Archive for September, 2009
The Thief and the Cobbler: Escher Scene
by 10k films on September 30th, 2009
The Thief and the Cobbler (2007 Recobbled Cut) [v2.0]
by 10k films on September 30th, 2009
Full Film. An unknown masterpiece.
Zatoichi – Final scene // Takeshi Kitano
by 10k films on September 23rd, 2009
A traditional samurai film, which ends with this surprising scene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi_(2003_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi
Twelve O’Clock High – “You’re already dead”
by 10k films on September 19th, 2009
General Frank Savage: [Addressing the 918th for the first time at 0800]
“There will be a briefing for a practice mission at 1100 this morning. That’s right, practice. I’ve been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don’t believe in hard luck. So we’re going to find out what the trouble is. Maybe part of it’s your flying, so we’re going back to fundamentals. But I can tell you now one reason I think you’ve been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You’ve been looking at a lot of air lately… and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you’re sorry for yourselves. I don’t have a lot of patience with this, “What are we fighting for?” stuff. We’re in a war, a shooting war.
We’ve got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I’m not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won’t be so tough. Now if any man here can’t buy that… if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved… he’d better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don’t want him in this group. I’ll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there.”
Mono no aware
by 10k films on September 17th, 2009
Mono no aware (物の哀れ mono no aware, lit. “the pathos of things”), also translated as “an empathy toward things,” or “a sensitivity of ephemera,” is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of mujo or the transience of things and a bittersweet sadness at their passing. The term was coined in the eighteenth century by the Edo-period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga, and was originally a concept used in his literary criticism of The Tale of Genji, and later applied to other seminal Japanese works including the Man’yōshū, becoming central to his philosophy of literature, and eventually to Japanese cultural tradition.
The word is derived from the Japanese word mono, which means “things” and aware, which was a Heian period expression of measured surprise (similar to “ah” or “oh”), translating roughly as “pathos,” “poignancy,” “deep feeling,” or “sensitivity.” Thus, mono no aware has frequently been translated as “the ‘ahh-ness’ of things.” In his criticism of The Tale of Genji, Motoori noted that mono no aware is the crucial emotion that moves readers. Its scope was not limited to Japanese literature, and became associated with Japanese cultural tradition (see also sakura).[1]
Notable manga artists who use mono no aware-style storytelling include Hitoshi Ashinano, Kozue Amano, and Kaoru Mori. The quintessentially “Japanese” director Yasujiro Ozu was well known for creating a sense of mono no aware, frequently climaxing with a character saying a very understated “ii tenki desu ne” (it is fine weather isn’t it?), after both a familial and societal paradigm shift, such as daughter being married off, against the backdrop of a swiftly changing Japan. Norwegian Wood by the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is an example of this feeling as well[citation needed].
Some Western scholars have compared it to Virgil’s term lacrimae rerum.[2]