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Clark Features Japanese Film Series09:40AM / Wednesday, May 20, 2009
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The "Four Seasons in Japan: A Cycle of Film Classics" film series at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute takes a turn through the years with a sampling of classic work from four Japanese masters of cinema who made the postwar era a golden age of film in Japan.
Films, screened on Fridays at 4, are in Japanese with English subtitles. Admission to the films is free.
Kenji Mizoguchi's celebrated tale "Ugetsu" (1953, 96 minutes), on June 12, follows a 16th-century potter who leaves home to sell his wares in the midst of a civil war, and is captivated by a ghost princess.
On June 19, catch "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" (1960, 110 minutes), by Mikio Naruse. This modern story examines the life of a woman who ascends (and descends) the stairs to the Ginza bar, where she is a female companion to businessmen, in a niche between geisha and prostitute.
On June 26, Yasujiro Ozu's valedictory film "An Autumn Afternoon" (1962, 112 minutes) recapitulates his customary themes, with a widower marrying off his daughter as the modern postwar world supplants traditional Japanese ways.
"Ran" (1985, 160 minutes) will be shown on July 3. Akira Kurasawa's culminating masterpiece adapts King Lear to a mythical samurai past with pageantry and passion, mounting some of the most spectacular battle scenes ever filmed.
Seasonal change and depictions of the natural world have formed a core in the repertoire of Japanese artists throughout the ages. The exhibition "Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature" brings together screens and scrolls from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and displays them with contemporary ceramics, each work emphasizing the inspirational role of nature in Japanese art.
Drawn from both public institutions and private collections, many of these works have never before been exhibited. "Through the Seasons" will be on view in Stone Hill Center's galleries June 7 through Oct. 18.
The Clark is located at 225 South St. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 to 5; daily during the summer. Admission is free through May 31. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu. |
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