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Post by manfromplanetx on Dec 28, 2018 6:39:40 GMT
Kuroi gashû: Aru sarariman no shôgen , aka The Lost Alibi , The Black Book (1960) Hiromichi Horikawa The camera follows forty-year-old office worker Ishino (Keiju Kobayashi) as he opens this outstanding film with a personal introductory narration, happy with his life he feels it almost perfect, he has a solid income and looks to a comfortable retirement future.... The film soon descends into an absorbing thriller, it really would spoil to say any more at all. Even the brief summaries give away far too much , this is a film to watch totally unprepared. All I had was a no frills disc with the title "The Black Book" what a wonderful surprise I got. Written by the much filmed author Seicho Matsumoto and adapted by award winning screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, two fabulous reasons alone to take notice of this little seen gem. The twisting tale is multi layered taut psychological drama directed with creative flare by Hiromichi Horikawa. Keiju Kobayashi gives an amazing double edged performance and deservedly won the Kinema Junpo Award, "Best Actor" . Highly Recommended Classic Japanese Cinema !!
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Post by hi224 on Dec 28, 2018 20:20:29 GMT
Kuroi gashû: Aru sarariman no shôgen , aka The Lost Alibi , The Black Book (1960) Hiromichi Horikawa The camera follows forty-year-old office worker Ishino (Keiju Kobayashi) as he opens this outstanding film with a personal introductory narration, happy with his life he feels it almost perfect, he has a solid income and looks to a comfortable retirement future.... The film soon descends into an absorbing thriller, it really would spoil to say any more at all. Even the brief summaries give away far too much , this is a film to watch totally unprepared. All I had was a no frills disc with the title "The Black Book" what a wonderful surprise I got. Written by the much filmed author Seicho Matsumoto and adapted by award winning screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, two fabulous reasons alone to take notice of this little seen gem. The twisting tale is multi layered taut psychological drama directed with creative flare by Hiromichi Horikawa. Keiju Kobayashi gives an amazing double edged performance and deservedly won the Kinema Junpo Award, "Best Actor" . Highly Recommended Classic Japanese Cinema !! I love black book just watched it a few months ago as well.
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Post by Ass_E9 on Dec 28, 2018 20:33:12 GMT
Yasuzo Masumura ..., Giants and Toys (1958),... I like the opening theme.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Jan 8, 2019 3:57:17 GMT
Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good start to the year, and for my first Japanese viewing of 2019,I decided to view a title manfromplanetx has told me about. Velvet Hustler (aka:Like a Falling Star) (1967) 9 Beaming with colour, co-writer/(with Kaneo Ikegami) director Toshio Masuda continues his collaboration with cinematographer Kuratarô Takamura in giving the Nikkatsu Diamond Guys genre a French New Wave twist. Retaining the precision displayed Red Pier with Goro’s hat being framed in the corner of the screen, Masuda and Takamura make Goro’s time in hiding one lit in delicious Pop-Art candy colours of red, pinks greens and blues bubbling away to a rebellious youthful atmosphere. Closely working with editor Shinya Inoue, Masuda sharply uses side cuts to give the flick a real snap, and swings into the post-WWII optimism with hip song and dance numbers. Stating in the dialogue about Goro being in Kobe, not the usual Tokyo, Masuda takes advantage of the setting and uses it to finely balance the burst of young energy with a Neo-Noir brittleness panning from outstanding extended shots gliding Goro against the imposing backdrop of Kobe, which go down to the stark docklands where Goro looks across the sea to freedom. Expanding on the outline of Red Pier, the screenplay by Masuda and Kaneo Ikegami brilliantly make this one which can wear its own hat proudly,with the writers giving the sweet-appearance of the movie a surprising level of grit in the laid-back dialogue on casual sex from Goro, along with a tightly strung, bitter love. Gliding round the Kobe underworld, the writers throw balls of lively dialogue into an excellent animated mix of Pop-Art gangsters, happy snappy reporters and the looming shadow of dames with doomed love. Finding himself hiding in Kobe with no friends, Tetsuya Watari gives an outstanding performance as Goro, whose chilled rebel without a cause swagger is pinned by Watari with an awareness of being a Noir loner, who is heading out to sea like a shooting star.
