jholic wrote:

sorry, i didn't read all 47 pgs of this thread. lately, i've been watching many of the kurosawa films. nora inu - pretty decent rashomon - great movie iriku - another good one shichinin no samurai - a good one, but i thought rashomon was more creative. throne of blood, hidden fortress, yojimbo and sanjuro. well made movies. i still have a few that i haven't collected yet (or watched).

That's Ikiru.

Check out Akahige (Red Beard): the final collaboration between Kurosawa and Mifune...

You might wanna try some of the other directors like Ozu Yasujiro, Mizoguchi Kenji, and Inagaki Hiroshi...

bmwracer wrote:

That's Ikiru. Check out Akahige (Red Beard): the final collaboration between Kurosawa and Mifune...

ha!! that's just poor attention to detail on my part!

thanks, i'm going to check out akahige later. since i have *most* of his movies, i'm trying to watch them chronologically. i'm missing a couple, but i got enough to keep me busy.

next up is 'tengoku to jigoku' (high & low). then comes akahige.

the only downside to his films is that they usually have the same actors. i mean, they do a good job and all, but it wouldn't hurt to see a fresh face. know what i mean?

jholic wrote:

ha!! that's just poor attention to detail on my part!

Gomen. I'm a nitpicker.

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thanks, i'm going to check out akahige later. since i have *most* of his movies, i'm trying to watch them chronologically. i'm missing a couple, but i got enough to keep me busy.

Hmm, interesting idea: I never thought about watching them chronologically...

There's still a number of Kurosawa films that I'm waiting to be released: Sugata Sanshiro (Judo Story), Yoidore Tenshi (Drunken Angel), and Kagemusha (Feb 2005, I think.)...

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next up is 'tengoku to jigoku' (high & low). then comes akahige. the only downside to his films is that they usually have the same actors. i mean, they do a good job and all, but it wouldn't hurt to see a fresh face. know what i mean?

Yeah, but the directors, particularly Kurosawa, knew what to expect from his core stable of actors... And how could you not have Mifune Toshiro or Nakadai Tatsuya in your cast??

bmwracer wrote:

And how could you not have Mifune Toshiro or Nakadai Tatsuya in your cast??

ok, i know who mifune is. who is nakadai? is that the main actor in ikiru? cuz that old guy can ACT. he's quite convincing in all of his roles. and i when i heard that mifune is regarded as one of the greatest jp actors of all time, i thought HE was mifune!

jholic wrote:

ok, i know who mifune is. who is nakadai? is that the main actor in ikiru? cuz that old guy can ACT. he's quite convincing in all of his roles. and i when i heard that mifune is regarded as one of the greatest jp actors of all time, i thought HE was mifune!

The old man in Ikiru is Shimura Takashi, another fave actor of Kurosawa's... Among his many roles, he was the leader in Shichinin No Samurai and Mifune's senior partner in Nora Inu...

Nakadai Tatsuya showed up in later (1960-on) Kurosawa films like Yojimbo, Sanjuro (he was the guy Mifune killed spectacularly at the end), Kagemusha, and Ran....

[quote="bmwracer"]
The old man in Ikiru is Shimura Takashi, another fave actor of Kurosawa's... Among his many roles, he was the leader in Shichinin No Samurai and Mifune's senior partner in Nora Inu...

It is a shame that Takashi Shimura has been often overshadowed by Toshiro Mifune. Both were great actors and in the movies Shimura appeared in with Mifune, he more than holds his own against the more flamboyant Mifune. Like Mifune, Shimura is generally associated with the films of Kurosawa, but over his career he appeared in many other films, including one of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films and even in a couple of the Tora-san movies.

bmwracer wrote:

You might wanna try some of the other directors like Ozu Yasujiro, Mizoguchi Kenji, and Inagaki Hiroshi...

Other directors who came a generation after those listed above that merit some attention include Yoji Yamada, Kinji Fukasaku, Kenji Misumi, and Juzo Itami. And don't forget Hayao Miyazaki, Japan's greatest anime director. What a body of work that man has produced in his career!

shin2 wrote:

bmwracer wrote: The old man in Ikiru is Shimura Takashi, another fave actor of Kurosawa's... Among his many roles, he was the leader in Shichinin No Samurai and Mifune's senior partner in Nora Inu... It is a shame that Takashi Shimura has been often overshadowed by Toshiro Mifune. Both were great actors and in the movies Shimura appeared in with Mifune, he more than holds his own against the more flamboyant Mifune. Like Mifune, Shimura is generally associated with the films of Kurosawa, but over his career he appeared in many other films, including one of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films and even in a couple of the Tora-san movies.

And the original Gojira, less Raymond Burr.

Ikiru has got to be Shimura's crowning role: he takes front and center in this movie.

shin2 wrote:

Other directors who came a generation after those listed above that merit some attention include Yoji Yamada, Kinji Fukasaku, Kenji Misumi, and Juzo Itami. And don't forget Hayao Miyazaki, Japan's greatest anime director. What a body of work that man has produced in his career!

Yes.

Can't say that I've seen any of those directors' full body of work, but what I have seen has been outstanding: Yamada's Tasogare Seibei, Itami's Tampopo and A Taxing Woman, and Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime and Majo No Takkyuubin come to mind...

yeah, shimura's a great actor. can't remember how that nadakai looked like. which one was he in yojimbo? i thought that was a pretty entertaining movie.

shin2: i've been collecting the studio ghibili films as well. i'm gonna watch those in chronological order after the kurosawa films. the only ones i've seen are princess mononoke and spirited away. both were very well made. he's an awesome anime director. like the jp version of walt disney.

