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Burkion posted:Will you be looking at any of the works directly inspired by these films? Or the ones that just ripped them off? Don't give away my secrets just yet! I will say that Magnificent Seven is on the list.
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Aug 18, 2015 04:30
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Hat Thoughts posted:So what do you hope to get out of this? A better understanding of film in general? That plus I have so many people telling me that my childhood was ruined by not having watched anything Miyazaki, so I'm sorta backfilling that into my life experiences list.
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Aug 18, 2015 10:54
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zandert33 posted:Fair warning, the first few Kurosawa's are rough. In my opinion "One Wonderful Sunday" is his first true gem. The disparity is honestly why I'm doing both at once. I don't want to be consuming a never-ending stream of one style. I want to keep things fresh by bouncing back and forth between 2 very highly distinct types of film. And yeah; the only real connection is their country of origin and the fact that they're both considered to be influential. jivjov fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Aug 18, 2015 |
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Aug 18, 2015 15:12
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The biggest part of my excitement here is that all but one of these movies will be completely new to me.
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Aug 18, 2015 16:50
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 Sugata Sanshiro Released March 25th 1943, Directed by Akira Kurosawa First off, I need to make a small rant on the nature of missing footage and censorship. I hate it. I hate it a lot. It is truly and deeply upsetting to me when a bit of history; be it film, television, book, comic, whatever; is lost. In the case of something like old episodes of Doctor Who, it's understandable and nearly forgivable that old reels were purged from the archives. Home media barely existed at all, reruns were unheard of, and who would want to revisit a schlocky sci-fi series from the 60s anyway? But in the case of Sugata Sanshiro, the missing footage is a victim of deliberate censorship: Opening Title Card posted:"This film has been modified from the original version of Akira Kurosawa's debut film, which opened in 1943, without consulting the director or the production staff. 1,845 feet of footage was cut in 1944 to comply with the government's wartime entertainment policies." I am not equipped to offer any concrete condemnation of "wartime entertainment policies", but the practice rubs me the wrong way in a very egregious manner. Whatever was done to prints of the film, it was done in such a manner that prevented the film from being reconstructed afterwards. At a couple of places during the film, actual visuals are substituted with title cards, summarizing events that feel very vital to the overall progression of the plot. Thankfully the original scripts exist, giving a source for these title cards. From a purely structural standpoint, I was briefly taken aback by being back in an era of film with credits at the beginning of the piece, and the a straight cut from the final shot to a "The End" card. From moment one, I am given ample demonstration of how cinema has changed from the 40s to today. On to the film itself. Sanshiro as a character was someone I had difficulty coming to terms with as the movie progressed. I felt a bit confused as to exactly how much I was supposed to be rooting for him as the film progressed. He spends the first few minutes as a rather awkward every-man, then becomes a fight-obsessed bully, then he kills a man in what apparently was an exhibition match, then he beats up an old man, and then enters into a duel to the death (that ultimately kills no one). Somewhere in between manslaughter and geriatric-pummeling, though, he turns a corner and learns how to control what I interpreted as near-superhuman strength. Sanshiro is obviously not some hulking strongman, but his sensei calls out that he has a not-insignificant advantage over his opponents. He seemed genuinely regretful that Hansuke kept getting back up and continuing the fight, and in the final death duel with Gennosuke he ultimately did not kill his rival (Although I question if he was willing to, and then simply stopped fighting when Gennosuke was unable to continue). Its the regretful tone of the final fights that win me around on Sanshiro, he's very much a man who is trapped in an inevitable fight and simply wants to end it. There are a few shots and sequences that stood out to me; the first shot, progressing down the street and turning a corner, immediately set a 'slice of life' tone for me. This is a movie where 'oh yes, this man is going to learn martial arts and get involved in some high profile fights...but its just another day in the life of 1800s Japan'. The first fight between the men Sanshiro originally wants to train with and Yano is full of lingering panning shots, which build quite a lot of suspense (Also, Neowyrm pointed out to me that that particular sequence, while supposedly taking place in evening or late at night, was quite obviously filmed in broad daylight). When Sahshiro goes to train with Yano, there's a very neatly done passage-of-time sequence showing his abandoned geta and the changing seasons around them. The looooooooong shot held on Momma's daughter after the man's death in his fight with Sanshiro goes on for a bit too long for my tastes, but really drives home the fact that Sanshiro just fouled up big time. ADDENDUM