Tokyo - Los Angeles On Flight Film Festival

 

Tokyo - Los Angeles On Flight Film Festival by Tosh Berman

October 29, 2014

October 29, 2014

There were many films shown on my flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. I have a hard time sleeping, so instead I treated myself to a film orgy of sorts.  The flight had interesting film programming.  For instance, they had a tribute to Eddie Constantine, which I think was kind of obscure but really great at the same time.  I of course have seen “Alphaville,” but people forget his other films, such as “La môme vert-de-gris” and “Ça va harder.” It is a nine-hour flight, so I could watch those two films, but also they had the oddest programming ever on a plane: a Joseph Goebbels film retrospective.  They screened “The Eternal Jew” and “Jud Süß” (“Süss the Jew”) both of course being highly controversial films - and especially showing them in-flight.   The other odd film they showed was just footage of Akiko Kojima winning the Miss Universe crown in 1959.  That event took place in Long Beach, California.  A city that is not far off from my home in Los Angeles.

There was an uproar at the time, because many didn’t believe Kojima had measurements of 37-23-38 inches (94-58-96cm).  Some were convinced Kojima had undergone breast surgery, but she strongly denied taking such actions to win the Miss Universe contest.  She was also the first woman from Asia to win such a prize in the Miss Universe pageant.  The combination of watching the films and not being able to sleep had a profound effect on me.  Especially watching such a hateful film like “Süss the Jew.”

La môme vert-de-gris” was the first Eddie Constantine film, that also featured a character that he was famous for, by the name of Lemmy Caution. It is said that his character always approached a beautiful woman with a glass of whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other.   I had thought of myself in that mold, while dreaming away in front of my small screen on someone’s backseat.  In the end of the flight, I was for sure taken by Eddie’s approach to the detective life, but felt quite alienated by the Goebbels’ retrospective.  Nevertheless I find myself back in Los Angeles, feeling woozy and not sure where my culture is heading towards.  Perhaps it marks the end of one era, and the start of another.

February 25, 2014

February 25, 2014

Last full day in Los Angeles.  Need to pose for photos for my next book.  Need to decide what to bring.  Close the chapter in my life here, now that I have a life without a turntable or big screen TV.   Onward to life on Meguro Dori, and watching the cherry blossoms do their thing, and eventually like the others, become totally obsessed with photographing the moment the cherry colored flowers become ripe and… eventually fall on the pavement and die.

One thing I learned from life is that we can’t all sing like Enrico Caruso.  Yet, through my parents, I went to a school that was very much under the influence of Rudolf Steiner.  The Waldorf education allowed the student to creatively play instead of forcing one to learn or study.  Here I learn the human being consists of body, soul, and spirit. Therefore why not sing like Caruso!

But as a child when I opened my mouth, it came out what some say is noise.  As a student I just want to convey to the grown ups that noise is just unorganized sounds looking for a melody.   Over a period of years, the people around me disagree with that theory that I obtained from the Steiner school.   At this time, I chose to keep my mouth shut, and allow my creativity flow through the pen on paper.  As a kid I pretty much admired the works of Karl May, who wrote westerns that took place in the wild west, but in actually was a writer from Germany, and he never been to America.  Taking him on as a literary model, sort of made me the Eddie Constantine of literature.

One of the hardest things to do as a writer who doesn’t work for a living is to convince others that I am worthwhile something… maybe important.   One of my favorite films is “Billy Liar” starring Tom Courtenay.  He plays a northern soul who tells everyone that he’s going to London to make it big, but alas, he fails.  It is with this sense of failure that stays in my mind as I leave for Tokyo.  I need to finish a manuscript when I am over there, because basically I have nothing else to live for.   Right now I’m the cherry blossom that is on the verge of blooming, but if I don’t handle myself properly, I can easily become a dead flower on the ground.