"Perhaps I know best why man alone laughs: he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter. The unhappiest and most melancholy man is, as fitting, the most cheerful." Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power ≈ 91 On German Pessimism This Nietzsche’s thought can be seen as a bridge between his youthful stage … Continue reading In Friedrich Nietzsche’s Words: “Why Do We Like Comedies?”
Satoshi Kon is arguably, alongside Hayao Miyazaki, the most important Japanese director of animated films. Perfect Blue is his first film and this directorial debut can be compared to David Lynch’s Eraserhead due to sheer boldness and far-reaching artistic vision. The film begins with a show staged for children featuring a Japanese version of Power … Continue reading Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997) “I Am Who I Am!”
A film director has to convince a great number of people to follow him and work with him. I often say, although I am certainly not a militarist, that if you compare the production unit to an army, the script is the battle flag and the director is the commander in the front line. From … Continue reading In Akira Kurosawa’s Words: “Film Director as A Military Commander: The Case of Herzog”
“In the play of children we seem to arrive at the conclusion that the child repeats even the unpleasant experiences because through his own activity he gains a far more thorough mastery of the strong impression than was possible by mere passive experience. Every fresh repetition seems to strenghten this mastery for which the child … Continue reading In Sigmund Freud’s Words: “Rewatching Movies = A Child at Play?”
“For me, [Annihilation] was a film about the nature of self-destruction… it was about an observation I made, which is that everybody appears to be self-destructive. Some people are very obviously self-destructive because they’re addicted to heroin or alcohol… Other people are very comfortable in their own skin, and they’ve got a fantastic job and … Continue reading Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018) “Thanatic Journey into the Unconscious”
An artist never works under ideal conditions. If they existed, his work wouldn’t exist, for the artist does not live in a vacuum. Some sort of pressure must exist. The artist exists because the world is not perfect. Art would be useless if the world were perfect, as man wouldn’t look for harmony but would … Continue reading In Andrei Tarkovsky’s Words: “Russia’s Michelangelo and Tyranny of the Spirit”
„Crowds being only capable of thinking in images are only to be impressed by images. It is only images that terrify or attract them and become motives of action. For this reason theatrical representations[1], in which the image is shown in its most clearly visible shape, always have an enormous influence on crowds. Bread and … Continue reading In Gustave Le Bon’s Words “Cinema and Crowd Psychology”
The first European Christian missionaries landing in Japan… found their hosts totally unprepared for the message of salvation they brought. Not indifferent however. On the contrary, their preaching... though it was radically at odds with native beliefs, it was warmly received… Baptismal waters flowed. Japan might have gone Christian. But it was not to be. … Continue reading Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016) “Last Breaths of Christendom In the Land of the Rising Son”
I never had a problem with genre because a genre actually is like a uniform - you put yourself into a certain uniform. But if you dress up in a police officer's uniform, it doesn't mean that you are an officer; it can mean something else. But this is the starting point, and the best … Continue reading In Wong Kar-wai’s Words “Film Genre As A Uniform”
Kenji Mizoguchi's Sanshô dayû is based on a folk tale taking place in the Heian period; Chinese and Buddhist influence, as well as the one of the Imperial power were at their summit. Mizoguchi is one of the greatest Japanese directors who created during the period of Japanese cinema which may very well be called its … Continue reading Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953) “Revolutionary in Buddhist Robes”
