Maborosi

I really wish I could see this in a theater. The shots are almost all dark or in low light, and the characters often dress in black, portrayed in either silhouette or shadows. There aren't many (any?) close-ups, and at one point over halfway through I realized that I didn't even really know what the main actress looked like.

It reminded me of Love Liza, probably because there aren't a lot of movies about people struggling to cope with the suicide of a spouse. It's one of those "lyrical" films, so it's more of a visual (and aural) poem than a story. This also made me wish I was in a theater and not my room because this is something that would be really easy to get lost in, with all the stunning panoramic shots and the meditative pacing, but for that to happen you need the screen to fill your vision, so I had to concentrate to stay focused a couple of times when my mind wandered.

I'm reminded that if I ever find out where I'm living, I hope it's near some art house or repertory cinema that lets you in free if you're a member, like Anthology Film Archive in New York. You only get into the Essential Cinema screenings for free, but I'm pretty sure I'd be there all the time after paying my $50 (or $30 if I could make good use of my soon-to-be defunct Carleton ID). Then again, I'll probably be happy to find out where I'll be living no matter what, since I've been waiting to hear about that for well over a month.

On an unrelated note, I pruned my playlist for my last radio show down from four hours or whatever it was and edited some of the tracks, and now they're in order. I just have to go over the transitions to make sure I get everything right, because I'm like that.