Movies in 2026 68

 

The General (Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, 1926)

Over the years I've seen innumerable clips from Buster Keaton films, but, strangely - and shamefully - I had never seen a complete Keaton film until yesterday. I watched his 1926 film The General. It was one of those films that I had heard of (I think Orson Welles said that The General was not only the best comedy ever made, but also the best film), but had never gotten around to watching it. Happily, the Criterion Channel is featuring one of their odd collections, this time on movies with great stunts, which they would normally never show. It's sort of like their collections on 1970s drive-in horror movies or snow westerns, which shows that clearly they are not being driven by marketing but instead by true weirdo film buffs sitting in a room bouncing around ideas. They have a couple Keaton movies and also a Harold Lloyd film (all of which have moved into my queue). The General is a great, great film, and it is highly recommended.

Oskee Wee Wee

 This summer's CFL Trips of Excellence are coming into view. In June I'll be heading to Hamilton to meet my cousin Nick for a Tiger-Cats game. Not only will this be his fir CFL game, it will also be his first time out of the country. Not surprisingly, he's super excited. Obviously, he now has to learn the Tiger-Cats official fight song, otherwise he won't blend. I, of course, both know that Song of Excellence, but have enough Tiger-Cats swag to blend effortlessly. This will be my third Tiger-Cats game, which I'm definitely looking forward to. Hamilton is a great place to see a game, with great fans and a nice stadium. It also houses the CFL Hall of Fame, which somehow I've never visited (although that will change this summer).

The plane tickets were purchased yesterday for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers & Saskatchewan Roughriders doubleheader, so obviously there will be much more discussion of that soon enough.

14

 And now I'm half-way through the final semester of my long teaching career. My students were pretty good this week, and hopefully it will carry over next week as we have one more week until spring break. Today I popped into Walmart's to pick up something before leaving Burlington, and in the space of five minutes ran into a former student, my friend Deb from the Food Shelf, and Brother Yunus from the mosque, which just about sums up so much of my life over the last few years. My former students had taken my Ibn Khaldun class a few years ago, and he talked about how much he had enjoyed the class and how much he felt he had learned; professors never tire of hearing from their former students (especially the happy ones), since it gives us some hope that we're still making a difference.

And thanks to Jack Coan for loaning me his number 14 for the countdown. I thought I would change things up and feature a player just beginning his career, and not an all-star or a CFL Hall of Famer. Coan is the backup quarterback for the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders, which, unfortunately for him, means he doesn't get a lot of playing time. The tickets have been purchased for this summer's Winnipeg/Saskatchewan doubleheader, so I might seem him get in some snaps (especially in those important 3rd and 1 situations). He played his college ball at Wisconsin and Notre Dame. I noted that he is from Sayville, New York, the home of the esteemed Sanford Zale. Today at the Breakfast of Excellence, Sandy told me that his father's knows Jack's family, so it is a small world.

Movies in 2026 67

 

The Life of Oharu, (Kenzi Mizoguchi, 1952)

So, the Kenji Mizoguchi deep dive has begun, as last night I watched his 1952 classic, The Life of Oharu. And it is definitely a film that deserves the designation: classic. It's based on Saikaku Ihara's 17th century novel The Life of an Amorous Woman, which it seems that I've discussed in passing in class for decades but have never read. The title of the novel would make you think that it's a sex romp or an oddly positioned rom-com, but instead it's a pretty heartbreaking story, as it chronicles the fall of the titular Oharu from woman of the central court to common prostitute. I think the film is more compassionate to Oharu (as one would expect from Mizoguchi, who tended to always take the side of his female characters and criticize society for its mistreatment of women) than the novel. The novel tends to blame all of her problems on her nature, whereas the film shows how one poor decision from her youth keeps pursuing and plaguing Oharu, so the problem is more in society than in her nature. Kinuyo Tanaka is brilliant in the lead role (she was in fifteen Mizoguchi films over the years, including several Ozu movies in her long career). The Life of Oharu also stars, briefly, a very young Toshiro Mifune, although he gets his head chopped off about ten minutes in. Essential viewing. I'll definitely be watching more - and thank you, Criterion Channel, for being generous in your collection of Kenji Mizoguchi films.

Movies in 2026 66

 

Conflagration, (Kon Ichikawa, 1958)

The other day I predicted that I was going to be heading down a Kenji Mizoguchi rabbit hole, and while I was lining up films in my Criterion Channel queue I stumbled across Kon Ichikawa's Conflagration. It's a film adaptation of Yukio Mishima's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, which is probably why it jumped out at me. I've always been a big Mishima fan, and the other day I was thinking about how much I wanted to give yet another re-read of his Sea of Fertility tetralogy (Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, and The Decay of the Angel). Now I want to go back and re-read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. The film itself is a worthy adaptation, and it has some truly arresting scenes, and it is very true to those themes you'd expect in Mishima: the challenge of modernity, the loss of meaning, etc. Recommended.

15

 We've passed into the seventh week of the semester, which means that after this week I'll be half-way through my final semester. Yesterday I sent along my official letter to my Provost and Dean stating that I'm retiring and that my final day will be the end of June. They both knew this was the case, but at a certain point you have to make it official for the sake of HR and paperwork. It's weird in that in my line of work that date, 30 June, doesn't really mean much because the semester will end in the first week of May, so that's all I'm really thinking about. When I walk out of class the last time, both my regular semester class and my last Final Exam, that will hit me. The end of June will pass essentially unnoticed (except for my bank account, obviously).

And thanks to Willie Fleming, who is happily still around, for loaning me his number 15 for the countdown. I always expect to get an email from one of the players either, jokingly, pointing out that they didn't actually loan me their number or congratulating me on my impending retirement. Fleming was born in Atlanta, GA, and starred for the University of Iowa (and played on their Rose Bowl championship team). He played his entire career for the BC Lions, becoming the first BC player to rush for a thousand yards. During his time there he won a Grey Cup and eventually had his number retired by the team - and he's a member of the CFL Hall of Fame (here's another player whose plaque I'll check out this summer during the Hamilton trip). He earned a very cool nickname - "The Wisp" or "Will 'o the Wisp" - because he was hard to tackle.

Movies in 2026 65

 

Ugetsu, (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)

The other movie that I managed to watch yesterday during the general madness of the day was Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu. It is drawn from two ghost stories, "The House in the Thicket" and "The Lust of the White Serpent," from Ueda Akinari's 18th century Tales of Moonlight and Rain - with a little of Guy de Maupassant's "How He Got the Legion of Honor" thrown in. As with all Mizoguchi there's a lot more going on, including a critique of the growing greed of the post-war Japanese population and the general mistreatment of women. I have a feeling that a Kenji Mizoguchi deep dive is starting. In 1941 he had made a pro-war propaganda film, The 47 Ronin (which is happily also in the Criterion Channel collection), and Ugetsu is also a commentary on the folly of war and militarism, which means the film is also in some ways a statement of regret. Highly recommended.