IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.

For this Sunday Kino Night, first up is Woman in the Dunes (1964), which is widely regarded as one of the best Japanese films of all time, being currently ranked #31 on Letterboxd’s Top 250 films of all time. A man and a woman are trapped in a pit in a seaside village by some sadistic villagers; they endure great hardship as they attempt to survive and escape. A bunch of surreal and impressionistic events follow. It is considered the magnum opus of director Hiroshi Teshigahara, whose face-transplant drama The Face of Another (1966) we previously watched. It’s a classic, so let’s check it out.

Next is The Farewell (2019), the story of a Chinese-American woman who must attend a family reunion back in China hen her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer. But there’s a twist: everyone decides to conceal the diagnosis from grandma herself, and must pretend everything is just fine. In fact, they decide to stage a wedding just to keep the masquerade going. Both comedy and drama ensue. This is the only notable directing credit to date of director Lulu Wang; it received rave reviews, so let’s give it a whirl.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

  • Woman in the Dunes: https://letterboxd.com/film/woman-in-the-dunes/
  • The Farewell: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-farewell-2019/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

  • Woman in the Dunes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058625/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
  • The Farewell: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/19970

CWs for Woman in the Dunes:

  • Sexual assault: at about 62 minutes, the villagers encourage the man to have sex with the woman, who is not in much of a position to refuse. A rather long, though not-very-graphic sex scene follows; pretty much just close-ups of their faces.
  • Nudity.
  • Profanity.
  • Alcohol.
  • Smoking.
  • Sad ending.

CWs for The Farewell:

  • Alcoholism.
  • Drunkenness.
  • Senility.
  • Someone struggles to breathe.
  • Hospital scene.
  • Cancer.
  • Fat jokes.

Links to movies:

  • Woman in the Dunes: https://tankie.tube/w/aPVm13oNhWMEeRokKGPHaw
  • The Farewell: https://tankie.tube/w/kVukU8uGpkZoQsaPHzXDka