EDIT: Forgot to mention this in the first iteration of the post, but this film has one moment of solid overt comedy that was a perfectly timed break in tension. During Sanshiro's fight with Hansuke, he is briefly knocked into a referee's chair, at which point he graciously thanks the ref before resuming the fight. While a couple other scenes got a smile or a chuckle out of me, those struck me as unintentional; moments that were not meant to be funny, but due to my own expectations were found amusing. That brief moment, however, seemed very intentional and was very appreciated. Gennosuke's apperance instantly sets him apart from other characters. Almost everyone else in the film is in very period-appropriate Japanese clothing, but he is dressed and groomed like a Westerner. I honestly think his appearance screams "evil villain" a bit more than it should. And then the final fight on the grassy foothills is visually and aurally stunning. The sound of the wind drowns out the fight, and the two men are often completely obscured by the waving grasses. Its almost seems to be saying that that the fight is ultimately both transient and epic. It cannot be seen or heard, but it takes place out among wild and untamed nature, not in a man-made dojo or even a back alley. Overall, I rather enjoyed the film. It definitely "feels" like what I'm told a Kurosawa film should be. I really liked the personal focus on Sanshiro's growth both as a martial artist and a man. I deeply regret the loss of nearly 20 minutes of this film, as I would have liked to see more of his trials as he learned and progressed (notably truncated, Momma's daughter attempts to assassinate Sanshiro after her father's death, and it really feels like not only was she meant to play a bigger part, but one of the title cards spells out a training session between Yano and Sanshiro that's completely gone and I think that scene in particular would have helped bridge the gap between early-Sanshiro and late-Sanshiro). So far I am not regretting embarking on this journey, and if (as everyone is saying) Kurosawa only goes up from here, I'm in for a good time. Up Next: The Most Beautiful Released April 13th 1944, Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Two notes: 1, Due to there being more Kurosawa films than Ghibli/Miyazaki films, I'm going to double [and probably even triple] up on Kurosawa in a couple places. I'm currently planning on watching The Most Beautiful and Sugata Sanshiro Part II before jumping over to The Castle of Cagliostro. 2. I'm also going to accelerate the watching/reviewing cycle, at least for these earlier and shorter films.I don't want to commit to two films per week once we get to the 2+ hour epics, but for now at least, I should be able to fit them in.) EDIT: This got posted in the thread on December 20, 2016; worth taking a look at. Raxivace posted:David Bordwell recently did a brief piece on Sanshiro Sugata that I thought was worth sharing. jivjov fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Jan 5, 2017 |
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Aug 19, 2015 04:49
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Neowyrm posted:Nicely written. I will disagree with you on the depiction of Gennosuke. I don't think his outfit was meant to note villainy or depravity of any sort. I feel it was just meant to notate a difference. It just says "refined" and "force/power" to me, neither of which are inherently evil, much like Gennosuke himself. Well, part of what I meant to convey with '"his appearance screams "evil villain" a bit more than it should" is that I feel that the intent was definitely the 'refined power' that you mention, but cultural baggage/metaknowledge/expectations makes the suit and facial hair 'feel' more sinister than it really should have. I'm bringing in outside expectations (which I'm guessing are exaggerated) of just how insular Japan was/is, and how much someone in western-style clothing is spitting in the face of social order.
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Aug 19, 2015 05:08
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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?
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Aug 19, 2015 22:58
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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. Cool, I'll keep it as 4th in line, after Sugata Sanshiro II, then. Thanks!
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Aug 19, 2015 23:10
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 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 |
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Aug 22, 2015 05:40
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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.
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Aug 22, 2015 16:07
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 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.
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Aug 25, 2015 05:45
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 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 |
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Aug 27, 2015 05:38
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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.
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Aug 27, 2015 10:57
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I'm amused that everyone's talking about the next film up and not a whole lot is being said about Sanshiro.
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Aug 27, 2015 12:23
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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.
