Japanese novelist, director, singer Hitonari Tsuji's Movie Picks

Novelist Hitonari Tsuji has always presented us with a slice of what romantic relationships are like. Junsei's emotions, full of love for Aoi yet being unable to date her again, were delivered to readers of his book "Calmi Cuori Appassionati." And Hitonari's ability to depict so meticulously on a man's emotions, as if weaving lace, stood valid for when he wrote of the male characters in "Things that Come After Love" and "Right Shore."

This year, he visited the 14th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival as a director of seven previous productions, with film "Acacia." In the movie, a loner boy who always looked at the ground, starts blooming like an Acacia flower in summertime after meeting an old man who used to be a pro-wrestler. He seems to have succeeded at telling a story "containing the emotions of a human, without violent or sex scenes." Because the movie continued to give off a warmth even after the ending credits finished rolling up.

Of course, these two are the same people. Well known by the novelist in Korea, Hitonari Tsuji uses the name Jinsei for his directorial work and Zinc White when singing on stage as a member of his rock band ZAMZA. Hitonari Tsuji, who said he expresses himself through a number of realms large enough to "cause the ego to break" yet "always feels nothing but gratitude," recommended movies he cannot forget.


1. "Husbands"
1970 | John Cassavetes
"It's a film by American director John Cassavetes. I like his movies but of them, 'Husbands' still lingers in my mind, especially the scene where the friends play basketball while thinking of their dead friend."

Four bosom buddies, who are husbands of somebody, come to realize one day that death is not far away when one of them die. Feeling at loss, they start to wander about, traveling to London or going on a drinking binge. But life goes on. They go back home, living as a husband and father of their respective families. The movie shows through the 'husbands' that life and death go together.

2. "Paris, Texas"
1984 | Wim Wenders
"I actually don't watch movies that often these days. Meeting different people or traveling helps more with work. But I know that the numerous movies that I watched when I was young made me who I am today. 'Paris, Texas' is such a movie."

The scorching sun, a desert where dust flies in the wind, and a sky so blue that it seems nonexistent. "Paris, Texas," about how a man recovers his memory, leaves strong long-lasting afterimages. Ry Cooder's performance in documentary film "Buena Vista Social Club," another production by director Wim Wenders', also makes the movie unforgettable. "Paris, Texas" won the Grand Prix at the 37th Cannes Film Festival.

3. "Tokyo Story"
1953 | Yasujiro Ozu
"Of Japanese films, I like Yasujiro Ozu's 'Tokyo Story' and Akira Kurosawa's 'Yojimbo.' I like movies that look deep into human beings and their movies do that. The two stand at extreme radicals though, with 'Tokyo Story' moving slowly while 'Yojimbo' moves very quickly, but you'd have more fun comparing the two too, don't you think?"

"Tokyo Story" is the movie that represents director Yasujiro Ozu who has been providing his audience with opportunities to introspect on life by looking closely at Japanese families. He who has consoled postwar Japanese people as well as taught morals through his depiction of common families who may not be affluent yet are elegant, tells of a traditional family whose roots increasingly start to shake up. The children who feel burdened by their parents visiting from the countryside and the loneliness that the elderly couple feel leave a lingering feeling which remains for a long while on the plain black-and-white screen where no incident in particular occurs.

4. "21 Grams"
2003 | Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu
"This is a film by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu. It contains many very impressive scenes, one of them being the one where Jack (played by Benecio del Toro) hits Christina's (played by Naomi Watts) husband and children with his car at an intersection. Strangely, that image is embedded in my mind."

While one person gets a new heart, another person's life comes to an end, and while someone is thrashing about in agony over losing a family, someone else prepares a birthday party. The lives of these people who had each obsessed over either getting a new heart, religion, family or pregnancy, unexpectedly overlap. And they come to face the brutal truth that lives goes on even if you lose motive for life.

5. "Volver"
2006 | Pedro Almodovar
"I like all movies with Penelope Cruz. (laughs) And I like all of Spanish director Almodovar's films as well. That is why I quite liked 'Volver' as well. It was also a movie that contained color that was extremely fancy and beautiful."

In director Pedro Almodovar's films, color is regarded as a being. His perfect arrangement of colors and patterns sometimes cause dizziness. Almodovar's unique sensitivity can be felt in "Volver" as well -- in the main female character's kitchen and wardrobe. And that beauty gains depth through the story of how Raimunda (played by Penelope Cruz) and her family's pain is healed. All six members of the female cast won the prize for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

Reporter : Lee Ji-Hye seven@
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@