PUPPETS AND PAINTING

ironweed

Today's film was Dolls by Takeshi Kitano, Japanese, 2002. Kitano is one very interesting director. This film opened with a Japanese puppet show of a man and a woman in some kind of drama. It's a professional puppet troupe, masters at handling the dolls telling the story by their movements in relation to one another. Someone sings the story and someone plays a shamisen, something like a 3 string Japanese banjo. After the puppet dance came the a story acted out by two people in a kind of complex relationship. They were in love. He promised to marry her, then turned and went to marry someone else. Girl 1 attempts to kill herself. It didn't take, but left her in a vegetative state. Boy feels terrible, goes and takes her with him. He tied a red rope around each of their waists and they walked dragging the rope that allowed 10 or 12 feet between them. They spent the entire film walking. It became a film of beautiful clothes they wore, different from scene to scene, and colors of the seasons. Not much goes on. They just walk.







About all the time not watching the movie I was painting. Smearing paint onto a 2'x2' canvas covering it up. I'm feeling good about the direction it's taking. That's a good sign. It's becoming quite colorful. The colors bring to mind RB Kitaj, though only the colors. That's because I tend to primary colors like he does. It feels good painting with zeal, wanting to, In this one the figure is almost life size so the folds in the shirt are long and casual, fingers more manageable. All I want to do now is paint. It's fun playing with colors. I need to find sleep. Will end here for today and go lie down til morning.