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Aug 27, 2015 13:03
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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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Aug 30, 2015 21:44
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Okay, we're back on track; starting Castle of Cagliostro now!
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Sep 3, 2015 02:12
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 The Castle of Cagliostro Released December 15th 1979, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki This is the one Miyazaki film I had seen previously, and it was certainly fun to revisit. First off, I know absolutely nothing about the Lupin III franchise, up to and including where exactly this movie is supposed to fit in to the mythos. As such, I experienced a bit of dissonance when Lupin meets up with characters who I assume are from the manga. Nobody goes completely unintroduced, but Goemon and Fujiko in particular are poorly served by this film. On the one hand, this film is part of a franchise, so certain knowledge can be expected to be brought in. ON the other hand, I'm sure plenty of people have done the same thing I have done and come into it context-less. Lupin himself is a so very predictable protagonist. He's got loads of gadgets, he's got an entire cadre of skilled friends, he's a master thief, he's comically bumbling but infinitely capable. He does the Sherlock thing of being able to deduce clues from a moment's observation of an item. This movie, at least, gives him no flaws (and honestly I don't think any of the main characters have any nuance to them) and that's frustrating. None of the other good guys really have anything to do other than show up and do their one gimmick to serve Lupin's scheme. Jigan shoots guns, Goemon does swords, Fujiko is independently playing her own scheme and helps distract the count. The plot itself is serviceable. I question why its a 100 minute movie, when I can see exactly where episode breaks would be placed to turn it into a plot arc of an ongoing series. But as a heist+kidnapping type plot, it works perfectly well. Honestly, the only things that really stick out to me about this are the beautiful landscapes and locales, and then the oddly gruesome defeat of the evil Count. (Over-the-top SPLORTCH sound effect included). I wish I had more to say about this film. It was not bad..but it was utterly rote and predictable. The only real intrigue is how the Interpol agent manages to get his job done despite being removed from the case. The action setpieces are amusing and dynamic, but there's no real sense of scale or stakes. I was entertained but not enthralled, and unlike Akira, I don't really have any desire to go check out other Lupin material. (But if anyone has some recommendations, I will take them under advisement) I don't even have anything to really say about Miyazaki himself here. I hoping that the trend of beautiful visuals continues, but other than DVD covers, I know nothing about upcoming Miyazaki stuff. Up Next: The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail Produced August 1945; Released April 25th 1952, Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
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Sep 3, 2015 05:16
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I was drawing a comparison to the Star Wars Clone Wars film; where it was overall one connected storyarc, but the 3 acts were so incredibly distinct that an OP and ED separating them out would not have felt amiss at all.
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Sep 3, 2015 05:47
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 The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail Produced August 1945; Released April 25th 1952, Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Well this was a fun little film to watch. The whole thing plays out over the course of something like 36 hours, and has a surprisingly comedic tone to it. From what I understand, this is a film adaption of a play, and it very much feels like it. There are a grand total of three locations; some forests, the border crossing checkpoint, and some grasslands. Of the characters that actually get a decent amount of attention, this film is incredibly well acted. The porter is a bit over the top, but he serves as a good foil to the more stoic members of Yoshitsune's party. Benkei is the obvious highlight; his performance convincing A complaint of mine, though, is that outside of the porter and Benkei, the rest of the travelling party is more or less completely inconsequential. Most of them barely get names, let alone any kind of character. For a movie with this short of a run time, the group should have been cut down to just 2 or 3 instead of 6 retainers. Also, the opening story cards were a disappointment. I'm getting early twinges of something that would go on to influence something like the opening crawl to Star Wars, but Tiger's Tail's backstory is presented in just such a dull manner. White text on black, no music. I can't tell if this was done out of a desire to save money on filming or just to maintain a focus on the core events depicted...but I get the feeling that