No Place Like Home

I've been more than usually lazy recently due to a mixture of things that aren't really worth talking about, but I thought that I'd just mention it for mentioning's sake. Thus, the significant lack of posts recently which I will hopefully be able to remedy.

Last night, I finally got a chance to watch The Makioka Sisters on film- I had a very bad quality version of it on VHS many years ago, but did not watch it thinking that the color did not do it justice.  I am glad in many ways that I waited, in particular because the visual quality of the film is one of the main draws.  As for the way that the film was made, there were flaws aplenty that were evident- not least of which were the many cardboard actors playing the many parts.  Perhaps it is also my fault that I have spoiled myself by watching the great films of Tarkovsky, Bresson and Ozu.

Something I was able to take away from the film, or perhaps have evoked in my own latent sensibility, is the notion of "home,"  As the film's lateral concern was the onslaught of time and in essence the fall of a traditional family, the major move by the family head from their "home" in Osaka to the far away land (then, and now) of Tokyo is a major change, and one which was taken with much compromise, sacrifice and betrayal.

Over the years, as I myself have questioned the notion of what "home" is, and realizing that I have none, seeing someone else (even a fictional character) leave theirs is utterly heartbreaking.

the film, set in Showa 13, which is (was) 1938.