Tonight, the American Film Institute Nation Theater (a mighty big name for what is a tiny room tucked into a corner of the Kennedy Center) starts its month-long tribute to the film collaborations of Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa. The festival starts at 6:30 tonight with showings of Rashomon and The Hidden Fortress.
But there are other wonderful Kurosawa films, like **Dodes’kaden, Kagemusha, ** and Ran that exhbit Kurosawa’s existensial, yet humanitarian cinematic vision. Moreover, Kurosawa is one of the handful of directors who are acknowledged as vital influences on the generation of directors who came after them.
So what are your views on Kurosawa, how do you think his artistry influenced other filmmakers, and are any DC Dopers planning to attend? I’m going to see all 12 films.
Well the fact that Seven Samurai is my favourite film should give you some indication of what I think of Kurosawa. He has had an enormous influence on western film-makers ( I mean film-makers from the west, not just makers of westerns): The Hidden Fortress influenced Star Wars, Seven Samurai inspired The Magnificent Seven and Yojimbo was remade as A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing and this is only to consider films whose plots were directly taken from ( or influenced by) Kurosawa films. His style inspired many other films and film-makers.
As well as the above-mentioned films, Ran ( a version of King Lear), Throne of Blood ( based on Macbeth), Rashomon and Stray Dog are also excellent ( not all of them feature Mifune).
In Japan ,though, Mifune was regarded as a commercial film-maker and was never taken as seriously as Ozu or Mizoguchi.
I have to admit that both Seven Samurai and Rashomon left me somewhat underwhelmed. Not that they were bad movies but I didn’t find them the masterpiences I had expected. Maybe I will give them a second go some time.
Mifune is the actor who plays the bandit in Rashomon, right? I found his performance (as well as many of the others) rather over-the-top though that may have been the style of the time. I found the ending of Rashomon quite moving though.
I recently saw a documentary all about the life of Akira Kurosawa, how he got his start directing films, and what his influences were. He was truly a spectacular artist, and his films rank among my very favorite. Toshiro Mifune was an explosive, scene-stealing actor, simmering with masculine energy. I miss him.
Here’s a somewhat obscure Kurosawa film: The Lower Depths, based on a Maxim Gorky play. I don’t know why it’s not more popular, because it’s funny, tragic and uplifting, and stars Toshiro Mifune in his typical robber/hero character. One of my favorites.
Akira and I share a birthday (or at least we did). I did a report on him for a class long ago. Have always taken the chance to see his films when I could. I have a bunch on tape that I have only see a handful of. I prefer his later work, as the style of the earlier ones (over the top acting in the kabuki tradition) is not up my alley.
Really enjoyed “Dreams” and “Kagemushi” (sorry about the spelling!)
Also, I believe “Rashoman” was remade in the west as “The Beguilded”.
Akira Kurosawa’s childhood nickname was “kanbeto-san” (Mr. Crybaby).
(sorry about the spelling again!)
As is typical of the AFI, the films that need the least exposure get the most attention. These are among the easiest to get a hold of on video/DVD and are staples for most rep theater schedules. Now if they did an Ozu or Mizoguchi series, then maybe more people would understand why they’re his artistic equals (at least). Heck, even an entire series on pre-Rashomon Kurosawa would be nice, not just a couple of titles.
Still, if you’re going to see one on the Big Screen, see High and Low since his use of the 2:35 frame is still quite remarkable.
No, Rashomon was remade as The Outrage, with Paul Newman playing Mifune’s role as the bandit. It also featured Lawrence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Howard da Silva, and Edward G. Robinson. Unfortunately, it sucks, both as an English-language remake and as a movie in its own right.
The Beguiled is a Clint Eastwood Freudian melodrama set in an all-girls school in the post-Civil War Old West.
Neither of those links work for me right now, and I’m pretty certain this post is going to be devoured like my last–several–attempts were. So let me take this opportunity to say that I am the monkey fuck-god incarnate of Toshiro Mifune and you’ll see me there this afternoon at 2pm. Please don’t offend me if I’m with a woman–she’s unacquainted with my sensitive side.
Another good Kurosawa/Mifune film is Tengoku to Jigoku (Heaven and Hell). Unlike many of their other films, this one is set in modern Japan. A kidnapper tries to take the young son of a millionaire industrialist (Mifune), but takes the son of his chauffeur instead. The boss sacrifices almost everything he has to try and save his employee’s child. It’s quite an impressive perfomance.
The film is also notable for featuring a young Tsutomu Yamazaki, who would later go on to star in Tampopo, A Taxing Woman, and most of Juzo Itami’s other movies.
High And Low was supposed to be the inspiration/source material for the Ron Howard flick Ransom. Haven’t seen the second flick to compare, but H&L is great, intense, and beautiful to look at. I would love to see it (and any other Kurosawa film) on the big screen. Now I wish I still lived in Arlington.
The scene in H&L where Mifune is in the shower scrubbing his head while trying to deal with the pressures and tensions of the situation he’s in is perfect. The water flying off his head and the trademark Mifune growl/shout express his rage and frustration better than words ever could.
