Shohei Imamura R.I.P.
Last Tuesday Shohei Imamura (今村 昌平) died at the age of 79. I’ve seen only two of his films, The Eel (うなぎ) and Dr. Akagi (カンゾー先生), but I found both of them to be profoundly affecting. They are very different, but what impressed me about both films was how they celebrated humantity without any effort to disguise its faults, egregious or otherwise. Imamura was truly one of the great cinematic talents. Go rent one of his films this summer.