|
Post by manfromplanetx on Aug 23, 2020 9:50:44 GMT
Botan Dōrō 牡丹燈籠 The Peony Lantern is a Japanese ghost story (kaidan) that is both a romantic and supernatural tale, a popular ghost story it is one of the most famous in Japan. Essential elements of the original plot involve making love with the dead and the subsequent consequences of initiating a romantic relationship with a ghost… The story was inspired by Chinese ghost stories didactic in nature, containing Buddhist moral lessons on karma, they first appeared in Japanese literary culture in the 17th century. Japanese author San'yūtei Enchō published a revised version in 1886 which has been the subject of much artistic interpretation. Getting back to Director Satsuo Yamamoto's 1968 version Peony Lantern, it is an outstanding tale, I had forgotten just how good this film is. With his seasoned & assured direction Yamamoto laces the famous story with multi themes and establishes great depth of character; an eerie atmosphere throughout defines the underlying tone. Main protagonist Hagiwara Shinzaburo (Kôjirô Hongô) is a caring soul, a respected and dedicated teacher. Pressured into an unwanted marriage with his brother's widow, Shinzaburo reluctantly is forced to flee his family home. On the first night of the Obon Festival honouring the spirits of one's ancestors, an old woman & a young ethereal beauty appear from the darkness. Illuminated with a peony lantern in hand, they present themselves before the lonely teacher. Overwhelmed at first by their forwardness, Shinzaburo soon becomes bewitched by their attachment & is charmed by Otsuyu’s company. He hears in disbelief, after much close contact, that his two visitors may not be of this world… Highly Recommended !! ghostly accompaniment ! ...
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on Aug 30, 2020 18:23:52 GMT
Hi all,this weekend I've been watching Suzuki in the 70's. A Tale of Sorrow (1977)8 The lone cinema release by him in a decade spent blacklisted by the industry, (he successfully sued Nikkatsu studio for wrongful dismissal) directing auteur Seijun Suzuki reveals he has not lost his swing from the surrealist disembodied golfing opening sequence. Expanding on a motif driven in Our Blood Will Not Forgive (1964-also reviewed), Suzuki spins the sports cars of the rich with Japanese New Wave stylisation, splashing back-screen projection in the chic open-tops,tracking a speeding car from long off in the distance wide-shots, which slam into a slow-motion of distorted screams. Making it rather clear in the final shot his feelings about pushed into doing TV work, Suzuki gloriously takes his unique Pop-Art styling to a shimmering level of excess befitting the consumerism golfing society from the brash green pitch which Suzuki swings on with razor-sharp match-cuts, to the brightly coloured backdrops exposed in excellent long tracking shots by Suzuki dipping into the consumerism lining the walls.Picking up a club from the Manga by Ikki Kajiwara, Suzuki's regular collaborator Atsushi Yamatoya interestingly places this adaptation between their genre creations,and the oncoming epic surreal mood-pieces. Yamatoya superbly shaves at the Sports genre in Reiko Kashiwagi's (played with a alluring flare by Yoko Shiraki) transformation from model to sporting pro, which Yamatoya hits with a hole in one into a violently excessive socialite society, where vapid TV shows play in the background as Kashiwagi becomes increasingly submissive to losing all that had made her stand out as a individual,who has now swung into a tale of sadness.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on Aug 30, 2020 18:27:10 GMT
The Fang in the Hole (1979)10 Forced into having to accept the few scraps of offers to work on TV which came his way, and handed a bright lime coloured wall/backdrop which stays on screen for the majority of the film, director Seijun Suzuki fires a shot at the limitations of the TV Movie with a blistering opening sequence which rubs close to the stylisation of the Giallo genre, thanks to the brash red, overlapping bullet shot dissolves and manipulation of film speed that Suzuki drenches his murder set-piece in. Making the hole backed by Kazuo Sugita's shimmering Ennio Morricone- inspired Jazzy score, Suzuki unveils a impressive inventiveness in emphasising the positives of the low budget, from the moving of set dressing as if it was on stage creating a theatrical, surrealist ambiance,to the long ghostly final panning shot,where the lone sound of rain is broken by demonic laughter. Loading up Togura's paranoia, Yoshio Harada gives a gloriously flashy turn as Shida, whilst Makoto Fujita grinds Togura down,with thick Film Noir loner, (a major type of recurring character in Suzuki's works) dread at having fired a shot into the unknown. Taking a bullet in a run time of 46 minutes,the screenplay by Atsushi Yamatoya & Takao Tsuchiya unload a compact Giallo mystery, powered by Togura's curiosity to unearth Shida's former riches,but a mistake which he can't stop slipping through his fingers, causing fangs of despair to be sunk into Togura. My updated Suzuki rankings: 1:Tokyo Drifter (1966) 2:The Incorrigible (1963) 3:The Sleeping Beast Within (1960) 4:The Fang in the Hole (1979) 5:Our Blood Will Not Forgive (1964) 6:Branded To Kill (1967) 7:Capone Cries a Lot (1985) 8:Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (1963) 9:Zigeunerweisen (1980) 10:Voice Without a Shadow (1958) 11:The Flowers and the Angry Waves (1964) 12:Smashing the 0-Line (1960) 13:A Tale of Sorrow (1977) 14:The Boy Who Came Back (1958) 15:Kagero-za (1981) 16:Eight Hours of Terror (1957) 17:Born Under Crossed Stars (1965) 18:The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass 19:Teenage Yakuza (1962) 20:Yumeji (1991) 21:Tokyo Knights (1961) 22:The Man with a Shotgun (1961)
