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May 12, 2008
Meme, me, and other odd obsessions
There's a meme going around that I am certain others may have seen. I've been tagged twice by two distinguished residents from the left coast, Kimberly of Cinebeats, and Michael of The Evening Class. Aside from the fact that she tagged me first, I'm not going to say no to a woman who loves all manner of cinematic mayhem, and may love the films of my youth even more than I do.
The meme is this:
) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.
The book is Voices from the Japanese Cinema by Joan Mellen. Page 123 is her interview with Kon Ichikawa. Here are the three sentences starting with the fifth, from Sensei Ichikawa -
"I wonder if I can get this across to you in Japanese via an interpreter. I'll try. These three people are representatives of the human without possessing human souls."
Taken completely out of context, Ichikawa could well be speaking about some candidates for the President of the United States. I'm sorry. It's a cheap shot I couldn't resist. Actually, the three people are characters from Kagi, also known as The Key or Odd Obsession. Here's is a film from Ichikawa, based on a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki, starring Machiko Kyo and Tatsuya Nakadai, and it's only available on VHS! I can't be the only one who wants to see this on DVD with English subtitles.
I'm not tagging anyone because I think everyone has been tagged, and I'd rather not impose myself on anyone. If you want to join the "fun", consider yourself tagged.
In the meantime, today is the birthday of Burt Bacharach and Steve Winwood. Aside from sharing the same birthday, they both worked with Clive Donner. Bacharach did the songs and music for Donner's most famous film, What's New Pussycat?, while Winwood, with his then new band, Traffic, did some of the songs for one of Donner's lesser known films, Here We go 'Round the Mulberry Bush. You might not be able to see the film, but the soundtrack album is still available, also with songs from the band Winwood was formerly with, The Spencer Davis Group.
My favorite song from What's New Pussycat? is "My Little Red Book". Some consider it heresy but I prefer the version by Love. As for Mulberry Bush and Steve Winwood, here are the opening credits and song.
Posted by Peter Nellhaus at May 12, 2008 12:46 AM
Comments
Cool meme. I, too, had a go.
Posted by: Ali Arikan at May 12, 2008 11:03 AM
Thanks for participating Peter!
I've been curious about seeing The Key (Kagi) ever since I wrote about Henry Miller's views on the film in my own blog last year. If I ever get around to picking up a video copy of the movie I'll make you a DVD.
Posted by: Kimberly at May 13, 2008 01:22 PM