Arts and Humanities hosts the third and final presentation in its East Asia Film and Lecture Series Thursday, Nov. 5 from 6-9 p.m. in the Trutter Center. There is no charge to attend.
The film “Tokyo Story” (1953), will be shown, followed by a discussion led by Elizabeth Oyler, associate professor of Japanese and director of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.
“Tokyo Story,” directed by Yasujiro Ozu, has been described as a profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak. The film, which follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. “Tokyo Story” plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what has been called “one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces” (Film Comment) and “one of the three greatest films ever made” (Sight and Sound Critics’ Poll 1992).
Discussion leader Elizabeth Oyler’s research focuses on pre-modern Japanese literature and drama, particularly works of the medieval period focused on the rise of the samurai class. She teaches courses on pre-modern Japanese literature and theater as well as classical Japanese language. Her publications include the book “Swords, Oaths, and Prophetic Visions: Authoring Warrior Rule in Medieval Japan,” and she was co-editor of the volume “Like Clouds or Mists: Translations and Studies of Noh Plays of the Genpei War.”
The East Asia Film and Lecture Series is offered in partnership with the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at UIUC. In the spring semester, LLCC is offering “Cultural Values in the Eastern World” (Humanities 201) Thursday evenings, taught by English professors Paul Van Heuklom and Ashley Green. Students will explore the literature, music, philosophy and fine arts of the Eastern culture as well as complexities in the development of the human spirit.
