Reviews

Three days ago I finished watching this animated series, all 148 episodes--and I'm still blown away. Hunter X Hunter is a sublime masterpiece of storytelling. A journey, a quest, adventure, self-discovery, a coming-of-age story, a depiction of authoritarianism, biological evolution, interjections of philosophy and mind-expansion and more. The entire series is beautifully crafted in story-line and in innumerable characters, remarkably uniquely different with almost no loose ends. The main focus is on Gon and his friend Killua, 2 12-year-old boys who undergo physical and emotional transformations; yet, this is hardly a presentation of pre-adolescent adventures. The tight plot and personalities are haunting, and even now I find myself thinking of the characters as if they are real. This is testimony to the craftmanship of the creator and writer, Yoshihiro Togashi. I'm 81, retired and have the luxury of ample viewing time; and this series produced an excitement that I've not had in years, a regenerative experience. Highly recommended with episode after episode of satisfying, magnificent quality.

In the book The Immense Journey (1957) by American anthropologist Loren Eiseley (1907-1977) is a wonderful quote--"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." Twenty-eight years before Eiseley's book, photographer Ralph Steiner (1899-1986) created a short paean to water, a 12-minute silent film entitled "H20". He, incidentally was a cinematographer for the fine Pare Lorentz documentary, "The Plow That Broke the Plains" (1936).

Steiner's "H2O" film has a very brief introduction with rain the focus; it quickly becomes more abstract. Steiner is obviously fascinated by the remarkable kinetic action of water and how the motion created an endless variety of water reflections. This occupies half of the film. He then follows up with some brief textural aspects of the water, and finally ends with the effects of light on the ever-moving liquid--the shimmering, glowing, sparkling. With pattern merging into pattern, amazing abstractions appear, startling in their beauty. The film is an aquaphile's delight.

As an amateur still photographer, I've taken numerous water abstraction photos. I would love to see what a cinematographer might do with these water features in color. It's easy to envision a kaleidoscopic short which features the patterns created by reflections, the textures and the impact of light. The poem "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot" from the Leonard Cohen novel Beautiful Losers would aptly describe such an effort and does indeed describe what Steiner did in 1929.

This is a film with many faults and perhaps never should have been made--or released. A sad effort in plot, characterization, acting, photography, and especially lighting. The incessant moralizing om the movie could not fill the holes left by the film's many deficiencies.

The promise of a period piece is not maintained with only teasing views of automobiles and carriages and very little utilization of cultural and social elements of the time. A chance of more comprehensive landscapes does not take place. And though time and place are not significant, the film is hardly a "timeless" production.

I wanted to care about the characters, for they were generally depicted as good; however, nothing could rouse my empathy. Fortunately the 1980 film was just over an hour in length.