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 12, 2019 22:43:04 GMT
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jan 23, 2019 7:45:35 GMT
Two excellent Highly Recommended films from Takashi Miike
Blues Harp (1998) Harmonica-playing bartender Chuji, moonlights as a part-time drug-dealer, he is befriended by a young yakuza boss that he saves one evening in the back alley... A fabulous super charged high octane crime drama driven with a punchy hard rock score often performed live in the grunge club where Chuji works, lots pf twists and turns great music excellent entertainment !! Chûgoku no chôjin , The Bird People in China (1998) Outstanding Magical Film !! tells of a Japanese buisnessman jeweller who is being followed by a yakuza thug, each have been sent by their bosses to a remote Chinese village that mines jade. The pair discover much much more than they ever expected... Breathtaking on location filming, the setting is in a remote village in Yun-nan Province. An inspiring film it is a multi faceted wonderous journey of discovery, of human awakening.. Evocative and imaginative beautifully portrayed touching character drama, laced with some outrageous Miike black humour.
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Jan 23, 2019 10:47:09 GMT
Two excellent Highly Recommended films from Takashi Miike
Blues Harp (1998) Harmonica-playing bartender Chuji, moonlights as a part-time drug-dealer, he is befriended by a young yakuza boss that he saves one evening in the back alley... A fabulous super charged high octane crime drama driven with a punchy hard rock score often performed live in the grunge club where Chuji works, lots pf twists and turns great music excellent entertainment !! Chûgoku no chôjin , The Bird People in China (1998) Outstanding Magical Film !! tells of a Japanese buisnessman jeweller who is being followed by a yakuza thug, each have been sent by their bosses to a remote Chinese village that mines jade. The pair discover much much more than they ever expected... Breathtaking on location filming, the setting is in a remote village in Yun-nan Province. An inspiring film it is a multi faceted wonderous journey of discovery, of human awakening.. Evocative and imaginative beautifully portrayed touching character drama, laced with some outrageous Miike black humour. Miike has been pretty hit and miss for me, I've liked Rainy Dog, his remake of Hara-kiri and Over Your Dead Body. I haven't seen either of the ones you mention. They both sound promising, particularly The Bird People in China.
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Post by Aj_June on Feb 15, 2019 12:36:34 GMT
Highly Recommended the films of Japanese Master, Tomu Uchida his chosen stage name "Tomu" translates .. "To spit out dreams". Hi Planet!
I finally saw my first movie with Tomu Uchida. What a great director, Planet. And I used to think I have seen the best of Japan. My attention span is usually very small and I see movies in 10 breaks but I couldn't stop for a second while watching A Fugitive from the Past (1965). This movie is so vastly different from all the other Japanese movies I have ever seen. There was a light touch of noir in it but I wouldn't categorise it in any genre. Buddhist spiritual elements and the depiction of stories of two unrelated characters through the protagonist was quite unique. The detailed police procedure was done splendidly and different characters repeatedly telling the same story from their own perspectives reminded you a bit of Rashomon. But this is a movie that needs to be seen and felt rather than talked about so I will stop here and thank you for opening up an altogether different world of great cinema. Will be seeing more of your recs from the thread.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Feb 16, 2019 6:30:58 GMT
Highly Recommended the films of Japanese Master, Tomu Uchida his chosen stage name "Tomu" translates .. "To spit out dreams". I finally saw my first movie with Tomu Uchida. What a great director,
Hi there Aj_June wonderful to hear you enjoyed A Fugitive from the Past (1965) & thanks as always for your feedback While I am here, an excellent film recently watched I thought would probably be of interest to you... O-Roshiya-koku suimu-tan , Dreams Of Russia. (1992) Jun'ya Satô . An epic film about a Japanese expedition who become shipwrecked on remote Russian shores, Across Siberia to the court of Catherine the Great, Ii is a fascinating historical drama & cultural clash, a beautifully filmed sumptuous co-production...
