Tonight I introduce my wife to early Kurosawa. She's seen Seven Samurai and I've shown her Ran, but it's downright criminal (oops, I just had-ta!) that she hasn't been properly acquainted with The Great One's noir era - doubly so considering she is a huge Suzuki fan! Perhaps I can goad her into signing up and sharing her (much more concise) thoughts on the films we watch - starting with my favorite Kurosawa gangster flick, "Stray Dog."
Well, you can rest assured I'll be sharing mine later, at least!
Stray Dog
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moira finnie
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Mr. Arkadin
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charliechaplinfan
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myrnaloyisdope
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I find the depiction of post-war Japan to be fascinating in the film. At times it feels like something out of Italian neo-realism. The landscape is stark and bleak. The people in the film are obviously poor, and poverty is the guiding hand for each character's actions. Kurosawa never strays from emphasizing the desperation that poverty creates.
For my money Ikiru is his best film. Takashi Shimura gives an all-world performance, and I really like the narrative structure of the film.
For my money Ikiru is his best film. Takashi Shimura gives an all-world performance, and I really like the narrative structure of the film.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
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Mr. Arkadin
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I love Red Beard (1966) as well. Both are great affirmations of life.
There are so many great Kurosawa films, and he worked in so many genres it’s amazing how many true classics he directed. While I love all of the films mentioned (Ikuru, Rashomon, Red Beard, Stray Dog, etc), the Kurosawa films I watch most regularly are his Shakespeare's, Throne of Blood and Ran. The Hidden Fortress is fun, too. (Especially if you are a Star Wars fan!) And I also love his “Eastwood’s”: Sanjuro and Yojimbo. As far as Noir, I’m with Mr. Arkadin, and really dig High and Low. 
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS
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myrnaloyisdope
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I like High and Low a lot, it was much different than what I was expecting, it basically goes from morality play to action thriller about halfway through.
The Hidden Fortress was a disappointment for me, it has some good sections, but overall I find it to be at least 30 minutes too long.
Red Beard was also like that for me, I think it could have been a lot tighter.
A couple others I really enjoyed were Kagemusha which I thought was on par with Ran, and Dersu Uzala, which was interesting because it was Russian, but tells a pretty great story. It's also a beautiful film to look at, as it is set during the Russian winter, so everything is snow covered. Kurosawa sure knows how to use a landscape.
I should also mention one of his lesser known works Dodes'kaden, which isn't his best, but is probably his most radical in terms of story and setting. It's an odd movie about a group of people who live in a garbage dump, it's equal parts comedy and drama, and everyone is just a little bit off. The title comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia for a train's chugging, instead of "chugga-chugga" it is "dodes'kaden, dodes'kaden". One of the main characters is a young man who is either autistic, or mentally challenged who pretends to be a train conductor for an imaginary train that runs through the dump, and he repeats "dodes'kaden" over and over again to mimic the trains sound. It's an odd but charming movie that's worth checking out.
The Hidden Fortress was a disappointment for me, it has some good sections, but overall I find it to be at least 30 minutes too long.
Red Beard was also like that for me, I think it could have been a lot tighter.
A couple others I really enjoyed were Kagemusha which I thought was on par with Ran, and Dersu Uzala, which was interesting because it was Russian, but tells a pretty great story. It's also a beautiful film to look at, as it is set during the Russian winter, so everything is snow covered. Kurosawa sure knows how to use a landscape.
I should also mention one of his lesser known works Dodes'kaden, which isn't his best, but is probably his most radical in terms of story and setting. It's an odd movie about a group of people who live in a garbage dump, it's equal parts comedy and drama, and everyone is just a little bit off. The title comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia for a train's chugging, instead of "chugga-chugga" it is "dodes'kaden, dodes'kaden". One of the main characters is a young man who is either autistic, or mentally challenged who pretends to be a train conductor for an imaginary train that runs through the dump, and he repeats "dodes'kaden" over and over again to mimic the trains sound. It's an odd but charming movie that's worth checking out.
"Do you think it's dangerous to have Busby Berkeley dreams?" - The Magnetic Fields
My wife once had to write an analysis on one of Shakespeare's works for a class she was taking and chose King Lear. It just so happened that I had planned on showing her Ran anyway, so we watched it and she wrote her report on it instead. If I remember correctly she got ace marks. I hold Kurosawa's Shakespearean works in as high regard as I do Laurence Olivier, and I believe him and his work to be the best to have ever performed any of WS's works.
My feelings on Stray Dog still haven't, ah, strayed. It's the most well-paced, written and acted of all his crime films with not a second wasted, filled with the most incredible shots. You need look no further to see Akira Kurosawa's influence on later Japanese and (especially) Hong Kong crime cinema. Before Kurosawa showed the world how to properly shoot a landscape (and people think John Ford knows what he's doing, pfft!), he showed it how to shoot down a hallway and in a crowded street, bus, train, and how to make you reach for your handkerchief in the sweltering heat of the film. The way Stanley Kubrick shot "The Shining" is frankly obtuse in comparison. Lastly, his influence over and impact on the American Western, as has all ready been pointed out by MichiganJ, is far larger and more important than anyone else's.
Ikiru is, once again, my favorite of all Kurosawa's films. Despite the fact that he is most highly regarded for his epics and his technical prowess (he truly is one of the few "brilliant ones"), I have always found his stories of life and humanity to be the best. As amazing as Ran is, give me Dreams any day. The man might very well have been the best director to have ever lived, catch me on a different day and I'll say that's Orson Welles, but much like Orson I hold his personal, intimate pictures to be his best.
Believe me, I'll be introducing my wife to all of Kurosawa's works. As a multi-faceted artist and creative soul herself, she can't help but be fascinated by the works of the man who saw film for what it really is: the only artform in which you can combine every artform. As he said, "For me, film-making combines everything. That's the reason I've made cinema my life's work. In films painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film."
My feelings on Stray Dog still haven't, ah, strayed. It's the most well-paced, written and acted of all his crime films with not a second wasted, filled with the most incredible shots. You need look no further to see Akira Kurosawa's influence on later Japanese and (especially) Hong Kong crime cinema. Before Kurosawa showed the world how to properly shoot a landscape (and people think John Ford knows what he's doing, pfft!), he showed it how to shoot down a hallway and in a crowded street, bus, train, and how to make you reach for your handkerchief in the sweltering heat of the film. The way Stanley Kubrick shot "The Shining" is frankly obtuse in comparison. Lastly, his influence over and impact on the American Western, as has all ready been pointed out by MichiganJ, is far larger and more important than anyone else's.
Ikiru is, once again, my favorite of all Kurosawa's films. Despite the fact that he is most highly regarded for his epics and his technical prowess (he truly is one of the few "brilliant ones"), I have always found his stories of life and humanity to be the best. As amazing as Ran is, give me Dreams any day. The man might very well have been the best director to have ever lived, catch me on a different day and I'll say that's Orson Welles, but much like Orson I hold his personal, intimate pictures to be his best.
Believe me, I'll be introducing my wife to all of Kurosawa's works. As a multi-faceted artist and creative soul herself, she can't help but be fascinated by the works of the man who saw film for what it really is: the only artform in which you can combine every artform. As he said, "For me, film-making combines everything. That's the reason I've made cinema my life's work. In films painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film."