#Baisho Chieko

[oldfilmsflicker]

Plan 75, 2022 (dir. Chie Hayakawa)

[filmpalette]

Howl’s Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) (2004) dir. Hayao Miyazaki

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Howl's Moving Castle

Rating: PG

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Cast: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashûin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mitsunori Isaki, Yo Oizumi, Akio Otsuka, Daijirô Harada, Haruko Katō, Makoto Yasumura, Manabu Muraji, Keiko Tsukamoto, Yayoi Kazuki, Seiji Sasaki, Hiroshi Takahashi

Release year: 2004

Genres: fantasy, adventure, romance

Blurb: When shy young Sophie is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his walking castle.

[nobbykun]

Artist - 倍賞千恵子 (Baisho, Chieko) Song - 下町の太陽 (Shitamachi No Taiyō) [Eng. "The Sun Above The Old Town"] Release Date - October 1962

Listen 🎶

My blog: Showa Music Library https://nobbykun.tumblr.com/

[camyfilms]

ハウルの動く城 2004

There you are, sweetheart, sorry I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you.

[moviemosaics]

Plan 75

directed by Chie Hayakawa, 2022

[moviescramble]

Plan 75 - Review

“No approval need from your doctor or family,” a Plan 75 representative smiles at his elderly customer. In fact, the entire conversation about whether or not you should choose to end your own life in order to stop being an ‘economic burden’ is over in thirty minutes or less. How is that for service? Director Chie Hayawaka makes her feature-length debut with Plan 75, a film set in a financially…

[byneddiedingo]

Noriko Maki and Chieko Baisho in Our Marriage (Masahiro Shinoda, 1961)

Cast: Noriko Maki, Chieko Baisho, Shin'ichiro Mikami, Isao Kimura, Eijiro Tono, Sadako Sawamura. Screenplay: Zenzo Matsuyama, Masahiro Shinoda. Cinematography: Masao Kosugi. Art direction: Chiyoo Umeda. Film editing: Yoshi Sugihara. Music: Naozumi Yamamoto.

It goes without saying (though I've said it often enough) that cultural differences are a hindrance to our understanding or enjoyment of films made in other countries, but Masahiro Shinoda's Our Marriage brought the point home for me in an unusual way. It's a simple, elegantly made film, scarcely over an hour long, about two sisters and the pressures on women to get married. That's nothing we haven't seen in films by Naruse and Ozu and others, but Shinoda is particularly focused on social and economic change -- not just in the role of women in Japan but also on a society in which upward mobility is becoming possible and desirable. Keiko (Noriko Maki) and Saeko (Chieko Baisho) are office workers in a factory, the daughters of a man struggling to make ends meet by harvesting seaweed. His job has become more difficult because of industrial pollution, and his wife sometimes has to borrow money from the daughters to pay bills. So the parents begin looking for a husband for 22-year-old Keiko. The father wants her to marry the son of the union chief at the factory, a widower nearing 30, but another man, Matsumoto (Isao Kimura), who works for a dry goods company, also shows interest in her. The parents disapprove of Matsumoto because he traded in the black market in the postwar years, but he has since cleaned up his act. The complication is that Keiko has met a handsome young factory worker, Komakura (Shin'ichiro Mikami). Saeko, who has a secret crush on Komakura, wants Keiko to marry him, and Keiko is certainly not averse to the idea except that Komakura doesn't make much money. Things work themselves out after some family drama, of course. But the cultural difference that mars the film for me is not the tension between arranged marriages and marrying for love -- that's familiar enough even in the Western tradition. The problem is that the music arranger has chosen the tune of the old spiritual "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore" as the film's main theme. Anyone who grew up singing it around a campfire, or knows the recorded versions by Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte, is going to have a hard time reconciling the music with the story.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Even among Hayao Miyazaki’s filmography, Howl’s Moving Castle is a standout. Filled with breathtaking visuals and sophisticated emotions, it’s so unconventional you need to watch it more than once to fully appreciate the film but what makes it good is so immediately obvious, it’s also a case of love at first sight.

On a way to visit her sister, hatmaker Sophie (voiced by Chieko Baisho) meets a wizard named Howl (Takuya Kimura). She finds him irresistible and although Sophie considers herself a mousy wallflower, she catches his eye. Her visit concluded, Sophie meets the Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa) and is transformed into an old woman. Determined to make the best of her new situation, the now ninety-year-old Sophie enters Howl’s moving castle and “hires herself” as his cleaning lady.

