Returning Gattaca to Blockbuster, I went ahead and picked up a couple more DVDs. I know I've made quite a case for the Cuyahoga County Public Library's best kept secret, but as the movie shelf only contains about a hundred or so titles at any given time, the variety and convenience of a commercial outlet is still superior. And one feels a sense of tradition, too, I suppose, by patronizing the old video store. "Old," right? Can you believe that? Find that on the cover of a Saturday Evening Post.
In the mood for fiction abroad, I picked up Angela's Ashes and Farewell, My Concubine. Farewell, as it turns out, is a movie based on a Lillian Lee novel, directed by Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige. It follows the lives of two Beijing opera stars whose landmark roles - a king and a concubine - bind them uniquely; friends through poverty, riches and fame, jealousy and misunderstanding, Japanese invasion and the Communist upheavals. Winning the Cannes Film Festival in 1993, it's yet far from over-artsy or dada; beginning the DVD last night and finishing this evening, I easily found in Farewell the depth, pathos and impression of good independent films. The main character conflict took me by surprise - the back of the box didn't exactly spell it out - but as this right-on-the-money 1993 review by Roger Ebert explains, the concubine actor's unrequited love is powerful and transcendent.
Brilliant stuff. Also of note is the film's generous presentation of Chinese music and modern history. The former I actually began investigating through library compact discs earlier this summer and the latter I feel compelled to study, especially considering the reading I've been doing on postwar Japan. And I will most certainly seek out more Orient films of this class; considering the last one I watched was Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker, some catch-up is required.
HOLD THAT THOUGHT: Well, not quite. In May I rented Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa's moralist masterpiece. One of the greatest movies ever made, no doubt. But still, there's a dearth of these films on my "watched" list.