Early Wakamatsu’s Work Discovered

Kouji Wakamatsu (CATERPILLAR(2010), UNITED RED ARMY(2008)) died last October by car accident. His unfortunate, premature death has created the huge void in Japanese cinema industry today. One of his earliest works, OSORUBEKI ISAN, HADAKA NO KAGE (恐るべき遺産 裸の影, 1963) was discovered recently and screened at SHINDO KANETO FILM FESTIVAL last week. Its premiere was 50 years ago and it has never been screened since. The film, according to Chunichi Shinbun, is about a girl in Hiroshima, who lost her parents in atomic bomb and herself was exposed to nuclear radiation. The trailer shows the small segment from the film, which indicates …

Into Eternity (2010)

A few weeks ago, I read the article in “American Scientist” about how modern humans outnumbered Neanderthals because they enabled efficient hunting using domesticated dogs. Its authors speculate that our ability to domesticate dogs may have to do with our white sclerae (other primates have darker sclerae). Dogs communicate with us through exchange of gazes, among other things, while other primates do not. White sclerae might have enhanced the communication through gazes. Fascinating. That was more than 40,000 years ago. “Into Eternity” is the documentary film about the deep underground nuclear waste depository in Onkaro, Finland. The site is still …

Nuclear Noir

Kiss Me Deadly The ending of Kiss Me Deadly (1955) has been a center of debate among its fans and critics, while the authentic ending is now in place and the alternate one is offered as an extra. As Gabrielle opens the Pandora’s Box, she is exposed to the bright light of the Hell, detonating the ultimate Doomsday device. In physics, that bright (blue) light is actually called Cherenkov radiation, and anyone who sees it too closely will die a horrible death. Intense light, including Cherenkov radiation, is created by critical state of nuclear materials, emitting enormous amount of nuclear …