“Giants and Toys,” the 1958 film that I discuss in this clip, was directed by Yasuzo Masumura, a director of distinctive and idiosyncratic talent. He was a filmmaker of bitter conflict, a poet of pleasure and pain; the vibrant, high-relief plasticity of his images conveys an intense physicality. When he filmed bubbly pop-culture satires—such as this one—he exposed the cutthroat corporate maneuvering and the corrupted exercise of power that went into the making of the eye-catching brain candy of the media—and, for that matter, movies, including his own. (The industry comes in for some barbs in the course of the action.) Even the love affairs in his film are rotted out by the pursuit of money and power and the oppressive weight of tradition. Masumura made war films (I wrote about his terrifying Second World War drama “Red Angel” when it came out on DVD, in 2007) and erotic melodramas; this caustic corporate comedy is of a piece with them.
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Our Local Correspondents
Donald Trump Is Being Ritually Humiliated in Court
At his criminal trial, the ex-President has to sit there while potential jurors, prosecutors, the judge, witnesses, and even his own lawyers talk about him as a defective, impossible person.
By Eric Lach
Our Local Correspondents
Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation
How bots, mercenaries, and table scalpers have turned the restaurant reservation system inside out.
By Adam Iscoe
News Desk
What Harvey Weinstein’s Overturned Conviction Means for Donald Trump’s Trial
The legal issue behind Weinstein’s successful appeal is also at the heart of the former President’s hush-money case.
By Ronan Farrow
Daily Comment
How Columbia’s Campus Was Torn Apart Over Gaza
The university asked the N.Y.P.D. to arrest pro-Palestine student protesters. Was it a necessary step to protect Jewish students, or a dangerous encroachment on academic freedom?
By Andrew Marantz