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on Sept 6, 2020 18:42:37 GMT
Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I was browising Shudder, & spotted the site had a film Man had mentioned. For anyone who would like to see all 4 films in this outstanding series, (use a VPN to get on US version of the site!)you can currently get a free 30 trial with the code DOUBLETOASTED -you can cancel anytime,the remain free trial days will remain active. I was wondering manfromplanetx if you picked up on what the theme song was paying tribute to? The theme song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8SJmlcA76QThe song it pays "tribute" to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2GvUvaDy4Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song 7 (6 and a half for the film,a extra half a star for "that hat!" Tracking Nami making her final prison break after director of the first three Shun'ya Ito had left the series all wrapped up, co-writer/(with the returning Hiro Matsuda and Fumio Kônami) director Yasuharu Hasebe & cinematographer Hanjiro Nakazawa struggle to give the title a unique identity, instead taking a mix and match approach to what Ito had done across the trilogy, from the sleazy WIP mood of the first, to the ending tailing the surrealism of the second. Whilst this path does leave to some eye catching stylish sequences, (plus a cheeky opening song lifted from Branded to Kill (1967-also reviewed) and a great rumbling synch score from Hajime Kaburagi,they each crack with a atmosphere of being from past glories, rather than a fresh new beginning. Aiming as the closer to Nami Matsushima tale, the writers disappointingly make clear the low on fuel status of this entry, by keeping Nami on the sidetracks for the majority of the film, with the writers emphasising the actions of Nami's old classmate, whose run-ins with the cops as he keeps Nami safely in hiding,leads to Nami being kept off screen,and to be given little involvement in the main plot. Entering walking towards the camera wearing "that hat" for the final time, and saying only a handful of lines in the whole film, Meiko Kaji gives a extremely expressive turn as Nami Matsushima,whose scars from the past three films are cast across her face by Kaji, who pulls at the tears,and the increasingly isolated state she is in,as Nami unleashes the final scorpion sting.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 18:49:26 GMT
Having only seen one and a half* (co-director on Uma) he had made,it was time for me to grab some items off the shelf & say cowabunga to Kurosawa. Run! Sanshiro Sugata (1943)7 Later saying that he looked back at his first chance at solo directing as one "I simply enjoyed it. I went to sleep each night looking forward eagerly to the next day's shooting, and there was absolutely nothing painful in the experience.” co-editor/(with occasional collaborator Toshio Goto) writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa lays out the canvas for major motifs which would run across his credits. Reuniting with cinematographer Akira Mimura after he worked on Kurosawa’s first co-directing film Uma (1941), Kurosawa gives the Judo fighting set-pieces a real crunch,with rolling whip-pans and edge of the seat push-ins in the final round between Higaki (played with a dastardly relish by Ryunosuke Tsukigata) and Sugata (played with beaming determination by regular collaborator Susumu Fujita.)Whilst yet to draw his distinctive blood spray, Kurosawa heightens Sugata’s mastery of deadly Judo skills with bellowing gusts of wind matching each of his moves,and rough-edge screen-wipes slicing into each level of self-discovery made by Sugata. Finding Tsuneo Tomita’s novel so exciting that he woke up studio head Nobuyoshi Morita in the middle of the night to ask him to buy the rights,and later claiming that he wrote the adaptation in one night, the 17 minutes of footage cut by the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces banning any mention of “chuukou" (a type of loyalty and devotion to one's superiors and blind obedience to orders, associated with Kamikaze pilots at the time) leads to the screenplay by Kurosawa having an unsurprising choppy tone, as Sugata’s comes of age in his fight of self-discovery.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:01:59 GMT
The Most Beautiful (1944).
