Wednesday June 1, 9:30pm Egyptian Theater<br /><br />Tony Takitani is a lonely illustrator. His father is a former prisoner of war, jazz musician he cannot relate to and sees only briefly every few years. Tony hires an assistant fifteen years his junior and persuades her to marry him. She has a compulsive shopping addiction which finally causes her death. He hires a new assistant based on her dress and shoe size so she can wear his wife's cloths while at work, decides that arrangement is too weird and asks her not to come back, sells all the cloths and resumes his boring meaningless life. What makes this story worthy of retelling as a feature film? The slow methodical piano soundtrack let up briefly, but was relentless for most of the picture. I asked one young lady who mentioned she was a fan of the author if she liked the film and she replied yes. I really wish I'd asked her what she thought the story was about. The characters were sedate and unemotional even by Japanese standards. Several moments were so silly and banal they drew laughter. Did I miss the point? Maybe not. The film did evoke a definite mood, good or bad. Some of the visuals were interesting and the camera work was curiously up-angled in a very non-Ozu way. There was a smattering of applause at the end. I guess some folks will cheer for anything. Since it was the final film of the night, it worked well as a nightcap, or rather sleeping pill.