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jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Current plan is to watch One Wonderful Sunday tomorrow (seemed thematically appropriate...). I know at least one goon told me this was one to look forward to, so I'm rather excited.

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jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


One Wonderful Sunday Released June 25th 1947, Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

What an interesting film. I honestly don't know exactly what to make of it, because I can't think of anything I've seen that's quite like it. One Wonderful Sunday quite literally takes place over the course of a single day. A Sunday date between two young lovers in Occupation-era Tokyo.

Once again, we have a Kurosawa film that is connected to the war. But, also once again, it is another different take on the war. It's not pro-Japan propaganda, it's not taking place during the war itself, it's not even overtly anti-war....it's just a look at how being through World War II affected the daily lives of those living in Japan. Housing is hard to find, lawful employment likewise. Basic goods and services are viewed as excruciatingly overpriced and of subpar quality. Life is not a dismal hellhole...but there's a near-literal mountain of small frustrations.

On the one hand, this film's slow pace sometimes threatened to lose me, but on the other, it felt very true to life. Spending a day with someone, even a cherished loved one, does not guarantee an action packed day of non-stop excitement. There's travel from place to place, and plans that don't pan out, and simply not having enough money to do everything you want to do. But throughout it all, Yuzo and Masako attempt to make the best of things. One of the other 'true-to-life' things about this film was that they traded off several times the roles of comforter and comfortee. Yuzo overall is the one feeling depressed about his poor lot in life, and Masako is the big dreamer that always tries to keep things positive...but the two switch this dynamic at a couple of key moments. After a fight at Yuzo's apartment, he is left to the task of cheering her up, and throughout their various date activities Yuzo is frequently the comedic one, helping to get to best value out of each and every one of their few remaining yen. And then at the climax of the film, they both end up comforting each other, as Yuzo conducts a phantom orchestra for Masako, but then needs her help to not feel so bad about what he sees as a pathetic attempt at entertaining her.

Speaking of the climax...the breaking of the fourth wall was a shock to me. In my experience, only modern comedy films would think to directly address the audience in such a fashion. While I get what Kurosawa was attempting to do, the attempt came off as hokey and forced rather than an earned emotional climax. While I don't know how accurate it is; IMDB trivia suggests that theatrical audiences felt the same way and there was very low audience participation for clapping and cheering on Yuzo.

A climax-misstep aside, I am rather fond of the ending of the film though. Its not a traditional happily-ever-after. Yuzo and Masako don't buy themselves a dream house...or even rent out the ramshackle room they briefly considered. They don't fall into wealth and prosperity, or get sudden promotions at work. Yuzo doesn't meet up with his old army buddy, Masako doesn't get out of her overly crowded family home. In terms of their life situation, they're even worse off than they were before. They're both completely out of money, Yuzo traded his coat for overpriced coffee and may potentially be in trouble with a gang of concert ticket scalpers...but they've reaffirmed that they can make each other happy, and that is of paramount importance to them.

That message of finding happiness in a loved one rather than in external possessions really struck me. As someone going through a lot of financial crap at the moment (computer and car repairs, plumbing problems, personal property taxes...you name it), having a reminder from the 40s to love and cherish my wife, my housemates, my other friends and coworkers...that means a lot to me.

Up Next: Grave of the Fireflies Released April 16th 1988, Directed by Isao Takahata.

Neowyrm
Dec 23, 2011

It's not like I pack a lunch box full of missiles when I go to work!
I thought this Kurosawa film was garbage, personally.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Neowyrm posted:

I thought this Kurosawa film was garbage, personally.

You didn't even watch it!

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



Yeah, that climax just falls flat. It was a daring experiment, but experiments don't always work.

So, lots of interesting things in One Wonderful Sunday. For one thing, this really marks the beginning of Kurosawa's Japanese recovery period. Many of his films for the next five years heavily feature the rebuilding of Japan (and Tokyo in particular) as a central theme. There was some of it in No Regrets for Our Youth, but I feel that the recovery wasn't the real focus of the film. In terms of upcoming movies, even Rashomon draws on that imagery a bit.

As part of that, a lot of the backdrops in One Wonderful Sunday weren't sets, they were the actual city. That includes the broken neighborhoods in many of the shots. Kurosawa had problems with some of his surreptitious street shooting as passerbys wouldn't realize that he was shooting a movie and screw up his shots.

