Nicolosi has a seizure when she hears the news.

That's very exciting... the only Endo I've read is The Samurai, which I loved, and has only intrigued me all the more about his other work.

I'm in the middle of reading (and loving) this book RIGHT NOW! In fact, after watching a fair amount of Ozu and Mizoguchi (and Ikiru) lately, I'd actually been thinking how beautiful Silence would be directed by a Japanese master, who had a feel for that certain delicate, restrained and dignified tone that feels particularly Japanese to me. Not necessarily a tone I always associate with Scorsese. I thought Last Temptation (the novel) had more nuance -- not to mention a better grip on that whole spirit/flesh debate -- before he and Schrader got ahold of it. So we'll see...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Silence is one of the few books, along with The Cost of Discipleship and Kierkegaard's Practice in Christianity, that made me re-evaluate and take my faith much more seriously than before. Endo has since become one of my favorite authors. It is strong, strong medicine--not for the faint of heart at any rate--and honestly, I dread a movie remake of it. I don't know how well Scorsese will "get" the story, though in many ways Endo's liberal Catholicism is actually much more in line with the vision presented in Last Temptation of Christ (for proof, read Endo's non-fiction Life of Jesus). It is not a "conservative" book, though it is not unorthodox, either.

I will still probably watch it on opening weekend, however.

So yes. Read the book, now, if you haven't already.

Hmmm... I've been meaning to read this book for about 5 years now. I suppose this would be a good time to finally track down a copy.

Loved the book, but don't really see Scorsese as the right man for the job. Bresson would've been perfect.

I get mixed feelings when I hear news like this. It's a book I have great affection for, so in that sense I would love to see the film adaptation. However, since it's a book I have such great affection for, I worry about the film adaptation. It would be so disappointing for those invovled to stumble in the telling of this story. Here's to hoping they get it right.

I too occasionally have doubts about Scorsese's ability to make subtle religious commentary. There were moments in Gangs of New York in which the imagery was so heavy that it made the scene almost comical - for example, when they are protecting the church. Upon entering the place is flooded with yellow and red light and a huge crucifix hangs over the alter. However, the film I would point to that demonstrates his ability to tackle spirituality and morality subtly would be the only one in which he steps away from Christianity. Kundun in my humble opinion is a much overlooked film (at the time of its release for the wrong reasons - it threatened Disney's potential distribution deal in China and so was released very quietly and not to a wide market. I notice it's also overlooked on the top 100 list). For me, it's his and Thelma Schoonmaker's best editing job alongside Goodfellas. I hope that he is able to capture the same quiet spirituality that he does in this film. Perhaps he needs to be removed from his local upbringing and beliefs to avoid the Roman Catholic imagery his films are steeped in and be able to do himself justice.

I must add that any Scorsese film is still received warmly from this corner as they are always interesting and challenging. I'd just like to see him try his hand at something he isn't already so practiced at.

Yeah, I remember liking Kundun quite a bit, too (and I love the Philip Glass soundtrack, which I listen to fairly often). Interestingly, one local critic complained that the film was too still -- he complained that Scorsese had forgotten the "motion" part of "motion picture" -- so if stillness and silence go together, who knows, this could work.

I have the soundtrack. I love the bells throughout. I remember when I watched the film, the music struck me as sounding very familiar. I then rewathced The Thin Blue Line (an amazing documentary about a man wrongly sentenced on death row - the film actually guaranteed his release from prison) and realised why it was so familiar: it's more or less entirely lifted from the soundtrack Glass did for this film. Bigger budget, though, so more depth but otherwise the same.

I love how Scorsese uses the music to edit in Kundun. He's always been sensitive to tempo and pace but in the cuts of the swooping shots over the mountains he strikes the perfect accord between music and image.

It's interesting that you relate stillness to silence. I think you're right to equate the two, however in Kundun Scorsese manages to capture stillness with an incredibly powerful soundtrack to boot. Perhaps it takes more skill to do the latter successfully. It will be very interesting to see how Scorsese - a very music and dialogue centred director -approaches silence.

I was talking with a guy in my church who spent some time as a missionary in Japan, and mentioned that I really liked Endo's stuff. He seemed a little nonplussed at that. Apparently, Endo isn't quite as revered in Japan, as his beliefs weren't exactly orthodox. The only stuff I really know about Endo's life is what Phillip Yancey wrote about him in Soul Survivor (which is what intrigued me in the first place). Can anyone here shed a bit more light on this?

gigi wrote:
: I remember when I watched the film, the music struck me as sounding very
: familiar. I then rewathced The Thin Blue Line . . . and realised why it was so
: familiar: it's more or less entirely lifted from the soundtrack Glass did for this film.

Eh? I listen to the soundtracks to both films often and have never found them to be all THAT similar. If you want a soundtrack that lifts an entire tune from The Thin Blue Line and recycles it almost note for note, check The Hours.

Eager to see this one!

My only exposure to Endo is his play THE GOLDEN COUNTRY, which is very powerful. If (as I understand) SILENCE takes place in a similar setting, I can see the Scorsese connection (Catholicism, violence) and the post-PASSION marketability (Catholicism, violence).

Those of you who know SILENCE, is it a similar story to what's described below?

Hmmm, time for me to dig out an article I wrote on the Vancouver film festival for the October 22, 1996 issue of ChristianWeek, and this excerpt therein:

- - -

The Eyes of Asia, from Portuguese director Joao Mario Grilo, goes back to 17th century Japan to tell the story of Julian of Nakaura, a Japanese Jesuit priest who was tortured to death for refusing to renounce his faith. Grilo mixes the historical narrative with a modern "story" in which a European (Geraldine Chaplin) visits Nagasaki and learns the story of Julian's martyrdom from the priests who keep his memory alive.