“Now,In a battle of material might,the more material you have,the more material is emphasized.”
5 out of 10.
Marching onto the screen with an “Attack and destroy the enemy” opening title card, the screenplay by writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa lays the propaganda on thick, as the women workers request for the factory bosses to raise their demand for a increase in production quota to be higher then the original 50% increase ordered,being met by dialogue of all the women and the bosses saying that females are too weak to match the 100% production increase their male co-workers are asked to do (who are presented as silent macho types, who do the job with ease,no questions asked!)
Not raising a murmur about the workers getting an increase in pay or better working conditions,Kurosawa has the main romance of the film,be a love of keeping the war machine rolling, pulling over-ripe Melodrama from Watanabe breaking down at the fear of she and her co-workers not hitting their production target for a war they are blindly loyal towards (with even a broken foot not slowing a worker down from showing she remains faithful to the war effort.)
Starting a major trend he would continue with,in the cast and crew living (and working) in a real factory called Nippon Kogaku in Hiratsuke, director Kurosawa (who also met his future wife, actress Yoko Yaguchi on the set) & cinematographer Joji Ohara drill a militarism atmosphere into proceedings.
Kurosawa’s distinctive screen-wipes land on wide-shots of the factory workers,giving them the appearance of a army marching forward on the production line,backed by the brass army score from his regular composer of this period Seiichi Suzuki ,as the factory workers declare that the most beautiful thing they see,is building for the war.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:04:00 GMT
Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)
6/10.
"Boxing is not fighting."
Kicking off his loose adaptation of Tsuneo Tomita’s novel with Sugata beating up an American sailor, the screenplay by editor /writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa dodges the coming of age sports drama of the first film, to instead deliver full-on propaganda punches, unleashed in quick-fire dialogue about how boxing is a dirty American invention, and that Sugata must protect the purity of his judo mastery.
Completed just 18 days before he got married to Yoko Yaguchi, (co-star of his earlier film The Most Beautiful (1944-also reviewed) and later stating he only made the movie because the studio were demanding a sequel, (some parts of the film industry never change!) Kurosawa reunites with cinematographer of this era Takeo Ito, and slices pass a surprising lack of screen-wipes, with lively action set-pieces.
Continuing to expand of his eye for shooting in real locations, Kurosawa & Ito give the boxer V judo match a fight night atmosphere of whip-pans round the ring,and swift wide-shots of the crowd on their feet watching the match. Kurosawa spills out this white-hot mood to the great frosty final duel against a snow-covered back-drop,where Sugata’s screams cut through the cold air like a knife, ( Susumu Fujita did the fight under mountains of real snow barefooted, leading to his feet going numb during filming) as Kurosawa closes his first sequel.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:10:08 GMT
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945)7.
“May my senses be purified.”
Halting production after listening on set to Emperor Hirohito announce on the radio that Japan was not going to be on the winning side of the war,and later having John Ford (then a Navy lieutenant commander) visit the set once production re-started,and have photos taken with his fellow film maker.
Limited to just one set, writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa & his regular cinematographer of this period Takeo Ito emphasize the positives, and make major expansions on Kurosawa’s recurring themes. Set entirely outdoors (but all shot on set) Kurosawa unleashes his distinctive screen-wipes on Minamoto and his gang in stylish wide-shots pinned on the loyalty shared between each disguised member of the group.
Whilst treating the group attempting to cross the border secretly seriously, Kurosawa brings humour into his work for the first time, with snappy push-ins on the porter (played with glee by Kajiwara) getting increasingly suspicious that the monks are not all they seem. Centring his first films on loners being up against the odds, the screenplay by Kurosawa adapts Nobumitsu Kanze & Gohei Namiki’s play into an examination of group loyalty.
