Rashomon (1950)

5/5

Rashomon was the first Kurosawa movie I'd ever seen, and it blew me away. The movie is based on a short story called "In a Grove," which describes an incident that takes place in the woods. The incident involves the death of a samurai (Mori) and the rape of his wife (Kyo) after an encounter with the bandit Tajomaru (Mifune). But the exact details of what transpired there we may never know. The movie proper begins at Rashomon Gate in a torrential downpour. We see a priest (Chiaki) and woodcutter (Shimura), who both witnessed the court hearings and walked away baffled. After hearing each individual's conflicting account of the incident, each more self-incriminating than the last, the priest is on the verge of losing his faith in mankind.

The movie I remember is better than the movie I saw. The movie I analyzed is better than the movie I saw. That is not to disparage Rashomon at all, as it is a great film that has stood the test of time, but rather a mark on its characteristics. It is more art than entertainment, more stimulating to discuss than enjoyable to see. Whereas I could rewatch No Country for Old Men 100 times for the sheer fun of it, Rashomon more appropriately aims to contribute through its complex thematic possibilities. It is a movie that discusses insight and ideas first and foremost and then tries to tack on the human element afterward. The acting serves to advance the plot, and fails at realism or empathy. Unlike The Rules of the Game, the dialogue contains hardly any quotable gems. But there is something inimitable and profound about this movie that I cannot shake, something that sparked a fire in me and inspired me to search out art house cinema. Rashomon turned me on to Kurosawa, and to the moving pictures as works of art, and for that I will always be indebted to this film.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

5/5

Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well is a complex re-envisioning of Shakespeare's Hamlet. It uses corruption as its backdrop and noir as its accent. Written with precision, directed with skill, and acted with dexterity, this is a masterpiece as only Kurosawa can pull off. As in all noirs, the plot is labyrinthine, the subject matter is dark, and the mood is fatalistic. However, this revenge story does not have all the elements of noir: a femme fatale is absent, replaced instead by a wholly kind and honest soul. Her presence makes the ending all the more heartbreaking and poignant.

Like any good noir, we see every character, both the "good" guys and the "bad" guys, get what's coming to them. But like the very best noirs, we feel a palpable tension creep up on us, get under our skin, and make us shudder with apprehension, wishing it didn't have to happen. We watch as each character uses deceit and duplicity to build the foundations for their greedy and vengeful goals; we watch as leaks start to spring up and they lose a bit of control; we watch as they duct-tape the pieces back together and lie to themselves about its stability; and we watch as it eventually collapses due to their own shoddy, sleazy craftsmanship. It represents everything film noir aspires to, from the technical aspects like cinematography to the nebulous qualities like mood, and does so with aplomb.

When I put the movie into the DVD player, I did not know that it would be a film noir. And I am, unfortunately, not as familiar with Hamlet as I should be or would like to be. While watching it, I assumed it would be a different kind of movie and did not find it as compelling or enveloping as I thought it should have been. But looking back on it, in the context of a noir, I see it as one of the best to emerge outside of America. I cannot yet judge the film as far as adaptations go, but I am excited to watch it again after reading through and discussing Hamlet. This is one film I know I will revisit many times to come.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054460/

The Idiot (1951)

2/5

Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot follows an epileptic named Kameda who is a "positively good man" that gets crushed by society. After being falsely accused of murder, he is sent behind a firing squad and is rescued just seconds before his death. He loses his mind as a result of that event, and all that seems to be left is the good inside of him. It is his inability to understand society and his ability to speak only what's in his heart that makes two women fall in love with him, each with their own separate suitors. He too must come to terms with how he feels about each woman.

Cut by the studio from its original running time of 265 minutes down to 165 minutes, the movie is unsurprisingly jumbled and disconnected (and surprisingly bad given the big names behind it). There are a lot of scenes that don't make sense or feel out of place. The parts that are left in have been paced for a four and a half hour film, so they feel really slow in the shorter two and three quarters hour film. There is a lot of silence (like pregnant pauses that simply end instead of give birth to something meaningful) and a lot of overacting and a lot of melodrama. There is little subtlety and little left to your imagination, except trying to figure out what parts of the movie were cut by the studio. On the upside, the cinematography is excellent as always, with flawless blocking and camera movements. And I love his use of reflections. On the whole, I simply cannot recommend that anyone see this movie. However, perhaps if you've read the book and you like Kurosawa, you can fill in the blanks yourself and maybe make the film amount to something meaningful for you.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043614/