Akira Kurosawa [Archive]

What Would Kevin Do?

06-03-2004, 03:29 PM

Great director. I've yet to see a movie of his I haven't liked. Just finished watching Ikiru. Irkiru wasn't one of Kurosawa's epics, but an amazing movie about a man who finds out he's dying of cancer, and realizes that he's done nothing with his life. Realizing he has little time left, the man wants to do something with his life.

Anywho, so what do you think of Kurosawa and his movies? If you don't know who he is, get off your lazy ass and watch some of his movies. If nothing else, watch "The Seven Samurai" as everyone should see that movie.

Guest #1

06-03-2004, 08:11 PM

Oh Yeah! I've been a huge fan for many years. I once rented Ran so many times, that I broke down and bought it, for an outrageous price. I have seen all Kurosawa films with the exception of Not Yet (last one?) and the documentary The Most Beautiful, which sadly is lost. I have "Something Like an Autobiography" (best title ever) on my night stand, and it reads like fiction. In my opinion Seven Samurai is the greatest film of all time, and his comedies are really undervalued, No Regrets for Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday. I could go on and on. To know how good a director can be, I would also suggest watching the Master's work.

Nowhere Man

06-04-2004, 08:17 PM

The only Kurosawa movie I've seen is the Seven Samurai (which is reaching its 50th Anniversary this year [as well as the other Japanese cinematic icon, Godzilla]) and I must say, I was absolutely blown away. Fantastic movie, especially since Japanese movies are better known for being either extremely cheesy or just f'ing insane.

BTW, if you're into Kurosawa, I'd highly recommend the comic series Usagi Yojimbo. It's done all with animals (the main character is the samurai rabbit who occasionally popped up in Ninja Turtles), but it's chock-full of classic storytelling along the same vein as Kurosawa. If you can find the comics, you really oughta read them.

What Would Kevin Do?

06-08-2004, 12:39 AM

Come on, we need more Kurosawa love.

Triple A

06-08-2004, 12:43 AM

Recommend me some of his movies that I need to watch. They better not be slow and boring either. :mad:

Guest #1

06-08-2004, 01:28 AM

What Would Kevin Do?

06-09-2004, 03:03 AM

I would start off with Ran (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/) , beautiful but violent.
Kagemusha (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080979/) is probably another one with more action.

Work your way up to Seven Samurai, and if you eventually can take long story building Bad Sleep Well, Ikiru, Stray Dogs, or Rashomon.

What he said. Work your way up to Seven Samurai. It's a great film, but it is long ( three and a half hours), so if you're not used to the style, it may drain you. I'd still be hella surprised if you didn't love them though. I may be bias, but I think it'd be near impossible for someone to watch some of his films and not say they're great.

Triple A

06-09-2004, 03:07 AM

Well, I just put Seven Samurai on hold at the library, so I guess that'll be first.

Being the #6 rated movie of all time on IMDb sorta made me wanna watch it.

MoRcHeEbA

06-09-2004, 03:19 AM

lol @ putting something on hold at the library

Triple A

06-09-2004, 03:27 AM

Yeah you piece of shit.

They have like every movie. I posted a topic about this. :mad:

Any movie I want, I can go online and tell them to bring it in for me.

AlphaBean

06-09-2004, 04:43 AM

Naughty Nurses VII

I've seen seven samurai and rashomon. Rashomon didn't really impress me since I've seen that story done so many times in my lifetime (even though Rashomon probably did it first), but seven samurai was... wow. Yeah. I need to own it.

Guest #1

06-09-2004, 12:09 PM

lol @ putting something on hold at the library

Let's see, my library carries the entire Criterion collection, which cannot be found at most video stores, sells for well over $50 each and have to be specially ordered. It is full of award winning films, documentaries and foreign films. Not to mention it is free.

But that said, we can't all be obsessed with Weekend at Bernies II.

What Would Kevin Do?

06-10-2004, 03:02 AM

Let's see, my library carries the entire Criterion collection, which cannot be found at most video stores, sells for well over $50 each and have to be specially ordered. It is full of award winning films, documentaries and foreign films. Not to mention it is free.

But that said, we can't all be obsessed with Weekend at Bernies II.

I found Ikiru at my library, and I was looking for that for a hella long time ( didn't feel like spending money on buying it.) They also had Kikujiro ("Beat" Takeshi flick) there that I was looking for...

WIth that said, there is NOTHING wrong with Weekend and Bernies II... Dancing corpses are the shit.

Guest #1

06-10-2004, 11:40 AM

AlphaBean

06-30-2004, 08:10 PM

My local library is pretty stacked, along with about 10 Kurosawa films, it also has Inagaki's Musashi series, Mizoguchi's 47 Ronin, and Ozu's Good Mourning, Tokyo Story...

The one dvd I'm still searching for is Himatsuri by Yanagimachi. I saw it once and it really blew me away. Unfortunately, it never achieved mass appeal and many didn't understand the film.

That said, WAB II is being offered as a free gift in my area when you order pizza. Hey, 2 birds right?
I just finished the first two of the Samurai trilogy, and I love it. I've seen like 5 samurai films and I'm not done with the trilogy yet, so that makes 3 kurosawa, then 3 inagaki films in the last week.

I saw Yojimbo and the sequel (forgot the name of it), which were probably my two favorites... and I think Triple A would enjoy Yojimbo quite a bit. :yes:

Triple A

06-30-2004, 08:12 PM

I rented Seven Samurai but didn't have time to watch it, since I rented like 15 other movies at the same time from the library.

