The Complete Films of Akira Kurosawa

Kagemusha/Ran, live via remote

2008-03-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Geoff

Geoff was sick this weekend, but he watched Kagemusha and Ran from his apartment via live feed. By that, I mean that he rented both films, and via cell-phone global-link hookup, he synced his start times with Stiff-Leg Central's own rigid schedule. His comments on these two films appear below:

=====================

Maybe Kagemusha and Ran weren’t the best two to jump in on. I read in Chris’s write-ups that Kagemusha is often considered a dry run for Ran, and maybe that explains some of the repeated motifs of the two. The ill-fated cavalry charge against entrenched positions, dreams of pursuit by enemies, the failure of real-world shadows to live up to their mythical predecessors, etc. I’ve gone ahead and rented a copy of Ikiru to round out the remote participation phase of this Stiff-Legged adventure, and to guard against forever identifying Kurosawa with the Man with the Flute.

Seriously, it was only regular doses of acetaminophen and chloraseptic that managed to suppress my gag reflex when big-butt Tutsumaru (sp?) blindly stumbled up to the precipice and accidentally dropped the Buddha image over the side. Did AK see that commercial of the Indian shedding a tear as garbage blows across his once-beautiful hunting grounds? But really, when we’re dealing with such epic and mythical productions, I shouldn’t fault steamrolling symbology. Sometimes you just gotta pull that sword out of its sheath and slide it right into your belly. And I’d watch Tutsumaru over and over on loop for an hour just to watch Kaede lick the blood off Jiro’s neck one more time. What’s that on your collar? Lipstick? A little blood?

Was it only me, or did the musical score kind of remind anyone else of music from Star Wars? Like, not the bombastic Darth Vader themes, but the parts when the droids are wandering around in the desert. Simple musical accompaniment – solo bassoon or trumpet or something, punctuated by quick trills on a flute or something. Maybe that’s just me. I’d be interested to know whether that musical style was in The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, etc. Did George Lucas steal that from Kurosawa as well, or did John Williams and Lucas loan out an orchestral sweatshop to Kurosawa? As an aside, I did a little net-searching on what good buddy Lucas was up to at around the time as Ran – turns out he was executive producing the Paul Schraeder-penned Mishima, itself something of an exploration of myth-making and real life. Oh, and he was also producing Howard the Duck.

I’ll have to rewatch the middle third of Kagemusha today or tomorrow – I drifted off to the land of winds and ghosts somewhere between the Noh theater and that dream sequence with the purple and pink backgrounds.

Dersu Uzala

2008-03-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

It was good, from what I could discern. However, I needed to sacrifice this film to the higher power of being rested enough to make it to 3 a.m. yet again tonight. Bits and snatches from a horizontal position on the couch. The assaultive color scheme in the previous film gave way to a beautifully muted tundra palette. There's a big to-do over the Russian-ness of it (obviously, it's entirely in RUSSIAN), but it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Tarkovsky did a Swedish film (The Sacrifice), Woody Allen did a Bergman as well (Interiors). Why can't Kurosawa do something in/from a country so obviously close to his heart? It works on its own merits, even if the theme/plot (the "true man" aka mountain man, aka man of nature, can never feel welcome in "civilized" society) is a bit slight (Herzog did it better with Kaspar Hauser). It's hardly a disgrace, though...I'd dare say it's even worth multiple viewings!

Also, be on the lookout for remote live-blogging from Stiff-Leg regular Geoff, who's watching a remote feed of Kagemusha in Wicker Park. As for the rest of y'all, YOU ARE MISSING SOME SERIOUS SHIT HERE.

Dodes 'Ka-den III

2008-03-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the film settled down quite a bit, giving itself over to a morose yet detailed set of character studies of life at the fringe. Less Tati as time goes on, and more like a sympathetic harbinger for Altman's take on Raymond Carver, Short Cuts. It's pretty grim, and again, color is used in it like an assault weapon, but the individual stories grew on me over time, and for the most part, I was pretty invested in each person's delusional grab for happiness, even if it was nowhere to be found. I guess that's the '70s for you. Good work, sir!

Dodes 'Ka-den II

2008-03-29T12:48:00.001-07:00

Tati.

