It's an old axiom in cinema that the cheaper the literature, the better the film; because the imaginary process of reading collides with that of seeing, films based on good books can only disappoint. Only the best film directors meet the challenges of adapting great literature to film-preserving the author's vision and passion in that of the director, and the reader's imagination in that of the viewer. When it works, it works beautifully, as shown in this selection of Japanese films based on literary sources.From Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights transposed to medieval Japan by Yoshishige Yoshida, to Banana Yoshimoto's wildly popular contemporary novel Kitchen interpreted by the equally contemporary filmmaker Yoshimitsu Morita (Family Game); from a 1940s novel, Lightning, by Fumiko Hayashi, who wrote about women's oppression, transformed by the master of the shomin-geki (working-class) drama Mikio Naruse, to Kenzaburo Oe's masterful parable about Japanese xenophobia, The Catch, brought to the screen by Nagisa Oshima, film directors seek their literary counterparts, to share their vision and their voice. Our series is based on the series Literature to Film, curated by Kyoko Hirano at the Japan Society, New York. We wish to thank Kyoko Hirano, Japan Society, New York; The Japan Foundation; Kawakita Memorial Film Institute; Kowa International; Oshima Productions; Daiei Co., Ltd.; Nikkatsu; Seiyu, Cine Saison, Sepia Productions.Friday April 3, 1998