Harakiri

MOVIE #1,517 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 04.05.24 FRITZ LANG: DIRECTOR FOCUS Most of the Letterboxd reviews for this are like “a bunch of Germans doing JapaneseFace cultural appropriation” but, like, we gotta give something made 105 years ago a little more benefit of the doubt, don’t we? This adaptation of Madame Butterfly isn’t as good as the epic, two-part The Spiders which bookended its release, and admittedly watching a very bad version on YouTube with the text of three languages (German, French and auto-generated English) on screen for the intertitles (LOLLL—see below) is not an ideal viewing experience, but it has its moments and a few lovely little shots, like this mom and baby looking forlorn and then excited as they stare out at the ocean searching for a ship…

Still, this appears to be a minor work even among the less-heralded silent portion of Lang’s career. But on some level there’s magic in getting to see these old artifacts. I’m kind of in awe that they still exist. PLUS, YA GOTTA GRIND TO GET THIS VIEW…


CINEMA: IN ITS PUREST FORM

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,516 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,518 ⫸

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Harakiri, or Madame Butterfly, is a German 1919 silent film directed in Germany by Fritz Lang. It was one of the first Japanese-themed films depicting Japanese culture. The film was originally released in the United States and other countries as Madame Butterfly because of the source material on which it is based and which also inspired Giacomo Puccini's eponymous 1904 opera. The film starred Lil Dagover as O-Take-san. It was released on December 18, 1919.