That's the vibe I was getting on this that I couldn't quite pin down in the previous post. Jacques Tati.

But Tati with mental illness and prostitutes. Therefore, not Tati at all.

Dodes 'Ka-den

2008-03-29T12:40:00.001-07:00

There's something so unsettling about this film, and it's not just that it's the first Kurosawa film we've seen in color. It's the color itself. Ultra-saturated, flat, convervatively-framed. Music that's syrupy...it sounds like the "feel-good" music in a million "foreign films" that folks go to in droves to the Music Box, inoffensive but just "different" enough to feel like exotica. But really, it's the flatness of the picture, the sudden two-dimensionality. I can't believe it's JUST the color. It's the same cold-water rush of horror I got when watching Herzog's Where the Green Ants Dream. Feeling like the best times were behind, and only slight films were ahead.

(this, of course, is not true in the case of either director, but impressions are impressions)

Credit must be given to Kurosawa for dusting himself off after so many letdowns and disappointments, but really, the crazy man walking through the rainbow while pretending to be a train...rather insufferable.

And honestly, WHO WAS THIS FOR? This was supposed to be "light entertainment?" IT'S A CITY OF MENTALLY HANDICAPPED PEOPLE, LIVING IN GARBAGE. Really? You thought this was going to be a big hit? Was this sort of movie all the rage in 1970? I must've missed that.

I want to believe, though, so I'll keep with it.

Red Beard, on the other hand, is beyond reproach. Like Seven Samurai, it's hard to believe how effortlessly three hours go by, or how invested you get in characters with "literary" character traits. Maybe not a life-changer like Ikiru, and certainly not as innovative in terms of structure, but one to take with you on your journey.

Revenge is sweet...and stylish...in The Bad Sleep Well

2008-03-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

Amazing images/conceits in The Bad Sleep Well:

- Leaping into a volcano (?) to cover up corporate malfeasance
- A giant wedding cake shaped like a seven-story office block
- An ingenious car window/tape recorder set-up to reveal the "bad guys" and their interior motives

And there's still an hour to go!

Day 2 complete

2008-03-23T00:36:00.001-07:00

Posted by: Chris

Far too late to do a full recap, but briefly, Ikiru was the movie where you really felt Kurosawa full firing on all cylinders. Even more so than Rashomon. So sez me, anyway. More indelible images throughout...shots, compositions, performances that are hard to forget. Mifune may be Kurosawa's Kinski, but Shimura was, without a doubt, the Bruno S. of the canon, capable of deep, subtle, near-inaudible epiphanies (granted, the metaphor doesn't hold up perfectly, as Shimura was in more of Kurosawa's films than any other actor, including Mifune, and Bruno S. only acted in two films EVER. Still...).

Strap in, folks, Seven Samurai first thing tomorrow! Oh, and congratulations to Phineas, who won a copy of I Live in Fear, and Andrew, who won the Rashomon script book. Nice job, guys! You're ineligible to win any other nightly prizes, but you're still in the running for the Donald Richie book at the end of the festival. C'mon out, everybody! People really DO win at Stiff-Legged Film Festival dot com!

G'night! More soon!

One Wonderful Sunday

2008-03-22T09:58:00.001-07:00

Posted by: Chris

I can't front...this soapy melodrama got to me at times - I can definitely feel for the male protagonist; it's hard not to get that down in down times. Still, I've never thought to address the fourth wall when things got bleak...maybe that's not such a bad idea! If you want Frosty to live/the invisible symphony to become real, CLAP YOUR HANDS! Okay, fine. I went for it....clapped like a bugger. Frank Capra = one of Kurosawa's all-time influences. No surprise.

Now: Drunken Angel! Ringin' in the Mifune Era!

Night one recap: no regrets

2008-03-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

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!

No Regrets for Staying Up Late

2008-03-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

Poster: Chris

It's hard to say if "No Regrets for Our Youth" is really a quantum jump in storytelling and pacing for Kurosawa, or if it just seems like it due to the fact that Criterion did the subtitles, and unlike the prior bootlegs we were watching, they actually spell out comprehensible sentences. Regardless, I'm already sucked in.