Wisely keeping the hour long runtime to a straight-line Men on a Mission set-up, Kurosawa cuts open general Yoshitsune’s stealth plans to cross the border,up to the loyalty values of each samurai, (a major theme he would explore) with Yoshitsune (played with a sharp cunning by Hanshiro Iwai) battling to gain the trust of the porter,and at the same time teach the more impulsive-minded of his fellow samurai to hold the line and work as part of a team,as the porter treads on a tiger’s tail.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:16:30 GMT
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)10.
“Flowers of the knoll, blazing crimson red.”
Sharply contrasting the war propaganda of The Most Beautiful (1944-also reviewed) editor/ co-writer/(with Keiji Matsuzaki and future regular corroborator Eijiro Hisaita) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa teams up with his regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai for the first time, and makes a huge expansion on his recurring motifs.
Offering brief glimpses to the rioting, Kurosawa & Nakai zero in on the personal impact, rather then the political canvas, with Kurosawa displaying an increasing procession in his editing, with jagged wipes landing on an awkward reunion round the dinner table with Yagihara and Noge.
Continuing to build on his love of filming in the outdoors, Kurosawa places Yagihara (played in the first of two team-ups with Kurosawa by the mesmerizing, expressive Setsuko Hara) in the middle of the political, social,and military criss-crossing turmoil, via beautiful dissolves and overlapping fades landing on close-ups of Yagihara becoming drawn to Noge against the backdrop of the industrialised university.
Kurosawa steps back from the university, in long panning shots down rugged terrain, where Yagihara finds the freedom she and Noge (played with a burning firecracker passion by Kurosawa’s regular collaborator Susumu Fujita) had been grasping for, in the stilted rice fields.
Previously keeping his narratives straight-forward, the screenplay by Kurosawa and his first collaboration with his regular writer of this period Eijiro Hisaita, (with both being joined here by Keiji Matsuzaki) brings a noticeable shift towards setting the movie across multiple time periods, which would lead to the multiple perspectives of Rashomon (1950-also reviewed.)
Featuring a sombre sequence marking the attack on Pearl Harbour, the writers use the jumping of time periods to take a revisionist view of Japan from the early ‘30’s-to the mid ‘40’s, with the 1933 Kyoto University Incident and the killing in 1944 of Hotsumi Ozaki, ( The only Japanese person to be hanged for treason under the “Peace Preservation Law” after being found to be an informant of Soviet agent Richard Sorge.)
The writers thread these real events into the intense personal drama of in the eroding of freedom,which Noge stands against in anti-militarist protests,and Yagihara spends her life fighting knee-deep (in the rice fields) as a poor underdog, for the idealism of freedom she and Noge held in their youth.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:21:53 GMT
One Wonderful Sunday (1947) 10.
“This is the kind of world where you need dreams the most,you can’t live without them,it’d be too painful.”
The first of his works to have dreams be a major element of the dialogue,and reuniting with the co-writer straight away,for their second,and final team-up : Drunken Angel (1948-also reviewed) co-writer/(with Keinosuke Uekusa) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa followers the revisionist look at the country in No Regrets For Our Youth, with an examination here of the post-war state of Japan.
Book-ending the film with trains, the screenplay by Kurosawa & Uekusa drive in for a superb,up-close trip with Yuzo and Masako, as the despairing, broken Yuzo (whose personality touches on the grim outlook in society, from a defeated country ) has a brief encounter with Masako, whose sense to find light in the darkness, and to hold onto the hope of her dreams one day becoming a reality,perfectly acts as a balance to Yuzo’s more down-beat view, and also captures the spark of optimism appearing in the post-war years.
Leaving the couple with just a handful of hope before the ending gives them a pocketful of miracles, the makers turn this wonderful Sunday into a neo- realist one,with the couple facing the challenges of helping street children, finding an exit from misleading pricing almost leaving them out of pocket, and ticket tout gangsters, (some things never change!) with the writers ending their travels in a mesmerizing fantasy symphony of hope.
Stylishly bringing his distinctive screen-wipes between the couple with Masako, (played with a heartfelt passion by Chieko Nakakita,who had appeared as “Lady” in No Regrets For Our Youth) sliding the shutters across a window in order to block the sight of Yuzo (played with a down on his luck earnestness by Isao Numasaki,who was only 37 when he died in 1953.)
