News Release from the Honolulu Academy of Arts Newsletter
Escape the holiday madness with seven great film adaptations of great novels at the Doris Duke Theatre located in the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Included in the series are films from five great story telling nations— USA, UK, France, Italy and Japan—that you may not realize originated as literary classics from the likes of D. H. Lawrence, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Rumer Godden and Raymond Queneau. From romantic epics to intriguing thrillers to charming comedies, these adaptations will sweep you off your feet—and might inspire you to read a book or two along the way.
[gn_divider]FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
Director: Fred Zinnemann
USA, 1953, 118 mins.
Dec. 7 at 1 + 7:30pm
In honor of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we present one of American cinema’s most famous WWII epics, adapted from the acclaimed novel by James Jones. Set at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu during the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the film follows Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift). Captain Holmes (Philip Ober) tries to coax him to join the boxing team, but when Prewitt refuses, insisting his boxing days are behind him, Holmes won’t take no for an answer. Called “one of the landmarks of American film” by Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times), From Here to Eternity won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay—the most awarded to any film since Gone With The Wind in 1939.
Dr. Jeffrey Carroll, Professor and Director of the Graduate Program, Department of English, University of Hawaii at Mānoa will introduce the film at 7:30pm
MORE INFO and buy tickets online
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey Carroll
Dr. Jeffrey Carroll counts the 20th-Century American novel as one of his teaching and research interests, and has followed the genre’s adaptations in Hollywood and abroad for many years. He is currently Chair of the English Department at Manoa.
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THE MAKIOKA SISTERS
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Japan, 1983, 140 mins.
In Japanese with English subtitles
Dec 8 + 9 at 1 + 7:30pm
This lyrical adaptation of the beloved novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for director Kon Ichikawa. Structured around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four siblings who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business in the years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest sisters have been married for some time, but, according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. Shot in rich, vivid colors, this graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs.
Professor Ken K. Ito, Professor of Japanese Literature, University of Hawaii at Mānoa will introduce the film on Dec. 9 at 7:30pm
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Special Guest Speaker: Professor Ken K. Ito
Ken K. Ito is Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Hawaii. His research examines the connections between literature and social ideology in Japanese fiction. He has written on the source novel for the film Makioka Sisters in his book, Visions of Desire: Tanizaki’s Fictional Worlds. His latest book,The Age of Melodrama: Family, Gender, and Social Hierarchy in the Turn-of-the-Century Japanese Novel, won the 2010 John W. Hall Prize, awarded by the Association of Asian Studies to an outstanding book on Japan.
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HIGH AND LOW
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1963, 143 mins.
In Japanese with English subtitles
Dec 11 at 1, 4 + 7:30pm
Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in this highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from a compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society.
Dr. Lucy Lower Associate Professor of Japanese Literature, University of Hawaii at Mānoa (retired) will introduce the film at 7:30pm.
MORE INFO and buy tickets online
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Lucy Lower
Dr. Lucy Lower, educated at the University of Washington and Harvard University, taught modern Japanese literature and film at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for over twenty years before retiring at the end of 2009. Her research has focused on innovation, both formal and linguistic, in modern Japanese poetry and prose; the relevance of traditional literary values in the modern era; and the play of memory,imagination, and fantasy in post-war fiction. She was the first to teach courses exclusively devoted to Japanese film at UHM, and expanded the offerings there significantly.
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THE RIVER
Director: Jean Renoir
France, 1951, 99 mins.
In French with English subtitles
Dec.13 -14 at 1 + 7:30pm
Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.
Dr. Ludovic Bousquet, Lecturer in French, Department of Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas, University Hawaii at Mānoa will introduce the film on Dec. 13 at 7:30pm
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Special Guest Speaker: Dr Ludovic Bousquet
Dr. Ludovic Bousquet is a graduate in French Literature from the University of California Santa Barbara. His research revolves around Disenchantment in contemporary literature; he is currently teaching French at UH at Manoa.
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LE NOTTI BIANCHE
Director: Luchino Visconti
Italy/France, 1957, 97 mins.
In Italian with English subtitles
Dec. 15, 16 + 20 at 1 + 7:30pm
Marcello Mastroianni, as a lonely city transplant, and Maria Schell, as a sheltered girl haunted by a lover’s promise, meet by chance on a canal bridge and begin a tentative romance that quickly entangles them in a web of longing and self-delusion. Luchino Visconti translates Dostoyevsky’s White Nights, a romantic, shattering tale of two restless souls, into a ravishing black-and-white dream.
Dr. Guido C. Pigliasco, Lecturer in Anthropology & Language, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, will introduce the film on Dec. 15 at 7:30pm
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Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Guido C. Pigliasco
Dr. Guido C. Pigliasco teaches courses in cultural and visual anthropology, Pacific Island cultures, and Italian language and culture at the University of Hawai‘i. He has practiced international law for ten years. Addtionally, he has written ten documentary films on contemporary Oceania for Italian television; published articles on various Italian magazines and newspapers; and authored the ethnographic novel Paradisi Inquieti. Combining academic with applied work, he explores the intersections of intangible cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, intellectual property rights, and the use of digital media technologies in and by Pacific Island communities.
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WOMEN IN LOVE
Director: Ken Russell
UK, 1969, 131 mins.
Dec. 21 + 22 at 1 + 7:30pm
Ken Russell’s celebrated adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s tale of love and lust in 1920s England explores the complex relationships between free-spirited artist Gudrun (Glenda Jackson), her schoolteacher sister Ursula (Jennie Linden) and two lifelong friends, Gerald (Oliver Reed) and Rupert (Alan Bates). While Ursula and Rupert develop a deep bond, Gudrun and Gerald’s relationship is marked by violence, infidelity and tragedy, as Russell explores the limits of love and friendship in all its forms. Don’t miss this chance to see Oliver Reed and Alan Bates nude wrestling on the big screen!
Dr. Glenn Man. Professor of English, University of Hawaii at Mānoa will introduce the film on Dec. 22 at 7:30pm
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Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Glenn Man
Dr. Glenn Man is Professor of English at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. He teaches courses in composition, literature, and film. Two of his courses include Fiction into Film and Narrative in Film and Literature.
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ZAZIE DANS LE METRO
Director: Louis Malle
France, 1960, 89 mins.
In French with English subtitles
Dec 23 at 1 + 7:30pm; December 24 at 1pm
This merry farce—one can’t help but think of Eloise in Paris, the beloved children’s book of the same era—depicts a satirical view of French society. Mischievous 12-year-old Zazie is sent to Paris to spend two days with her uncle but escapes his custody and sets out to explore the vibrant streets of 1960s Paris on her own. Based on the popular novel by Raymond Queneau, Zazie is a technical triumph and a charming representation of modern life in all its hilarious complicities and contradictions.
Dr. Mary Radnofsky, president of The Socrates Institute and adjunct professor at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa will introduce the film on Dec. 23 at 7:30pm
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Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Mary L. Radnofsky
Dr. Mary L. Radnofsky. is president of The Socrates Institute, a non-profit educational organization she founded to create interdisciplinary curricula and innovative teaching methods, bringing together educators from France and the U.S. for professional development and cultural exchanges. She has been on the Board of Directors of the Alliance Française in Hawaii for several years, and leads the French Reading Group in monthly discussions of French language books. Earlier this year, she did a simultaneous interpretation for a foreign film festival at the Doris Duke Theatre, and began publishing books by a French historian from Honolulu’s sister city of Bruyères, France.
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