Wrapup so far - 2.5 movies in

2008-03-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Poster: Chris

Sanshiro Sugata: It's true...Kurosawa sprang right out of the gate with a lot of invention and originality. Some very strange shots - as Sanshiro agrees to become the follower of the Judo master, he symbolically leaves his shoes behind as he pulls his instructor's rickshaw. Rather than leave that metaphoric gesture alone, Kurosawa shows the shoes in a variety of conditions: laying in the town square, in the rain, being chewed on by a dog (?), stuck to a fencepost, drifting down the river. It's oddly hilarious, awesome, and surely unique. Fight scenes are filmed with gusto, though with a strange bent on what looks badass - lots of tracking shots of how far someone was thrown, cracks in the wall, paper windows falling down on them. The composition in the field for the final battle is epic and overwhelming against the puny human figures - Phineas rightly notes Kurosawa (and all the classic directors)'s restpect and awe for nature - storms, wind, blizzards, rivers. Tarkovsky had that with running water...that respect for elemental nature. As will be the case until at least 1 a.m. tonight, bad subtitling render most films at least 30% baffling.

Most Beautiful: Admittedly, this is war-time propaganda, but it was rather riveting at times, even emotional. Strange to watch women performing tasks (they work at a factory that produces lenses and mirrors for the war effort) that they would probably be doing even if the camera wasn't on them. The ongoing plot of people being sick but begging their supervisors not to tell anyone (they'd be sent home to rest and, therefore, disgraced) is pretty heavy, as is the scene where one woman stays up all night to rebuild a mirror that she broke and that cost $2000 to replace. The scenes of women playing volleyball (moments of levity, moments of unity) were artfully edited, fast shots of women's gleeful faces, jumping and laughing, which again serves to remind you that Kurosawa edited all his own movies (his stint as an assistant director made him a very capable jack-of-all-trades). Subtitling on this one is awful, with the baffle ratio at least up to 40%. Damn you, Mei Ah Laser Disc Company!

Sanshiro Sugata II. Kind of missing this to update, but it's great so far...intentionally and unintentionally hilarious with its broad American stereotypes (fight-happy sailors, drunken spectators) and strange "boxing vs. karate" matches for American and Japanese spectators (as this was shot and released in 1945, one can't help but miss the significance of each and every fight...a clash of lifestyles, really). Sanshiro just pulled the "Kung Fu" gaffe of standing by, dutifully trying not to get involved in the whole sordid affair ("Boxing is no art...like dogs and chickens fighting"), but finally giving in to his anger and whuppin the hell out of American boxer William "Killer" Star. Now he's regretting it. I suspect some further life lessons will allow him to go forward and finish the job.

Fest diagnosis so far: great, but will be drastically improved after we get out of the realm of bootleg DVDs and into movies with decent subtitles, cuz SHIT! There's a lot of uses of the world "Shit!" and unexpected times, and I can't imagine that was okay at a time like this! Also, yeah, let's try to get the baffle factor down to a good solid 5 to 7% or less, cuz this constant "I don't understand what was just agreed upon" feeling after key scenes is getting a little irritating, albeit unintentionally hilarious.

More soon...

Phineas' Favorite Bad Subtitle Translations from "Sanshiro Sugata"

2008-03-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just a small sample of the atrociously translated subtitles from Sanshiro Sugata:

"With weapons not to be teased!"

"Doing this stupid could make the karate down."

"To drop oneself to be with the god."

"I didn't expect you coming!" "No thanks."

"Please laugh at our you age and stupid mind"

Inaugural Post: The complete films of Akira Kurosawa

2008-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Your Host

Hi everyone,

After a surprisingly-long delay, the Stiff-Legged Film Festival Society gets in gear once again with its fourth major event: The Complete Films of Akira Kurosawa. Full festival information can be found here:

http://stiffleggedfest.mbdistro.com/kurosawafest/kurosawafest.htm

This blog has been set up to allow festival-goers to jot down impressions of their favorite, and least-favorite, films. If you've got something to say, jump in! If you're not here, leave a note in the comments about your favorite (or least favorite) Kurosawa film!

Four days and counting....