アバター：ウェイ・オブ・ウォーター Avatar: The Way of Water

 アバター：ウェイ・オブ・ウォーター　

３時間１０分の超大作。海洋SFもの。アバターが巨大な飛び魚や巨大な鳥に乗り、敵であるスカイピープルと戦う。特撮がすごい。

話しは単純で、単なる戦闘物語。戦闘アクションシーンが大半を占める。目まぐるしく画像が動く。鯨に似た巨大な魚が殺戮されるが、見ていてあまりいい気はしなかった。海洋保護映画でもないのに。

全体として、感動しなかった。だいたい１９０分とは長すぎる。途中でトイレに立った。昔の「十戒」や「ベンハー」の方が遥かに良い。６５点

Avatar: The Way of Water　

The movie lasted for three hours and 10 minutes. It was an SF marine film. Riding giant flying fishes and huge birds, Avatars fight with Sky-people. The visual effects were amazing. 

It was a story of fighting. Fighting scenes occupy more than half of the film. The screen changes too rapidly to follow the story. The scene where a whale-like animal is killed makes you vomiting although the film is not made to appeal for the protection of marine animals.

It did not move my heart. It was so long a movie that I went to the rest room for urination. “The Ten Commandments” and “Ben-Hur” were far better than “Avatar The Way of Water." 

65 points out of 100.

師匠の癌 その２ My Teachers' Cancer

  師匠の癌 その２　

２０２２年９月１５日付の「MATの目」で以下のように書いた。

（私の師匠が三人とも癌を患い、一人は亡くなり、二人は闘病中だ。（略）三人目は、カルチャーセンターの「平家物語を読む」の講師・N氏で、８４歳だ。胆管癌で手術され、胆管、脾臓、十二指腸、胃のそれぞれの一部を切除され、療養中である。講座は中止になるだろう。せっかく平家物語を勉強し始めたばかりなのに）

その後、講座は１２月まで延期された。ところが、本日カルチャーセンターからN氏逝去の通知が来た。驚いた。個人的にも訊きたいこと（私の母が女学生の時に渡し船で女学校に通ったが、船着場が講師の家の近くであった）があったのに、残念だ。

引き続き、N氏の後輩の方にバトンタッチされ、来年４月から続けられるそうだ。９月１５日号でも書いたが、本当に「明日ありと思う心の仇桜……」だ。今日できることは今日やってしまわないと、後悔する。

My Teachers' Cancer 

The following passage is an excerpt from September 15 MAT'S EYE: 

Three of my teachers suffered from cancer. One died, and the other two are struggling with the disease. . . . The third one is the instructor, Mr. N, for the “Heike Monogatari” (The Story of the Heike) reading class sponsored by Chunichi Culture Center. He suffered from biliary cancer. He recently had surgery operation. Parts of his biliary, spleen, duodenum, and stomach have been cut off. He is now recuperating. I am afraid his class will probably be closed. I have just got interest in the story. I am sorry it is to be closed.

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Later, his class was postponed until December. Today, however, the Culture Center sent a letter informing me of the passing of Mr. N. I had wanted to talk with him about my mother, who commuted to a girls’ high school using a boat to cross the Ibi River. Mr. N happened to live in Takasu City near the pier for the boat. So, I have forever lost the opportunity to talk about the boat and my mother.

According to the Culture Center, one of Mr. N’s university colleagues will take over his class “Heike Monogatari” (the Story of the Heike). The new class will start in April.

As I wrote in the September 15 MAT’ EYE, it is a bad plan “to go to see the cherry blossoms tomorrow, because they might be blown off by the strong wind during the night.” Instead, don’t put off what you can do today until tomorrow. Otherwise, you will repent. I should have asked him about it while he was alive.