Japan Film Classics
October
19, 22, & 29, 2003
Co-sponsored with Center for Japanese Studies. All screenings at the Wang
Center Theater; admission is free.
October 19: Tampopo
Billed
as "the first noodle Western," this deliciously eroticized
food farce is truly sui
generis.
A young widow named Tampopo struggles to make ends meet by running
a
noodle restaurant. Goro, a truck driver, saves Tampopo's young son
from being beaten by a group of school girls and is rewarded with a
bowl of unsatisfactory ramen (noodles). Goro tells Tampopo
the awful truth about her cooking and she asks for his help. Together
they
launch
an
obsessive search for the perfect ramen recipe. "Perhaps the funniest
movie ever made about the
connection
between food and sex."—Washington Post.
(Juzo
Itami/1985/114 min./Japanese with English subtitles)
Sunday, Oct. 19th, 4:00 p.m.
October 22: High and Low (Tengoku
to jigoku)
Kurosawa's
cynical, seminal widescreen neo-noir. Toshiro Mifuneis Gondo, a wealthy
industrialist who is poised to take over a successful
shoe business. Fate intervenes when he receives a phone
call informing him that his son has been kidnapped;
the ransom demand is nearly equivalent to the amount Gondo has raised
for his corporate coup. A
philosophical dilemma emerges when he learns that the kidnappers have
mistakenly abducted not Gondo's son, but the child of Gondo's chauffeur.
What follows is both a tense crime thriller, as the police attempt
to track down the kidnapper, and a compelling study of class
division in Japan—the "high and low" of the title. "One
of the best detective thrillers ever filmed."—New York
Times
(Akira Kurosawa/1963/143
min./Japanese with English subtitles.)
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 7:00 p.m.
October
29:
Cure
A
wave of horrible murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection is
a bloody "X" carved into the neck of each of the victims.
In each case the murderer is found near the victim and remembers nothing
of the crime. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho, Shall We Dance?)
and psychiatrist Sakuma are called in to figure out the connection.Chief
suspect: An odd young man who has a strange effect on everyone who
comes into contact with him.
Detective Takabe starts a series of interrogations to determine the
man's connection with the killings. "Without doubt one of the
purest horror films made in recent times."—Midnight
Eye
(Kiyoshi Kurosawa/1997/112 mins./Japanese with English subtitles.)
Wednesday, October 29th, 7:00 p.m.