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Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!

Vegetable posted:

This:


In addition, if your aim is to get a sense of classic Japanese cinema, watching every film of two directors is hardly the way to do it. Throwing in an Akira or Paprika or Grave of the Fireflies does more to enhance your intuition about Japanese cinema than doing all three of Mononoke, Nausicaa, and Laputa.

I tried to get him to watch Kon, too.

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Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Neowyrm posted:

I tried to get him to watch Kon, too.

Kon is great. He's like some weird anime version of David Lynch.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Anyone have any insight on exactly where The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail falls in the chronology? Wikipedia has both 1945 and 1952 listed, and as far as I can tell from the rather scant article...it was made in '45 but never publicly released until '52? Do I have that right?

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

jivjov posted:

Anyone have any insight on exactly where The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail falls in the chronology? Wikipedia has both 1945 and 1952 listed, and as far as I can tell from the rather scant article...it was made in '45 but never publicly released until '52? Do I have that right?

This is correct. It was made in 1945 but the censors refused to release it until later because it contains "nationalistic imagery" or something in the form of samurai. Make no mistake though, it is not an action film like Sanshiro Sugata.

FWIW it is always grouped with Kurosawa's 40's work, and not his 50's work.

EDIT: Double checking my copy of The Emperor and The Wolf it was banned by the Occupation Forces in Japan for allegedly being "pro-Feudalism".

Raxivace fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Aug 19, 2015

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:

This is correct. It was made in 1945 but the censors refused to release it until later because it contains "nationalistic imagery" or something in the form of samurai. Make no mistake though, it is not an action film like Sanshiro Sugata.

FWIW it is always grouped with Kurosawa's 40's work, and not his 50's work.

Cool, I'll keep it as 4th in line, after Sugata Sanshiro II, then. Thanks!

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



jivjov posted:

Anyone have any insight on exactly where The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail falls in the chronology? Wikipedia has both 1945 and 1952 listed, and as far as I can tell from the rather scant article...it was made in '45 but never publicly released until '52? Do I have that right?

It was made in 1945. August 1945.

Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!

Random Stranger posted:

It was made in 1945. August 1945.

ah

Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!
We're presently watching The Most Beautiful.

I'm interested in this film for cultural reasons; usually, when we see a film from the perspective of "the enemy," it's still directed by someone who does not have that perspective.
This film, on the other hand, was created during wartime by the Japanese, so it's in that way it is distinct; it's actually created from the perspective it's trying to depict.

edit: That was awful.

Neowyrm fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Aug 22, 2015

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


The Most Beautiful Released April 13th 1944, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

I have a whole lot less to say about this one than I did Sanshiro...this is very much, first and foremost, a propaganda piece. Kurosawa's talents are largely wasted here. There are a couple sequences that stick out to me, however. Toward the beginning of the film, there's a marching scene where all the girls of the factory are outdoors practicing their drum-and-fife and there's a very prolonged shot of them all marching past the camera in front of a crowd of onlookers. This did a wonderful job of just showing how huge the war effort was, how many people were involved, and to what lengths everyone was going to contribute.

The other notable sequence for me was when Watanabe was working all night to try to find an uncalibrated lens, and there are a series of shots between the clock showing a later and later time, and the shot of Watanabe herself growing closer and closer. Not the most technically impressive sequence, but it drove home the point of just how much effort and energy was being put into a near-fruitless task.

As a historical curiosity, it was certainly very interesting to see a propaganda film from the perspective of an Axis power (literally containing a line about defeating the evil Americans and British). It really humanizes "the other side" of World War 2. Middle and high school social studies classes, at least in my experience, paint the Axis as being mustache twirling dastardly ne'er-do-wells or frothing slavering monsters. Watching this film was an exercise in realizing that the people on both sides of any war have lives, homes, and families. That said, there were some cliches that really made me think Kurosawa had been tasked with presenting the optics factory as the happiest place on earth. The administrators in charge are just too nice to be believed. They're frequently shown as being more than happy to send workers home on leave, and don't seem overly concerned with meeting quotas or the war effort overall. Maybe that's just a difference between Japanese and American cinema, but I went in expecting the overseers to be in an antagonistic (but definitely not villainous) role. Having the whole factory be a perfect little village of happy people certainly works from a propaganda perspective, but it just feels unnatural.