This film also marks the point when Kurosawa really starts obsessing with using the weather, and wind in particular, as part of the scene. It's a technique that becomes one of his major trademarks as the perfectly timed gust blows in to dramatically highlight a shot. He won't get to use it much in the next few films, but once you start seeing it in his exterior shots you won't be able to stop seeing it.

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

I went back and revisited this film last night as well, I think it still holds up for me. It's not a flawless film, but it has so much heart and I cared about the characters and liked them. The scene when they are waiting in line to the orchestra stood out in particular to me last night, and how dejected they were when the scalpers bought everything up, destroying their plans.

Really looking forward to you watching some top tier Kurosawa, and reading those reviews.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


Grave of the Fireflies Released April 16th 1988, Directed by Isao Takahata.

This one...this one kinda wrecked me a little bit. Death in film doesn't generally bother me..but every so often a movie manages to hurt me. My usual go-to for it is Kirk's dad in Star Trek '09, but this one hit that mark and just kept going. As a friend of mine recently told me "World War II sucked for everybody, especially the people who had nothing to do with it."

Grave is, at its core, the story of a boy with sudden responsibility thrust upon him and his best efforts to take care of himself and his younger sister. And then how he just can't seem to get it right. Bouncing from a shelter at a school, to living with a distant (both in terms of family relations and emotional relations) aunt, to moving to an abandoned bomb shelter, Seita and Setsuko progressively remove themselves further and further from any kind of support structure, which then leads to them both dying of starvation. Most movies in the same general category as Grave tend to have a very strong focus on community, and coming together...but Grave shows the story of isolation.

Seita tries, he really does. At first, he's more than willing to sell or trade away possessions, even the mementos from their dead mother...but when those run out, he ends up resorting to stealing from local farms and raiding houses while their occupants are in bomb shelters. As I watched, I had an odd mixture of contempt and sympathy. He really just wanted to provide for his sister, but clearly he shouldn't be stealing in order to do it. I almost wanted to condemn the aunt for not cutting the kids a bit of slack. Yes, everyone needed to be doing their part...but Setsuko was a small child, and Seita's place of employment was bombed and his school burned down. The aunt gets a bit...cartoonish in her disdain for the kids' attitude, but upon reflection, Seita really wasn't trying to do anything but the base "keep Setsuko happy". He's never shown to be seeking any other kind of gainful employment, related to the war effort or otherwise. He spent all his time playing with and caring for Setsuko. Which is laudable goal..but not really a long term solution. I'm actually reminded a bit of Life is Beautiful, in which the father character devotes an insane amount of effort to convincing his son that a Nazi concentration camp is just a big game.

I contemplated checking out one of the live-action remakes of Grave for this review...but 1) I couldn't stand the thought of more heartwrenching this soon, and 2) I really question how well this story would play in live-action. You obviously can't starve two children to death for a movie; so how well could child actors portray this? By abstracting the story behind a veil of animation, it becomes almost sickeningly easy to depict the slow death of Seita and Setsuko.

This was a beautiful and terrible film. I cannot say to have enjoyed watching it...but I was moved by the experience. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to Totoro, my next Ghibli feature. But before that...and even before my next Kurosawa, I have what I am assured is an excellent thematic companion to Grave of the Fireflies.

Up Next: Gojira Released November 3rd 1954, Directed by Ishirō Honda.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy
The real fun part about Grave is that it's based on a semi autobiographical novella, with the author being the older brother character. Pretty well the only thing that didn't happen to him that happened in the movie/book, was the dying part.

It's also got a giant message to the, at the time, rebellious youth of Japan, which is an interesting way of looking at the film. It's not a fun movie to watch, but it's a drat solid one.


And I mean come on, who hasn't wanted to follow up Grave of the Fire Flies with Gojira! I mean the latter is so much lighter of a movie right? Right?

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Yeah Grave of the Fireflies is an amazing, powerful film, even with the incredibly stupid bit with the ghosts at the beginning. Nobody ever remembers the ghosts.

I think you could reasonably do a live action version. The Italian neorealist movie Germany Year Zero is already a pretty similar film in a lot of ways, which is about a young child in postwar Germany who murders his father, and then commits suicide out of guilt. You'd need someone as good as Roberto Rossellini was to do live action Grave of the Fireflies well though.

Burkion posted:

And I mean come on, who hasn't wanted to follow up Grave of the Fire Flies with Gojira! I mean the latter is so much lighter of a movie right? Right?

Hahahahahaha!