I would have enjoyed this a lot better if Yoshitsune's backstory was done through at least in-character exposition rather than a plot dump. Notable scenes to me are the aforementioned scroll-reading (although this is more due to performance rather than cinematography), and then the very beginning of the film. The sequential horizontal wipes between each attempt by the porter to get to know his travelling companions do an excellent job of conveying a sense of time and distance traveled. Wipes like this are apparently the signature of Kurosawa's work, and I definitely am taking notice of them here. There are, of course, other wipes in the film, but none of them were as clear in their purpose than the ones right at the beginning. One other comment I have is on the reuse of actors. From what I've been told, I'm going to see many familiar faces throughout Kurosawa's filmography, and it started here with the return of Susumu Fujita. It was nice to see him again, as I really did enjoy the Sanshiro duology, but I hope it doesn't become too blatant or immersion-affecting as his filmography continues. And now for a sidebar on something completely different.  Those Who Make Tomorrow Released 1946, Directed by Akira Kurosaw, Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto. I can't really say much about this one, but in the interest of completion here it is in my thread. As another propaganda piece, this seems the be a film that Kurosawa didn't really want anything to do with, has completely disowned, and had never gotten any kind of home media release. According to IMDB, Susumu Fujita stars in it though. Up Next: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Released March 11th 1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. jivjov fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Jan 8, 2016 |
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Sep 5, 2015 22:41
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zandert33 posted:I never found Kurosawa's reuse of actors to be distracting (because it's never done with a wink or to be a self reference thing). It's more interesting to watch a character go from a bad rear end Samurai to a pathetic loser between two films. I think it really shows to highlight the range of these great actors. Cool; if its handled well and isn't used as a self-referential thing, I don't think I'll have much to worry about then.
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Sep 6, 2015 02:38
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Random Stranger posted:I kind of liked The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, but I also felt that the pacing was way off. Like it was padded to about three times the length it should have been. Interacting with other characters or a few more tense incidents would have rounded out the film. Yeah, this is pretty much exactly how I felt about everything. This could have been a 25 minute short film and communicated exactly the same story and information. That's honestly what has me a bit trepidatious about getting to some of the 2-3 hour films, although Kurosawa will have had more time to refine his craft by then.
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Sep 6, 2015 15:06
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Nausicaä coming soon, I promise! Two of my housemates want to watch along with this one, and getting everyone together at the same time for a movie is proving difficult.
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Sep 15, 2015 00:45
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TrixRabbi posted:Watch more Kurosawa while you wait. This is a Good Idea and I'll do just that if we don't get Miyazaki done tonight.
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Sep 15, 2015 14:46
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 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Released March 11th 1984, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The first "original" Miyazaki (based off his own manga, not a preexisting franchise), and it...is...BEAUTIFUL. And also a bit weird. I have a bunch of weird comparisons in my notes, to things like Evangelion, Akira, Max Max, and Final Fantasy. This was certainly a very interesting film. First off, I watched it with the English dub (the uncut 2005 one), mostly out of convenience, but just bear that in mind in case anything significant is different or was lost in translation. First off, I don't know if I'm just too genre savvy or what...but as soon as Obaba started telling a story about a prophesied hero wearing blue, I knew they were talking about Nausicaä. Maybe this was a more drawn out thing in the manga...but at least in the film adaptation, it wasn't a secret at all. I enjoyed the setup of the state of the world quite a bit. While I struggled a bit with names of both kingdoms/countries and people...the three main human factions were clear and distinct, although I wish the Pejites or the Tolmekians had gotten a bit more in the way of redeeming qualities. While they weren't one-dimensional as villains, the soldiers of both sides felt a bit too evil as opposed to self-serving (This might have been a deliberate post-apocalypse trope though). The Pejites at least had a substantial civilian