So overall, my enjoyment of this film was purely academic. I am by no means soured on Kurosawa's work, but I can't see myself revisiting this one ever again.

Up Next: Sugata Sanshiro Part II Released May 3rd 1945, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

jivjov fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Aug 27, 2015

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Yeah, I kind of get the impression that Kurosawa's heart wasn't completely in making The Most Beautiful, as it lacks the stylistic touches of even Sanshiro Sugata. I think he tried to make the film more about the girls' effort than what they're explicitly putting that effort towards (Ultimately supporting an evil cause), but it doesn't really save it from being propaganda. It's not quite as blatant as something like Triumph of the Will, I guess, but still. Kurosawa was also critical of Japan entering World War II, especially the years coming after this, so I think we should cut him some slack when he didn't have complete artistic freedom here.

Takashi Shimura is largely wasted in his brief role, though it is interesting to note that this ended up being the only film of Kurosawa's with a primarily female cast. He's often accused of focusing too much on male characters, and yet we have this oddity at the beginning of his career.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:

Yeah, I kind of get the impression that Kurosawa's heart wasn't completely in making The Most Beautiful, as it lacks the stylistic touches of even Sanshiro Sugata.

Yeah, other than a handful of wipes, nothing really stuck out for me style wise.

After sleeping on it, I can't even remember anything else that I want to go back an append to my review like I did with Sanshiro. I don't think this was necessarily a bad film, it was just a propaganda piece first and foremost before really giving any consideration to being a enjoyable movie.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



Well, you hit the bottom of the Kurosawa barrel. It only goes up from here!

jivjov posted:

As a historical curiosity, it was certainly very interesting to see a propaganda film from the perspective of an Axis power (literally containing a line about defeating the evil Americans and British). It really humanizes "the other side" of World War 2. Middle and high school social studies classes, at least in my experience, paint the Axis as being mustache twirling dastardly ne'er-do-wells or frothing slavering monsters. Watching this film was an exercise in realizing that the people on both sides of any war have lives, homes, and families. That said, there were some cliches that really made me think Kurosawa had been tasked with presenting the optics factory as the happiest place on earth. The administrators in charge are just too nice to be believed. They're frequently shown as being more than happy to send workers home on leave, and don't seem overly concerned with meeting quotas or the war effort overall. Maybe that's just a difference between Japanese and American cinema, but I went in expecting the overseers to be in an antagonistic (but definitely not villainous) role. Having the whole factory be a perfect little village of happy people certainly works from a propaganda perspective, but it just feels unnatural.

Propaganda films everywhere tend to be alike and The Most Beautiful isn't really any different. "If we all pull together and respect the men in charge then everything will turn out just fine." There's no real conflict, no questioning even if the conclusion is that the authority is right. "Why aren't you like the main character?" the films ask their audience. It reminds me a lot of modern Christian cinema which comes from a similar place of propaganda to an audience that's already receptive to it.

In another time and place, with other goals in mind, the factory managers would definitely be in an antagonistic role, but propaganda means that everyone is on the same side and paragons of virtue (or at least the virtues the propagandists want to extol). The exception is when you do get an easily knocked down, sneering strawman villain. Villains in propaganda can't be genuine threats because they might make people question those values. Imagine if there was a girl in the film who was a slacker and went around saying, "What's the point? The US has a dozen times our industrial base and we're constantly losing." Just expressing that thought is disruptive to the goals of the film so the most the slacker could do is say, "I don't wanna go to work today," and then be easily cowed by the virtuous heroine.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Random Stranger posted:

Well, you hit the bottom of the Kurosawa barrel. It only goes up from here!