To make a film like that and something as laidback and fun as Sanjuro around the same time, shows how great these two were together.
Actually, Ransom doesn’t resemble H&L in any way outside of that a rich father must face his son’s kidnapping. Promising movie that ends terribly.
However, one of the first episodes of the TV series The Equalizer used the exact same plot of H&L: wrong kid (son of servant instead of rich kid) taken because of switched hats. Naturally, with Robert McCall in the equation, things end a bit differently.
Wow. I saw Stray Dog tonight and I have to say I was both baffled and impressed.
The picture jerked me all sorts of ways, from police procedural to noir crime story to samurai honor wandering, and then into the traditional “you killed my father/brother/uncle/mentor!” revenge tale–and then straight away from it. There was so much going on in that film that I can’t explain it. And at the same time I chuckled couple of times when I probably shouldn’t have, the flat-footed monolingual caveman that I am.
There were triumphs of cinematography, such as the entirely white-clad baseball crowd, which were virtually intercut with blurry closeup scenes which were unabashedly corrected in mid-shot. There were plot meanderings which made no sense to me, and yet it came to a satisfying conclusion. Cool stuff, though I can’t say I fully understood it, and I can’t say that all the kinks and ruffles were intentional. This is why I love Kurosawa, and Mifune, for that matter. What an excellent treat.
I think there are very few filmmakers who have what can best be described as a “holistic” vision of the world and what they want to do in it. As a consequence, when you watch their films, you cannot help but come away with the impression that the film-maker was in great harmonious control of the product he was creating. Kurosawa is definitely one of them . As many others have posted, “High and Low” is an intense experience. I have seen few films as ‘complete’ as “Ran”. One (poor) way for me to describe such film-making is thus: Life consists of a large number of diverse molecules. As individuals, we can only view Life through these molecules. Most often, film-makers use sample (dummy) molecules to attempt to mimic the Life they want to portray. This comes off as incomplete, untrue and sometimes even plain pretentious. But, there are a rare few who can create Life without the direct use of combining molecules. Something like the synergy concept whereby you can sense the strong reality on the screen however fictionalized the actual story is. I have found much similarities between Kurosawa and (India’s) Satyajit Ray in regards to portrayal of this Life’s completeness.
I just thought of something else. Does anyone have the interviews collected in Hitchcock/Truffaut?
In that book, Alfred Hitchcock describes a scene that he always wanted to film and never did, involving a closeup of drops of blood falling onto a wildflower. I’ve always remembered that part because I figured some clever director would come along and slide that scene into another film.
Imagine my surprise when I actually saw that shot last night, some twenty or more years before Hitchcock expressed his wish to film it.
I don’t have the book readily at hand. Can anyone scare us up a quote of Hitch’s vision? I’d particularly like to know if we can determine whether or not he’s impishly describing Kurosawa’s own scene, or if he came up with the idea independently.
Even though I’m pretty familiar with it, I’m considering Throne of Blood tomorrow night at 8:15. It’s a good showtime for me because I’ll be nearby, on foot without the $12 parking to worry about, with enough time to get nice and lubed up beforehand and probably with enough time to catch the Metro home thereafter. Anyone care to come with?
Cheap drinking suggestions within staggering distance are welcomed–maybe somewhere in Watergate?–although sunset with a Heineken or four on the KC’s deck is always a nice experience.
This is starting to become more of a monologue than a thread, but I figure someone out there might be paying attention, and if I can throw some news your way, it’s worth it.
Tonight I saw a window of opportunity and went to see I Live In Fear. It was some heavy shit, I tell you.
Perhaps because of the gravity of the subject matter, I was constantly reminded of something Ingemar Bergman might have tangled with. It does seem to have some psychological ties to Wild Strawberries, although I can’t put a finger on it. Kurosawa as usual walks on eggshells, tracing a delicate path that sometimes shows his classic cinematic flair, and sometimes seems to blend so perfectly into the story that the director is invisible.
And Mifune. Where to start? He must have been about thirty-five when he did this film, yet he seamlessly portrays an elderly person, mainly through his stature and facial expression (and maybe a little padding), with what I think was a minimum of makeup. You think the guy was good with a sword? Wait 'til you see him with a fan.
Mifune also seems to have a little bit of fun with the audience by intentionally laying things on a little heavy at first, but one by one his humorous traits drop by the wayside until we finish with an utterly convincing and wrenching portrayal of a broken old man. It’s one of those roles where the actor or actress seems to be possessed by another soul.
But it is a sad film, very sad, though lightly peppered with moments of humor. (A classic understatement which I hope was no mere accident of translation: “Your methods are problematic.”) The conclusion is both thoughtful and foreboding, but I fear that it’s one of those films that now sends a different message than it was originally intended to send. Still, the message is powerful and tragic, and this is one film I’ll not soon forget.
Go see this one if you can; it’s really quite worth it.
