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!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, March 21, 2008
No Regrets for Staying Up Late
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.
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
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...
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"
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"
"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"
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Inaugural Post: The complete films of Akira Kurosawa
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....
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....
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