Kurosawa & his regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai dig up an earthy Neo- Realist atmosphere of outstanding hand-held panning shots following the couple,and long tracking shots down the crumbling, filled with rubble streets, which become drench with Kurosawa’s distinctive pelts of rain and merciless gusts of rain,as Yuzo decides to take on the ticket touts,with the hope of giving Masako an optimistic composition, on a wonderful Sunday.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:27:54 GMT
Drunken Angel (1948)9.
“But strays always have their reasons.”
Making such an impact in what was then his only 4th credited film role that the script got re-written in order to give him more screen-time, Toshiro Mifune gives a powerhouse performance as Matsunaga, thanks to Mifune burning a ragged, Noir loner rebellious streak, with an at his wits end anxiety, fuelled by the overwhelming awareness that death is waiting for him.
Bringing out a tasty odd couple vibe to the relationship, fellow Kurosawa regular collaborator Takashi Shimura gives a terrific turn as Dr. Sanada, who gives Matsunaga medical advice with a sawn-off bluntness, which Shimura combines with Sanada wrestling in his drunken state over how close he should align himself to Shimura’s broken world, whilst continuing an attempt to cure diseases that are rotting his community from the inside.
Working with co-writer Keinosuke Uekusa for the second and final time, the screenplay by co-writer/directing auteur Akira Kurosawa continues to expand on the social realistic aspect of their earlier One Wonderful Sunday (1947),with Dr.Sanada cutting through the thick haze of booze to starkly gaze at the poverty and desperate scrambling for cash that has infected the crumbling post-war society of Japan.
Along with this being the first time he has directed Mifune, Kurosawa also takes his first sip of Film Noir,with the writers brilliantly reflecting the despair of society,with the tuberculosis-suffering Matsunaga,who battles on as a lone Noir warrior (a major theme in Kurosawa’s works) against the tightly-knitted gangsters, who with their back-handers and ruthlessness are increasing their occupation of the streets, (with the US occupying Japan when this was made.)
Reuniting with cinematographer Takeo Ito for the final time after they had first worked together on his (co-) directing debut Uma (1941-also reviewed) Kurosawa begins a new era,with his first collaboration with regular composer Fumio Hayasaka (who was only 41 when he died in 1955,of tuberculosis) who brings out a thrilling knife-edge atmosphere to Matsunaga getting on the wrong side of the gangs, with Kurosawa’s unique gusts of winds and pelts being backed by a thunderous Noir hit from Hayasaka.
Whilst taking jabs at the US with a cheeky Jazz club sequence (a Musical number!) and a cesspool where new threats emerge from the wasteland, as the city continues to be submerged deeper in it, Kurosawa builds his recurring motifs on a rich Film Noir atmosphere, slashing at Matsunaga’s disorientated state with razor-sharp screen-wipes landing on close-ups of his agonised face, which Kurosawa cuts down with panning shots running through the long shadows lining the side streets,towards the drunken angel.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:34:17 GMT
The Quiet Duel (1949)7.
“When people speak secretly,sometimes you can hear the truth.”
Lashing the hospital doors shut with his distinctive gusts of wind and heavy rain pounding the hospital roof, with Godzilla (1954) composer Akira Ifukube having a lone, heart beat drum thump in time, co-writer/(with Senkichi Taniguchi) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa & cinematographer Soichi Aisaka get under the knife of Dr. Kyoji with Kurosawa’s unique screen-wipes cutting deep into zoom-ins on anxious face.
Whilst keeping the majority of the film confine to one location does create a detached,closed-off atmosphere, Kurosawa reflects Kyoji (played with a great rough-edge gravitas by Toshiro Mifune) keeping his illness secret, with excellent, distorted panning shots holding the audience, and those who want to be most close to him, from getting to enter Kyoji’s personal space.
Building on Dr.Sanada treating Matsunaga for tuberculosis in Drunken Angel, (1948-also reviewed) the adaptation by Kurosawa and Taniguchi of Kazuo Kikuta’s play, never fully departs from the stage-bound origins,with Kyoji’s quiet, painful battle with syphilis after getting it from a patient, being one where as the years go by, (a flexibility of time lines being a recurring motif of Kurosawa) he closes himself off to feelings of friendship or desire,as Dr. Kyoji faces this quiet duel alone.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:37:56 GMT
Stray Dog (1949).10.
