November 17, 2005
Akira Kurosawa Part II: The 50s
A Bit of A Biography
Kurosawa’s upbringing was fairly normal, he was the youngest of seven children. He always wanted to be a painter, but after struggling at it, he entered the Japanese studio system. He moved up the ranks in a traditional manor.
It is said his interest in film came from his brother who had commited suicide. His brother worked as a benshi -- a kind of live narrator for films.
Kurosawa directed his first film in 1943, smack in the middle of World War II. JUDO STORY was very successful, with acclaimed martial arts scenes, and even a sequel.
In 1948 he directed what is considered his first real Kurosawa movie DRUNKEN ANGEL. It was also his first film to feature Toshiro Mifune -- the actor his work would become so connected with.
In 1950, he entered his most critically and financially successful period, introducing himself to the world with RASHOMON and put out masterpiece after masterpiece cementing his place in world cinema. Many scholars believe his work in the 50s is his best and when you ask a critic what the best Kurosawa film is they’ll almost certainly name one of his movies from this time period. It’s a time where he perfected his technique and style and explored his most diverse storylines and themes.
RASHOMON (1950)
This may be Kurosawa’s most well known work if not just for the simple fact that reviewers reference it like a badge of honor every time they review a film with non-linear structures or different points of view.
The set up of the film is that a husband (Masayuki Mori) is killed and wife (Machiko Kyo) raped on the side of the road. The culprit is seemingly a well known bandit (Toshiro Mifune). But it turns out the story is not as simple as that. Each character tells their side of the story (even the dead husband) and none of them match. To complicate things there is forth telling by a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura)) who observed the whole thing. But his story is just as contrary as the rest. And the film is trying to tell you -- that’s just the way it is.
It reminds me of this story I’ve heard about the first day of law class when a professor had a man come in and instigate a commotion and then leave the room. Then the teacher asked every one in the class to describe the man and none of their testimonies were the same. While this story has become urban legend, it’s an important message -- and one RASHOMON tries to explore -- reportedly to the chagrin of the producers and assistant directors of the film who didn’t understand it.
But while some people had trouble understanding RASHOMON, the international art cinema embraced it with open arms. Non-linear films, although nausea-inducingly common now, were not then. But even now, having a film from multiple points of view is not terribly common -- nevermind when all those people see different things.
What’s interesting about this film is that even through the different tellings of the same events, you are able to get good insight into each character. And Kurosawa, like in a lot of his films, never try to paint any of them as very good people. All the characters are flawed, so much so that it’s as if human flaw killed the man -- no matter which person actually commited the crime. Each character confesses to the murder as if they are confessing to the culmination of their own weaknesses.
Interestingly, Alfred Hitchcock attempted a false flashback in the film STAGE FRIGHT released the same year as RASHOMON and it simply didn’t work. Audiences rejected it and Hitchcock supposedly regreted ever doing it. Kurosawa was more successful because he didn’t show audiences something that was really ‘false’ -- just different people’s perspectives.
This film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film which further symbolized the open embrace the West had for Kurosawa, who would go on to be one of the most accomplished and loved foreign directors of all time. But all that really started here.
IKIRU (1952)
There are two kinds of people -- those who think that THE SEVEN SAMURAI is Kurosawa’s best film and those that think IKIRU is. The films represent very different sides of his filmography, although made just two years apart.
The plot of this film could turn into a cheesy Lifetime-esque tearjerker but fortunately in Kurosawa’s hands, the film is significantly more profound. Mr. Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a city official. He’s worked the same job for 30 years and spends most of his time putting his stamp on papers but not actually getting anything done. He is a link in a long chain of bureaucratic red tape. Then he finds out that he has terminal cancer and is forced to look at his life, or lack there of. He takes on a final crusade in order to give his life some purpose and meaning.
The project is a children’s park and he works furiously to this end. And at the end of the film, this crusade leads to the well known ending shot of the film.
We get to experience the last days of Mr. Watanabe’s life as he lived them but also get a look at how other people perceive him. Like these two viewpoints the film is both sad and uplifting. It would seem it’s never too late to come of age or simply ‘to live’ which is the literal translation of the title, even if doing so is bittersweet. It’s one of those films that will cause you to think about your own priorities.
It’s hard to describe without making it sound sappy but it’s surely a masterpiece in it’s own way. A way that is vastly different from the samurai epics Kurosawa is known for. And it’s certainly worth mentioning the performance of Takashi Shimura. While Kurosawa is always connected to Mifune, Shimura actually appears in more of his films. And he’s in fine form here portraying the complexities of a man who has lived a long life but the simplicity of a routine lifestyle.
THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
This practically 4 hour long epic is generally considered Kurosawa’s masterpiece. An enjoyable and bittersweet romp of a film about seven righteous men and the small rural village they protect from raiders. This movie is perpetually in the top ten on IMDB and of course was remade as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.
A group of farmers know that raiders will come to ravage their town once the crop is harvested. They decide to take hire samurai to protect their village (although it’s quite beyond their meager means). Shimada (Takashi Shimura) is the first samurai the farmers approach to hire to protect them after seeing his righteousness in action. And he takes on their proposition and becomes the de facto leader. He decides it’ll take seven men to adequately protect the village and sets out to find worthy men.
Each man is subsequently introduced and they all journey to the village to prepare. The film is evenly tempered between it’s action, drama and comedic scenes. One of the more comedic elements is the training of the farmers which occurs when the samurai appear. But the film all leads up to the climactic action-packed ending when the raiders come.
