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NEWS: Zoologist, Essayist Masanori Hata Passes Away at 87




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Arxana



Joined: 30 May 2020
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:18 am Reply with quote
Wow, first the composer of “Koneko Monogatari,” Ryuichi Sakamoto, passes away, and now its director. That’s quite a morbid coincidence.

I’ve seen the original movie and its American edit “Milo and Otis,” and while the original version has much better music and is more mature in presentation and tone, it’s also harder to watch due to what happens to the animals. There was a lot of controversy around this movie about whether the animals were abused on set, and while nothing was ever proven, the visuals on screen can still be difficult for an animal lover to enjoy. Like the scene of the pug fighting with the bear. Or the cat being harassed by a flock of seagulls before falling off a cliff into the sea. Or the cat trying to climb out of the sea up the cliff slope, only to slip and fall back in.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 11138
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:35 am Reply with quote
RIP Hata-san.
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ranran-001



Joined: 25 Oct 2018
Posts: 534
PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 5:16 pm Reply with quote
Arxana wrote:
Wow, first the composer of “Koneko Monogatari,” Ryuichi Sakamoto, passes away, and now its director. That’s quite a morbid coincidence.

I’ve seen the original movie and its American edit “Milo and Otis,” and while the original version has much better music and is more mature in presentation and tone, it’s also harder to watch due to what happens to the animals. There was a lot of controversy around this movie about whether the animals were abused on set, and while nothing was ever proven, the visuals on screen can still be difficult for an animal lover to enjoy. Like the scene of the pug fighting with the bear. Or the cat being harassed by a flock of seagulls before falling off a cliff into the sea. Or the cat trying to climb out of the sea up the cliff slope, only to slip and fall back in.


It was talked a lot by American film critics at the time, there wasn't even a disclaimer in the credits to assure viewers the animals were safe.

There were a couple of scenes that were also problematic, such as a fish "biting" a cat's tail, a crawfish clamping down on a cat's nostril. Then the "cliff jump," from what looks like a good 15+ feet into the ocean. That scene looked way too real for it to be a fake cat. I wonder if they just took a cat and flung it over the cliff.
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