Night one recap: no regrets

It's an easy phrase to get stuck in your head: "no regrets for my ______." Apparently, it became a meme in Japanese media for a while after Kurosawa's film, too. Yes, it started late, but I'm happy to report that it payed out handsomely in its exchange for lost REMs. Among other things, it's the first time where we get to see Kurosawa dabbling with editing tricks that I'd describe as "artsy." Again, he did his own editing throughout his career, and his quick edit of Yukie falling down steps reminded me of the artificially rendered "fight" in Breathless, predating the look and feel of the French new wave by many years. This was also the first film in the series that couldn't be easily summarized in a sentence or two. It has a pretty convoluted plot! I was really pulled into its story of student dissidents, and the daughter of an exile college professor, making her way through a life, balancing obligations to herself, her family, and sense of purpose, her country's needs, etc.

Also, I'm taken by Kurosawa's dedication to his pool of actors. The guy who plays aspiring judo master Sanshiro "Chee" Sugata turns up in all the others as well, playing a sexy student radical (and war criminal) in No Regrets, as well as the primary obstacle in the way of the prince's traveling party in Tiger's Tail. He's good, but Seitsuko Hara (the main actress in No Regrets) is the real breakout star. She's going to be in a number of Kurosawa's post-war efforts (later to become famous for her films with Yasujiro Ozu), and I can't wait to watch her develoments! She can really get a lot of mileage out of a 15-second shot of her face looking anguished...lots of fleeting emotions pass over like fast clouds.

Tiger's Tail wasn't a hit with the rest of the group, but I loved it. I loved the music, I loved the ham acting, the "Greek Chorus"-style recitations of the plot in song...it was short, which was probably also a selling point.

Also, from here on our, we're out of the woods in terms of bad subtitles! That really put a rough spin on some of the early films. C'mon, Criterion, step up to the plate...you only need to work out rights for, like, five more films! You can do that.

Anyway, thanks to Phineas for coming out and staying, even through Tiger's Tail. Check the Twitter feed for up to the minute updates!