When I first watched Grave of the Fireflies, it was in a double feature after the lesser film The Wind Rises. It was nice contrast to Miyazaki's naivete.

Raxivace fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Oct 30, 2015

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:

Yeah Grave of the Fireflies is an amazing, powerful film, even with the incredibly stupid bit with the ghosts at the beginning. Nobody ever remembers the ghosts.

Are we talking about the spirits of Seita and Setsuko looking back on things and whatnot? The 'framing device'? I rather liked it...

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

jivjov posted:

Are we talking about the spirits of Seita and Setsuko looking back on things and whatnot? The 'framing device'? I rather liked it...

Yeah, that. It seems super out of place with the brutal realism of the rest of the film IMO.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:

Yeah, that. It seems super out of place with the brutal realism of the rest of the film IMO.

Agreed; but it was the small bit of lightness that kept the movie from just being unendingly grim. A case could be made to not break the 'brutal realism' mode for the whole movie...but in the interest of telling the story, I think the bit with the spirits was necessary.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


Gojira Released November 3rd 1954, Directed by Ishirō Honda.

First, a note on terminology. In the interest of maximum clarity, I will be referring to this movie as Gojira and the monster as Godzilla.

My experience with kaiju films is minimal, and mostly just general cultural knowledge. I drunkenly watched Godzilla Final Wars with some friends, I've seen Pacific Rim a couple of times, and I went to see Godzilla (2014) in theaters. Past that, my kaiju experience is hearing 'wacky' movie titles like "Godzilla vs Mothra", and watching Super Sentai. So that's where I'm coming from as I get to my thoughts on the originator of the genre, Gojira itself.

This was absolutely not what I expected at all! I knew that this film was an entirely different beast from, say, the 2014 American reboot...but this was altogether a more somber film than I anticipated. Even the final climax, victory over Godzilla and saving Japan (and presumably the world) is only really a high point for the faceless masses. For the focal characters, this film ends on a bit of a downer. But it was very clear early on that this was going to be a slower paced movie of discovery rather than rushing straight to meeting our first kaiju and then spending 80 minutes trying to blow it up.

One of my biggest surprises was a lack of any sort of targeted political overtones. Yes, its made clear that Godzilla was created/disturbed/awakened/strengthened by nuclear testing, but there is no explicit anti-American sentiment. Yes, Serizawa was afraid that his Oxygen Destroyer would be weaponized and used by politicians as an instrument of terror, but its always just politics in general, not attributed to any one nation. Coming less than a decade after Japan was the target of the only usages of nuclear weapons as a weapon of war, I was seriously expecting a radioactive dinosaur monster to be vilified more than he is. He's treated more as an ambulatory natural disaster to be survived and hopefully stopped, and it feels like the word 'killed' is only used due the fact that he is an organic being. Also, there is not a single mention of wanting to capture or contain the creature, even from the one man that doesn't want the beast stopped immediately.

The token pacifist scientist character, Dr. Yamane, wants Godzilla kept alive and studied, with a semi-subtle indication that he wants to find out how the beast survives mass doses of radiation and possibly apply that to the Japanese populace, but that's all inference. He reacts incredibly negatively to notions of killing the creature, which I find hard to understand, seeing as Godzilla is responsible for hundreds of deaths and loads of property damage. I respect the scientific curiosity...but at some point it really much be accepted that saving lives of other human beings needs to take precedence over research. Thankfully, there is no great subplot of Yamane trying to directly interfere with efforts to stop Godzilla, he just watches on in despair.

Gojira portrays the attacks on fishing villages and later Tokyo with an air of absolute horror. Godzilla knocks down power lines, crushes buildings, throws trains around, and irradiates people to death with his atomic breath with reckless abandon. There's no feeling of 'disaster porn' or mirth in the rampage. It was rather shocking to me to see individual people clearly meeting grisly deaths. In modern action cinema, brutal deaths are reserved for named characters, or maybe an extra or two just to show what's happening; leaving most innocent deaths implied rather than explicit. But in Gojira, people off the crashed train get stepped on, reporters fall to their death from a melting tower, a group of huddled civilians are atomized, and a mother and children cower in fear and wait to be reunited with a father who presumably perished in the war. I'm given to understand (and I remember from Final Wars) that future instalments in the franchise turn the monster appearances and battles into a fun spectacle...but there is absolutely none of this here. I'd be interested in charting the evolution of the Godzilla franchise and seeing how things shift in that direction.