If this is bottom of the barrel, then at his best Kurosawa is even higher than the top of a mountain. He had to learn before the could get there, though.

Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!

Random Stranger posted:

Well, you hit the bottom of the Kurosawa barrel. It only goes up from here!


Propaganda films everywhere tend to be alike and The Most Beautiful isn't really any different. "If we all pull together and respect the men in charge then everything will turn out just fine." There's no real conflict, no questioning even if the conclusion is that the authority is right. "Why aren't you like the main character?" the films ask their audience. It reminds me a lot of modern Christian cinema which comes from a similar place of propaganda to an audience that's already receptive to it.

In another time and place, with other goals in mind, the factory managers would definitely be in an antagonistic role, but propaganda means that everyone is on the same side and paragons of virtue (or at least the virtues the propagandists want to extol). The exception is when you do get an easily knocked down, sneering strawman villain. Villains in propaganda can't be genuine threats because they might make people question those values. Imagine if there was a girl in the film who was a slacker and went around saying, "What's the point? The US has a dozen times our industrial base and we're constantly losing." Just expressing that thought is disruptive to the goals of the film so the most the slacker could do is say, "I don't wanna go to work today," and then be easily cowed by the virtuous heroine.

Good drat Post.

Schwarzwald
Jul 27, 2004

Don't Blink

Random Stranger posted:

Imagine if there was a girl in the film who was a slacker and went around saying, "What's the point? The US has a dozen times our industrial base and we're constantly losing."

I guess there's a reason that not too many propaganda films have a Rhett Butler character.

Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!
I'm gonna do a Wes Anderson / Quentin Tarantino watch-along double-retrospective after this thread concludes.

I'm hoping for a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup scenario here

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


Akira Released July 16th 1988, Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

And here we are at the first bonus review. And boy is it a doozy.

I've never seen Akira before. My entire knowledge of the film what that its considered a classic, and that Masahiro Sakurai cosplayed as Kaneda once. That's it. Other than the one really iconic shot of Kaneda skidding to a stop on his bike, I knew absolutely nothing. I was blown away. Its been a long time since a movie has 100% completely kept me guessing the entire time through. Toward the last 5 minutes or so, I could see how they were going to resolve things (and that's not a bad thing!) but up until that point I was completely in the dark.

The setting was...bizarre. Its post-World War III, Neo Tokyo is equal parts neon and Vegas-y and shithole slums. Motorcycle gangs run rampant, but are kept in check by an insanely well armed militarized police force. Riots and protests break out in the streets over tax reforms. The Olympic game are scheduled to be held in a stadium built over the top of old exploded Tokyo. This is a world I would love to see more stories set in. Stories that have nothing to do with the plot of this movie, but just other events taking place in 2019 Neo Tokyo.

The imagery of the film is mind-numbingly intense. It starts off tame, with neon buildings and motorcycle taillights reminding me forcibly of Tron...but then we get into giant flesh monster blobs, 2001-esque universe creation, Star Trek: The Motion Picture-esque travels through a weird construct...thing. I'm left feeling a distinct sense of sensory overload.

There's also just a whoooooole lot of outright strange things on screen; the psychic powered kids all appearing like tiny old people, Tetsuo's assembled robot arm expanding wires over himself and stuff around him, scientific depictions of energy patters being circular musical graphs, Tetsuo's hallucinations of stuffed animal constructs...things have a very surreal and feverish cast to them that makes the whole film feel a little bit off-kilter. The soundtrack accents this perfectly, lots of operatic cues that feel both out of place but strangely fitting.