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Mar 17, 2019 22:33:43 GMT
Hi all,for the last month or so I've been putting a bit of money aside each week,due to the Arrow line-up for March being the best I've seen from any company for years,with the José Larraz collection,the Ringu set (just arrived n the post today) and Sister Street Fighter collection all being must-buys for me. Trying to decide when is the best time to open the set, wmcclain comments about Lone Wolf & Cub on weekly thread gave me the kick to crack open this set: Sister Street Fighter (1974) 10 Kicking the set off at a high standard, Arrow present a flawless transfer of the first film, with the colours being pin-sharp and the audio remaining clean throughout the various fights. Spinning the series open with a kaleidoscope of Koryu’s fighting moves, director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi & cinematographer Yoshio Nakajima go full-on for a Grind-House ultra-stylised Pop-Art Martial-Arts tale. Splashing waves of red, greens and blues on the screen to create the appearance of a pulp Comic-Book, Yamaguchi gives each gang Koryu faces (who are each given their own name cards!) strange headgear fitting that of end of level bosses in video games. Wisely avoiding any attempt at realistic violence,Yamaguchi makes the action scenes be incredibly animated,from splattering of red paint drizzled on the screen, to rapid-fire panning-shots cleanly displaying each fighting move and Koryu training up mountain tops. Backed by the delicious hard Funk score by Shunsuke Kikuchi, Yamaguchi and Nakajima transform this flick into a dazzling living cartoon, by stepping into the Grind-House with gallons of Dutch angles, the hard-thump of rah-rah sound effects, and lightning fast zoom-ins and slow-motion on Koryu handing out killer moves to the baddies. Setting the series up, the screenplay by Masahiro Kakefuda and Norifumi Suzuki unleash a strong foundation in the mystery of Koryu’s brother disappearance being the force which pulls Koryu towards having to go beyond the law and take on the underworld. Given the lead role after being suggested by Shin'ichi Chiba, Etsuko Shiomi gives an absolutely thrilling performance as Koryu, thanks to Shiomi display a softer side in concern for Koryu’s brother, whilst handing out deadly fighting moves with an infectious enthusiasm for the sister street fighter.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Mar 20, 2019 6:12:48 GMT
Tabi ni deta gokudo , Yakuza on Foot (1969) Jun'ya Satô The 505th Japanese classic film in my collection was a wonderfully entertaining crime action flick, yet another great discovery one that had no image or votes at IMDb ? A small time yakuza boss and two of his brothers travel to bustling Hong Kong where the lively threesome soon get caught up in a tangled international web of hard drugs and the exploitation of young women. Director Jun'ya Satô throws everything into this very entertaining classic film. Starting out in a somewhat silly and playful mood the film's comedy soon dissolves when our protagonists enter the sordid world of heroin trafficking and prostitution. As the deaths mount and anguish grows the tone darkens dramatically, violent action erupts, machine guns blaze. The twisting tale is beautifully filmed capturing the magnificent on location on harbour scenery of Hong Kong and Macao. All of the characters are excellent but it is Tomisaburô Wakayama who really highlights the film as Shimamura gang boss. An exceptionally talented actor, always a commanding performance and also a master comic. We laughed so much early on, the belly button scene is one to never forget !. Director Yoshishige Yoshida adapts Emily Bronte's tale of vengeance and obsessive love in Arashi ga oka , Wuthering Heights (1988). It is a dark tale, set in a stark volcanic landscape the role of Heathcliff is a compelling portrait from Yusaku Matsuda here in this medieval Japanese version called Onimaru, meaning "demon" It was the first period film from the director, a creative and entertaining, version of famous classic of English literature...
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Post by Aj_June on Mar 20, 2019 7:29:06 GMT
manfromplanetx Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite novels ever. I remember when the first time I read it I started imagining myself as Heathcliffe. The novel was simply so powerful and moving. Great to find a Japanese movie adaptation on it. I would be very interested to see this one in future. Thanks for letting us know.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 25, 2019 19:33:48 GMT
Happy 95th Birthday Machiko Kyō!!! Machiko Kyō or 京 マチ子 was born on March 25, 1924 in Osaka, Japan She trained as a revue dancer before entering the film industry through Daiei in 1949. Two years later, she achieved international fame as the female lead in Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon, which won first prize at the Venice Film Festival and stunned audiences with its nonlinear narrative She went on to star in many more Japanese productions, most notably Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu 1953, Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell 1953, Kon Ichikawa's Odd Obsession 1959, and Yasujirō Ozu's Floating Weeds 1959. Her sole role in a non-Japanese film was as the young geisha Lotus Blossom in The Teahouse of the August Moon opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Kyō continued to act through her 80's. Her final role was as "Matsuura Shino" in the NHK television drama series Haregi Koko Ichiban in 2000. In 2017 she was presented with an award of merit at the 40th Japanese Academy Awards. After retiring from film, she moved back to Osaka, where she still resides. Kyō never married, although her romantic relationship with Daiei's president Masaichi Nagata was well-publicized in her native country. Rashomon 1950 Ugetsu 1953 Gate of Hell 1953 Floating Weed 1959 ...and many more.