populations...but they were just as blindly "good" and loyal to Nausicaä. As for the "alien" menace, I really like the story behind the Ohm and the toxic jungle. I couldn't tell you exactly where I've seen it before...but I've always been fond of the post-apocalypse concept of the 'cure' being just as damning for the remnants of humanity as the original war was. The themes of environmentalism and anti-WMD-ism actually hold up really well in today's political and environmental atmosphere. I was laughing a bit too hard though...my highest supervisor at work has the surname Ohm...and I couldn't get the image of an insectoid bossman out of my head. The "Great Warriors" is where my comparisons to Akira and Evangelion come from. The flashback sequences to the seven days of fire felt very very Eva to me, and then the half-grown Warrior embryo falling apart as it tried to attack reminded quite a bit of the gross flesh blobs in Akira. The overall visual style of this film was amazing. Going back to the 'clear and distinct' thing, the enemy combatants from both the enemy kingdoms had a unique flair to them. The civilians all had very similar hoods and headdresses though. The look and feel of the tech is one that I've not seen often...it wasn't "the stuff we know, except dusty" that shows up in a lot of post-apocalyptic media, nor was it the full brass-n-gears Steampunk either. Especially the stuff used by the people of the Valley had a very organic feel to it. Nausicaä's glider looks more like a gull than a machine, their breath masks were vaguely canine, their homes and windmills were built into the flow of the landscape, unlike Pejite's massive walled city. This organic feel gets spelled out a liiiitle too heavy-handedly in a late conversation between some men of the valley and the leader of the Tolmekians. Something about how they only used the bare minimum of fire to kill threatening spores, rather than burning whole forests, and how they did not want to undo in a day with fire what takes wind and water hundreds of years to grow. If anything, the end being a bit too heavy handed is one of the only major complaints I want to level against this film. The other is how the character of Yupa seemed to not serve much purpose beyond being a sort of Gandalf/Allanon type character to dispense some exposition and then have one and a half badass fights. I almost think that (Patrick Stewart's voicework notwithstanding) I would have rather gotten a bit more Asbel and a bit less Yupa. A minor complaint is that Nausicaä's prophesied powers don't get quite enough explanation. She seems to have some low level psychic ability with humans, a huge amount of empathy with Ohm, and then some kind of berserker rage. I almost would have preferred her to just have been the clever and empathetic girl that deduced the symbiotic relationship of the forest and the Ohm and the Jungle and used her empathy to save the day, rather than occasionally having what appears to be supernatural gifts...but that is by no means a deal breaker. Finally, I just want to highlight some of my favorite visuals. All the flashback stuff, with the Warriors and the Ohm destroying human civilization is tragically beautiful. The bit where Asbel shoves Nausicaä and her glider out into the clouds, and then her flight among the stormclouds, is wonderfully animated. And then everything with the wave of Ohm overtaking the entire landmass the valley is on, while suffering a bit from the 'on-the-nose' quality I mentioned before, is very imposing and bleak. Overall, I would highly recommend Nausicaä, and it again is another one of those films where I wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about the world; I may check out the manga for this one too. Up Next: No Regrets for Our Youth Released October 29th 1946, Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
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Sep 18, 2015 05:30
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 No Regrets for Our Youth Released October 29th 1946, Directed by Akira Kurosawa. More movies about war! But oh how very, very different this one is from The Most Beautiful or the propaganda-y pieces of Sugata Sanshiro Part II. No Regrets for Our Youth instead comes down on the anti-war side of the spectrum. But unlike The Most Beautiful in particular, this film doesn't beat you over the head with its political message. The first twenty minutes or so are a bit heavy handed, but once the school demonstrations and riots end the movie establishes a better focus on Yukie's journey from being an near-oblivious professor's daughter to the wife of a man arrested for treason against the country. On that note, those first 20 minutes feel a bit disjointed as compared to the rest of the film. The montages of demonstrations, intercut with newspaper headlines, combined with Noge's constant anti-fascism and academic freedom speeches play more over the top than the Yukie-focused sections. After the time skip to 1938, things flow a bit better. We really get introduced to the 'love triangle' between Yukie, Noge, and Itokawa. Although I get the distinct impression that she never really had any feelings for Itokawa and that anything between the two of them reflected the gender and