This is a stunning film. From the character designs to the detailed backgrounds and the crisp animation, no detail has been spared to bring this world to life. In outdoor scenes, we can see strands of grass far behind the scene’s focus waving in the wind. The streets are filled to the brim with people going about their own thing. Only the most talented and determined animators could put that much detail in every scene. It’s easy to imagine what must happen to everyone beyond the borders of the frame, which leads us to the secondary plot taking place in the background: Sophie’s nation is caught up in a war with a neighboring kingdom. We regularly see flying machines taking off and heading to who-knows-where. What does it have to do with the main story? It isn’t apparent until we meet Howl. As a wizard, he’s being summoned to fight for the King. He doesn’t want to. Everyone, including his former teacher, Suliman (Haruko Kato), says it’s because he’s a coward. You’re not so sure.

We’ve gotten side-tracked. I was about to tell you about the titular castle: an unforgettable hodge-podge of rooms, pipes, gears and windows unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The ambulant home is as much a character as everyone else. It’s bizarre, kind of scary and wonderful all at once. Pieces are constantly shifting as its legs go up and down but on the inside, it’s a comfortable (though considerably filthy) place that evokes a sense of wonder. 

The second most memorable aspect of the film is Sophie. In any other picture, her quest to get rid of the curse that transformed her into a woman as old-timey and boring as she is on the inside would be the focus. The fact that she is dull and insecure means she instead focuses her time on 1) running away from her hat shop so her family doesn’t know what happened to her and 2) making the best of her situation. Weirdly, her acceptance of what’s happened is the key to breaking the curse. It’s very subtle - so much that it could’ve only been done through animation - but throughout the story, you’ll see her muster up her courage once in a while and stand up to Howl, the fire demon Calcipher (Tatsuya Gashiun) who powers his home, or to Howl’s young apprentice Markl (Ryūnosuke Kamiki). Suddenly, she seems a little less old, a bit more confident. She’s less hunched over; tougher. Once she’s shared her piece, however, her progress stops or even reverses. Isn’t that what growing up is really like? Not a sudden metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly, but constant steps forward and backward with the steps back always growing slightly smaller until - before you know it - you’ve made real headway.

At points, the film is wonderfully grotesque - bordering on frightening - and will then revert to being the stuff of dreams. Character-wise, so much of Howl's Moving Castle is subtle that when the big emotional moments arrive, they sneak up on you and seemingly come out of nowhere… but then, it makes perfect sense for them to arrive at that precise moment. You know it because you know the people involved so well. Despite this, the love plot can feel a little rushed. That’s really the only criticism I have.

Viewers will place Howl’s Moving Castle into one of two camps. It will either be an instant favorite, like a number 1 movie because it tells this emotional, character-driven story with all of these themes hidden in the background, or it will be the kind of movie that you don’t realize how much you love until later when you’re looking back at it fondly. Either way, it’s enchanting - regardless of how old you are. (Original Japanese with English subtitles, July 27, 2022)

[tinyreviews]

This feels like Logan’s run meets Manchester By The Sea.

I wonder if it’s already dated and makes the wrong prediction as well. With the advent of AI and robotics, maybe we are extrapolating the result of population decline and an aging population wrong. Maybe a human AI/robot-help prompter can do the jobs of 5 or even 10 of his predecessors. And an aged prompter can do the jobs of 3. And not in a demeaning way either. But that’s probably 1 or 2 generations away. The future can’t arrive fast enough!

Plan 75 is a 2022 Japanese drama film directed by Chie Hayakawa, starring Chieko Baisho, Hayato Isomura and Stefanie Arianne.

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

I sat on this for weeks and lost track of the post on @staghunters's blog (sorry, Nina!) but she tagged me in a meme where the idea was to do a song I like for each letter in my URL, then tag a number of people equal to the number of letters. My URL has twenty-six letters in it so I'll do my best to scrounge up that many people I think might be interested!

