Please forgive me, Akira!

I don't know why I had got it into my head that Akira Kurosawa's films weren't my kettle of fish. I dimly remember seeing a montage of his cinematographic highlights at an Academy Awards ceremony absolutely ages ago when he (posthumously?) won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement of which I more or less only remember black-and-white samurais. When colleagues told me that we'd get free tickets for the Kurosawa retrospective currently on at the Film Museum I couldn't muster much enthusiasm but eventually agreed to accompany them to Rhapsody in August when I found out that Richard Gere was in it. The idea of a young(er) Richard Gere (I really liked him pre grey hair days. Rrrrrrrr. Being a bit of a cradle-snatcher, I'm one of the few women for whom grey streaks and a "mature" lined face don't do anything) in a Japanese film was intriguing. And so we went to see it last night.

I was so wrong in my preconceived verdict of Kurosawa, the film was incredibly beautiful and sad at the same time. It was perfect in so many ways in spite of the end being rather puzzling and unsatisfactory but then again I much prefer films which don't have a happy ending anyway. Watching the film was the equivalent of lying curled up on the sofa, reading your favourite book and snacking on something forbidden while it's raining outside. Bliss! I would have been happy had it gone on for another hour or two.

***

Today's office-coma has so far been just as bad as yesterday's (if not worse) but at least I was cheered up by FCN's souvenirs from England, a book (Kafka on the Shore) and a sixpack of salt and vinegar crisps. Hurray!

Lunch-break purchases: This morning I passed a tableware shop on my way to work and saw that Iittala glasses were half price. Do I really need to mention that I went back to purchase some (four, to be precise)?