family politics of the time; that she would simply be expected to get married to someone of the level of importance as Itokawa. However, I also got the impression that her feelings for Noge don't actually advance anywhere beyond school crush until after the next time skip. She's simply of marrying age and needs to be finding a husband soon. Something I took as contrary to traditional gender/family roles, however, was Professor Yagihara's near-unconditional support of Yukie moving out to Tokyo. I respect the character a whole lot more when he reveals that he really is a progressive sort. After that move (and the aforementioned timeskip up to 1941), we really get to start exploring Yukie's character. Turns out she's been bouncing from job to job, unable to find anything that she can truly devote herself to. She's reunited with both Itokawa and Noge, and forges a relationship with Noge, eventually marrying him. Here is another small misstep of the film, in my opinion. Yukie's desire to find something to devote herself to almost evaporates. Or, rather, she is content with devoting herself to Noge who is in turn devoted to a subversive anti-war effort. He steadfastly refuses to tell her exactly what he's up to; all she knows is "anti-war" and "illegal". So she becomes a doting housewife. This is in keeping with gender roles of the time...but watching this movie in 2015, I'm a bit disappointed. Thankfully, Yukie very much redeems herself later on. After Noge's arrest, Yukie herself is brought in for questioning, but of course can't reveal anything, so she in turn gets to rot in a cell. Professor Yagihara makes another appearance to try to defend Noge in court...but he's died in his cell. The movie isn't explicit about this...but I definitely got the impression that his sudden demise was not an act of chance, but rather someone accelerating the justice process. This is where the movie would have ended if it had been Noge's story; a spy tale of trying to save a country from its own decisions resulting in an agent's death. But instead we launch into a really interesting third act. Yukie goes to Noge's parents to plead their son's case to them. They're bitter that their son's actions have made them complete pariahs; forced to work their rice paddies overnight to avoid the jeers and scorn of others in the village. She works herself to the point of fever to convince Noge's family that their son was a good man...but the townsfolk never come around, at least not during the scope of this film. A bit of more realistic consequences inserted into what could have easily been turned into a trite 'happily ever after' ending. But, at the end of the day, Yagihara gets to return to being a professor, and Yukie continues to work with Noge's family, declaring herself a shining light of a rural cultural movement. Something interesting I noticed over the course of this film was the continual use of silence as a motif. Itokawa's silence during Noge's impassioned monologues, Yukie's silence while being questioned about Noge's activities, and Noge's father's mute status after his son's action's come to life. This lends a contemplative and pensive air to the film; appropriate for a post-war piece. This is reflected by a title card near the end of the movie, declaring that Japan lost the war, but freedom was restored. This is very much the product of a culture that was glad to be out of a destructive war. The return of Sanshiro alumni Susumu Fujita, Akitake Kōno, Kokuten Kōdō and Denjirō Ōkōchi did not detract from the experience for me at all. As I was told; part of the fun is seeing these familiar faces showing up in new roles, and there's not a wink or a nod to be found about it. In fact, I had to look up two of those names to even recognize that they had been in the Sanshiro films. I find it hard to explicitly quantify exactly what it is I really enjoyed about this film...but enjoy it I did. It's nice to have a war-related piece from Kurosawa that isn't a halfhearted propaganda piece, and the continuation of the plot past Noge's death is an interesting take that I haven't seen much in cinema before. Overall, a good solid recommend for No Regrets for Our Youth. Up Next: Castle in the Sky Released August 2nd 1986, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Apologies for the week-long delay in getting this one done. Hopefully Castle won't take me as long! Also, no thoughts from Neowyrm on this one...he was otherwise occupied while I was watching this one. jivjov fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Jan 8, 2016 |
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Sep 27, 2015 04:04
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Just got a criterion collection copy of Ikiru for 50¢ at a local Japanese culture festival...when I get around to that one, I'll be able to review some bonus feature and the like
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Oct 3, 2015 16:25
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Don't worry, I am not dead. Current plan is to watch Castle in the Sky tomorrow evening.
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Oct 8, 2015 03:22
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Krysmphoenix posted:The first most beautiful is Hayakawa Ken. 