Overall, an excellently made film. It didn't leave me as emotionally drained as Grave of the Fireflies...but this was certainly no cheerful monster romp.

Up Next: Drunken Angel Released April 27th 1948, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

jivjov fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Feb 22, 2016

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



jivjov posted:

But in Gojira, people off the crashed train get stepped on, reporters fall to their death from a melting tower, a group of huddled civilians are atomized, and a mother and children cower in fear and wait to be reunited with a father who presumably perished in the war.

IIRC, you see the kids in a later scene in the hospital where they've gotten radiation poisoning from being near Godzilla. It really is an amazing film, and then the first sequel immediately toss out everything great about the original movie and sets the pattern for the rest of the films. Those can be fun (as long as Minya isn't in the movie), but they might as well be a completely different series.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy
I like to imagine now and again that if the brother and sister from Grave had survived, they would have ended up in Tokyo, gotten on with their lives, maybe got on a train one night


And then Godzilla comes and everything just goes to hell.

Random Stranger posted:

IIRC, you see the kids in a later scene in the hospital where they've gotten radiation poisoning from being near Godzilla. It really is an amazing film, and then the first sequel immediately toss out everything great about the original movie and sets the pattern for the rest of the films. Those can be fun (as long as Minya isn't in the movie), but they might as well be a completely different series.

Not just that, but first we see the mother has died, leaving her kids orphans. Then we learn they've gotten severe radiation poisoning.

The atmosphere of the movie is just fantastic.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Random Stranger posted:

IIRC, you see the kids in a later scene in the hospital where they've gotten radiation poisoning from being near Godzilla.

That's the one place that the movie kinda pulls punches. Kids get scanned with a Geiger counter, and some adults make sad faces, but it's not made nearly as explicit as it could have been.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



jivjov posted:

That's the one place that the movie kinda pulls punches. Kids get scanned with a Geiger counter, and some adults make sad faces, but it's not made nearly as explicit as it could have been.

That's very explicit to anyone in 1954, and especially anyone in Japan in 1954 (you need to get around to I Live in Fear. I think it's only 18 movies down the line for you).

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

jivjov posted:

That's the one place that the movie kinda pulls punches. Kids get scanned with a Geiger counter, and some adults make sad faces, but it's not made nearly as explicit as it could have been.

Considering this was Japan not 10 years after the end of WWII, and that earlier in the movie they explicitly show that the Geiger Counter going crazy and that's horrible news. I don't think that's much of a pull.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Random Stranger posted:

That's very explicit to anyone in 1954, and especially anyone in Japan in 1954 (you need to get around to I Live in Fear. I think it's only 18 movies down the line for you).

Burkion posted:

Considering this was Japan not 10 years after the end of WWII, and that earlier in the movie they explicitly show that the Geiger Counter going crazy and that's horrible news. I don't think that's much of a pull.


Fair enough. It's just that nobody actually says it aloud, and since it's not animated, it's harder to show "oh hey, look at the radiation burns!" It's not that it's not there to be understood, it's just less articulated than other deaths in the movie.

Still really depressing though.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Godzilla/Gojira owns. The Criterion release is one of my most prized possessions.

Random Stranger posted:

That's very explicit to anyone in 1954, and especially anyone in Japan in 1954 (you need to get around to I Live in Fear. I think it's only 18 movies down the line for you).

Gonna second I Live in Fear here. It's not top-tier Kurosawa, though it's a solid film.

Cemetry Gator
Apr 3, 2007

Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

Raxivace posted:

Godzilla/Gojira owns. The Criterion release is one of my most prized possessions.

It gave me an appreciation for the American version, since it showed how they did what they had to in order to get the film released in America, given the times they were in.

Also, one reason why you probably don't see many Anti-American sentiments in the film was that Toho wanted to make a film that could be an international success.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


Drunken Angel Released April 27th 1948, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

A very interesting film! I was very much a fan of the intertwining story arcs of Matsunaga, his crime boss Okada, and Doctor Sanada. If I had to sum up the overarching theme of the film, I'd have to go with "you can't win 'em all".