I watched maybe 20 mins of it. Dunno.

What Would Kevin Do?

07-01-2004, 12:14 AM

Hey, just three hours and a few minutes to go.

Guest #1

07-01-2004, 01:46 AM

I'm guessing 20 minutes to about the thief scene. I'm not sure, because I didn't time my watching. I think that Mifune's character hadn't even been introduced. There is alot of plot building early on, not to mention all characters to develope.

15 movies are hard to get through, and unfortunately none are on par with Seven Samurai.

Triple A

07-01-2004, 01:48 AM

No, actually, most of the other movies I saw, I liked way better.

Guest #1

07-01-2004, 01:55 AM

Meh, we can't all like the same movies. Kurosawa films have much to offer though. I cannot count the times I've noticed homage to Kurosawa scenes in other movies, and unless you've seen them, you don't get it. There's a reason why he's called the Sensei.

AlphaBean

07-01-2004, 04:19 AM

I think Triple A was hoping for more ninjas in "seven samurai."

Triple A

07-01-2004, 04:25 AM

To be fair, I was only paying attention for about 30 seconds. I knew I didn't have any time to watch it, so I didn't even bother trying. I might try again. I dunno, The Miz said it was pretty shitty and overrated, and so did a couple of other movie buff friends. I trust their opinions. :mad:

It is not "my kind of movie" anyway.

Guest #1

07-01-2004, 04:12 PM

I guess so. But, I hardly think that it's shitty. Sure, Miz might not have liked it, but when Steven, Martin, George, and Sergio all think he's the best then you've got to at least take some notice.

I don't think that AK's movies are going anywhere soon, so there's always an opportunity to see them in the future.

Guest #1

07-01-2004, 04:21 PM

Not to mention, you've probably seen some of his movies but didn't realize it.
Seven Samurai was The Magnificent Seven
Last Man Standing and Fist Full of Dollars was Yojimbo
The Outrage was Rashomon
even Star Wars (ep.4) was based on characters from the Hidden Fortress.

not a bad list of remakes IMO

What Would Kevin Do?

07-01-2004, 08:55 PM

"How are you going to get Samurai to work for food?"

"Find hungry Samurai."

AlphaBean

07-02-2004, 08:28 PM

Finished the Musashi trilogy. :( I don't know whether I liked that ending or not.

I think the wooden sword bit was awesome, though.

AlphaBean

07-06-2004, 04:47 AM

I'm pretending this is the official Samurai/Toshiro Mifune film thread as well.

Just saw SWORD OF DOOM. Hahahaha, it was probably the worst samurai film I've seen so far, but it was still awesome. The climax was hot.

The Miz

07-06-2004, 03:38 PM

Yeah if Steven Steilberg and George Lucas (the two greatest directors of all time) say he's good then who am I to argue

Guest #1

07-06-2004, 06:14 PM

Miz, your good taste in movies is evident. I was just offering an alternative reference. There are movies enough to suit everyone's tastes, I believe.

Guest #1

07-06-2004, 06:21 PM

I have yet to see Sword of Doom. For Samurai camp, I love Shogun's Assassin, a making of the Lone Wolf and Cub stories. I still like to see the original japanese movies which were edited into this movie.

AlphaBean

07-07-2004, 04:14 AM

Sword of DOOM is great, because you don't know what to expect, and when you think you do, you're wrong. If Kurosawa is the picture, Sword of DOOM is the negative. Everything about the samurai genre seems to be deviated from. I dunno. It's crazy, and the ending is worth renting the movie for alone. :heart:

AlphaBean

07-07-2004, 04:17 AM

Another thing is, Sword of DOOM, while it has many flaws, also has so much depth that it warrants a second viewing... and this is coming from me, who understands most films without even seeing the entire thing, much less on first viewing... so that's a plus. :love:

But I wouldn't recommend the film as a first Samurai film. Not that I'm an expert... but you have to appreciate the norm to appreciate the deviation.

AlphaBean

07-09-2004, 02:47 AM

Rented Kagemusha, which looks like it's gonna be a total Hollywood-influenced film, which might be good, but I dunno.

And Ugetsu, which looks like a fruity art-house take on the samurai way of life. It was the only samurai film left at this place. I have to start going to mroe independent places that specialize in foreign films...

ct2k

07-10-2004, 01:01 PM

The Seven Samurai is possibly my favourite film ever, first time i watched it i was about 8 and it totally mesmorised me, still does now

AlphaBean

07-13-2004, 04:32 AM

Okay, Kagemusha reminded me "in message" as a type of "Seven Samurai." I don't know how much I like it though. I grew to love both the thief (whom we see for most of the film), as well as the late lord. Which is amazing, the way they made a character so deep and likeable despite his being on-screen for all of 5 minutes of the film.

Anyway, that's not ruining it for anyone, since the title has to do with "stand-in for a warlord" or something, and the box pretty much tells you all that and more.

But yeah, it's visually pretty great... I read some bad reviews of it on IMDB but those are a little harsh, from Kurosawa purists I would assume. It's a little heavy-handed in the direction, but I have come to realize that Kurosawa is not exactly known for his subtlety.

Parts of it were a little too hollywood, like the son's ambitious retainer... but it wasn't so bad that I hated it.

It received a 7.8 on IMDB, and I think I agree with that. Maybe 8.3 (give or take half a point), if I saw it again I could tell you better.

Don't have time to watch Ugetsu yet. Hopefully tomorrow if I'm not too tired.