“You’re as slippery as the eels on the menu here.”
Looking back years later at the first film he made to have a runtime of over two hours, the film maker was surprisingly harsh on the movie, calling it "Too technical" ,with his overall view of the title being one which had "All that technique and not one real thought in it."
Despite the criticism he later gave it, co-writer/(with regular collaborator Ryuzo Kikushima in their first team-up) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa closely works with his regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai, and his future regular chief assistant director Ishiro Honda (whose work here led Kurosawa to saying “I'm often told that I captured the atmosphere of postwar Japan very well in Stray Dog, and if so I owe a great deal of that success to Honda.") to bring together all the themes and motifs which had been building piece by piece across his credits, into a smoking hot Film Noir.
Filmed in the real slums of Japan,Kurosawa targets Murakami with his distinctive screen-wipes which wipe away any sense of calm wrapping around Murakami,whose search for the gun with fellow cop Sato fires superimposition, dissolves, and perfectly composed tracking shots,that take the duo deep into the underworld.
Previously having displayed a sharp eye for using loud gusts of wind and bullet like hits of rain to heighten the tension in the set-pieces of his work, here Kurosawa brilliantly makes the weather a prominent element across the entire film.
Kurosawa and Nakai cover Murakami’s (played with a great brittle restlessness by Toshiro Mifune) search for his gun with the scotching hot white light of the sun pushing him to boiling point,which ignites a Film Noir atmosphere, as Kurosawa lines the streets with a criss-cross of deep shadows and strains of light from the sun.
Detailed in Stephen Price’s superb book Akira Kurosawa: The Warrior’s Camera that the film was inspired by Kurosawa being a fan of Georges Simenon’s detective novels, the screenplay by Kurosawa (who first wrote the script as a novel) & Kikushima brings the depth of novel characterisation in the Noir loner anxieties of Murakami.
Continuing to build on his major theme of examining the crumbling post-war society of Japan which Kurosawa had first touched on in No Regrets for Our Youth (1946-also reviewed), Kurosawa & Kikushima superbly weave the Noir crime tale with an unflinching dive into the broken, crime-ridden streets, where Kurosawa begins to explore the idea of people being able to find personal power,and a new responsibility for their own actions, from out of the rubble,that Kurosawa would continue to dig into across his future credits.
The writers cleverly make the loss of a gun captures Murakami’s disconnection to fellow cop Sato (played with a great dichotomy bluntness by Takashi Shimura) and the loss of his links,in a post-war society,where he finds himself as now being nothing more but a stray dog.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:43:59 GMT
Scandal (1950)8.
“We used to distinguish clearly between right and wrong,at some point we forgot that distinction.”
Poured from criticism of the US in Drunken Angel (1948-also reviewed), directing auteur Akira Kurosawa reunites with regular corroborator Ryuzo Kikushima for a screenplay which takes a sarcastic aim at the Americanism seeping into post-war Japanese journalism, with the sharp-suited hacks boosting how they have no need to print the truth,due to an awareness that the more salacious stories they print, the more the public eat them up.
Looking back later at the work, Kurosawa said that one of his goals with the work was to examine "The rise of the press in Japan and its habitual confusion of freedom with license. Personal privacy is never respected and the scandal sheets are the worst offenders."
Kurosawa continues his major theme of Stray Dog (1949-also reviewed) of investigating people having a new responsibility for their own actions in a explosive courtroom final, where the power of the presses actions are laid bare, and the lawyers strike each other with doubts on the nature of truth (which Kurosawa would continue to expand on in Rashomon (1950-also reviewed))
Coming hot off the press with his distinctive screen-wipes darting across the headlines, Kurosawa works for the first of two times with cinematographer Toshio Ubukata to go behind the headlines, with excellent, distorted panning shots in the newsroom, reflecting the blurring of the truth that the hacks create.
Whilst treating the suffering Ichiro and Miyako (played by a wonderful, increasingly agitated Toshiro Mifune and Shirley Yamaguchi-who holds Miyako’s head high with dignity,as every camera is jammed in her face) experience from the press seriously (and a character having tuberculosis,being an illness first featured in Kurosawa’s work in Drunken Angel (1948-also reviewed)) Kurosawa departs from the style of his past work,by going for a noticeably more playful tone, with stand-out sequences involving the singing of "Auld Lang Syne." & "Silent Night",which falls silent,when Kurosawa goes for a close-up in court,that uncovers the scandal.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:49:17 GMT
Rashomon (1950)10.
