man_facepalming: kay, this is going to be a loooong post 
First, let’s try to keep it a little on track with the topic, then follow up on the other conversation.
What did I watch this week? Weeell…
樹氷のよろめき / Affair in the Snow
1968, Yoshishige Yoshida
A woman goes with her current lover to an isolated resort somewhere in 北海道. She wants to break it off, but it turns into a weird love triangle as she also looks up a former partner with whom she only had a ‘platonic’ relationship, and they all spend a few days together.
zzz
Not a lot to say here, didn’t really like this one. It was filmed and staged and felt like a French New Wave flick, which is most definitely not my cup of tea. The lady was a little off in the head and so were her two lovers
Being filmed in Hokkaido, it did have some very nice scenery 
Oh and for the score, it seemed to have only one tune that was replayed endlessly - it was nice enough the first couple of times, but grew to be extremely annoying due to the incessant repetition 
雨月物語 / Ugetsu
1953, Kenji Mizoguchi
16th Century Japan. Two farmers with big dreams - one of becoming a famed pottery maker, the other of becoming a lengendary samurai - (or maybe it’s just a little ol’ fashioned greed at play?) set out to make their fortunes without much regard for their families against the backdrop of an ongoing civil war. Temptations abound, with dire consequences…
zzz
A captivating story that is part historical drama, part ghost story, part morality fable.
All glued together by outstanding cinematography (that scene on the lake!) with carefully arranged sets and excellent use of light and shadow - just… beautiful!
Plus an unsettling, effective sound design… and I’m not one for traditional Japanese music otherwise, but it works here.
Plus good acting, yet leaning on the theatrical side - it goes well with the period setting, but might not be to everyone’s tastes; I for one liked it… and have now finally given up hope of ever seeing Masayuki Mori in a “truly good guy” role
I think the dudes had it a little too good in the end, but oh well…
Loved it!
(Oh and yeah, welcome to my new scoring system, that is to say no more scores - just “love”, “like”, “crap” and variations thereof 
)
生きる / Ikiru
1952, Akira Kurosawa
Kanji Watanabe is a civil servant who worked in the same department for 30 years, and his private life is just as monotonous as his job.
When he finds out he has stomach cancer and only a short time left, rather than giving in to despair he sets out to live a little… and in the process finding out what a fulfilling life might mean.
zzz
Recently I was lamenting the lack of Christmas films from Japan. Well, strictly speaking this one isn’t a “festive season” film either, however…
In a way it is the opposite of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (isn’t that the epitome of Christmas films?), in another it is its perfect companion.
Despite the grim subject matter and despite Watanabe’s realization of the empty life he’s been living, by the end you’d be severely hard-pressed not to feel a similar warmth and sense of wonder… and it may even make one consider one’s own path so far.
70+ years old it may be, but just as relevant today in a world littered with little cogs in the machines of big corporations…
Because it’s a (deceptively?) simple film about life and its limits, and how not to waste it. That’s all 
Yes yes, I loved this one too 
浮草 / Floating Weeds
1959, Yasujirô Ozu
Komajuro is the leader of an itinerant theatre troupe. When he takes them to a small island town, his current partner finds out that he’s there to see an old flame and his illegitimate son (who knows the actor as “his uncle”). Feeling threatened she decides to meddle, with unpleasant consequences…
zzz
TLDR: Ayako Wakao 
My first Ozu in colour, but now as a rewatch after about 30 years I think.
Okay, it’s no Panavision/Vistavision/something-something, but it’s still very pretty what with all the colourful kimonos on display
It’s somewhat of a departure from the usual Ozu films:
- First, we don’t get middle-class marital woes this time around.
- Second, it has unexpected violence and foul language.
- Third, there seemed to be more stiffness in the acting than usual, with borderline annoyance at the repetions of certain lines.
- Finally, the story itself, although a very fine bitter-sweet mix, wasn’t (to me) quite as captivating as others.
What does not change though is the excellent staging and cinematography, even with a crew different than his usual.
Now with more Ozu works under the belt, this one falls pretty low on the favourites list. But still I liked it quite a bit more than a lot of things I’ve watched this year
There’s a certain something to his way of doing cinema that pretty much guarantees an above average level of enjoyment
And besides, did I mention it has Ayako Wakao in it? She’s enough of a reason to watch it 
BTW, this one is available on YT for free: dunno how legit it is so I won’t link directly, but I reckon they’d have taken it down if it was not?
