Kokoro

One of the great pleasures of living in Washington D.C. is the film program at the National Gallery of Art-East Wing. Currently, they are doing a retrospective of Kon Ichikawa. I recently saw "The Burmese Harp" and "Conflagration". This time, I had the pleasure of viewing "The Heart".

This is another superb masterpiece by a truly great living filmmaker. The acting is first rate and the script is apparently faithful to the original novel. Why does Nobuchi visit the grave of his old friend Kaji so often? Why does he not take his wife along? What happened before the untimely death of Kaji? This is a suspenseful and deeply wrought story of true love and friendship.

I have no idea if this will ever be available widely or not, but look out for Japanese film festivals where you live. Any film by this master is worth your time.

Kokoro is a dark, cruel drama which I found as a non-Japanese difficult to appreciate totally. Maybe it is difficult for a Japanese too. Certainly it is an extremely powerful film, beautifully acted and well-worth seeing. It is the sort of movie that I will want to see again and again, though it is not light viewing. Ibsen comes to early twentieth century Japan. Highly recommended if you are not prone to depression.