The cross-cutting between these two timeframes feels a little awkward at times, but Julian's faith is treated respectfully ... except, perhaps, for a curious epilogue which gives the last word to Cristovao Ferreira, the Jesuit provincial who succumbed to torture, renounced his faith, and spent the last 20 years of his life working for the shogun. In this last scene, Grilo seems to question whether the Jesuits should have ever come to Japan in the first place, despite the obvious joy he lets Julian show in his Christian faith.

- - -

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117235/

Thanks, Peter. Nifty tie-in. I wonder if there's any way to get a copy of that one?

(And John, if you check out available sources like inter-library loan and online booksellers and such, and can't turn up a copy of THE GOLDEN COUNTRY, contact me and I could photocopy the play for you and send it.)

Ron

I finished reading Silence about ten days ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Now, it turns out, SPU's Response magazine is going to run a review of the book by a friend of mine, one of my favorite professors, Luke Reinsma, and so there'll be no escaping it for a while.

I can think of only a few books that I've found so compelling and challenging. I carry around a burden for Sebastian Rodrigues. I wrestle daily with his decision, and with Endo's conclusion.

Curious: There's already a film version of Silence in the IMDB. And it's not the Scorsese project. Anybody know anything about this?

No... but I do see that it stars the venerable Mako.

'bots.

A new review of "Silence" by one of my favorite literature professors...

And, speaking of Dr. Reinsma... here's a piece I wrote in his honor.

Peter Chattaway yesterday posted news of this project on his [topic=11469]blog[/topic]. Having looked for a Scorsese thread and found this one, it doesn't seem like fresh news - though this thread has been quiet for almost two years!

I've not read anything by Endo but the Japanese connection reminded me of an article I came across recently arguing that Scorsese is deeply interested in Buddhist themes:

Interesting that Scorsese also says that making Kundunhad a profound effect on him:

There's a long article here with many quotes about Scorses and religion.

Masahiro Shinoda filmed this in 1971 -- I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be very good, and has characteristically fantastic cinematography from Kazuo Miyagawa. There's an English-subbed Japanese DVD of it available but, as with most Japanese DVD's, it's outrageously expensive. Masters of Cinema are releasing it in 2007, though.

So... anybody have a hunch about who's going to play the lead?

DiCaprio?

Damon?

Wahlberg?

Wahlberg's a Catholic, and very passionate about it. I wonder if Scorsese's considered that...

Personally, I'd hope he would go for someone that isn't a celebrity, but, well... that's quite unlikely.

Javier Bardem is "rumored" to star, according to IMDB. Wikipedia says Bardem is "set to star." Make of it what you will.

Latest issue of sight & sound carries an interview with Scorsese that largely focuses on Silence & also somewhat on his view of Catholicism. It's still not on the website, but I'm sure it will be updated soon.

Wow. Bardem is a great actor, but he usually plays such formidable individuals, and I picture the central character of Silence as rather small and meek. And Bardem seems older than I imagined the character too... but perhaps my memory is failing me. I need to go back to the novel...

Haven't read the book, but I imagine Bardem would at least be more-or-less the right nationality; I don't know if DiCaprio or Damon or Wahlberg could pass for Portuguese. (And FWIW, I'm inclined to take Mark Wahlberg's "passion" for Catholicism with a grain of salt, given that he and his girlfriend have had a couple of kids and aren't married -- the sort of thing I ordinarily wouldn't care about, except that that sort of thing wouldn't pass muster with many Catholics.)

::Masahiro Shinoda filmed this in 1971 -- I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be very good, and has characteristically fantastic cinematography from Kazuo Miyagawa.

After watching Shinoda's beautiful, amazing film 'Double Suicide' last week, I'm now very curious about his movie version of Endo's masterpiece (esp. since learning that Endo himself wrote the screenplay).

::There's an English-subbed Japanese DVD of it available but, as with most Japanese DVD's, it's outrageously expensive. Masters of Cinema are releasing it in 2007, though.

Is MoC still planning this? There's no mention of it at their website.

Next for Scorsese: 17th-century Japan
Scorsese is turning his sights to a story of missionaries in 17th century Japan. "Silence" is a long-cherished project that he hopes to shoot partially in Japan in summer 2008.
Although it's a period piece, Scorsese thinks it has lessons for America today.
"It raises a lot of questions about foreign cultures coming in and imposing their way of thinking on another culture they know nothing about," Scorsese told The Associated Press on Thursday -- raising his eyebrows just to make the point absolutely clear.
Associated Press, May 24

"Imposing"? That sounds so top down. In reality, we are dealing with missionaries who are trying to spread Christianity and attract followers. I don't see how the word "imposing" relates to this. I don't think Endo uses that language. I think he uses a metaphor of transplanting a beautiful tree into a swamp -- will it grow there? By contrast, Scorsese's language seems much more ham-fisted to me. That raises my concern level for this movie.

BTW, Scorsese's comment reminded me of Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible book. However, Endo's book goes far beyond that into questions of the nature of apostasy and how God responds to human suffering.

Apparently our very own Doug C. just finished writing the liner notes.

The first half of Doug Cummings' essay.

And I can't fathom why we would censor any external author's name when citing them on this or any other board, especially if we are doing so in a positive context.

But if we MUST censor his name, even in the most positive of contexts, then let us do so using his own chosen moniker. Which in this case would mean deleting the period after the C.