The same channel/uploader has a few other old films posted.
青空娘 / The Blue Sky Maiden / We’ll Meet Again)
1957, Yasuzô Masumura
Yuko has been living with her grandmother in the countryside. On her deathbed, the old lady tells the girl her true mother is her father’s ex-secretary. Once granny passes away, Yuko moves to Tokyo to live with her father and his family, while also looking for her biological mother.
zzz
Very lightweight and melodramatic, this is far removed from Masumura’s later works. It was his first collaboration with Ayako Wakao, many more were to come…
It must be the closest to an American film I’ve seen so far from Japan in the 50s and 60s… from what I understand even the director wasn’t particularly proud of it
Gosh, so so so much happens in the span of under 90mins:
The plot on fast-forward because anyhow noone's going to watch it :)
Yuko finds out she has a different mother → goes to Tokyo where she’s made to sleep in the closet under the stairs and act as maid by the wicked stepmother → sibling mistreats her → youngest brother changes sides → Yuko impresses guests at family party → father tries to make good, only to irk the rest of the family → Yuko loves her high-school teacher but also meets nice businessman in Tokyo → Yuko leaves stepfamily, misunderstands teacher’s relationship wth some gal → Yuko goes back to the village but misses an encounter with her mother → teacher and businessman help Yuko to get a job and to find mother → Yuko finally meets mother → father becomes ill with worry in her absence → Yuko gives father a good talking to → step-relatives suddenly bury the hatchet → back to village where we find out Yuko will marry businessman → the end
… and some other things I forgot to mention!
It’s like… more stuff happens in this one than in 4-5 Ozu films put together
Definitely a one-and-done sort of film, maaaybe better suited for a Sunday morning, if ever. But but but… Ayako Wakao!
しとやかな獣 / Elegant Beast / The Graceful Brute
1962, Yûzô Kawashima
The Maeda’s are a cheeky family: son embezzels from his workplace, daughter sucks her lover dry, the parents try to cover up for their offspring and still push them to get some more. How will they make it through once exposed? And are they really the only players at the table?
zzz
A brilliant dark comedy/social satire written by Kaneto Shindô as a chamber piece, with excellent cinematography in the cramped space of a matchbox-sized apartment, with great acting all around and a cool musical score.
The family members are the main characters, but Ayako Wakao in a smaller yet crucial role steals the show (again!?!) as the titular elegant beast…
Awesome!
Just a handful of reviews on IMDb and Letterboxd… Why is it not better known?!? Highly recommended!
(this was the one with the あたくし I mentioned the other day, although in fairness it was intentionally used versus the regular feminine あたし.
刺青/ Irezumi
1966, Yasuzô Masumura
A seductive woman elopes with her poor-means lover. She’s found, kidnapped and forced into prostitution, where she’s given a tatoo of a demonic spider.
Perhaps under the influence of the tatoo (or perhaps not), she gets revenge on those who wronged her.
zzz
Not your usual “female empowerment” film
On the one hand, Otsuya uses her beauty to ensnare men, playing them against each other and having them do her bidding, rather than becoming some ‘superhero revenge killer’ herself.
On the other, is it really the ‘cursed’ tatoo at work here, or is it just a means for Otsuya to give in to the impulses she’s always had, like a key that finally unlocked a door she had tried to keep locked?
Is she doing all this for “justice” or is it ultimately just plain ol’ greed?
Much like Otsuya herself, it’s a strongly sensual film, despite there being no nudity on display, aside from shots of her bare shoulders and the tatooed back. Or maybe it works so well specifically because we don’t get to see more than just those bits 
And it has a very… Japanese ending. Let’s just say… it’s not quite a Christmas film
Shot entirely in a studio setting, even for the ‘outside’ scenes, it’s nonetheless a thing of beauty. Great cinematography, amazing colours, some a dozen or more kimonos on display… this just screams for a 4k rerelease with WCG and HDR.
