スターウオーズ VII STAR WARS VII

スターウオーズ VII

「スターウオーズ・フォースの覚醒」を見た。C-3PO, R2-D2、チューバッカや円盤型宇宙船ファルコンやトンボ型戦闘機やＸ型戦闘機や光刀などの道具を懐かしく思った。特にレイア王女（キャリーフィッッシャー）やハンス・ソロー（ハリソン・フォード）は旧友に久しぶりに会ったような気になった。「スターウオーズＩ」は１９７８年に見ているから、もう３８年もたったのか。

全体として「スターウオーズ・フォースの覚醒」は期待外れだった。宇宙で戦闘機が戦うシーンや、ファルコンが猛スピードでアクロバット飛行するシーンは手に汗を握る迫力があったが、しょせん今までの「スターウオーズ」シリーズの戦闘シーンの焼き直しだ。実のところ、長々と続く戦闘シーンには辟易した。多分、年を取ったせいか、スピードと連続するアクションシーンについていけなくなったからかも知れない。

しかしながら、ＢＢ－８というロボットの動きは面白かった。なぜＢＢ－８という名前なのかはわからないが、Ｂという文字の形や８という数字の形がロボットの体形に似ておりぴったりの名前だと思った。ＢＢ－８が頭を下げたり、あげたり、回したり、ちんぷんかんぷんの言葉を話したりして、感情を表現するところは大いに感心した。

 

 ミッドランドスクエア映画館で

 

 

STAR WARS VII

　　I saw “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” I felt nostalgic to see all the good old gadgets such as C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, the disk-like spaceship Millennium Falcon, the dragonfly-like First Order fighters, Resistance X-wing fighters, and light sabers. I felt a pang of nostalgia to see the old Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and the old Harrison Ford (Hans Solo). I felt like I met my old acquaintances after many years. Actually, I saw “Star Wars I” in 1978. I can’t believe 38 years have already passed.  

　　 I did not enjoy the film so much as I had expected. It is true that the space battle scenes between First Order fighters and X-wing fighters and the scenes in which Falcon fly acrobatically at a super-speed were breath-takingly thrilling, but those action scenes were the repetition of the similar scenes in the original Star Wars films. To be frank with you, I was almost fed up with the continuous and endless fighting scenes. This is probably because I have become old and my brain can’t catch up with the speed and constantly changing action scenes.

 　　However, I enjoyed the movement of the droid, BB-8. I don’t know why it was named BB-8, but the shapes of the letters “B” and “8” look like that of BB-8. It’s awesome that it expresses personality by moving the head downward or upward, tilting, revolving, and speaking ultra-speedy Greek.

BB-8

 

大須演芸場へ OSU ENGEIJYO (Osu Comedy House)

大須演芸場へ

 

　昨日大須演芸場に女房と行ってきた。予想以上に面白かった。出し物は落語（初音家左吉）、漫才（タックイン）、講談（古池鱗林）、パフォーマー（鏡餅マン）、江戸曲独楽（柳家三亀司）、お座敷踊り（名妓連）、漫才（おぼん・こぼん）であった。

　特に面白かったのは鱗林の講談とおぼん・こぼんの漫才だった。講談は秀吉の藤吉郎時代の話。橋のたもとで店を開いていた人相占い師が、藤吉郎の顔を見て、あまりにも大出世して天下を取るとの相があり、自分の人相を見る力は狂ってしまったと思って、人相を見るための道具を全部川へ捨ててしまったという話。流暢な語りと間の取り方、強弱の語調がよく、楽しんだ。おぼんこぼんはメチャ笑えた。金さん銀さんの真似をして大いにわかせた。ときどき大須へ行って笑うのもいいと思った。

OSU COMEDY HOUSE  (Osu Entertainment House)

I went to Osu Entertainment House with my wife yesterday. I enjoyed the shows more than I had expected. They included rakugo (comic storytelling) by Sakichi Hatsuneya, manzai (comical conversation) by Takkuin, kodan (storytelling about heros) by Rin-rin Koike, a fun performance by Kagami-mochi Man, trick spinning tops by Mikiji Yanagiya, Japanese traditional dance by Meigiren, and another manzai by Obon and Kobon.

   I especially enjoyed Rin-rin’s kodan and Obon-Kobon’s manzai. Rin-rin told a story about Kinoshita Tokichiro (later Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who ruled Japan in 16^th century). Rin-rin’s storytelling was excellent. It was fluent, sometimes with a strong and other times with a soft voice, with adequate pauses. She told a story about Tokichiro:

   Once a physiognomist, who had his shop by the side of a river, happened to look in Tokichiro’s countenance. His face clearly indicated that he would, in the future, rule Japan, which the physiognomist couldn’t believe at all. He thought he had lost his power of face reading and threw all the tools for physiogonomy into the river from the bridge.

   Obon-kobon’s manzai gave me one of the funniest times in my life. They talked about Kin-san and Gin-san, who died at the age of more than 100. They mimicked the super-old sisters so skillfully that the audience laughed and laughed.

   It’s good to laugh. I think I’ll go to Osu more often.

(I took a picture with Rin-rin while waiting for the opening of the house.)