Kon Ichikawa: The Burmese Harp

This is what MUBI says:

A Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II, while a private thought to be dead disguises himself as a Buddhist monk.

Magnificently shot in hushed black and white, The Burmese Harp is an eloquent meditation on the coexistence of beauty and death, and remains a highlight of Japanese cinema’s golden age. A masterpiece—in the 50 years since, war movies haven’t been more tender or shattering.

A very simple tale told in what seems a very simple way; washing over you like a warm sea. It all seems so obvious with seemingly no need for explanation or elaboration; as passive or inscrutable as a Buddhist monk can be. And then as we approach the end and it is time for the soldiers to return to their homeland, huge waves of emotion roll by and the profundity of what you have just witnessed is realised in all the depth and complexity of the human condition. If that were all, we could have chatted about it afterwards but the emotional strength is yet too strong and too fresh - its too soon and before you know it, this film has sown seeds in your soul that day by day shed a little more light in the darkness.

Fabulous is a seriously inappropriate word to describe this film; we need a different scale to measure this one.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Isobel Anderson: In My Garden

Made the album release last week in the Crescent Arts Centre where Issy and friends entertained us mightly with some superb music mostly from "in My Garden" but with some very new pieces, a music video and some older tunes.
The first set opened with the lights down and an abstract a cappella tune rendered with the help of members from a couple of local choirs. Apart from being spectacular in itself, set the mood wonderfully for the rest of the gig.

Issy's music has really matured in the past few years. Her vocals have mellowed, her music has strayed from its folk roots picking up at times a jazzy lilt and even a retro 70's style. But the lyrics are as sharp and modern and personal as ever. Some wonderful violin accompaniment from Gascia Ouzounian. After a cool, arty music video by way of a break, the second set featured tracks off the new album. Ruby Colley accompanied Issy on many songs with other friends joining her on stage from time to time.

Get the album and look out for more to come.

The local BBC arts programme gave Issy some air time...

✔✔✔✔✔

Dancer in the Dark

What, Lars van Trier makes a musical! With Bjork!

Unbelievable and harder to imagine what it might be like. But better still is the cast including Catherine Deneuve & David Morse amongst the usual von Trier selection of international film faces. As well as starring Bjork, it features what became her "Selma Songs" album (Selma being the name of Bjork's character); a surprise to me but totally obvious now when seeing the tracks performed in context.

I had already been warned that it was a seriously emotional film with an overwhelming ending. All of this added up to a "must see" and it does not disappoint.

Shot with a hand-held camera for a very intimate feel and the rawness of Bjork's performance manages to just keep to the good side of raw. The quality of the supporting cast help lift the film keeping the story-line on track in a wonderfully natural way. The musical sequences emerge out of the dialogue though for me the dream-like dancing allusions didn't quite work. Nonetheless the musical transitions worked really well with many of songs enhancing the emotional temperature of their containing scenes.

Very little of the emotional content is delivered directly through action nor script nor even subtle glances. Rather, as the story proceeds, each new titbit of information adds it own emotional payload and gradually we take on the responsibility for the emotional reaction to events that Selma eschews for her committed life-goal. With the depth and weight of this emotional burden, we yearn for Selma to release us from our torment.

Not for the faint-hearted but go out of your way to watch it!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

lcd soundsystems: daft punk is playing at my house

Accidently came across this on RadioIO
Positively wicked!
✔✔✔✔✔