OVER YOUR DEAD BODY: Woodblock Prints of Oiwa

Oiwa, the main character of Yotsuya Kaidan, the play-within-a-film in Takashi Miike's Over Your Dead Body, is a common subject in Japanese art. Peruse at some ukiyo-e woodblock prints before Over Your Dead Body premieres tonight.

Here is a detail from an Utagawa Kuniyoshi print of Oiwa confronting her husband Iemon. Oiwa's spirit--and the spirit of their dead child--is manifesting from a paper lantern.

Two lantern images of Oiwa by Katsushika Hokusai.

 A scene from a performance of Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan rendered by Utagawa Kunikazu. (A lot of woodblock prints are kind of like lobby cards or trading cards, allowing theater audiences to remember their favorite moments or favorite actors).

And one by  Utagawa Toyokuni III.

 

An Utagawa Kuniyoshi, this time with a poem by Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu.

And two more by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. One a portrait of a particular performer as Oiwa.

And one with pretty much all the wtf in the world.

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY screening times:

Thurs., Sept. 11, Ryerson 6:00 PM
Fri., Sept. 12, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 9:00 PM
Sat., Sept. 13, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 6:30 PM

LUNA: Dave McKean's Art Inspired By Early Cinema

Billy Shire Fine Arts has a gallery of Luna director Dave McKean's works in a variety of media from a 2010 exhibit, "New Works Inspired by Early Cinema." Here are a few for you to enjoy before tonight's premiere.

"Faust"2009

"Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" (2009)

"Die Nibelungen" (2009)

You can click through to the complete exhibit here. And McKean talks about his cinematic influences in this interview with the Vanguard Blog.

LUNA screening times:
Sat., Sept 6th, 6:30 PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Mon., Sept 8th 9:00 AM, AGO JACKMAN HALL
Sun., Sept 14th, 8:45 PM, SCOTIABANK 9