Matsunaga's whole progression from tough-talking street thug through his illness, and the, sadly prematurely cut short, redemption is really quite powerful. When the film opens he is 100% solidly assured of his place in the world. Yeah, he has higher ups, but the one he respects most is in jail and there really isn't anyone around to tell him what to do. Even when he's coming to a doctor to get a bullet extracted from his hand, he is incredibly confident and self-assured. But we quickly find out that this is all just a facade; the firm belief in the invincibility of youth. Toshiro Mifune was around 28 when he played this role, but I think the character is meant to be a bit younger than that; well within the age bracket to have a worldview like that completely shattered by a 1940s tuberculosis diagnosis.I honestly feel sorry for Matsunaga...I get the feeling that if Okada hadn't gotten out of prison and shown up in Tokyo that Matsunaga would have made a full recovery. He legitimately seemed to finally get it through his head that he was needed to listen to Dr. Sanada, but he was all too quick to fall back into the hard-living lifestyle with Okada. But, at the end of it all, Matsunaga is not a complete idiot, finally realizes that Okada does not have his best interests at heart, and tries to do something about it. Had he not been infected with TB at the time, it probably would have ended differently for him...but if he hadn't had TB, he probably would never have seen his doctor again after the first visit with the bullet.

Doctor Sanada on the other hand...I have trouble getting a read on. My first impression was Doctor House, but with booze instead of vicodin...but then he turns out to actually really care deeply about patients and can't stand it when they do stupid self-destructive things. (Which is kinda an arc House goes through..but not nearly to this extent). He also seems to have a reckless disregard for his own safety...he professes a belief that the yakuza has no real power, despite ample evidence to the contrary; the film opens with him treating a gunshot wound inflicted in a gang battle. After all his fights and disagreements with Matsunaga, I was very surprised that he was willing to stand up to Okada and his thugs so severely...but I can also understand that he's not just going to give up his assistant, and we circle right back around to his recklessness. I get the distinct impression that his drinking problem is his coping mechanism for the world going to hell around him...but it does sort of make his tirades toward Matsunaga a hair hypocritical. Sanada is pretty equally sympathetic and not to me, when all is said and done.

Speaking of the Doctor's assistant nurse...I never even caught her name, and really wish she had gotten some more development. She was an object for Okada to desire after, and despite Sanada's big speech about how she shouldn't go back to him, and how she needed to stand up and be her own woman, it just really felt like she got the short end of the stick compared to Matsunaga and Sanada's story. Not sure if this is a product of the time, or just Kurosawa's noted difficulty with female characters, but I really wish she had gotten a bit more to do.

Going back to the theme I read out of the work...at the end of the film, Matsunaga has died, but Okada was stopped, Sanada's assistant is safe, and the schoolgirl patient did make a full recovery. Life gave the characters in the film good and bad in equal measure, and Sanada at least seems to have found some measure of peace with that.

Overall, I enjoyed Drunken Angel quite a bit, and especially appreciated the way that the plot did not solely follow one character or another, but did a really strong job of weaving together Matsunaga and Sanada's tales along with other secondary characters alongside. Not as dramatic or oft-talked about as some of Kurosawa's later works, but I'm really starting to get a good feel for how he juggles plot and character and theme.

Up Next: My Neighbor Totoro Released April 16th 1988, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Glad to hear you liked Drunken Angel, jiv. That movie to High & Low might be my favorite continuous run of any director ever, though Hitchcock's run of Rebecca to The Birds is neck and neck with it.

I was reading though some old 1950's Cahiers du Cinema articles earlier today, and one thing common among them was Andre Bazin and a few others complaining that Kurosawa was too "western" of a director, both in the sense that he takes too much from John Ford westerns in his samurai movies, as well as what seems to me to be this vaguely racist notion of having too much of an American influence in general (Which is hilarious in its own right coming from the French in this time period) and not being "Japanese" enough, whatever that means.

I'd be curious to hear what you think of that after having seen a little bit of Japanese cinema now, especially since we're soon moving into Kurosawa's heavier emphasis on genre work in the near future.

Raxivace fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Nov 11, 2015

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Raxivace posted:


I'd be curious to hear what you think of that after having seen a little bit of Japanese cinema now, especially since we're soon moving into Kurosawa's heavier emphasis on genre work in the near future.

I kinda see Kurosawa's work as being really...universal in its appeal. Like, when I'm watching Kurosawa's films I never really get the impression that 'ah, yes, I am watching output from Japan' (with the possible exception of Tiger's Tail). Kurosawa, to me, is just telling stories, and those stories happen to be taking place in Japan. So far, there has just been this huge emphasis on people, on the human element, and on how people react to various situations that they have been put into.

