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OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

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    OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

    A quick search on OTF brought up only 3 or 4 mentions of Kurosawa's name (1 of which was by me). Is the search function really broken, or is OTF immune to the genius of his atmospheric sparseness?

    Throne of Blood, man. Throne of Blood.

    #2
    OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

    I think its just that everyone knows. You'd end up with a thread going...

    "Seven Samurai is really good isn't it?

    Yes

    Yes

    Yes, howabout Sanjuro.

    Oh thats good as well"

    I mean there is a lot to talk about but I just don't feel able to contribute much in a critical discussion about any artform. I really do enjoy the threads where people who can, do.

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      #3
      OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

      26 threads from the old board.

      A genuine genius.

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        #4
        OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

        Five other Kurosawa films to see:

        1) Ikiru

        A bureaucrat with stomach cancer who fights to give purpose to his life by establishing a children's playground. Tender and heartbreaking.

        2) The Living Fortress

        His first anamorphic film. A brilliant funny energetic fantastic cinematic romp. Thoroughly ripped off by George Lucas for Star Wars. Including the originals of R2D2 and C3PI0

        3) Ran

        His version of Lear (his second Shakespearean adaptation- the first is Throne of Blood- both transposed to mediaeval Japan) which he considered his best film. What magnificent use of colour!

        4) High and Low

        Power and betrayal at the National Shoe Company- based on an Ed MacBain novel

        5) Dersu Uzala

        An eastern Western about a tribesman who guides Russian cartographers in Siberia. One of the most beautiful landscape films ever made.

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          #5
          OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

          JV is the OTF go-to-guy on Kurosawa

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            #6
            OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

            Echoing all of the above, and especially Ikiru, which is delicate and tender without a hint of mawkishness.

            I'd add Yojimbo, the same wandering samurai character as in Sanjuro but a tougher, tenser, nastier film with a grim sense of humour, a classic town-gone-bad story subsequently much copied. Mifune is just brilliant in it.

            And Kagemusha, epic and human at the same time, and startlingly splendid to look at.

            And sod it, yes, Seven Samurai is as good as everyone says it is.

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              #7
              OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

              Yeah, 'Ikiru' is a staple of mine for the 'Films that make you cry' threads.

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                #8
                OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                Aha. I remembered that we had some on the old board but didn't realise it was quite so many. A number of the mentions in those threads though are passing reference as opposed to discussions of the films or the man himself.

                Nefertiti2 means the Hidden Fortress, I'm sure.

                I came across a great essay on Throne of Blood recently, I need to dig it out and post the link here. I vaguely remember the Guardian recommending it as Kurosawa's greatest piece, even though he was criticised by some Japanese for his focus on out-moded forms of living.

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                  #9
                  OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                  yes The Hidden Fortress of course. Ikiru mean Living and I amalgamated the two.

                  A fair introductory article and list of Kurosawa resources is here

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                    #10
                    OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                    The thing with Kurosawa is how he was master of just about every human emotion. I mean, he did Ikiru, with a guy dying of cancer wanting to use his remaining time and love of living to give a children a new playground, to go along with the villain of Stray Dog, who was about as terrifying a psycho as there ever was (the heel in High and Low wasn't any better.)

                    To use a modern hiphop term, he knew how to keep it poppin'. The characters popped, the scenes popped, the plot popped, the photography popped. Not a second was ever wasted, not a performance was ever wasted, and everything you were showed was absolutely essential to the understanding of the film.

                    Over the years, I've come to see High and Low as the one. That's the one where he was operating farther than he was capable, going farther than he could go, and the one where he put together everything he learned into one piece. The final scene is so twisted and agonizing, and hits notes that were never thought possible yet were so obvious to the human condition.

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                      #11
                      OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                      This review articulated well a number of points I observed, and gave some great detail and context to the theatre styles used:
                      Throne of Blood: Shakespeare Transposed

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                        #12
                        OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                        No mention of Rashomon yet? That has got to be Kurosawa's finest scenario. In any case it's hard to put a top 10 together. Even his lesser-known films like Dodesukaden are excellent.

                        Great timing for this thread, the Japanese consulate in Montreal is sponsoring a comprehensive retrospective with 26 of his films (in print) to be screened in August. I do a weekly radio segment on film and AK is the upcoming subject.

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                          #13
                          OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                          Kurosawa, marvellous. Indeed, I was so blown away by Seven Samurai that I didn't go to the cinema for a while as I wanted it to be the last film I saw!

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                            #14
                            OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                            I've been revisiting a lot of his films this month, the 35mm AK reels have been making the rounds between Montreal, NYC and San Francisco with the 100th anniversary retrospectives held in those locales. The last two I caught were from the drifitng ronin series, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. I guess Yojimbo ended up setting the mold for modern westerns, Sergio Leone adapted it with Clint Eastwood (in For a Few Dollars More IIRC). He pretty much ripped off Yojimbo, and upon seeing it Kurosawa wrote Leone a letter saying he thought it was a great movie, but that it was HIS movie! Leone ended up giving him royalties but he was also very proud of the fact that AK thought his version was great.

                            Sanjuro was the more interesting of the two I thought, there were many great elements in the movie, like how a lot of the action and gore was taking place in the Japanese garden; beautifully shot scenes, a lot of still beauty amidst the gore. And much like with Yojimbo, some nice touches of humor throughout. The female characters (kidnapped wife of the chamberlain and her daughter) were great, counterbalancing the warrior-like masculine nature of the movie. In both movies Nakadai makes a great villain and counterpart to Toshiro Mifune.

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                              #15
                              OTF Repertory, Akira Kurosawa

                              The exchange of ideas between Kurosawa and peers wasn’t one way though. Kurosawa modeled Yojimbo on westerns that had gone before, John Ford was the major influence.

                              I frequently forget which one is which out of Yojimbo and Sanjuro, so I’m grateful for the clarifying distinction! I’d probably go for Sanjuro as well. I don’t know if it’s less dark than Yojimbo but it has more humour, the princess and her mother characterize the opposite extremes to the violence and rashness of the small samurai group. The end is great too, “you’re the most treacherous man I’ve ever met”, hah!

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