tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703076346434344743.post2836284599542890922..comments2023-07-01T05:05:31.938-04:00Comments on Films Worth Watching: Fires on the Plain (1959) - Directed by Kon IchikawaJonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10656287096270976604noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703076346434344743.post-53210560411643372122013-01-09T11:30:04.610-05:002013-01-09T11:30:04.610-05:00Sam I have The Burmese Harp at the house waiting f...Sam I have The Burmese Harp at the house waiting for me to see it and I'm itching to get that done. I have high expectations but have heard from two of you now on that film. Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10656287096270976604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703076346434344743.post-72853792946188317042013-01-06T14:07:07.894-05:002013-01-06T14:07:07.894-05:00Again, very late to this party as well Jon. This ...Again, very late to this party as well Jon. This is a very great war film indeed, and for me within a hair of Ichikawa's masterpiece, THE BURMESE HARP. Again you have brought exceedingly scholarship to the discussion, and I can't ahgree with you more on the visceral impact of the ultra wide screen compositions. Yes this portrait of war is certainly apocalyptic in it's themes and intensity. And what a brilliant stroke to place this as a kind of hybrid of the Fuller, Coppola and Tarkovsky!<br /><br />Top-drawer essay!Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703076346434344743.post-43140931762097252842012-12-28T09:05:12.322-05:002012-12-28T09:05:12.322-05:00R.D., Thanks for reading and for commenting. I nee...R.D., Thanks for reading and for commenting. I need to find more films by Ichikawa. I haven't even seen The Burmese Harp yet but am going to find it and anything else I can snatch up. Yeah this was an amazing find. It's outstanding stuff.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10656287096270976604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703076346434344743.post-83198356932417392842012-12-28T01:03:51.770-05:002012-12-28T01:03:51.770-05:00Jon, glad to see you writing on this, one of the g...Jon, glad to see you writing on this, one of the great films about war--well, as you say, more precisely its aftermath. IMDb credits Ichikawa with 89 films, and I've seen 3 of them, which are about the only ones available on DVD in the US. This one and "The Burmese Harp" (also set during WWII)are both masterpieces. I avoided this film for a long time despite the good things I'd heard about it because I feared it would be a dreary slog. I wish I hadn't waited before watching it, because it's fully engaging, not offputting, and finds its own grim visual poetry in the physical and psychological devastation of war. I found your discussion of the camerawork (and the images that illustrated it) fascinating.R. D. Finchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05045080274131718843noreply@blogger.com