So yeah, I can see how some people would look at Kurosawa's films and say "these are not Japanese enough"...but that should not be taken as a bad thing.

CountFosco
Jan 9, 2012

Welcome back to the Liturgigoon thread, friend.
Could not disagree more on Castle In the Sky. I loved it from beginning to end, with everything you described as bad I read as good. To compare it unfavorably to Atlantis, of all things, baffles me.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



Raxivace posted:

Glad to hear you liked Drunken Angel, jiv. That movie to High & Low might be my favorite continuous run of any director ever, though Hitchcock's run of Rebecca to The Birds is neck and neck with it.

I feel Drunken Angel hasn't quite crossed the thresh hold to greatness yet, but with every film Kurosawa is getting closer and closer to it until suddenly "Boom!" he just starts turning out masterpiece after masterpiece like it's no big thing. Of course, Drunken Angel brings in another piece of that magical time by adding Mifune.

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Random Stranger posted:

I feel Drunken Angel hasn't quite crossed the thresh hold to greatness yet, but with every film Kurosawa is getting closer and closer to it until suddenly "Boom!" he just starts turning out masterpiece after masterpiece like it's no big thing. Of course, Drunken Angel brings in another piece of that magical time by adding Mifune.

It's not a masterpiece but I think it's quite a drat good movie in its own right, and personally I like it quite a bit more than most of what Kurosawa did before. Mifune's first appearance is important of course, but the movie also starts a lot of ideas that become very important in this era for Kurosawa- namely the somewhat Shakespearean notion of his protagonists being doomed to die in one way or another. Drunken Angel kind of functions as a solid prelude to his upcoming masterpieces more than the earlier movies IMO.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


My Neighbor Totoro Released April 16th 1988, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

This was just way too charming!! Oh my gosh, I cannot even imagine how much more I would have enjoyed this had I watched it as a child! I really am not going to have a whole lot to talk about here; this is an fairly straightforward work, but I do have a couple of highlights.

First off; I really appreciate the overall "day in the life" feel of Totoro. At the end of the film, the mom isn't magically cured, the girls haven't received (explicitly) magical presents or moved in with Totoro in his giant tree, the townsfolk aren't throwing parties on the cat bus. Its just a few vignettes in the life of Mei and Satsuki.

I also loved two things about Totoro's wood-spirit....ness. Its never made 100% clear if Totoro "really" existed or not. Other than the ear of corn arriving at the hospital, everything could be explained by the girls having active imaginations and playing in the countryside. The other thing, related, is that all of the craziness that Totoro causes has a 'natural' explanation. The cat bus takes the form of gusting winds, Totoro's roars are far-off thunder and animals, the shade of the giant tree is but a cloud. At the end of the day, Totoro may or may not exist...but does it really matter?

Another thing I appreciated; the story of the children's mother is very real. She's ill, no idea with what, because children don't care, they just know that momma is sick. She's not magically all better at the end; her illness comes and goes over the course of the film, and that really helps drive the narrative of Mei and Satsuki. Their life is fun and idyllic...and then suddenly real life slams home; mom is sick and can't come home.

The supporting cast is pretty great too. The Dad is super chill and a great parent. Plays with his daughters, gives them "fun" housework to do, and is just genuinely a nice person. Neighbor "Granny" is almost too sweet to be believed, but she doesn't overstay her welcome. She's so kind and sweet and caring and reminds me of my own grandma. Kanta is such a young boy. So stereotypical but played just right. He totally is sweet on Satsuki, but would never admit it and doesn't want those cooties.

The little forest spirits are also incredibly adorable, and pretty much single-handedly renewed my interest in Japanese folklore (gonna have to get a forums game of Ryuutama or Golden Sky Stories up over in Trad Games or something...). I do wish they had kept the mischievous streak a bit more past the first act; but that's not a deal breaker for this movie. I would totally watch another movie of just the teeny Totoro sneaking around houses.

This is definitely a movie I'm going to be showing any hypothetical future children I have, and I feel like I have hit the true Miyazaki experience.

Up Next: The Quiet Duel Released March 13th 1949, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Illinois Smith
Nov 15, 2003

Ninety-one? There are ninety other "Tiger Drivers"? Do any involve actual tigers, or driving?
Just try to wrap your mind around Ghibli releasing Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies as a double feature in 1988.

jivjov posted:

This is definitely a movie I'm going to be showing any hypothetical future children I have, and I feel like I have hit the true Miyazaki experience.
I showed it to my oldest nephew once when he was five or so, when it was over he looked at me with this huge grin and went "that was a goooood movie!"