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Oct 8, 2015 11:11
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 Castle in the Sky Released August 2nd 1986, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Ooof. What to say here... First of all, let me apologize again for the delay. The forums were down on the original day I was going to watch this, and I didn't want to not have a place to post when I had finished, so I delayed a day...and then I had a hell of a time actually getting invested in this film. I'm probably going to have an unpopular opinion here...but here we go. First, the good: This is a beautiful work. Skies, clouds, and storms are all gorgeous (and in places, very reminiscent of Nausicaä). I love the design of the airships, and especially the little dragonfly-esque pirate fliers. The soundtrack is haunting, and I adore the electronic bits. The robots on Laputa also have an interesting design, with the long and spindly arms, blinky lights to communicate, etc. But now the bad...This film draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagged on something fierce. This did not need a two hour runtime, and probably could have come in under 85 minutes easy. All the beginning stuff with Pazu and the miners and the townsfolk was ultimately pointless. Uncle Pom in the cave could have gotten his point across a lot quicker, the army was ultimately ineffectual and could have been eliminated in favor of just having Muska and his agents. And then Sheeta herself was just a mashup of Nausicaä and Clarisse from the last two Miyazaki films. Mysterious heritage, royal heirloom macguffin, castle of birthright with hidden abilities...it just all felt so stale, and its been over a month since I've seen those previous films. Had I seen this one first..maybe I'd feel more charitable toward it, but as it is, it just feels like a rehash. Nausicaä's message of a moderate and controlled use of technology is muddled in this presentation; the technology of Laputa is given no redeeming qualities other than the one robot putting flowers on a grave. Otherwise its all death and destruction. I don't even really have anything else to say here...this wasn't precisely a bad film, but to me, it was dull as dishwater. Up Next: One Wonderful Sunday Released June 25th 1947, Directed by Akira Kurosawa. jivjov fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Oct 12, 2015 01:17
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 Atlantis: The Lost Empire Released June 3rd 2001, Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise Ahhhh, Atlantis: Castle under the Sea. Laputa Done Better. This is how you do a "discovery of an ancient, technologically advanced civilization film. The main character, Milo, has an arc. He's bookish and introverted, and never succeeds when he attempts to stand up for himself. His threats to quit his university position of Cartography and Linguistics (and Boiler Maintenance) expert are met with scoffs from authority. And over the courses of the film he learns to spit in the eye of those scoffs. The villains of the piece are actually present and relevant throughout the whole story; being the expedition commander and his 2nd, as opposed to just being a bland Agent Smith that goes full-tilt-evil at the end. One of the only favorable comparisons I will make is that Mama Dola is very similar (in plot importance and overall tone) to the Ulysses crew; roguish, but ultimately good natured. But even the crew of the Ulysses gets more to do than the pirate gang. The journey to and through Atlantis gives most of the crewmembers a focus scene. Some are short; like Vinny and Mole each overcoming an obstacle on the path between the crash site and Atlantis proper. Others recur through the whole film; Dr. Sweet is a medic, caring for the crew, Nimoy's King Kashekim, and even getting to pull out Chekhov's bonesaw to help rescue a kidnapped Princess Kida. Speaking of; Kida actually gets to do something in this movie. While she does spend a bit of time being captured like Sheeta, Kida does a lot more proactive stuff, rather than just running away from everyone like Sheeta does. She's part of the scouting party that first meets the Ulysses crew, she 'recruits' Milo to help translate old Atlantean text, and she uses the Heart of Atlantis to activate the ancient stone-like robots that sacrifice the outskirts of the city to protect the core. (I'm starting to really see why there were accusations of plagiarism). The cool technology is also a lot more dynamic in this film compared to Castle in the Sky, what with the undulating baracuda fliers, and the sweeping shots of the Ulysses, but that may just be due to the 15 years of animation improvements between the two. But ultimately...one of the major things that sets Atlantis head and shoulders above Castle is its brevity. At a brisk 95 minutes, Atlantis traces the same basic plot beats, without lingering overlong on characters that end up being completely pointless to the narrative. A strong, strong recommend for Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and my unending bafflement as to why Kida never shows up in the roster of Disney Princesses. Up Next: One Wonderful Sunday Released June 25th 1947, Directed by Akira Kurosawa. jivjov fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Mar 27, 2016 |
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Oct 12, 2015 21:30
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Schwarzwald posted:I think you've made an error. WHOOPS, changed the date and not the year! All better. Nice catch.
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Oct 12, 2015 23:26
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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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Oct 17, 2015 23:14
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 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.
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Oct 19, 2015 04:37
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Neowyrm posted:I thought this Kurosawa film was garbage, personally. You didn't even watch it!
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Oct 19, 2015 16:07
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 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.
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Oct 30, 2015 00:51
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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...
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Oct 30, 2015 01:37
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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.
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Oct 30, 2015 02:04
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 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 |
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Oct 31, 2015 23:12
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