Film and Video

Nagisa Oshima

Like an old friend that came for an extended visit, but left too soon, the In the Realm of Oshima series has moved on to the Harvard Film Archive (and several other North American stops), leaving us happy for having had the films here, but sad that they’re gone.

We couldn’t have been more pleased with the series. Some of the prints were nothing short of sublime, the audiences were incredibly dedicated (There were several people that did not miss a single one of the 16 films!) and engaged, and the films provided a rare glimpse into the world one of the greatest filmmakers.

A number of writers picked up on the series, providing a running commentary on the films. Here are a few that have been on my radar:

• Kathie Smith, who wrote an incredible Oshima piece for the Star Tribune, continued her analysis on her own blog. Her post on her own struggle in choosing between Nagisa Oshima and Kevin Garnett is incredible.
• Euen Kerr interviewed series curator James Quandt and also wrote about Pleassures of the Flesh on the MPR blog.
• Tracy McCormick had some great things to say on The Morning After Blog at Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine.
• Rob Nelson had some thought that he wrote for us here as well.

I’m sure there are many more that haven’t crossed our desks here yet. We’d love to hear from other writers and some of the dedicated folks that spent so much of their November with us here in the Cinema. Please feel free to comment below and or link to your own blog posts on the Oshima series. There were so many incredible conversations that spilled out into the lobby after the screenings. We would love to see them continued here.