Roger Ebert posted:

Whenever I watch it, I smile, and smile, and smile.

.....

It is a little sad, a little scary, a little surprising and a little informative, just like life itself. It depends on a situation instead of a plot, and suggests that the wonder of life and the resources of imagination supply all the adventure you need.

Illinois Smith fucked around with this message at 10:08 on Nov 17, 2015

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747
If I recall, the justification for GotF and Totoro being released as a double feature was that the audience was gonna need something happy after Grave of the Fireflies, but this might be apocryphal.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Just as a heads up; the delay before the next Kurosawa is going to be a bit longer than normal. This week was the Desert Bus for Hope charity web-telethon, and I've been watching that religiously.

And then I have to catch up on everything I failed to do while Desert Bus was on (including tokusatsu, Marvel TV stuff, and more!)

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

Since this is more or less the Japanese film thread, I'm sad to announce that Setsuko Hara has passed away at the age of 95. RIP.

I haven't even gotten to see her work with Ozu yet in my watching of his filmography, but I will say she was very much the best in parts in the two Kurosawa movies she did. It's a god damned shame she never came out of retirement.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
I have more or less caught up on all my Desert Bus-caused backlog; I don't think I'll be able to watch a film tomorrow; not only do I have to work, but then I get to go have dinner with the in-laws. But hopefully Friday or Saturday I'll get a new review up.

Raxivace posted:

Since this is more or less the Japanese film thread, I'm sad to announce that Setsuko Hara has passed away at the age of 95. RIP.

I haven't even gotten to see her work with Ozu yet in my watching of his filmography, but I will say she was very much the best in parts in the two Kurosawa movies she did. It's a god damned shame she never came out of retirement.

I eagerly anticipate seeing her in The Idiot, and do agree that she was quite good in No Regrets for Our Youth.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum


The Quiet Duel Released March 13th 1949, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

This was a very powerful film. The primary messages I from it were inevitability, dealing with said inevitability, and the importance of healthy interpersonal relationships.

Much like Kurosawa's other films, the primary plot of Duel hinges around people finding themselves in an unpleasant situation and then having to deal with consequences of actions that, strictly speaking, aren't their fault. Toshiro Mifune's character of Dr. Kyoji Fujisaki makes one careless mistake after a long night in a field hospital and infects himself with syphilis from a patient. This leads to him distancing himself from his fiancé Misao, played by Miki Sanjō, because he is afraid to infect her as well. However, his pride prevents him ever giving her a satisfactory explanation as to why he suddenly ends a six-year engagement.

Kyoji's father Konosuke Fujisaki (played by returning Kurosawa-directed-doctor-character-veteran Takashi Shimura) plays much more of a minor role here, but the exchange between father and son, where Kyoji confesses to being infected and Konosuke initially leaps to an unkind conclusion, is a very powerful exchange. The two men masterfully play the roles of characters who are not only blood relatives and professional colleagues, but friends with a deep respect for one another. Not the easiest combination of traits to represent in a handful of scenes in a 95-minute film.

In a secondary, but less minor, role is Nurse Minegishi. Her introduction is surprisingly brief-yet-effective. We are told early on that she attempted to take her own life after becoming pregnant with an unwanted child from a man she had no intention of spending her life with, but that Kyoji prevented the attempt and brought her in as a nurse-in-training. She has a very nice character arc over the course of the film, growing from a begrudging mother-to-be into a friend and confidant both to Kyoji but also to the ex-wife of the man whose blood infected Kyoji. The only character beat of hers that I'm not particularly fond of is when she offers herself up to satisfy Kyoji's unfulfilled carnal urges. It makes a certain amount of sense; she's resigned herself to the fact that as an unwed mother, she's not the most likely candidate for future marriages, and as such she's willing to catch syphilis and deal with lifelong treatment...but it just rings a little hollow for the character. I appreciate her desire to provide what aid and comfort she can to the man who helped her put her life back together, but I'm glad that, as far as the film presents, Kyoji never takes her up on the offer.