BMW

If you liked Itami's Tampopo and A Taxing Woman, then a movie I can't recommend highly enough is Itami's "The Funeral".
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jholic wrote:

yeah, shimura's a great actor. can't remember how that nadakai looked like. which one was he in yojimbo?

He was that samurai who was carrying the pistol...

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shin2: i've been collecting the studio ghibili films as well. i'm gonna watch those in chronological order after the kurosawa films. the only ones i've seen are princess mononoke and spirited away. both were very well made. he's an awesome anime director. like the jp version of walt disney.

I'd go as far as saying he's better than Disney in some respects... I think Princess Mononoke isn't just great anime, but a great movie, period.

bmwracer wrote:

Yes. Can't say that I've seen any of those directors' full body of work, but what I have seen has been outstanding: Yamada's Tasogare Seibei, Itami's Tampopo and A Taxing Woman, and Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime and Majo No Takkyuubin come to mind...

Yamada's most popular body of work is the Tora-san films where he directed 46 out of the 48 movies in that series (1969--1996). I read somewhere that the Tora-san movies were responsible for keeping the Shochiku movie studio afloat. In recent years he has done a series of movies revolving around dedicated teachers who work with at-risk kids or adults in night school. He has also directed a number of movies dealing with common people and their everyday struggles. His films tend to be sentimental and lifeaffirming without being saccharin. Tasogare Seibei btw, was his first period (samurai) film. I read that he has since directed a second period film that is currently playing in Japan. Fukasaku made his reputation directing a series of yakuza movies starting in the 1960's; critics say they are the best of that genre. In the seventies and eighties he made a series of samurai movies which were very popular. His final movie, unfortunately, was Battle Royale. Misumi was a journeyman director who specialized in chambara movies. Among the many movies he directed were some of the Zatoichi films as well as some of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. I would equate him with guys like Robert Aldrich or Richard Brooks, directors who specialized in solid, entertaining action pics. Itami, you know about; too bad he committed suicide, thus depriving the world of his great talent. Yesasia.com is coming out with boxed sets of most of his movies; I think they are all subtitled, but the price is pretty steep. Miyazaki is great, period. Of all the directors I mentioned, he is the only one of whom I have seen all of his feature-length films (with the exception of the one currently playing in Japan). Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) was the only anime and one of only a few Japanese films that Akira Kurosawa listed among his favorite films of all time.

shin2 wrote:

Yamada's most popular body of work is the Tora-san films where he directed 46 out of the 48 movies in that series (1969--1996). I read somewhere that the Tora-san movies were responsible for keeping the Shochiku movie studio afloat.

Heh, I just read that. I picked up Donald Richie's A Hundred Years of Japanese Film and saw that mentioned in one of the chapters.

Another fascinating read (I'm only on chapter 3) is Stuart Galbraith's The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune... One of the few (if not the only) complete biography on those two legends of cinema...

Here's a DVD comparison of Seven Samurai from DVD Beaver: http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/sevensamurai.htm

bmwracer wrote:

Another fascinating read (I'm only on chapter 3) is Stuart Galbraith's The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune... One of the few (if not the only) complete biography on those two legends of cinema...

Ah, 'racer, I wanted to read that one, too, accckk, but, by my count I got enough books to last 'til after my retirement, even . Actually, I'll try fit it in. Huge book, you wouldn't have thunk it. Must be filled w/some really great accounts of the two masters in cinema, in their respective craft.

Let us know how the rest goes, onegaishimasu, BMWracer!

bmwracer: thanks for the earlier clarification. hope i can see another kurosawa movie by this weekend, but the holiday season makes it rather difficult!

The Man wrote:

Ah, 'racer, I wanted to read that one, too, accckk, but, by my count I got enough books to last 'til after my retirement, even .

Not me. It's pretty rare for me to buy a book and read it unless you're talking about Car and Driver... But since it's well known that I'm a Japanophile, those two books were must haves...

Still trying to find a definitive or near-definitive book or books on Japanese history. Any suggestions??

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Actually, I'll try fit it in. Huge book, you wouldn't have thunk it. Must be filled w/some really great accounts of the two masters in cinema, in their respective craft.

It looks to be that way after the first few chapters... Required reading for anyone interested in Japanese cinema.

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Let us know how the rest goes, onegaishimasu, BMWracer!

Sure thing.

jholic wrote:

bmwracer: thanks for the earlier clarification. hope i can see another kurosawa movie by this weekend, but the holiday season makes it rather difficult!

Yup, I hear ya. Pulling near all-nighters at work ain't helping, either.

ok, popped sanjuro back in and watched the last scene. have no idea how i forgot about it???

anyways, that move that mifune pulls off is pretty neat. had to pause, and slo-mo it about six times! probably impossible to perform in real life, but it looked way cool in the movies.

i also just finished watching 'tengoku to jigoku' (high & low), which i highly recommend. one of the best kurosawa films, in my opinion. i'm not sure if he got his ideas from any hitchcock movies (showing about the same time period), but it was an awesome thriller.

have any of you seen it??