Susan Hated Literature

Dir: Clint Eastwood
Writ: Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, based on the book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido

• Ken Watanabe - General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
• Kazunari Ninomiya - Saigo
• Tsuyoshi Ihara - Baron Nishi
• Ryo Kase - Shimizu
• Shido Nakamura - Lieutenant Ito
• Hiroshi Watanabe - Lieutenant Fujita
• Takumi Bando - Captain Tanida

I’m not sure what I was really expecting from this film; but I know I didn’t get it. The companion film to Eastwood’s Flag’s of our Fathers, this tells the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. The story begins with the arrival of Kuribayashi who is taking command of the island’s defences, sometimes without the support of his officers. He does however seem to be well liked by the “ordinary” soldiers, as he stops the endless digging of the beach defences, and instead concentrates on higher up in the island.

Told through a number of different points of views, and with flashbacks, this isn’t as confusing time-wise as I found Flags of our Fathers. However, it still isn’t a great film. If I had to, I’d label it as a worthy film, but not really one that works as a film. Still, it deserved to be made, and the story is one that should be told, so the film makers deserve credit for that. It is simply that as a whole I didn’t care one way or the other about the characters, and never felt myself drawn into their story.

IMDb | Quiet Please | Bright Lights After Dark | PopMatters

Tags: 5 Stars, based on book, Clink Eastwood, Hiroshi Watanabe, historical fiction, Iris Yamashita, Japan - wwii, Japanese, Kazunari Ninomiya, Ken Watanabe, Letter from Iwo Jima, Paul Haggis, Picture Letter from Commander in Chief, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, soldier, subtitled, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Takumi Bando, Tsuyoko Yoshido, Tsuyoshi Ihara, USA - wwii, War, worthy film, WWII

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Author: Haruki Murakami, trans from the Japanese: Philip Gabriel
ISBN: 0099494094
DDC: 895.635
See also: LibraryThing ; Mental mayhem ; Mindspill

“So you’re all set for money, then?” the boy named Crow asks in his characteristic sluggish voice. The kind of voice you have when you’ve just woken up and your mouth still fells heavy and dull. But he’s just pretending. He’s totally awake. As always.

There are two main narrators to this book, one a 15 year old runaway who has taken on the name Kafka, and the other an old man, Nakata, who never recovered from some strange childhood accident, but can talk with cats. I have to say that while both storylines were gripping and intriguing, I never knew what was going on. Or had an idea what would happen next. By the end of the novel I was as in the dark as at the beginning.

I still enjoyed it though.

It isn’t a fast paced book, the characters weren’t particularly gripping, but there is more than enough to keep you entertained and wanting to read on, even if you are scratching your head and wondering about fish falling from the sky, or if Kafka fulfilled his father’s dark prophecy. There is death, and sex, myths, and cats, libraries, and truckers. Of course there is also a lot of unanswered questions at the end, and many, many loose ends. But in a way that doesn’t matter, the open-ended nature of this book isn’t something that bothered me in the slightest.

I’m sure I missed half of what was going on here, what with references to Oedipus and Japanese legends, aliens and creating a magic flute from the souls of murdered cats… But what the hell, it was a wierd and enjoyable book, one that I may have to read again to try and understand a little more.

Tags: 8 Stars, 895.635, Haruki Murakami, Japanese, Kafka on the Shore, magic realism, Philip Gabriel, sff, surreal, translated, World Fantasy Award winner

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