The Japanese Masters Film Festival at the Cosford Cinema at UM wasn’t much of a festival as it was a movie screening. That doesn’t necessarily make it bad but it isn’t what you expect when you hear the word festival, there should at least be some sort of reception or something. I’m sure that the organizers thought the films (or shall I say film because only one film was screened yesterday) would speak for themselves.
The film festival began on Thursday, and Saturday they showcased the award-winning “Woman in the Dunes,” a psychological film about captivity, survival and growing to accept a captive lifestyle (Stockholm syndrome as others would call it).
The avant garde style of the film might be off putting at first, but if you were brave enough to stick it out, or you didn’t want your eight bucks to go to waste, you’d find that the film isn’t that far from what we deem as good cinema here in the states.
On a side note, the sex scene in “Woman in the Dunes” is pretty damn creepy, and the music doesn’t really help, then again the whole movie has a surreal feel to it so it should be expected.
I do not know whether the small amount of people in the theater was due to the film or just that the idea behind the entire festival appeals to a relatively small group. Or maybe it was the fact that they charged the price of a full movie ticket to people who were not students of the University of Miami. Seriously, why would you charge eight dollars to see the film? Granted that it is a classic of Japanese cinema and quite entertaining even today, but eight dollars is a bit much.
Also, for those of you reading this and planning to go to the festival, assure yourself that you are at least vaguely familiar with the UM campus, lest you end up getting lost as I did.
The festival continues until the end of April so there is plenty of time to go visit and enjoy films that are more satisfying than the latest things that Hollywood is spewing out. -- Elvis Ramirez