A sequence that really stands out to me is the crazy psychic fight between a remotely-powered Kei and an increasingly deranged Tetsuo. I thought back to Dragon Ball Z, where we're told that all the fights are actually taking place at something close to lightspeed, and only the best fighters can even track what's happening, and to the rest of the world it just looks like some kind of deadly and loud lightshow. Watching that fight felt like being on the outside of a DBZ encounter as an average joe. There's no telling just what the heck is going on there. There's huge clouds of smoke, terrain and buildings are being thrown around like pillows, and throughout it all, fleeting glimpses of supernatural bodies throwing unknowable energy against each other. It really made me feel...small and powerless. Most anime would take the viewer deep inside the fight, showing these two characters smashing each other with cosmic powers..but this kept things on the outside, which feels like a rarity.

A complaint I would like to level against the film, though...a lot of the early stuff with the executive council, the revolutionaries (well, all of them except Kei) etc all feel ultimately ancillary to the plot. While seeing the Colonel at odds with the council made for some great worldbuilding, it didn't seem to serve the main thrust of the plot at all. I can only assume that the original manga, due to its longer format, could spend some more time with the council's backdoor dealings, the Colonel's increasing frustrations with having to kiss rear end and play politics, the revolutionaries trying to overthrow the military complex, etc and make everything feel more important. But as it stands, I would be interested to see a trimmed down cut of the film that minimizes all of that.

Overall, I give this a hearty recommend, but maybe not quite the effusive praise that seems to be heaped upon Akira. The issues with side plots feeling disconnected does make me want to check out the manga though, see how things play out there.

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

jivjov posted:



Overall, I give this a hearty recommend, but maybe not quite the effusive praise that seems to be heaped upon Akira. The issues with side plots feeling disconnected does make me want to check out the manga though, see how things play out there.

If you liked the movie, I would strongly recommend the manga. If I'm not mistaken the movie was being produced before the manga was completed, so some things in the book ended up differently than the movie. They greatly expand on a lot of points, and as a whole it really helps to make the story more cohesive. I would have loved to see the manga turned into an animated mini-series, but doubt that would ever happen.

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

I've seen 16 Kurosawa films so far and liked most of them. I went through his 1940s films last month and started on the 1950s. Ikiru should be the next one. I'm woefully behind on other Japanese classics, though. Only one Ozu (Tokyo Story) and one Mizoguchi (Ugetsu). What are some other essentials by the two? Also, what are some other essentials?

I have my Netflix queue lined up to catch up on Miyazaki since I've only seen My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises (plus the Ghibli productions The Cat Returns and Arietty).

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

Egbert Souse posted:

I've seen 16 Kurosawa films so far and liked most of them. I went through his 1940s films last month and started on the 1950s. Ikiru should be the next one. I'm woefully behind on other Japanese classics, though. Only one Ozu (Tokyo Story) and one Mizoguchi (Ugetsu). What are some other essentials by the two? Also, what are some other essentials?

I have my Netflix queue lined up to catch up on Miyazaki since I've only seen My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises (plus the Ghibli productions The Cat Returns and Arietty).

I'm not a huge Ozu fan, his only film I liked was "Floating Weeds", so others may be able to provide more insight there.
For Mizoguchi "Sansho the Bailiff" and "The Life of Oharu" are musts, and I also really like "Street of Shame".

Other essentials are:

Kobayashi's "Hara Kiri" and "Kwaidan" (wait for the Criterion re-release before checking this one out)
Gosha's earlier films are good, and Naruse is really good, but finding is films is very difficult.

KaptainKrunk
Feb 6, 2006


Ozu:
- I Was Born, But...
- Tokyo Twilight
- Floating Weeds
- An Autumn Afternoon

Mizoguchi:
- The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
- The Life of Oharu
- Sansho the Bailiff

As for other classics, you should check out Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi), Floating Clouds (Naruse), Vengeance is Mine (Imamura), In the Realm of the Senses (Oshima), Branded to Kill (Suzuki), Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara). They're universally praised in their own right and I think they provide a good introduction to the sort of themes and techniques of each director.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


Sugata Sanshiro Part II Released May 3rd 1945, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

And here we come to a direct sequel; something I'm given to understand is very rare with Kurosawa. I'm quite pleased to report that this time there is no big warning at the beginning about how chunks of this film are missing due to censorship or whatever. But we're still in wartime Japan when this film was made, and it is still considered to be a propaganda piece. But thankfully, this one isn't as blatant or terrible about it as The Most Beautiful was. I feel like this time around Kurosawa was much more in control of his own production (although I have read that he wasn't keen on the idea of a sequel to Sugata, and that doing one was by studio mandate), and overall this just doesn't feel nearly as soulless as Beautiful did.

