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<\/a><\/p>\nA special screening commemorating actor Rentaro Mikuni (1923-2013).<\/p>\n
Donald Richie on The Profound Desire of the Gods:
\n“In The Profound Desire of the Gods, filmed entirely on location on the southern island of Ishigakijima, much of the footage of its original three-hour length is devoted to the topography of the place, its flora and fauna, including the islanders whose ways are as primitive as they are natural. But two-thirds through, the story suddenly breaks off and a title tells us that several years have passed. The spot has been discovered by the tourist industry–planes, taxis, French fries. The final sequence–the shaman menaced by the new train–is affecting because we have come to understand the primitive and to long for it. Now all is gone. The cry of the Coca-Cola seller is the voice of doom. It is the early Japanese, the ‘primitive’ ones, who are real–not our rationalizing contemporaries.” (Excerpted from Richie’s A Hundred Years of Japanese Film.)<\/p>\n