East Meets Best: Japanese Classics at the Parc

Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition.
 
Fantasia is done, but those with an appetite for the more refined side of Asian cinema can take heart with a series starting tonight at the Cinéma du Parc. The Parc’s programmers have organized a series of classic Japanese cinema, running through Aug. 23.

The series launches with Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition trilogy, in a newly restored 35mm print. Made between 1959 and 1961, the three parts screen individually from tonight, Friday Aug. 10, through next Thursday, Aug. 16; see the Parc site for full schedule.

Also starting tonight is Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy, an earlier (1954-1956) series starring the iconic Toshirô Mifune; see schedule here.

Next Friday, Aug. 17, features some of the best-known Japanese classics from Akira Kurosawa: Rashomon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). Note that only the latter two are screening in 35mm; the rest (along with other films in the Japan series) are ambiguously described as “digital projections,” which may or may not be state-of-the-art. However, there’s no denying their stone-cold classic status. Check the schedule here; the films run between Aug. 17-19. In tribute to recently deceased experimental film icon Chris Marker, the Parc has also added to the program Marker’s A.K., a documentary on the making of Kurosawa’s Shakesperean epic Ran, on Aug. 18 and 19, 1:30 p.m.

The series wraps up with a retrospective of the equally iconic, but much quieter, films of Yashijurô Ozu. Not for the short of attention span, but made with beautiful simplicity, his films laid the groundwork for a whole school of minimalist film that continues to this day. Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953) , Good Morning (1959), Equinox Flower (1958) Late Autumn (1960) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962) screen from Aug. 17-23; see schedule here. ■