we've started watching The White Queen (actually we're almost done, since there's only two episodes left), an epoch drama about three women who played a key role in the war of the roses, which suits more our taste (although I've also started watching on my own another british modern police drama called Broadchurch -- I can't help it as it has two Doctor Who actors in it: Arthur Darvill [ who played Rory, one of the Eleventh Doctor's companions, as well as Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, in The White Queen ] and David Tennant [ the tenth Doctor himself! ]).

July 23rd was my eldest sister's birthday. She was killed in a freak accident in Paris exactly thirty years ago and would have been fifty-nine years old... That week-end, I didn't write as much as I wanted, but the weather was so nice. My wife and I walked in the park, witnessing a beautiful rainbow and a superb sunset. Of course, as soon as the week started, it was raining again. But at least the temperature and humidity were still bearable. I wish all summer could be like this week-end. Alas, it cannot be.

L'image du chat-medi (2013-08-10)

Saya et Spotty en mars 2007

L'image du Mer-fleurie (2013-08-07)

Terre d'Espérance, la 5e édition des Mosaïcultures Internationales au Jardin botanique de Montréal du 22 juin au 29 septembre 2013. “À la queue leu-leu”, présentée par Madagascar, photographiée le 18 juin avant l'ouverture officielle. Cette oeuvre représente la diversité menacée de cette île riche en espèces.

Montreal World Film Festival 2013

In a press conference today, the Montreal World Film Festival announced the programming of its 37th edition, which will be held from August 22 to September 2. The festival will present 432 films including 218 feature-length movies (of which 113 will be world or international premieres, along with 39 North American premieres and 41 Canadian premieres), 14 medium-length and 200 short films. 71 of those fiction features-length movies will be first features (the first film of its director), of which 20 will be in competition.

This year the slogan of the festival is "The world is yours" and the “dominant theme in the films of the competition this year, is that of human beings caught a changing world, facing new realities”. Screenings will be held at the Cinema Imperial (CI) and Théatre Maisonneuve (TM) for the movies in competition, and at the Cinema Quartier Latin (QL) for the rest. You can read more details in the press release announcing this year's line-up.


This year the festival is offering us eleven Japanese movies: one in official world competition, one in the World Great category (out of competition), eight in the Focus on World Cinema (including one short) and one short student movie.

It is also worth noting that this year festival spotlight shines on the Korean cinema of today, with ten feature films and eight short films.

Library Wars

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

I have already introduced this movie in a previous blog entry, but here you can read my comments and some more information about Library Wars.

In 2019, the Japanese government pass the Media Betterment Act, a very strong censorship law, and creates a special army to enforce it by searching and eliminating any documents deemed unsuitable by the law. However, libraries in Japan have their own law that gives them freedom in collecting and offering their materials, guaranteeing privacy to their users and categorically opposing any type of censorship. Therefore, another armed force is created to protect libraries against such censorship. The story follows Iku Kasahara, a young recruit of the Library Defense Force, as she discovers all the challenges of a paramilitary life.

L'image du chat-medi (2013-08-03)

Vanille