On the character of Sanshiro himself, I mentioned in my review of the first film that I was having difficulty coming to terms with exactly how to feel about Sanshiro, as part of his character development was excised by censors and part of it just didn't resonate with me. This time around I have a slightly different problem. He seems to have regressed since the end of his first film. He seemed very confident in his path and sure of his place in the world...but he's back to struggling with the core tenants of his chosen school of judo and what his fighting means for the world this time around. The progression over the course of just this film feels natural enough, but I just have difficulty reconciling his status between the films.

I have a handful of standout scenes and sequences this time around. When Sanshiro first goes to watch the exhibition match between American boxer William Lister and jujitsu practitioner Kihei Sekine, he ends up viewing the match from atop a staircase, looking down on the ring from above; from a place of judgement. Later, after Gennosuke's brothers come to challenge him, Sanshiro is getting drunk in the dojo, and Yano comes in and start demonstrating judo throws on the empty sake jug. The quick cuts between the jug and Sanshiro's pained face conveyed a lot of anguish. There are a couple instances of fun passage-of-time fade cuts that I enjoyed; one when Sanshiro started training Samonji in judo there is a sequence of fades showing Samonji bowing to his instructors and then cuts to the roster of students showing his progression. The second was when Sanshiro and the priest were meditating together, and there's a fade between the pair meditating and the next morning with a passed-out Sanshiro. Fades like that almost seem cliche now...but seeing them basically pioneered by Kurosawa is neat.

Another cliche making an appearance here is in the discussion between Sanshiro and the priest before the meditation sequence. Sanshiro had taken his own name down from the roster of students after breaking (or planning to break) all of the dojo's rules (drinking in the dojo, fighting for money in the boxing match, and fighting an unapproved duel). The priest goes on for a bit about how he may have broken the written letter of the rules, he was holding true to the unwritten spirit. Its an interesting take on the "loose cannon cop" or "soldier who doesn't take orders but gets the job done" that pops up in so many action movies. But in another callback to the first film, Sanshiro is too stubborn to see things that way at first, and much as when he was clinging to a stake in a freezing pond, the priest tells him that he'll eventually have to make up his mind and come back.

The final duel on the snowy mountain is an interesting contrast to the duel from the first movie. In that one, a lot of the action was obscured by the environment; either the tall grasses or the cuts back to the cloudy sky. This time around, the fight is almost entirely visible. It opens with a middle shot that gets held for quite a while, and even once the initial shot is broken, we see the rest of the fight as it progresses. I almost take this to represent Sanshiro's clarity of purpose; he is committed to winning this duel, to laying to rest his enemy, but not from a place of anger or hatred. Once again, there's a sense of finality and inevitability.

Propaganda wise, I see two different forms of heavy nationalism, one direct and one indirect. The direct is obviously the exhibition match between Lister and Sugata. It almost feels perfunctory in its execution. Much like his fights with Momma and Sayo's father in the first film, Sanshiro absolutely destroys his competition. But its even quicker this time around. He shows up, dispenses a lesson in honorable Japanese fighting, and knocks out his American opponent with a single throw. This is the obvious "keep true to the Japanese spirit and we will triumph over our American foes" propaganda message. The other bit of nationalism, the indirect one, is where I'm not sure if its supposed to be wartime propaganda, or just honest discussion of Japanese spirit. A lot of time in this movie is spent discussing why fights between judo and jujitsu/karate are important, and why Japanese martial arts in general are better than boxing. Either way, its very plainly a pro-traditional-values message, but not nearly as heavy handed as the boxing match.