M: "Mother," Florence and the Machine

O: "One Song at a Time," Mark Knopfler

N: "Non sofre Santa Maria," which a ton of great early music groups have done; I found out about the text it's in, Cantigas de Santa Maria by King Alfonso X of Castile, from a group called Ensemble Decameron, but I don't think they've done this one in particular

S: "Stranger," Vampire Weekend

T: "These Foolish Things," lots of people but I really like Greta Keller's version

R: "Romeo and Juliet," Dire Straits

O: "Other Side," Metric

U: "Un di, felice, eterea," Giuseppe Verdi (from La traviata)

S: "Slow Boat to China," lots of people but I really like Joni James's version

G: "Gondola no uta," Baisho Chieko's rendition of which I especially love

O: "Our Song," Taylor Swift

U: "Utakata," Pink Lady

R: "Reversion (Desire)," Nakamori Akina

M: "Morning Elvis," Florence and the Machine

A: "Atlantic City," Bruce Springsteen

N: "Night and Day," lots of versions but I really like the one from Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book

D: "Disposer supreme and Judge of the earth," which hymnary.org says is by someone called Jean-Baptiste de Santeul and, in its English form, someone called Isaac Williams

I: "Idumea," apparently a Charles Wesley hymn (Hymns Georg) according to hymnary.org

Z: "Zero and Blind Terry," Bruce Springsteen

I: "In questa reggia," Giacomo Puccini (from Turandot)

N: "Nanpasen," Nakamori Akina

G: "Get Out of My House," Kate Bush

C: "Celebrate," Metric

A: "Alone," Moritaka Chisato

T: "Ti voglio bene, Minnie," Giacomo Puccini (from La fanciulla del West)

S: "Seven," Taylor Swift

Tagging (DEEP BREATH) @wedding-shemp @lilaccatholic @marzipanandminutiae @invisiblemelonmoose @please-dont-pet-the-okapi @tar-miriel @nekozalenky @rebeccadumaurier @absynthe--minded @itsallwearecalledtodo @teabooksandsweets @ryttu3k @deankarolina @sapphicscience @taramacgay @ace-and-ranty @2008hondacivic @clarascuro @mysticalsadgirl @teabookgremlin @adelestein @pikestaff @goldoans @vickythestrange @liesmyth @carys-the-ninth

I think that's the right number. If it's not, oh well.

[talesfromthecrypts]

Tatsuya Nakadai as anakin , Toshiro Mifune as obi wan, michiyo aratama as padme, Shin Seong-il as Han Solo and chieko baisho as Leia and Jung Woo Sung as Ben

An actually Asian led American hit (that also takes a LOT of inspo from Asian cinema) in 1977 would have literally changed the entire Hollywood landscape as we know it. I mean Mifune turned it down and probably always would have so it was never going to happen but the dream is there.

[theworldwasengulfedinpudding]

The Promise of the World - Merry-Go-Round of Life | Joe Hisaishi

[gnatlistens]

30-day song challenge! (PART 2)

 heyohello welcome to pt 2! creds to @/eggtaurus on instagram

DAY 1: a song that represents you

jealousy, jealousy -- olivia rodrigo i can't think of one omg. song that describes an aspect of me the most i guess (but i wouldn't want people to know me as this ..)

DAY 2: a song to play at a party

everybody talks -- neon trees omg. depends on the party but i think people would be the most accepting of this one, but any from my neon playlist would work (my playlists describing vibes are finally put to use!!)

DAY 3: a song title with the name of a food

豆浆油条 -- jj lin the first one i thought of LMAOOO. it's means bean paste and fried pastry, english title: perfect match

DAY 4: an old song

amore che nasce -- piero piccioni (1967) i had to dig through to find an app that sorts my music by release date. anyways this is the oldest one i could find. i'm NOT putting running up that hill even if it kills me. i might as well list an old-ass classical piece like mozart

DAY 5: a song that makes you feel nostalgic

piano -- ariana grande i feel like i've listened to this a lot but i did not,, basically all the songs in my being sentimental playlist though

DAY 6: a song about love

色香水 -- yoh kamiyama

any romance soundtrack would fit lmaoo but this was the first one off my ♡! ? playlist! title means: colour perfume

DAY 7: a song from the year you were born

童話 -- michael wong

i'm spending so much more time on this challenge than the previous one UGH. anyways slay !! a classic

DAY 8: a song title w/ the name of a person

jenny (i wanna ruin our friendship) -- studio killers

i know another jenny song omg why is that name so popular. also that one beatles song

DAY 9: a song that cheers you up

passcode -- jannine weigel

love the vibes

DAY 10: a song you never get tired of

notgonnalie -- shye

immediate answer would have been sparkle, but i used that already. ugh this is getting hard