A character that I actively dislike is the original syphilis patient, Kenjiro Uemura's Susumu Nakada. He starts as just one more tragic soul in need of emergency war-time medical care, but when he re-enters Kyoji's life he is quickly revealed to be selfish, duplicitous, and violent. He claims that his infection was not only under control, but cured, and that he had gone on to start a family, with wife Takiko (played by Cheiko Nakakita), expecting a perfectly healthy son. It is quickly revealed that nothing of the sort had happened, and Nakada had not only infected his wife, but passed the disease onto his unborn son who dies before birth. His every interaction with Kyoji is full of accusations, denial, and violent threats. This culminates with Nakada drunkenly staggering into the clinic, attacking Kyoji, Konosuke, and Nurse Minegishi, all while demanding that his estranged wife be released and not operated on. In one of the movie's most powerful (and gruesome-by-implication) scenes, Nakada sees the infected dead fetus and falls into a disease-aided stupor. It is a bit of sorely deserved comeuppance, but it is a disturbing scene.

Speaking of powerful scenes, Kyoji's monologue about his suffering was astounding. This one scene completely sold me on Toshiro Mifune's acting ability. His selfish, but well-earned, desire for personal gratification and happiness, which promptly gets tempered by a very eastern attitude of duty, and honor, and responsibility, is just so powerfully delivered. The only thing marring the scene for me is the aforementioned proposition from Minegishi. Offering Kyoji meaningless sex just seems to go against everything he was talking about. Yes, he specifically mentions wanting to satisfy his physical desires, but the impression I got from the speech is that he truly wanted the full marriage package. Someone to love and respect, to be honest with, to have a lasting relationship with. Yeah, sating his desire for physical intimacy is part of it...but not the whole package.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Quiet Duel and it is once again a shining example of Kurosawa's ability to tell stories powerful and moving about relatively mundane human experiences.

Up Next: Kiki's Delivery Service Released July 29th 1989, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

zandert33
Sep 20, 2002

It annoyed me that some minor production company somehow got the rights to the US DVD, but out a less than perfect DVD, and then the division got shut down.

Wonder if Criterion has made attempt to try to get the rights at some point since. It is one of the better "minor" Kurosawa films.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
So I'm planning on watching Kiki's Delivery Service in the next day or two; and in my preliminary research I've seen some rumblings about the recent dub having "ruined" the movie for some people. Is this standard internet hyperbole? Or should I seek out the older DVD or just watch the film in Japanese?

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

If this thread is about experiencing Japanese cinema, than the films should probably be in Japanese by principle IMO.

Cemetry Gator
Apr 3, 2007

Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

jivjov posted:

So I'm planning on watching Kiki's Delivery Service in the next day or two; and in my preliminary research I've seen some rumblings about the recent dub having "ruined" the movie for some people. Is this standard internet hyperbole? Or should I seek out the older DVD or just watch the film in Japanese?

It's Internet hyperbole, especially too since they've made some changes to the dub on recent releases and gotten rid of some of the extra lines they added. There was a lot of ad libbing by Phil Hartman. And then there was a line at the end they deleted. It's probably nerds getting in a tiff.

Also, you get to watch it with Phil Hartman, and frankly, I don't care who you are. When your choice is Phil or no Phil, you always go with Phil.

For example, a theater by me was doing a Miyazaki film series, even getting 35mm prints of everything. Every film was subtitled, except for Kiki, and that should tell you why.

Illinois Smith
Nov 15, 2003

Ninety-one? There are ninety other "Tiger Drivers"? Do any involve actual tigers, or driving?
It's not internet hyperbole, Disney turned the main character's mostly silent and demure cat cinto a sassy animal sidekick.

If I remember correctly one of the changes was also that the cat talks again at the end of the movie, when in the original version Kiki stops being able to talk to him because she's grown up in her time alone.

edit:

quote:

Miyazaki has said that Jiji is the immature side of Kiki, and this implies that Kiki, by the end of the original Japanese version, has matured beyond talking to her cat.

also this

Raxivace posted:

If this thread is about experiencing Japanese cinema, than the films should probably be in Japanese by principle IMO.

Illinois Smith fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Dec 4, 2015

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Cemetry Gator
Apr 3, 2007

Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

Illinois Smith posted:

It's not internet hyperbole, Disney turned the main character's mostly silent and demure cat cinto a sassy animal sidekick.

If I remember correctly one of the changes was also that the cat talks again at the end of the movie, when in the original version Kiki stops being able to talk to him because she's grown up in her time alone.

And all versions after 2010 are completely reedited versions of the dub that cut out the last line and make the dub closer to the original Japanese original. So, for the past 5 years, it's been hyperbole.

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