I liked the film sure enough, but I absolutely loved Ayako Wakao… of course. I’m going to break my own fresh rule here and give her an 11/10 here. In terms of Wakao-ness, this one tops the chart out of the 8 I’ve watched so far. Got a few more in the watchlist
I also watched an anime - 雲のむこう、約束の場所 / The Place Promised in Our Early Days - the last one I had in the watchlist from Makoto Shinkai. Unfortunately it felt like the weakest in his portofolio: too many ideas thrown together within a chaotic and sometimes dull plot, and underdeveloped characters. He’d later separate and refine them in other, much better, films
Oh and, @Akashelia , you’ve been holding out on us:
You did not mention the French have put out A LOT of Japanese old films on Blu-ray, with some very very nice cover art too 
I’ve now had unexpected expenses in December because of this… ooops!
conversation (and other) woes
Right. Sooo…
Previously I’ve only heard her speak in group calls and have read e-mails from her, it was only this week that we chatted (on Slack) for the first time and only for a bit because… work Everyone’s busier than I am it seems
Anyway, she’s pretty much fluent in English but I think there’s also a little bit of preparation at play at least for the group calls we end up in. Okay, occasionally she won’t delimitate her Rs and Ls in speech (i.e. “tlanslation”) and some times use Japanese interjections (ああー、ええー and so on) but actually I think that’s quite sweet
In any case she’s definitely much better in English than the colleagues we have in South Korea and China
And I don’t think she’d be even remotely interested in Romanian; even if she were, I wouldn’t be able to explain it, it’s such a weird, complicated language - the exceptions are prevalent over the rules
This video, if you can get past the blatant xenophobia and ignore the very offensive images, is otherwise pretty much on point and has some (not so-)fun facts about it.
Well actually, when I say ‘colleagues’ that’s probably not the best way to put it.
They’re in sales teams, while I’m in a team that provides them environments to demo product functionality to customers and prospects.
She and the others are practically our (internal) customers, and there’s also another degree of separation on the corporate ladder, what with her being an individual contributor and my being on the management side (low middle, but I guess it’s still a little nuanced and probably matters more to someone in Japan/Asia than to us).
It’s another reason why I hesitate to ask (besides the main one - shiness - of course), because she might see it as “Well, I have to…”
To be honest, the things I’m interested in are either outdated (society changes in the aftermath of WW2) and I’d need to speak to her parents or grandparents or subjects that are actively discouraged in the workplace (politics, religion, gender equality…) - corpos are mighty big on diversity and inclusion, but only if you talk happy-happy-joy-joy-inoffensive things
And anyway for such topics I’d not have the language knowledge to even get started
I’m certain you’re right about this.
My problem is… although I’m doing fairly well with recognition (in writing, much more so than in listening), production really is zero. I’m not saying more than those two extremly simple things to my cat because I honestly don’t know how, words just do not come to me. Not just vocab base but also grammar.
It’s a pretty lousy state of affairs to be honest, considering I’m now (according to BunPro progress) past the mid-way point of N3 grammar yet I can’t really do my own conjugations 
Nope, not at all
Watching everything with English subs, whatever I recognize comes from reading the subs and making the connections with what I’m hearing. Without subs, I get lost very quickly because my brain will stop at the first or second thing it recognizes and tries to process it, and once there’s something unknown it just gives up entirely 
Even with Satori, if I don’t also follow the written text while listening to the audio, it all quickly becomes a jumbled mess.
For some reason I can’t easily skip past and pick up again at the next bit I know
And then there’s also the matter of retention. As I’ve now found with Satori, I’m more or less in the same boat as the person who started the thread I’m at a loss for Immersing - outside of WK, the “99.5% of words go in one ear and out the other” statement applies to me as well; okay not 99.5 but 75-80 surely.
In fact… I’m now at a crossroads.
I’m not at all happy with my progress (and that’s entirely on me) and now I’ve a couple of weeks (until the WK sale) to decide whether I will actually continue studying or… just call it quits, failed experiment
Phew… that’s it for now, although I’m sure I’ve forgotten something
Edit - a side bit on culture, not really relevant but I just remembered it now :)
Back in March I had sent the lady the usual congratulatory note for March 8th.
Although she was aware of International Women’s Day (and before sending I did check that it was actually a thing in Japan too), she said this was the first time ever when someone actually acknowledged it to her directly 