DAY 11: a song you used to like but now hate

dynamite -- BTS

umm i don't keep track of songs i hate. maybe bts songs bc of the fandom but i didn't particularly like them, they were just decent

DAY 12: a song you want to play at your wedding

promise of the world -- chieko baisho

howl's moving castle theme would work too but i want to appreciate this :) i imagine this would be played at howl and sophie's wedding HAHHAS

DAY 13: a song you discovered this year

hasta los dientes -- camila cabello, maria becerra

doing a song released this year instead, i did discovered alr

DAY 14: the last song you've listened to

room at the table -- charlie lim

i'll do this after i'm done with the rest of the days edit: okay a song i thought of while searching for songs!! it didn't make into any of the days but i just listened to it! yes it's that ndp song :D

DAY 15: a song with a title you like 

don't miss me -- claire rosinkraz

honestly i think i just like the cover (her blowing bubblegum) which makes me like the title

DAY 16: a song for running away from home

carrying you (from laputa) -- joe hisaishi

kind of about running away from home LOL. original song is called innocent though

DAY 17: a song title with an acronym

IDGAF -- boywithuke ft. blackbear

UM the first one i thought of was YMCA.. but this one is better

DAY 18: a song title with 1 word

phonecase -- shye

easy one FINALLY

DAY 19: a song that sounds better w/ headphones

still trying -- shye

honestly all shye songs are better with headphones bc the vocals hit harder

DAY 20: a song for stargazing

stargazing -- kygo, justin jesso

LMAO i said mirror was good for stargazing yesterday. anyways what about a song called stargazing !!  it's quite sad though

DAY 21: a song for the beach

summer on you -- PRETTYMUCH

hmm i think hype songs would be better? depends on the mood, if it's chilling on the beach any stream cafe/lofi, if i want to hang out w friends i'll choose this!!

DAY 22: a song about friendships

you've got a friend in me -- randy newman

i'm sorry

DAY 23: a song for breakups

you broke me first -- tate mcrae

iconic. first song from tate that got me invested

DAY 24: a song by one of your favorite artists

pretty please -- dua lipa

brb after random number generating my top 20 artists i got 14: dua lipa

DAY 25: a song you sent to someone

itim -- shye

yeah i remember this one clearly. they didn't give a shit. well i do!! shye is now one of my top artists, this was one of the songs that got me hooked

DAY 26: a cover of a song

perfect / style -- jonah baker

mashup time!! mashups >> covers

DAY 27: a song about being angry 

GO TO HELL -- clinton kane

a recent one i just added to my playlists !! memorably angry

DAY 28: a song to play while running

rumours -- jake miller

neon playlist saves the day again

DAY 29: a song to play during a date

a journey (a dream of flight) -- joe hisaishi

♡! ? playlist again. time to link it since i keep using that

DAY 30: a song you want to share

vultures -- evanturetime, linying, charlie lim

WOOO LAST ONE!! evanturetime is really good and criminally underrated

i tried not to use wdw this time HAHSH uh i'm kind of running out of good recs for songs .. watch me recommend a whole album 😭😭  had to stop myself from including another kimi no na wa soundtrack. i also need to cut down on shye omg i keep going back to the same few artists

[kjell05]

[byneddiedingo]

Hideko Takamine and Keiji Sada in Ballad of a Worker (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1962

Cast: Hideko Takamine, Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Toyozo Yamamoto, Chieko Baisho, Kiyoshi Nonomura, Kin Sugai, Teruko Kishi, Toranosuke Ogawa. Screenplay: Keisuke Kinoshita. Cinematography: Hiroshi Kusuda. Music: Chuji Kinoshita.

Keisuke Kinoshita's sentimental temperament informs this film about 16 years in the lives of Torae (Hideko Takamine) and Yoshio Nanaka (Keiji Sada), beginning with Yoshio's return from the war in 1946 and ending with the graduation of their son, Toshiyuki (Toyozo Yamamoto), from university in 1962. The couple scrimp and save to give their only child an education, hoping that he'll have a better life than theirs: Yoshio works on the roads around their village, and Torae is a housekeeper for his boss. The strength of the film lies in its earnest portrayal of ordinary lives -- even Toshiyuki is only a middling student, which means he has to work his way through college, even with the help of his parents. What it lacks is some wit and irony to leaven the rather plodding narrative.