Ah, the movies… where one pays upwards of $10 per head for the privilege of seeing cinema and the sport of contesting other people for meagre parking… oh, and the joy of paying $3 USD for a small coke, and $5 for a gigantic tub of popcorn laden with artery-clogging amounts of oily butter-flavoured substance? Yummy!

This weekend, the wife and I, and Baby (known around here as HRH or “His Royal Highness”) packed off to see Letters from Iwo Jima, which was playing in a cute little theatre in Brooklyn. Figuring I’d do my part to help reduce my carbon footprint (without necessarily making al-Gore the richer for it) … we decided to give Metro-North a big wad of our cash instead, and took the train into the big city (NYC).

As has become the case lately with even the simplest outings - we ran a few snags…

Now, keep in mind that since HRH the Baby has joined our happy family, any sort of outing has come to seemingly involve a level of logistical planning rivaling a NASA moon shot:

Binkies? Check.
Spare change of clothes for HRH the Baby? Check.
Stroller? Check.
Sippy cup and/or bottle with fresh nipple? Check.
Diaper Bag (with daipers and A&D ointment and emergency formula mix, and chewing toys, ad inifitum…?) Check…

Indeed, no more simply hopping in the ol’ beater and chugging off to the station. Yet, it is enjoyable to know that HRH the Baby is safe and snugly in his car seat, slumbering away.

When I get behind on a scheduled event, I tend to make up for it in ways that are not always frought with benefit. Such as speeding, or getting sufficiently scatterbrained in trying to get caught up, that I start ignoring common-sense stuff I ordinarily can keep on top of:

Things like just barely missing our scheduled train… Fortunately, we built in a fudge factor for this, since Metro North trains run roughly hourly on the weekends. The extra hour of waiting allowed us a walk in a nearby park where we spotted what I believe was a peregrine falcon:

At least, I thought it looked like a Peregrine. Mrs. Seeker noted that the bird’s plumage was quite dirty, and she thought it might be a “homeless” bird. I’m really not sure what the distribution of Peregrine Falcons are in our area, but I speculate that she might be right in that the bird definitely appeared out of her element.

Aside from missing the train, my scatterbrainedness really didn’t hit full stride until we reached Manhattan proper, where I nearly got myself and HRH run over by a cab as I attempted a crossing of a city street whilest the traffic had right-of-way. (Note to self: I am not as fleet as I used to be in dodging traffic in a NYC crosswalk, and much less so when pushing a stroller!)

And there was the getting lost in the underground caverns of the subway station at Times Square looking for my connection to the #2 Train (something I ordinarily can do blindfolded)

And when heading back home, getting on the bus going the wrong way.

And ultimately losing a $20 Metrocard (subway pass)… somebody is getting a free ride somewhere at my expense, should they find my card.

Needless to say, Mrs. Seeker was plenty cranky at my carelessness and was not at all hesitant to point it out, especially toward the end of the evening.

Lesson learned:

“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.”
— Proverbs 21:5, KJV

I reckon next time I’ll go out with prayer instead of complaining about my poor timing and ill-keeping of schedule… God is reminding me that for even for something mundane like an outing to see a movie, “apart from Christ, I can do nothing” (John 15:5)

As for the movie itself, it was well worth the hassle and the travel (it apparently was a limited release in the US, which surprised me considering that it was the companion film to Flags of Our Fathers).

Whereas Flags… depicted the story of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers (or their photo-opped replacements) from the US point of view, Letters from Iwo Jima (released in Japan as 硫黄島からの手紙 Iwo Jima kara no Tegami) depicted the Japanese point of view.

It covered the memes of “War is Hell” and the overall futility of it quite well, whilest showing the Japanese combatants to mirror many if not all of the same emotions that all soldiers feel when under arms, and when under fire — down to Private Saigo (played by J-Pop “Johnnies” star Ninomiya Kazunari) complaining about digging out trenches, to the squabblings of the general staff (in particular, it touched on the government’s cover up of the loss of most of the IJN Combined Fleet at Leyte Gulf and elsewhere in the Marianas, as well as the intra-service rivalry which in practice, was quite a hindrance to any coordination between the IJN and the IJA).

I’ve always been a fan of Watanabe Ken, who was notable in his role as the titular Dokuganryu Masamune, or “The One-Eyed Dragon” - a NHK Taiga Drama from 1987 about the Sengoku Period warlord, Date Masamune (1567–1636). His performances in American productions really have not brought out his full acting ability, largely due to his lack of native English fluency (although he has a very keen memory for learning lines in English, he does not currently speak fluently) until his role in Iwo Jima. I won’t touch Last Samurai, which while a cool “samurai flick”, makes for a poor representation of the event it is based on (Satsuma Rebellion of 1877) or the Batman movie he did (ugh).

Memoirs of a Geisha was also good, although his screen time was a tad limited, and his script left a little to be desired IMHO. But, he really shines in Iwo Jima, where we see him as a truly empathetic leader, especially where he butts against the “party line” thinking of a few of his staff, including Lt. Ito (played by Kabuki performer Nakamura Shidō, who played admirably as a gunnery chief in Otokotachi no Yamato, and the bumbling town fool Takimoto Sutesuke in the 2004 NHK drama Shinsengumi! ) and Admiral Ōsugi, who is a real-life IJN personality of some import (I think he survived the war and served some time as a war criminal).

Lest I give away too many details… I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie. Well worth the $10, or if you are willing to wait another month or two, worth slating it for your NetFlix/Blockbuster delivery.