“I have not seen so many men getting killed like insects.”
Ending Scandal (1950-also reviewed) with a courtroom set-piece, editor/co-writer/(with debut scriptwriter/future regular collaborator Shinobu Hashimoto) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa is joined by River of the Night (1956-also reviewed) cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa in placing the audience in the position of judge, who with each of Kurosawa’s distinctive screen-wipes are presented with differing versions of reality,all linked by the characters talking directly to the camera/the unseen/silent judge,to make the case to the viewers that their version of reality is the truest one.
Unleashing a grand storm in the opening for the first time since The Quiet Duel (1949-also reviewed),Kurosawa gets in his element, by closely working with Miyagawa to build an immerse atmosphere from the elements, with strobes of natural light, ( done by being reflected off of mirrors,to make it more visible on film) which elegantly captures the spotty thin line between measured reason and impulsive darkness, which Kurosawa ends, by having the woodcutter display the power of personal responsibility, (a major theme in Kurosawa’s work) break the sun from out of the darkness.
Displaying since the decades-spanning No Regrets for Our Youth (1946-also reviewed)a fantastic skillfulness in threading time-shifting periods, Kurosawa & Hashimoto ignite their collaborations with a spellbinding start.
Detailed on Donald Richie’s terrific commentary the Kurosawa said that one of the reasons he made the title was because “ The source of the movie is about relative truth, but I wanted to make a film about relative reality.” , the writers superbly lay out in the court the relating view of reality presented by each recollection made,where the drastic differences that rise to the suffice,widen the scope of each perspective.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:53:44 GMT
The Idiot (1951)8.
“Dreaming? It sounded more like you were dying.”
One of the first titles they put out on DVD, Masters of Cinema present a very good transfer,with an informative intro from Alex Cox and a detailed booklet.
Working after Scandal (1950-also reviewed) for the second of three times at Shochiku studio, (there would be a decades long gap due to the fallout of this title) the passion project of by editor/ co-writer/(with regular collaborator of this period Eijiro Hisaita) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa is unintentionally turned into a contrasting piece to Rashomon (1950), due to the true reality of the two film, 265 minutes (by far the longest film he would have ever done) vision Kurosawa had for his passion project, being chopped down against his wishes by the studio,with all the cut footage now appearing to be lost.
Separated into two parts,the studio scissors leave their most prominent mark on Kurosawa & Hisaita’s adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky novel-where long walls of text attempt to cover the cracks made from serve cuts to the footage (a tactic studios still use for “Troubled” productions.)
The blunt cutting from the studio sadly leaves the intense drama Kameda (played with a sensitive expressiveness by Masayuki Mori) experiences after being freed from a mental hospital he has been held in since WWII, (the devastating aftermath of post-war Japan being a major theme in Kurosawa’s credits) and entering in the middle of the doom-laden, traumatic relationship between Takako (played by a magnificently raw Noriko Sengoku) and the abusive Tohata (played with a loose cannon menace by Toshiro Mifune.)
Later saying that out of all his works,this was the one he got the most questions in the post about, Kurosawa brings the icy drama from Russia to Japan via working with a snowy backdrop for the first time since his (co-) directing debut Uma (1941-also reviewed) which in refine long panning shots begins to melt as Kurosawa & cinematographer Toshio Ubukata (the second,and final time they worked together) land on despairing close-ups backed by regular composer Fumio Hayasaka.
Previously having adapted a play into The Quiet Duel (1949-also reviewed),Kurosawa’s ambition for an as direct as possible from the page to the screen adaptation,builds a perfect environment between the stage and the screen,as Kurosawa hangs the fraught drama Kameda has with Taeko and Akama in wonderful long, extended takes,that are framed in poetic depth of field wide-shot, as love and snow melts in the hands of the idiot.
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 22, 2021 19:59:25 GMT
Ikiru (1952)9.
“I realise what they say about the nobility of misfortune is true, because misfortune teaches us the truth.”
