Kurosawa in the balcony

[calimac]

Looking over my LJ posts as a record of my evenings out, I realize that it wouldn't be representative of earlier periods of my life. Even leaving aside reviewing, for instance, I go to a lot more concerts than I did in my 20s. It's a bit stunning to remember that, during my three years in Seattle, I only heard the Seattle Symphony maybe twice. Of course, then I couldn't afford to go.

On the other hand, one thing I did fairly often in those days but hardly do at all now is to spend an evening with a friend or two, slouched up in a theatre balcony, watching weird movies.

But the Stanford Theatre is running a Kurosawa festival, and I'd never seen any Kurosawa - yes, I know - so with the help of a prompting by one of my Shakespeare-reading friends, there we were to see Throne of Blood and The Bad Sleep Well.

Throne of Blood, is, of course, Kurosawa's famous adaptation of Macbeth into medieval Japan: lots of warriors with the horned helmets on. And a very close adaptation of Macbeth it is, too; I doubt I'd have had much trouble following it even were there no subtitles. Such plot changes as are made either sensibly simplify the story or intelligently elaborate on character motivation. It's also like Shakespeare in that almost all the fighting is depicted by having spear-carriers rush on stage and tell everybody about it. The really exciting moment comes when you realize there is no Macduff, so how is Macbeth (Toshiro Mifune) going to get killed? And then you find out: memorably.

The Bad Sleep Well is sometimes described as an adaptation of Hamlet, but it isn't, really: it's a revenge tragedy with some Hamlet-like elements in it. Viewed as Hamlet, it would have to be described as starting with Hamlet and Ophelia's wedding, so you can see how far off it is already. The opening is a hugely dense expository lump, introducing gobs of characters you can't possibly be expected to keep straight yet, but gradually it clarifies itself into a pretty exciting thriller plot that only lasts a little bit too long. You'll know you've gotten well into the good part when the Ghost shows up. And no, this film is not a fantasy.

It has a contemporary setting, so there's no helmets, and there's more relaxed, naturalistic acting than the very stylized Noh stuff in Throne of Blood. Mifune as the Hamlet character shows what he looks like neatly shaved and in glasses and a business suit, and demonstrates that he can act in other modes than yelling and growling, though he gets to do some more of both of those, too.

Here are some things I learned about Japanese upper-level business society circa 1960, as shown in the movies:

1. In public, men wear Western-style suits or tuxes, but women wear an adaptation of traditional Japanese clothes.
2. Japanese weddings feature the same inane toasts and fluffy white cakes, and the same playing of the Wagner and Mendelssohn wedding marches, as do Western weddings.
3. Japanese, we know, bow a lot. A man who would bow to his superior when speaking with him in person will also bow when speaking with him on the telephone. This is why he stands up from his desk to make the call.
4. Japanese, we know, don't wear their shoes inside the house. This means that if you've got a bum leg and are hobbling around with a crutch, you'll have two crutches, one for outdoors and one for indoors. If you have a maid, she'll clean off the foot of the outdoors crutch every time you come inside.
5. Japanese are so hierarchial (see item #3) that it's virtually impossible to hold a corruption investigation, because a proper bureaucrat simply will not rat on his bosses.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

A less well known Kurosawa film that I find interesting is Ikiru (Japanese for "To Live"), which turns out to be a fairly explicit knockoff of Goethe's Faust. I particularly like the hero's last moments, which evoke the situation in which Faust finally says, "O moment, stay! you are so fair."

[barondave.livejournal.com]

DVDs have changed how I watch movies, which was always a bit different than most people anyway. I still go to theaters for the group experience, the spectacle and the 3D. But DVDs allow me to watch at leisure, stopping and starting, or going back to turn on subtitles for a slurred bit of dialog. Not all commentaries and extras are worth it, but many are invaluable.

The commentaries on several Kurosawa disks improved the films, immensely. I really didn't know much about post-war Japan, and much of the meaning of his early films slipped by me. It took me two tries to watch the whole thing, but now Ikiru is probably my second favorite film (after Sunrise). I haven't delved much into his later work because I've seen it... but a long time ago, and they definitely fall into my 20-Year Rule for rewatching movies.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I've noticed some of these when the spouse watches more modern set action films. I wonder if for men, western dress became the power clothes.

I'd love to read something about that, actually.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

A fun entry and your comments definitely make me look forward even more to seeing those two films; they also make me suspect that you might really enjoy the films of Yasujiro Ozu. I'd been slowly going through Kurosawa's films but got stalled; but given that it is his 100th birthday next Tuesday, I'm going to try to jump-start my survey again this weekend. Thanks for the encouragement, however unintended.

[(Anonymous)]

Great comments! Neither of those films are among my favorite Kurosawa works (which would be the samurai comedies Yojimbo and Sanjuro, and the crime thriller High and Low), but I found that I liked Throne of Blood rather more when I saw it a second time, on the big screen, which opportunity I have not had for The Bad Sleep Well, so I think you benefited from encountering Kurosawa first at the cinema. (Many of his films have been playing this month on TCM.)

As for the suggestion that you might enjoy the works of Ozu, be advised that his films, particularly his best-known works from the late 1940s through the early 1960s (such as Late Spring and Tokyo Story) are completely different from Kurosawa's, being small-scale, contemplative, modern-day family dramas.

-MTD/neb

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Movies are made to be seen on the big screen. I have not yet found an exception to this rule: People who saw Lost in Translation first in the theatre liked it. People who saw it first on DVD hated it.

[milwaukeesfs.livejournal.com]

We found Kurosawa's interpretation of Lady Macbeth's madness both poigniant and chilling--a very effective movie. "Ran", his take on "King Lear" is also excellent. I've never seen any of his gangster movies, but hope to.

Big Kurosawa fan here

[ken-3k.livejournal.com]

When I saw THRONE OF BLOOD the theater scrambled the running order of the reels, so the witches were predicting things I had already seen. Argh. No wonder it didn't make any sense. I couldn't even ask for my money back, as it was a free showing. Could I have my two hours back, please? I still need to see THRONE in the correct order.

My favorite is probably KAGEMUSHA, with its theme of stolen identity. Even though it's a big historical epic, I find it much more intimate than RAN. Second favorite is probably SEVEN SAMURAI, which I got to see anew in a theater last year. There is so much I have not seen, though.

On the subject of settings of Macbeth: I loved the Metropolitan Opera's movie-cast of Verdi's opera of that title. Excellent acting from the two leads, and the witches as a chorus of bag ladies.