Murray Pomerance exudes: "It is absolutely the case that MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE exceeds JOHNNY MNEMONIC for Takeshi Kitano-ness, for general taste, for meaning, for Ryuichi Sakamoto-ness, for Oshima Nagisa-ness, for the ineffable--and I mean ineffable--and wonderful Tom Conti." MCML is even better when watched against a reading of its print source: THE SOWER AND THE SEED by Laurens Van der Post. Oshima revises book (really a collection of somewhat discrete novellas) by 1) reframing the stories as a single narrative; 2) giving the Japanese characters a historical context (in terms of *Japanese* history), and 3) interrogating the somewhat-admiring- but-still-stereotypical views of the Japanese in the novel. I was always intrigued by the film, but now have a better understanding of what Oshima is doing after reading the book. Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]