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For this Special Thursday Cinema Night, first up is The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), a Japanese family drama from the master himself, Yasujiro Ozu. It follows the strained marriage of a woman from a rich urban family and a man from a poor rural family, their personalities clashing against class lines, and exposing the fractures between tradition and modernity in postwar Japan. Meanwhile, their niece rebels against an arranged marriage. Familiar territory for Ozu, but it has still received rave reviews across the board, and is considered one of the best Japanese films of the 1950s.

BONUS: Between the features, we will watch the 20-minute Buster Keaton short The Haunted House (1921), which features Buster as a hapless bank teller finding himself in a thieves’ hideout that operates under the cover of a haunted house, with ne’er-do-wells dressing up as monsters to scare off intruders. Hilarity ensues, in Keaton’s usual slapstick fashion. Considered one of his better shorts.

After that is Hoppers (2026), the latest animated feature from Pixar. A teenaged animal lover uses a revolutionary new “hopping” technology that allows to her to transfer her consciousness into robotic animal doppelgangers. She commandeers a beaver-bot and infiltrates beaver society to foment resistance against a new development project that threatens the habitat of the local wildlife. Yes, they pretty much made Ghost in the Shell (1995) but with cute animals. Excellent reviews for this one, so we’ll give it a shot. Director Daniel Chong’s only other directorial credit to date is, uhh, We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020).

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:

https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-flavor-of-green-tea-over-rice/
• The Haunted House: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-haunted-house/
• Hoppers: https://letterboxd.com/film/hoppers/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044982/parentalguide/
• Hoppers: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1096432

CWs for The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice:

• Cheating.
• Misogyny.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol.
• Unhappy marriage.

CWs for Hoppers:

• Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
• Abused becomes the abuser.
• Death of animal.
• Animal corpses.
• Cruelty to animals.
• Sad animals.
• Spiders.
• Bugs.
• Snakes.
• Sharks.
• Broken bones.
• Someone is physically restrained.
• Suicide.
• Death of parent.
• Kidnapping.
• Jump scares.
• Claustrophobia.
• Shower scene.
• Natural bodies of water.
• Someone is eaten alive.
• Eye mutilation.
• Carnism.
• Prison scene.
• Destruction of priceless artifact.
• Someone struggles to breathe.
• Flashing lights.
• Screaming.
• Underwater scenes.
• Someone is watched without their knowledge.
• Terminal illness.
• Car crash.
• Honking horns.
• Screeching tires.
• Body horror.
• Death by crushing.
• Unconsciousness.
• Dissociation.

Links to movies:

• The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice: https://tankie.tube/w/1TiHJS2e6sC5DZpF8uUS54
• The Haunted House: https://tankie.tube/w/2Y21KbFzPANjibsHPNa4rB
• Hoppers: https://tankie.tube/w/eo4RitAP7vqbXXbiTFF1ma