Noh Scene

             In the Noh theatre, it is the only situation that characters are in there but no dialogue happens. This scene is similar to the movie scene in the I Was Born, But... The audience is watching the characters who are watching movies or theatres. It is interesting that the audience is both observing the plot happens in the movie and in the theatre. 

Sometimes, the movie in the movie has a paralleled plot or related plot to the movie audience is watching. In I Was Born, But.... all the kids are looking at the father character in the movie. But in Late Spring, the plot that happens in Noh theatre does not directly relate to Noriko and Shukichi. I do not know the story of the Noh theatre. It also seems that only older people like to watch. We, as the audience forced to slow down and observe the character's facial expression. 

At the beginning of the Noh Scene, Noriko and Sukichi are sitting as rocks or statues. But they are wearing western clothes. We also know that Noriko is a modern woman that is influenced by western culture, same as professor Sukichi. Putting the western costumes juxtaposes to eastern tradition seems also to represent the conflicts between Noriko/ SUkichi's family and the traditional stage of life, such as marriage.

In the Noh Scene, the characters all wear masks just like the masks that Noriko and SUkichi are wearing in order to act the role of a daughter and a dad. But later we see Sukichi nod to another woman, which almost makes Noriko feel like her dad is already halfway engaged to this lady and she is introduced to Sukichi and this woman's date.

I do not know much about the lyrics which are about plants and trees. 



Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshDecember 27, 2021 at 4:03 PM

    The observation about masks is interesting and worth following up: in what ways are social masks the same as Noh masks? Or are they perhaps not the same?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Noriko and Neglect by Sylas Davidson

Image
     Noriko is highlighted throughout the film and by its viewers for her kindness, her compassion.  She is the only person to take a genuine interest in Tomi and Shūkichi, seemingly outside  of obligation and without patronization.  However, she also seems to rely on tradition to guide her behaviour, taking guidelines as strict rules, to the point of possibly sacrificing her personal happiness. This is most obvious with her continued devotion to her husband, Shōji, and his photo. It’s a little hard to see, but Shōji’s photo appears to be on the top of a simple cabinet or wardrobe with a candle to one side. There doesn’t seem to be anything else, at least not anything easily identifiable, that would  make this a family altar. This appears to be a shrine to Shōji, instead of an altar for worship. Noriko  might not be particularly religious, but she still appears to havecreated an altar, and instead of it being  a place for ...
Read more

The editing skills in Chungking Express

 Editing Tempo: The editing of the film is strange. Wang’s camera looks like time-lapse photography, which creates a weird tempo of the film. The camera moves really fast when the blonde woman and the first cop are running. The fast running, neon light, and time-lapse effect create a dizzy feeling. The opening shot closely follows the blonde woman. After the fast shot, it is a still shot of some chimneys. Only clouds are moving. Then, we have a fast shot of the first cop, 233 runs. He bumped into a man that carries a fake blonde woman. 233 starts to pay attention to the blond fake man. Suddenly, he starts to chase a man whose head is covered by a paper bag. The camera moves to the opposite street and the audience can only see 233 running but the side walkers are all blended into a time-lapsed blurry background. When the camera follows the running 233, it moves very quickly; when the shot is taken across the street, it moves very slowly. These two points of view are alternating...
Read more

Why Watch Movies Anyway? An illustrated double feature. Lozuaway McComsey

Image
Why do we even watch movies? Shouldn’t we be reading, or making something, making love, eating or, best of all, sleeping? What is it about movies that keeps me awake? Literally, why do I lose sleep to watch them (and also, to be fair, the occasional novel)? There is something magical, and more encompassing, than say, looking at a painting or photograph or, yes, reading. And which is the nearest thing to a movie? Pictures, paintings or photos, as a movie is made of a bunch of them (and yes, there is a movie that is entirely painted frames—it’s about van Gogh.) Or novels with their stories? Or is it a soundtrack?  Because the first thing is, movies have audio, which of course, music also has. But I’m not one for listening to music. It’s background noise. I'd rather nap or let my mind wander for 90 seconds before starting something. Ozu, generally, uses music like the 90s food pyramid said to use fats and sugar: sparingly. It’s awesome. Sometimes it adds to the...
Read more