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This blog is a storage space for various thoughts, observations and musings centering on shōjo manga (少女漫画, Japanese comics for girls), josei-oriented manga (Japanese comics for women) and manga created by women (in the widest sense). Topics from other fields of relevance, such as music, art, literature and film may be discussed here as well.

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Viewing all posts with tag: movies: directors



Writers on Screen

Well look, another summer’s almost over and I’ve still not fully recovered from my bad case of blogging fatigue caused by writing too much in other places. But today I come here with something slightly more substantial than nothing, something which doesn’t even require that many words.
Of course I can’t stray too far from the area that has pretty much taken over my real life – literature. Hence this post shall be a TV pop culture meets literature sort of collection:

1. American Writers on Gossip Girl: A Deadly Adventure?

Last September, Gossip Girl came back with its second season in which Dan Humphrey landed himself an internship with a famous writer played by none other than Jay McInerney. How fitting for all parties involved!

Jay McInerney on Gossip Girl

But then a few months later, I started to have doubts about what exactly fate might have in store for writers who appear on that show, even just indirectly. Because in “You’ve Got Yale!”, episode 16 of season 2, our budding writer Dan Humphrey could be spooted reading an old paperback of John Updike‘s Rabbit Redux in a trendy coffee house.

Dan Humphrey and his reading material

Product placement of John Updike's Rabbit Redux

Now, in any other case I would have said ‘Congratulations, great product placement!’ or rolled my eyes and thought ‘OK, Humphrey’s the quiet, intellectual guy of the show, I get it (only he’s not)!’. But this whole thing seemed completely bizarre because this very episode was aired on January 19, 2009 and only a little more than a week later, on January 27, John Updike died…! When I heard the news of Updike’s death, that image of Humphrey holding Updike’s novel in his hands flashed up in my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder if it’s really safe for a writer to be featured on Gossip Girl… (Insert thoughtful silence here.)

2. Murakami, Murakami everywhere

Look who was scheduled for an operation at Seattle Grace in episode 18 of season 5 of Grey’s Anatomy (airing date March 19, 2009):

The Schedule at Seattle Grace Hospital - click for larger version.

Murakami Haruki up for operation?

Richard Powers? And Murakami Haruki? Seems like the set designers were getting a little too carried away with their love for certain writers… Or maybe there is no such thing? Anyway, I sincerely hope the operation was a success and they sewed up Haruki properly again!

Shinkai Makoto's Kumo no mukou, yakusoku no bashoSpeaking of my favourite portrayer of the Sheep Man:
I saw the anime movie Kumo no mukou, yakusoku no basho (The Place Promised in our Early Days) the other day and while I was watching it I couldn’t help but notice certain similarities to Murakami Haruki’s works – the atmosphere, the parallel reality issue, the tower, the way the protagonist expressed himself in the monologues etc. Afterwards I saw the interview with the director Shinkai Makoto that was included on the DVD, which was shot in a place that looked like his work office. There were two screens in the background which showed important scenes and background designs for the film and then yes, I noticed in stack of two books drawn for the film one book I actually own:

Interview with Shinkai Makoto

Two not so mysterious books.

The blue book at the bottom is the Japanese hardcover edition of the first volume of Murakami Haruki’s Umibe no Kafuka/Kafka on the Shore complete with its obi and everything. I’m not sure if the image of the two books was used directly in the movie itself at some point because I’ve watched it only once so far and saw the interview afterwards, but expressing your love for literature and your favourite authors in every possible way, across all media, is simply admirable and obviously a pleasure for everyone involved ;)

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Categories: Anime, Books/Literature/Writing, European & American Literature, Film/TV, Japanese Literature, Various.
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Posted on Aug 5, 2009 (Wed, 2:23 am). .

The Tracey Fragments

I saw my first Berlinale 07 film earlier this evening: The Tracey Fragments by Canadian director Bruce McDonald (who was the only staff & cast member who attended the screening and took part in the Q&A session afterwards), featuring the wonderful Ellen Page as leading actress and a score by Broken Social Scene. The film itself was brilliant and unique, both plot-wise and visually. Shots from different angles weren’t arranged frame by frame but shown as smaller screens all in one frame, or blended into each other, using different filters and such. It looked really fresh and worked perfectly as an artistic tool to support the flow of the narration. The events weren’t told in a chronological order and sometimes it was hard to tell what was ‘real’ and what was only happening in Tracey’s imagination.
On the surface it might be just another film about a distressed teenaged girl but the complicated, outstanding plot and the unique visuals really make this movie stand out. I really enjoyed watching it, at least as much as you can ‘enjoy’ slightly disturbing movies like this. But it made me think and it made me appreciate the fact that there are filmmakers who make movies about and for people who are different.

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Categories: Film/TV, Various.
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Posted on Feb 11, 2007 (Sun, 11:07 pm). .

62nd Venice Film Festival

This year’s Biennale in Venice proved to be quite amazing again, featuring a fantastic line-up that made me feel sad as I couldn’t be there myself :(
(My only solace now is the Berlinale Film Festival which I’ll be able to attend next February.)

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film. Ang Lee is the man for Westerns with a difference. (Think Ride with the Devil.) And of course, he is a brilliant director in general; The Ice Storm is one of my favourite movies ever made.

Speaking of The Ice Storm, Elijah Wood, who was in that film, also attended the Venice Film Festival to promote Everything Is Illuminated, the movie adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s extremely well-written, hilarious and moving novel of the same title. The few trailers I’ve seen suggest that the film is just as weird and funny as the book and I hope it will find its way to a cinema near me very soon :)

Ang Lee was handed his award by none other than Miyazaki Hayao. If that wasn’t wonderful enough, Miyazaki Hayao received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement! I am overjoyed that a European film festival acknowledged again what an outstanding film maker Miyazaki is.

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Categories: European & American Literature, Film/TV, Various.
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Posted on Sep 11, 2005 (Sun, 11:29 pm). .




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