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Post by Aj_June on Mar 25, 2019 19:46:27 GMT
teleadmThanks a lot for wishing birthday to Machiko Kyō. Wow, she has such a stunning filmography! Ugetsu is a hauntingly beautiful movie that you make a case for being the greatest movie from Japan and certainly among the top 10 from Japan. Have yet to see Odd Obsession but I am sure she delivers a great performance in that too.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Mar 25, 2019 19:58:15 GMT
Thanks teleadm beautiful ... Machiko Kyō .. Mrs. Midorikawa aka Black Lizard , Kurotokage (1962) Umetsugu Inoue
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Post by manfromplanetx on Apr 1, 2019 7:03:02 GMT
Kaze to onna to tabigarasu , Wind Woman and Vagabonds (1958) Tai Kato Two vagabonds, strangers to each other meet when their paths cross while wandering the countryside, they soon become involved in the dramas of a local village, their fated destination. For Ginji (Kinnosuke Nakamura) a young headstrong restless soul bitter memories return, for he was exiled from this community, his home some years before. Older and wiser is wanderer Sentaro (Rentarô Mikuni) who has moved on from his shady past, he has taken to Ginjil and now cares for him like a son... This is a fabulous character driven film, a tale of multi dimensions , a superbly crafted early work from the creative hand of director Tai Kato. Opening with a credit roll musical intro. which surprisingly feels a bit like a mid 60s spaghetti western, each following scene is highlighted with marvellous mood enhancing music. Combined with beautifully composed b&w cinematography there are some scenes infused with an undeniable atmospheric noirish tone. Tai Kato surpassed the stereotyped expectation of the early Toei genre films, transforming these pictures with a dramatic darker undertone and nuanced performances, he became highly influential for those prolific and excellent decades of Japanese cinema the 60s & 70s. Working with low budgets , Kato's skills & cinematic mastery give each of his films a unique edge, every film an entertaining treat. Kaze to onna to tabigarasu a true Classic of Japanese Cinema Highly Recommended !!! Tai Kato circa 1967
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Post by wmcclain on Jun 6, 2019 2:01:51 GMT
Kuroneko (1968), directed by Kaneto Shindo. ( Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko, "A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove"). Another "Angry Ghost" story, like Kwaidan (1964). Hungry soldiers appear like spirits from the woods surrounding the house of a woman and her daughter-in-law. The men's priorities, in order: water, food, rape, arson, murder. They fade like spirits into the woods again, but this is not the last we have seen of spirits. Two ghosts begin haunting Rashomon (1950) gate. They lure lone samurai to their house deep in the bamboo woods, seduce them and toy with them like cats before ripping out their throats with their teeth, also cat-like. They have made a pact with the demon world: the women may return to earth so they can kill samurai. Every samurai in the world. This first half is creepy enough, but it takes a sad turn when their son and husband returns from battle and is given the job of dealing with the ghosts. He too is now samurai. It becomes less of a horror film and more a meditation on love: lost, regained, gone bad. We have an erotic ghost story segment. That ghosts can grieve as well as be angry and want revenge: it suggested to me a plot device that might be used in other stories. Just as our world has its weather and tides, so might the spirit world have movements that bring the ghosts closer to us at times. Some unsettling ghost-world visuals; I particularly like the lighted house moving silently through the bamboo grove like a ship at sea. The score does this thing I have noticed in other Japanese ghost-story films: a creepy-ass percussion that intimates spirit presences which the characters cannot see. Available on Blu-ray from Criterion.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2019 6:55:55 GMT
Kuroneko (1968), directed by Kaneto Shindo. ( Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko, "A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove"). Another "Angry Ghost" story, like Kwaidan (1964). Hungry soldiers appear like spirits from the woods surrounding the house of a woman and her daughter-in-law. The men's priorities, in order: water, food, rape, arson, murder. They fade like spirits into the woods again, but this is not the last we have seen of spirits. Two ghosts begin haunting Rashomon (1950) gate. They lure lone samurai to their house deep in the bamboo woods, seduce them and toy with them like cats before ripping out their throats with their teeth, also cat-like. They have made a pact with the demon world: the women may return to earth so they can kill samurai. Every samurai in the world. This first half is creepy enough, but it takes a sad turn when their son and husband returns from battle and is given the job of dealing with the ghosts. He too is now samurai. It becomes less of a horror film and more a meditation on love: lost, regained, gone bad. We have an erotic ghost story segment. That ghosts can grieve as well as be angry and want revenge: it suggested to me a plot device that might be used in other stories. Just as our world has its weather and tides, so might the spirit world have movements that bring the ghosts closer to us at times. Some unsettling ghost-world visuals; I particularly like the lighted house moving silently through the bamboo grove like a ship at sea. The score does this thing I have noticed in other Japanese ghost-story films: a creepy-ass percussion that intimates spirit presences which the characters cannot see. Available on Blu-ray from Criterion. Loved it. In that collage of photos you'll see my Avatar pic.