The one big comedic note once again happens around a fight scene; this time after Sanshiro's victory. I got a good chuckle at him not letting the ref raise his arm in victory, and then tossing the bundle of prize money onto Lister's unconscious body.

The "love story", such as it is, is curiously absent from this film much as it was in the first. Sanshiro and Sayo have a couple of moments together, and he looks back at her in fondness several times (with good musical accompaniment) as he heads off to his final duel, but there's no explicit payoff to their relationship that I expected. Even the first film ended on a high note for them, with them on the train together (although it was stated that she was just seeing him off on his soul searching journey)...but this time around we don't come back to her at the end. I find it curious...but refreshing after so many modern movies making drat sure that the protagonist and the female lead end up together by the end of Every. Single. Movie.

An interesting theme continued from the last film is just how unintentionally long-term destructive Sanshiro is. Between movies, Sayo's father has passed away, and Sanshiro is carrying some guilt for that, presumably feeling that their fight prematurely ended the man's life. Gennosuke is also very nearly bedridden during the events of this film, and this is again attributed to his fight with Sanshiro. Lister is immobile after fighting Sanshiro, and Gennosuke's brother (played by the same actor!) is feverish and in a fugue state after the duel in this film. "Don't touch Sanshiro, he'll get mad" indeed.

This is an interesting contrast to how calm, collected, and even stoic Sanshrio acts. After his street brawl in the first film, his big character trait has been meeting each adversary as calmly as possible. Which I guess feeds into the feelings of inevitability I keep bringing up. If you do touch Sanshiro, bad things will happen. He will take no joy in it, but you will break upon the rock that is Sugata Sanshiro.

Overall, this was not as solid as Part I, but a drat sight better than The Most Beautiful. Sugata Sanshiro did not need a sequel, but even though it was made at studio mandate, it turned out okay.

Up Next: The Castle of Cagliostro Released December 15th 1979, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. That's right, its time to officially hop over to the other side of my Japanese cinema retrospective and watch some Miyazaki. Castle is the one Miyazaki film I've seen before, but I barely remember it. After that though, we'll bounce back to Kurosawa with The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (and a brief sidebar on Those Who Make Tomorrow.)

jivjov fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Jan 8, 2016

Anonymous Robot
Jun 1, 2007

Lost his leg in Robo War I
Castle of Cagliostro is from 1979, though? I dunno if it's just a typo or you're trying to go in chronological order.

Anonymous Robot fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Aug 27, 2015

Wank
Apr 26, 2008

jivjov posted:



Akira Released July 16th 1988, Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
...
Overall, I give this a hearty recommend, but maybe not quite the effusive praise that seems to be heaped upon Akira. The issues with side plots feeling disconnected does make me want to check out the manga though, see how things play out there

Something that Akira is similar to me is the first album that The Prodigy released (Experience). It was 1992 and we were all listening to Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Faith no More etc. Then at a party someone puts on The Prodigy Experience and we are all blown away. We our minds are open to a whole new world of how music can be and indeed a whole different culture of music. Akira was like that. We watched our silly 80s sci fi movies and then BANG Akira came along and just blew everything away. Now listening back to The Prodigy Experience - it's not the greatest album but boy did it make us hair metal loving Australians see a whole new world. (I guess others may say that about Nirvana around that time)

I think Akira does hold up, but in 2015 where anime is a joke and not a exotic wonder it won't hold up as well.

Another movie that channel SBS showed in Australia around the time they showed Akira was Wings of Honneamise. I actually have not seen it for literally two decades but have a fond memory of it. It's probably more a standard movie than something like Akira is but I feel it may not hold up. I don't know how time has treated that one.

jivjov posted:

Up Next: The Castle of Cagliostro ...

gently caress I love Castle of Cagliostro. I wish more movies were like it. There is just a vibe in it that I love. Goddamn perfect movie and the score rocks.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

I dunno, I found Castle of Cagliostro to be a slog to get through. I don't really like Miyazaki in general from what I've seen of his work, though my exposure is only limited to a few films of his.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Anonymous Robot posted:

Castle of Cagliostro is from 1979, though? I dunno if it's just a typo or you're trying to go in chronological order.

