The Makioka Sisters (1983) vs. Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

[Curtis, baby]

The Makioka Sisters (Kon Ichikawa, 1983) vs. Requiem for a Heavyweight (Ralph Nelson, 1962)

Vote for either x1983 or x1962 (italicization unnecessary).

The deadline for voting is 12 a.m. EST on Monday, March 11.

If you need access to the films, please let us know.

[St. Gloede]

x1962

[...]

x1983

[thoxans]

i fuxkin luv the makioka sisters, and i'll try to watch requiem for a heavyweight, so i can vote. i'm assuming links are available in the usual spot...?

[Angel]

x1962

[rischka]

x1962

[sally]

The Makioka Sisters (Kon Ichikawa, 1983)

If you need access to the films, please let us know.

Yes please!

[brian d]

if someone could send me access, too, i'd appreciate it. (not sure how much i can participate, but i might pop in here and there.) and if it's different than the resources page, send that along too please.

[Curtis, baby]

They're going to be in the usual place. There's a separate thread for the Cup

[ItsUhhMee]

They're going to be in the usual place. There's a separate thread for the Cup

[rischka]

someone help uhhmee

[brian d]

i never got the password to the resources folder around here, so a bit of help on that would be appreciated.

[rischka]

i sent you the password so i hope you have it now (same as the old password)

[brian d]

[ItsUhhMee]

Thanks, bure for the password!

x1962

[john ryan]

x1962

[kanafani]

It sure would be nice if peeps expanded on what they found interesting/liked/disliked/reacted to in these movies. Or we can stick with the concise x#### format, whatever.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Introductory notes from the year managers for each movie used to be part of the game -- are we no longer doing that?

[mesnalty]

I haven't seen The Makioka Sisters yet, but I watched Requiem for a Heavyweight. It took me a while to warm up to it, because Anthony Quinn's performance is so broad. But I think his approach adds depth to his relationship with Jackie Gleason's character, helping us reconstruct what their dynamic was like as boxer and manager. The film reminded me of Soderbergh's new High Flying Bird in that it's a sports movie with (almost) no sports in it; High Flying Bird is more about exploitation than anything, and Requiem for a Heavyweight is similar.

[john ryan]

I love both films. My Requiem vote might be a case of recency bias (it's been 2 years since I last watched The Makioka Sisters), but I was floored by Quinn.

[ItsUhhMee]

It sure would be nice if peeps expanded on what they found interesting/liked/disliked/reacted to in these movies. Or we can stick with the concise x#### format, whatever.

Honestly, I have a hard time really articulating what I like or dislike about most films. Even to the point of assigning an arbitrary number or score to them. When I vocalize a negative reaction to something, there's usually the arbitrary "Why?" questions, which I try to avoid as well. Generally speaking, I enjoy almost everything I watch, and I watch A LOT. Otherwise what's the point?

That being said, I was completely drawn in by Quinn's performance in particular, whereas the Makioka Sisters really didn't draw me in.

[rischka]

the only thing i really remember from makioka sisters is the kimonos.

not only the mighty quinn but also jackie gleason and mickey rooney (no favorites of mine!) were outstanding in requiem

[DT.]

Just uploaded The Makioka Sisters to le place.

Doesn't seem like it'll stand much of a chance against Requiem for a Heavyweight, but I still hope you get some enjoyment out of one of my all-time favourites, a beautiful and moving depiction of changing times and faded hopes.

[mesnalty]

x1962

I love Tanizaki's novel, but that's always dangerous when it comes to watching literary adaptations - it's hard for a 140-minute film to capture the complexity of a 500-page novel. (And yeah, I should approach the film on its own merits, but it's hard!) But Ichikawa does seem to have seriously distorted Tanizaki's vision, tipping its balance away from a sense of the decline of the Makioka family toward a sense of nostalgia. Interestingly, it feels rather novelistic but elides a lot of the set pieces in the novel which might have been more cinematic (the big flood scene, most notably). Where it most excels as a piece of cinema, for me, is when it pays attention to nature, as in the cherry blossom viewing, or more subtly in the opening dialogue scene where the rain can be seen in the background in a gap in the wall.

[arkheia]

x1983

I thought Requiem for a Heavyweight started off well (the long POV sequence reminding me of that one in Dark Passage (1947)) but as it went on I found Quinn's performance somewhat ingratiating and Sterling and Nelson's handling of the Riviera character too fatalistic to really connect.



Just as well, I really enjoyed The Marioka Sisters and Ichikawa's unique interpretation of Tanizaki's novel. What really sold me was the use of saturated colors which hit a near-Sirkian register for me. For anyone interested by the film, I'd definitely recommend reading David Desser's essay Space and Narrative in The Marioka Sisters and Kathe Geist's Adapting the Marioka Sisters, both of which are in James Quandt's book on Kon Ichikawa.

[MatiasAlbertotti]

x1962

I enjoyed both movies, so thanks to Bure and DT. for the great recommendations. In the end I went with Requiem because of the strength of the performances and the way the movie walks the fine line between hope and fatalism until the end, without falling in excesive melodrama and without patronizing it's characters or oversimplyfing the relationships in a good/evil dualism.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Two hot-takes on RfaH:

1) Where's Thelma Ritter?
2) Can't stop the dancing chicken.

More later.

[nrh]

surprised this hasn't been brought up yet but palance requiem over quinn requiem any day

[kanafani]

x1983. I think Makioka is my second favorite Ichikawa (first is an Actor's Revenge). Super elegant, very finely observed... The sumptuous first scene, where the distinct personalities of the 4 sisters are crisply established, really sets the tone. Love that synth score! Haven't read the novel yet.
Quinn's performance made me nervous at first, but it won me over eventually. The movie is very well cast in general.

[thoxans]

Love that synth score!

yes!!! i've looked high and low for that score online, and can't find it anywhere. glad someone else finally mentioned it. the opening credit sequence, with the music, is abs lovely. still plan on getting to rfah, but i'm out-of-town, with really bad internet right now, so it'll have to wait a few more days. sidenote: the makioka sisters is not really anything like an ozu film, for anyone who thinks it's a poor man's ozu, just tbh imo fwiw and so on and so forth