After having broken the 4th wall first by having characters speak to the off-screen judge/audience in Rashomon (1950-also reviewed) co-writer/(with regular collaborators of this era Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni ) directing auteur Akira Kurosawa & his regular cinematographer Asakazu Nakai continue to break the wall down, with a brisk opening narration, which gently opens up the hollow selfishness of business running on futile bureaucracy (the corruption of modern businesses being something that would become a major theme in Kurosawa’s works.) and the limited amount of time Watanabe has left in his life.
Separating Watanabe’s life in two distinctive halves, Kurosawa & Nakai stay in step with Watanabe via ultra-stylised dissolves which gives him a ghostly aura, reflecting no one being able to get a full sighting of this fading figure rejecting the established code of relationships (which would become a major theme in Kurosawa’s works.)
Bringing right to the front in Watanabe’s life a major theme which had started in Stray Dog (1949-also reviewed) of people discovering a personal power from new responsibilities, the writers brilliantly build on Watanabe breaking away from the suffocating bureaucracy he has spent his life working in in a striking non-linear fashion, by taking the multiple perspectives of Rashomon (1950-also reviewed) into an experimental montage, where fluid altering to the points of view and jumps in time,which stops co-workers,family and the audience from establishing a definitive vision of the truth behind Watanabe’s last days.
The lone time he had the lead role in a Kurosawa title, rather than co-starring, Takashi Shimura gives a magnificent performance as Watanabe, whose sombre tone from his terminal illness is transformed by Shimura into a rousing spirited mood to live what life he has left to the fulle
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 26, 2021 2:34:41 GMT
Hi all,two days ago,this very rare,neat Japanese Comedy Drama appeared on YouTube,with Eng Subs made by the uploader! I think you would both find it fun manfromplanetx Fox in the Snow Hanamuko no negoto (1935)7. "I'm selling sake,not snake oil!" www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhaPZdD2fxEReleased over the New Year holidays after Hanayome no negoto (1933) had been a crowd pleaser, director Heinosuke Gosho reunites with cinematographer Joji Ohara and enters the married household with a blissful, glossy atmosphere on panning shots towards Yasuo muttering in bed, which fold out into stylised editing from a fade to black matching a camera flash,and a screen-wipe being pulled along the opening of a curtain. Unable to get a moment to themselves as everyone on the street pokes their noses through the fence to gawk at the couple, Akira Fushimi reunites with Gosho for a script which takes playful jabs at the suburban life, with the parents of Yukiko and Yasuo (played with a breezy charm by Hiroko Kawasaki & Kazuo Hasegawa) calling for their divorce, after learning of an unusual sleeping routine shared by the couple.
|
|
|
Post by manfromplanetx on May 26, 2021 22:34:43 GMT
Looks great ! Many Thanks to you MDF, is that you the uploader ? welll done ! I have just learnt how to download a film to computer and then to disc so can watch on the big screen, exciting viewing opportunities ahead . I like the Japanese film between the wars, they give a great relaxed insight to the times. I have enjoyed other domestic comedy films from Heinosuke Gosho notably The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (1931) Happy Classic Viewing to you...
|
|
|
Post by morrisondylanfan on May 27, 2021 1:19:30 GMT
Looks great ! Many Thanks to you MDF, is that you the uploader ? welll done ! I have just learnt how to download a film to computer and then to disc so can watch on the big screen, exciting viewing opportunities ahead . I like the Japanese film between the wars, they give a great relaxed insight to the times. I have enjoyed other domestic comedy films from Heinosuke Gosho notably The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (1931) Happy Classic Viewing to you... Hi Man,I hope you are doing well and hope you enjoy Hanamuko (I'm not the uploader- I'm sadly not skillful enough,I still don't know how to convert a download to disc!) If I may just go to modern Japanese cinema for a moment. I tonight went to see Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (Wiki: The highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all time, the highest-grossing anime film and the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.) and had an awesome time. The audience was the largest I've seen at a screening (UK has a 50% max capacity) since I watched 1917 in Jan 2020. The film is a mix of wonderfully off the wall Horror, the heroes journey Adventure, and tugging at the heart Drama (I heard a fellow audience member say she had cried 3 times as we were leaving.) The first season is on Netflix, and although I've only seen 5 of the 26 episodes, I found it easy to get totally caught up in the sparkling, colorful animation. Highly recommended to be seen on the big screen.
|
|