To render. Be rendered.
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A magazine of poetry and related arts straight from L.A.
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Richard ModianoRichard Modiano holds his MFA in Film from NYU (specializing in Japanese and French cinema). He appeared as an extra in such films as Star! and Change of Habit. Richard contributes Allen Ginsberg's Top Ten Movies list, below, plus translations of writings by directors Luis Buñuel and Mizoguchi Kenji, and by poet/screenwriter Yoda Yoshikata. Allen Ginsberg's Top Ten MoviesAllen Ginsberg's neighborhood video shop, Kim's Video, asked him for his top 10 list of movies, and this is the list he gave them:
Orpheus (Orphée), Jean Cocteau, 1950 More Poets' Favorite Movies Lists TranslationsLuis BuñuelEpigrams and Thoughts Reality without imagination is only half of reality. Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams. Dreams are uncontrollable. Their secret has not yet been discovered. I wish I could direct my dreams according to my desires. Then...I would never wake up. I'm passionate about insects. You can find all of Shakespeare and de Sade in the lives of insects. It's very attractive to me to see thighs with something viscous running down them because the skin is brought closer; it's as if we were not only seeing them but touching them. If we could only find the courage to leave our destiny to chance, to accept the fundamental mystery of our lives, then we might be closer to the sort of happiness that comes with innocence. The best actors I've worked with have been children and dwarves. Thank God I'm an atheist. God and Country are an unbeatable team: they break all records for oppression and bloodshed. For me Surrealism was not an aesthetic, just another avant-garde movement; it was something to which I committed myself in a moral and spiritual way. You can't imagine the loyalty Surrealism demanded in all aspects of life. From Luis Buñuel: The Complete Films by Bill Krohn (Courtesy of Bill Krohn) About Luis Buñuel: The founder of surrealist cinema, Luis Buñuel enjoyed a career as diverse and contradictory as his films: he was a master of both silent and sound cinema, of documentaries as well as features. Anarchist, communist and pious anti-Catholic he was condemned by the Church and exiled by Franco from his native Spain. In his 70s he attained international fame for his scathing satires of the bourgeoisie and won an Academy Award near the end of his life. He once commented, "Religious education and surrealism have marked me for life." Mizoguchi KenjiJisei (death poem)
About Mizoguchi Kenji (1898-1956): 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Mizoguchi Kenji. His death poem (jisei,) written two days before his passing, is here translated into English for the first time.
Yoda YoshikataUntitled Tanka
Sensei all alone
|
Already
autumn chill is here—
"
About
Yoda Yoshikata: The screenwriter and poet Yoda Yoshikata (whose
family name is given as homage to a sage-like character appearing in
The Empire Strikes Back and other films in the Star Wars
series) is noted for his screenplays for several masterpieces by his
friend and mentor Mizoguchi Kenji. Among them are Naniwa Hika (Osaka
Elegy,) Gion no Shimai (Sisters of Gion), Ugetsu
Monogatari, Saikaku Ichidai Onna (The Life of O-Haru)
and Yokihi (Princess Yang Kwai Fei.) Mr. Yoda’s book of
poetry Roma was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize.