Got a call from Jesse (who's in film school at SFSU) last night about going to the PFA and seeing a Japanese silent film with live benshi performance (by Midori Sawato). Sounds like fun to me. I don't get out often enough on the weekends, and my film viewing has dropped off the charts. Too much TV and whatever videos can be rented at the local mom and pop's video store. All that should change as soon as the DVD player arrives. I'll either join Netflix or Cine Green, and start watching more foreign flicks.

The film is called A Diary of Chuji's Travels by Daisuke Ito and was made in 1927. I've never seen a prewar Japanese film. The benshi performer is supposed to be one of the last living ones. Benshi were "interpreters" who told the audience what was going on in the movie being shown. They allegedly slowed down the introduction of sound to the Japanese movie industry.