Pardon me if you've already said or commented on it (this thread's enormous) but Onibaba and Ugetsu are also both terrific films in the vein of Japanese horror/ghost supernatural. In fact I think the director of Onibaba also did Kuroneko. It's also a film about a woman and her daughter in law fending for themselves during war, but with a twist!
It was the second of these kinds of movies I ever loved, right after Kwaidan.
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Post by wmcclain on Jun 6, 2019 10:38:36 GMT
Pardon me if you've already said or commented on it (this thread's enormous) but Onibaba and Ugetsu are also both terrific films in the vein of Japanese horror/ghost supernatural. I have not seen Onibaba, but... Ugetsu (1953), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It doesn't seem like a ghost story at first. As the tale unfolds, we hear ominous slow drumbeats in the distance, like the footsteps of an approaching doom. Peasant life in wartime: armies need food and conscript labor. Soldiers do whatever damage they want, women are defenseless against them and no one stops them. After the battle the losers are staggering with starvation and the brutality is even worse. One farmer has a pottery business on the side and likes the wartime prices. His brother -- something of a fool -- dreams of being a soldier. They travel and both have success of a sort, but their wives left behind pay the price. Their stories become more like fables and the supernatural appears. Says an eerie noblewoman to the simple peasant she is seducing: "You think I'm an enchantress, don't you?" The truth is worse. Beware when all your fantasies are fulfilled. An image that will stay with me for a long time: the ghost wife sitting up and doing chores while her husband sleeps. As is often the case with Japanese costume films, I feel like I have a window into a storybook, or have moved inside one myself. Criterion DVD with an expert commentary track on the production and people involved. It's very informative, although sometimes I thought I'd wandered into the mock commentary for Blood Simple (1984). Film scholars sometimes drift into spaces meaningful only to themselves. He emphasizes Mizoguchi's perfectionism, and proposes that costume pictures dominate this period because they exported well. If you wanted an international film prize, you made stories of medieval times, not contemporary Japan. That's not exactly true, is it? Other notes: - He says the director went through an "angry feminist melodrama" phase. This is not an angry film, but you can see a residue of that in his compassion for the women.
- Some of that may come from his personal experience: his sister was sold to be a geisha and cared for him when he was a young man.
- He thought of Kurosawa as his great rival, but it's not clear if Kurosawa felt the same or even knew about it.
- Like Kurosawa, he was happy to be done with government wartime censorship, even if it meant being under Allied censorship for a while.
- The Allies allowed more sex content in film. The scene where the potter and his evil noblewoman cavort in a hot spring was especially transgressive, illustrating his degrading enchantment: such hot baths were supposed to be shared public spaces without sexual function.
- These two actors were husband and wife in Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950)...
- ...and the Noh-influenced makeup would later be used in Kurosawa's own spooky tale, Throne of Blood (1957).
- I miss a lot by not knowing about the different historical periods. The magical house of the enchantress is from an earlier, better age.
Quite a lot of damage on the print. I see that a region B "Masters of Cinema" Blu-ray is available in the UK, but from the DVDBeaver screen shots it doesn't seem to have a marked improvement in image quality.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on Jul 7, 2019 17:47:39 GMT
Hi all,after reading about the genre years ago on the old IMDb Horror board,I this weekend saw my first Nikkatsu Roman Porno: Delicate Skilful Fingers 1972 8 Pickpocketing characters who would have been on the wrong side of the tracks in Nikkatsu Noir from a decade earlier, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Tatsumi Kumashiro) director Toru Murakawa slots them all into the Roman Porno genre with ease,via loner Yuki becoming entangled with each two-bit thief on the street, whilst the cops look over her shoulders as Yuki learns the moves of thrives. Told "The ceremony is over" (classy!) the writers neatly blend the skin flick antics with the Noir/crime thrills via Yuki's loss of innocence also leading to a loss of any doubt on staying in the petty underworld. Appearing to be illegally filmed outdoors, (the odd passing member of the public looks into camera) director Murakawa & cinematographer Shinsaku Himeda brush a Pop-Art shine on the flick with rapid whip-pans, reflecting pans along windows reflecting Yuki's view,and closely-held hand-held tracking shots following the pickpocketing in the middle of a bustling city. Whilst offering all the naked Yuki you could want, Murakawa displays a subtle touch to the sex scenes, going from dark shadows and lingering close-ups on Yuki's face, to glossy, glamour showcases for Yuki's love of crime and Taku. Joined by Ichiro Araki as the swaggering with dark glasses, street-smart Taku, Hiroko Isayama gives a terrific turn as Yuki, thanks to Isayama pulling at Yuki's anxieties until they snap to Yuki's embrace of Taku and crime with her delicate skilful fingers.
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