Fixed that. I copied over my "up next" line from he previous review. Forgot to change the year for this one.

Samuel Clemens
Oct 4, 2013

I think we should call the Avengers.

Castle of Cagliostro is the best James Bond film.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
I'm amused that everyone's talking about the next film up and not a whole lot is being said about Sanshiro.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

jivjov posted:

I'm amused that everyone's talking about the next film up and not a whole lot is being said about Sanshiro.

Well there's not much to say about Sanshiro II. It's the first movie again but worse for the most part.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:

Well there's not much to say about Sanshiro II. It's the first movie again but worse for the most part.

Well, fair enough I suppose.

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

Yeah, let's get to the good Kurosawa stuff.

Fact is, that I bet only a handful people on this board have seen the early Kurosawa films, and those who have don't have too much to say about them. They are pretty obscure.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Yea Kurosawa is the rare director that seemed to improve with age. Ran is in my top-3 favorite films of his and he made it fairly late in the game.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



Raxivace posted:

Well there's not much to say about Sanshiro II. It's the first movie again but worse for the most part.

Yeah, the biggest point I can make is how blatant the film is with its anti-American themes. Not in a bad way, more in an absurd Rocky IV kind of way. Even Kurosawa's autobiography has barely anything to say about this movie.

Basebf555 posted:

Yea Kurosawa is the rare director that seemed to improve with age. Ran is in my top-3 favorite films of his and he made it fairly late in the game.

Ran is great, but the films around it in his filmography just aren't as strong as Kurosawa was before.

Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Aug 29, 2015

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
To go back to Akira for a second there, the movie covers about the first two volumes of the six volume epic, in very shortened form, and then skips to the ending. To say that it's missing huge important parts of the plot is an udnerstatement. For instance, Akira actually exists in the manga.



It's one of my favorite books and I re-read every few years. I think everyone who likes sci-fi/cyber punk stories should read it.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Random Stranger posted:

Yeah, the biggest point I can make is how blatant the film is with its anti-American themes. Not in a bad way, more in an absurd Rocky IV kind of way. Even Kurosawa's autobiography has barely anything to say about this movie.

Clearly Sanshiro II needed like 45 minutes of training montages set to 80's music, obviously.

And hey I've liked some these movies leading up to Ran. Dersu Uzala and Kagemusha are aesthetic triumphs at the very least.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



I broke open the autobiography again and Kurosawa essentially just writes a page about how cold it was shooing on the mountain, that the guy who played Genzaburo accidentally scared some skiers, he got screwed by the studio on his pay for it, and "Sugata Sanshiro, Part II was not a very good film."

But there is something interesting that occurred around the movie that's worth mentioning since it helps keep the things in context. The month that the movie was released, Kurosawa got married at the Meiji shrine in Tokyo. If you're not familiar with the location, it's the largest temple in Tokyo and is a very popular destination for weddings.

The day after, it was destroyed in the firebombing of Tokyo. Kurosawa never got his wedding pictures as a result.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Random Stranger posted:

The day after, it was destroyed in the firebombing of Tokyo. Kurosawa never got his wedding pictures as a result.

Kurosawa's house was burned down too the day after his wedding. Lost a bunch of a family records, photos, etc.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

Raxivace posted:

Kurosawa's house was burned down too the day after his wedding. Lost a bunch of a family records, photos, etc.

I'm not sure if he ever made a film that served to comment on that, but I've requested a review of a film that does, when it's appropriate.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Apologies for the delay on the next review, the last few days have been filled with computer troubles moste severe, which has been sucking up all of my free time.

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jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Okay, we're back on track; starting Castle of Cagliostro now!

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