{"id":36282,"date":"2016-09-21T20:40:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T03:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36282"},"modified":"2016-09-21T20:40:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T03:40:39","slug":"challenge-week-34-woman-in-the-dunes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/challenge-week-34-woman-in-the-dunes\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 34: Woman in the Dunes"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a strange movie.<\/p>\n

An entomologist studying insects in the desert finds that he’s missed the last bus home and asks if there’s a place to stay in a nearby village. There is: with a woman who lives in a hole in a sand dune. She feeds him and gives him a bed in her small house, but he discovers her working all night digging sand and sending it up to the surface with pulleys. Soon he also discovers that the villagers have no intention of ever pulling him up again either, and in fact intend him to become husband to this woman and help her dig sand for them to sell.<\/p>\n

\"pit3\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The woman is resigned to her life and, in fact, as he offers suggestions for how to get out, she’s horrified at the idea of leaving her home and this life that she knows. The film is mostly these two people and their interactions, but there’s a lot (A LOT) going on under the surface. The man seems to be adrift from society anyway, and in a way this is just the next logical step. When he does get out briefly, he quickly gets lost and then mired in quicksand. This is a metaphorical entrapment as much as a physical one.<\/p>\n

I’m actually writing this without my notes, of which I took quite a few for this film, and I may expand this review once I get back to them, because it did make me think a lot, even while much of it baffled me.<\/p>\n

\"ffe144b59c409587b4c9211fb31afdfe_xl\"<\/p>\n

I won’t way it was exactly a fun watch, and a lot of it is slow and obscure (which are not necessarily bad things for me), and there’s one scene that made me almost physically sick, but it’s also been a couple of weeks since I saw it and there are moments and images that haven’t left my brain yet, and I definitely have to give it props for that. This one may well rise in my rankings with more thought.<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

1964, Japan<\/em>
\ndirected by Hiroshi Teshigahara, written by K\u00c3\u00b4b\u00c3\u00b4 Abe<\/em>
\nstarring Eiji Okada, Ky\u00c3\u00b4ko Kishida<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Woman in the Dunes<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Woman in the Dunes<\/b> > The Postman
\nWoman in the Dunes < Paris, Texas<\/b>
\nWoman in the Dunes < Shenandoah<\/b>
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Public Enemies
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Battle Royale
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Troll 2
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > X-Men: First Class
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Gangster Squad
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Apocalypse Now
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Obvious Child
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > Paths of Glory
\nWoman in the Dunes<\/b> > The Cool World<\/p>\n

Final #1390 out of 3703 films on my chart (62%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #1 Hiroshi Teshigahara film, my #22 Avant-Garde\/Experimental film, my #3 Japanese New Wave film, and my #14 film of 1964.<\/p>\n

Woman in the Dunes<\/em> was recommended by Grant Watson, a friend from Twitter. Averaging together this #1390 ranking with my #780 ranking of his other film, The Long Memory<\/em>, gives Grant an average ranking of 1085.<\/p>\n

A few quotes…<\/h3>\n

Niki Jumpei:<\/b> Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?<\/p>\n

Niki Jumpei:<\/b> It’s useless. The sand can swallow up cities and countries, if it wants to.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"vlcsnap-2014-02-19-21h10m50s163\"<\/p>\n

\"woman-in-the-dunes-e1392816526173\"<\/p>\n

\"tumblr_nx6mzzyn1r1uidq5yo9_1280\"<\/p>\n

\"woman-in-the-dunes\"<\/p>\n

\"wd08\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a strange movie. An entomologist studying insects in the desert finds that he’s missed the last bus home and asks if there’s a place to stay in a nearby village. There is: with a woman who lives in a hole in a sand dune. She feeds him and gives him a bed in her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3229,3228],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/98472_full.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35387,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/the-2016-movie-challenge-a-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":0},"title":"The 2016 Movie Challenge: A Preview","author":"Jandy","date":"January 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I can't leave well enough alone, here's a brief rundown of (some of) what I'll be watching in 2016 for this crazy challenge. I currently have 50 people signed up to recommend me movies, and all but a handful have already chosen their picks, so this thing is scheduled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/fc-keaton.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36006,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/challenge-week-23-the-hole\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":1},"title":"Challenge Week 23: The Hole","author":"Jandy","date":"June 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I figured I'd be coming up against some of the odder films of the challenge when I got to Chad's week - he's got some of the more eccentric tastes in my main movie group on Facebook, and he didn't disappoint. Tsai Ming-liang's 1998 take on the turn of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tf-feat-hole.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/vacation\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":2},"title":"Vacation","author":"Jandy","date":"June 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I love being on vacation. I want to do it all the time. But then I might get bored of it. Good drive down to Florida this year. We did a couple of hours Friday night after I got off work, and then the rest on Saturday. I ended up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books and Reading"","block_context":{"text":"Books and Reading","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28843,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/50dmc-38-movie-world-youd-like-to-live-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":3},"title":"50DMC #38: Movie World You’d Like to Live In","author":"Jandy","date":"October 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What movie world would you most like to live in? This answer is certainly Paris, because I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/paris.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28838,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/50dmc-36-most-uncomfortable-date-movie\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":4},"title":"50DMC #36: Most Uncomfortable Date Movie","author":"Jandy","date":"October 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What's the most uncomfortable date movie? It actually took me quite a while to think of an answer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/In-the-Realm-of-the-Senses.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36498,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-45-triangle\/","url_meta":{"origin":36282,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 45: Triangle","author":"Jandy","date":"November 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't talk TOO much about this without spoiling it - in this case, it's very much recommended to go in totally blind, which I did, aside from knowing that it was something of a mindbender and had some horror and possibly sci-fi elements. It all hinges on a young\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-triangle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}