One of the best things about this film is how distrustful the farmers are of the samurai who are saving their lives and land. They have treated samurai, let’s say badly, in the past. And one man is so concerned that his daughter will run off with one of them that he forces her to cut her hair to look like a boy. While perhaps they should be more grateful the film also adequately paints a picture of their life and why they are so distrustful.
The samurai take on this job which offers no glory, no excessive pay and possible death. They’re not deluding themselves, they know they might die in this no good endeavor. But it’s what they do. And in honesty, these samurai for hire are as broke as the farmers. But it’s their job to be righteous and they are (well, all but one anyway).
Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) steals the show with his outlandish actions. And he is also the most flawed. Never getting over his low class upbringing (he is not actually of the samurai class), he vies for position amongst a group of men who aren’t nearly as ambitious. Getting more character development than other characters, he is the Kurosawa tragic hero -- flawed but sympathetic.
The film also focuses on a young unexperienced samurai who is naive and passionate, brings balance to the portrayal of the even tempered experienced men in the group.
Despite the large number of characters -- both samurai and farmers, the film does a good job of developing, if not every character, then the character of ‘samurai’ and ‘farmer’. And the characters that are focused on more directly get very worthy portrayals. Either way, you root for the characters unabashedly which is part of the reason the film is so beloved.
This film owes a lot to the Western genre and the films of John Ford -- who Kurosawa never denied was his idol. But it also gave a lot back to the Western genre and it’s renaissance. Also, it cemented the ‘samurai picture’s’ place as one of the West’s favorite imports. No cinefile can call themselves one without having seen this picture which prophesies the coming of Spielberg and Lucas in it’s ability to create an epic that is cinematic and entertaining.
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)
This is Kurosawa’s MacBeth adaptation. Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Akira Kubo) have successfully defended the forts under their charge against a betrayal. They are called before the head lord but on the way they get lost in a labyrinthine forest where they meet an evil spirit. The spirit tells them a prophecy of their future and when the first part of it proves true, the rest of it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Washizu’s wife Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) plays to his ambitions and ego and causes him to take steps he wouldn’t otherwise. He trusts his compatriots and is happy with his position but when challenged by his wife he goes too far to make the prophecy come true.
In the end, his wife is no help to him, and he’s all alone and must take responsibility for his actions. He goes half crazy with regret. In a couple hours you see the rise and downfall of a man. It’s almost worth re-watching the beginning again after you finish to see how reasonable he was when the film started.
To be honest, I don’t feel like this film has the complexity of MacBeth. Yet Kurosawa decision to focus solely on Washizu’s changes and his simplification of the story gives us a more in depth look at a rather simple man who lacks personal conviction. An odd sort of character to make a protagonist, but personally I’m not really into making and taking responsibility for decisions myself -- so I suppose at least he is a realistic protagonist.
And like a Greek tragedy, with the protagonist’s tragic flaw of hubris (excessive pride), you do feel sympathy for what he becomes. In different circumstances he could have been very happy. It begs the question -- is it better to be miserable at the top or happy in the middle?
This film is certainly interesting but it’s necessarily considered among Kurosawa’s true masterpieces. But it gets a boost certainly from it’s rather awesome title. And also, being based on Shakespeare, is very accessible to Western audiences like most of Kurosawa’s films.
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958)
This film is only well known due to it’s connection to STAR WARS. George Lucas cites it as an influence particularly because it’s where he lifted his basic story.
Matakishi (Kamatari Fujiwara) and Tahei (Minoru Chiaki) are everyday farmers and when a man asks them to escort him an a woman across the border they are understandably a bit worried by the proposition. But when he offers them a good amount of compensation, they’re all for it.
It turns out that this mysterious man and woman are General Rokurota Makabe (Toshiro Mifune) and Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) who are on the run. This causes Matakishi and Tahei more trouble then they are used to, but leads to a host of comedic situations in which this duo prove to be the prototypical comic relief bumbling sidekicks (before this became prototypical).
Matakishi And Tahei are certainly the models for R2-D2 and C-3P0. The story of a princess on the run sounds slightly familiar as well. Although Lucas considered Mifune for the role of Obi-Wan in STAR WARS, it’s clear that Mifune’s onscreen persona is not unlike Han Solo.
Of all the Kurosawa films I’ve seen, I found this one to be the least interesting. I’d only recommend it for Kurosawa completest or hard core STAR WARS fans. That being said, I am notoriously hard on comedies -- the things I find funny are few. Many people enjoy this film on it’s comedic levels and if you are easily amused you may love it.
This film does have interesting things going for it in terms of theme. The farmers thrown into this world of reckless samurai. It’s sort of a metaphor for the situation of their lives. Also the wide gap between them an other classes. So I’ll give it that -- there’s some interesting things to gleam from it.
This is the last film Kurosawa made for the production company Toho, which had a lucrative partnership with -- and it will prove prophetic because a decade later he’ll really start having trouble finding funding for his films. You can read all about that in last week’s column which is really part II of the Kurosawa story. Yes, I do these things to confuse you in particular.
IN TWO WEEKS: Remakes! Several Asian remakes will finally be making their way to American theaters. I’ll tell you about who is remaking what and whether you should try to watch those originals before Hollywood gets to them. I’ll be reviewing films like THE EYE and IL MARE for the first time and rehashing the greatness of films I’ve talked about before like INFERNAL AFFAIRS and PULSE.
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