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Kurosawa and Japanese movies


Vijy

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Ah.. Kurosawa.. My second most favorite director after the one in my avatar. I have 6 films left in his oeuvre (The Idiot, The Quiet Duel, Dodesukaden,Dreams, Rhapsody in August, Madadayo). Planning to watch all in this month. Then I'll post brief view of each of his films. Till then enjoy these two great videos about him (The YT channel "Every Frame a Paint is really awesome. Please do check out his other videos). doaQC-S8de8 jGc-K7giqKM
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By the way, Thanks Vijy for creating the topic. Kurosawa and Japanese films in general are really great. And then there is Anime too. Guess you yourself a big fan by seeing your Paprika avatar. This video might interest Satoshi Kon's fans. oz49vQwSoTE

Lovely! Time to bump this thread, esp if Rett is around.

Ah.. Kurosawa.. My second most favorite director after the one in my avatar. I have 6 films left in his oeuvre (The Idiot, The Quiet Duel, Dodesukaden,Dreams, Rhapsody in August, Madadayo). Planning to watch all in this month. Then I'll post brief view of each of his films. Till then enjoy these two great videos about him (The YT channel "Every Frame a Paint is really awesome. Please do check out his other videos). doaQC-S8de8 jGc-K7giqKM

I hope that your viewing session had gone well Sonix. I'm very fond of "The Idiot" even though it's somewhat flawed. As for the others, they're not first-rate Kurosawa, but they all have many positives to them.

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On 9/3/2015 at 8:35 PM, Sonix768 said:

Ah.. Kurosawa.. My second most favorite director after the one in my avatar. I have 6 films left in his oeuvre (The Idiot, The Quiet Duel, Dodesukaden,Dreams, Rhapsody in August, Madadayo). Planning to watch all in this month. Then I'll post brief view of each of his films. Till then enjoy these two great videos about him (The YT channel "Every Frame a Paint is really awesome. Please do check out his other videos). doaQC-S8de8 jGc-K7giqKM

I wonder how your viewing went in the end Sonix. I recently finished some others, apart from the ones you listed.

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On 9/3/2015 at 8:41 PM, Sonix768 said:

By the way, Thanks Vijy for creating the topic. Kurosawa and Japanese films in general are really great. And then there is Anime too. Guess you yourself a big fan by seeing your Paprika avatar. This video might interest Satoshi Kon's fans. oz49vQwSoTE

Yes, a fan of Kon here.

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9 hours ago, Vijy said:

I wonder how your viewing went in the end Sonix. I recently finished some others, apart from the ones you listed.

Nice to this bumped again!

 

Yeah, I have watched all those remaining 6 and completed his oeuvre of 30 films.

 

The Idiot was underwhelming. Kurosawa's inexperience was clearly showing with inconsistent tones and lck of clearance in character development. Had he made this around the 70s or 80s, it could have been an epic. But the technical department was excellent. Also it had a stellar cast. Almost like Japanese all-star gathering.

 

Dreams was visual poetry even though it had few issues with some segments. Was surprised to see Martin Scorsese as von Gogh. :)

 

Dodesukaden, The Quiet Duel and Madadayo were good but not top tier films.

 

In Rhapsody in August, I liked the Japanese grandma portions. But the Richard Gere portions were corny. Did not like this.

 

This is my full ranking of Kurosawa films:

 

01. Seven Samurai (1954) - Masterpiece
02. Rashomon (1950) - Masterpiece

03. High and Low (1963) - Brilliant
04. Ikiru (1952) - Brilliant
05. Ran (1985) - Brilliant

06. Stray Dog (1949) - Great
07. Throne of Blood (1957) - Great
08. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) - Great

09. Yojimbo (1961) - Very Good
10. Sanshiro Sugata (1943) - Very Good
11. Dersu Uzala (1975) - Very Good
12. The Lower Depths (1957) - Very Good
13. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - Very Good
14. No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) - Very Good
15. The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Very Good
16. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990) - Very Good

17. Red Beard (1965) - Good
18. Kagemusha (1980) - Good
19. Madadayo (1993) - Good
20. I Live in Fear (1955) - Good
21. One Wonderful Sunday (1947) - Good
22. The Quiet Duel (1949) - Good
23. Dodes'ka-den (1970) - Good
24. Drunken Angel (1948) - Good

25. The Idiot (1951) - OK
26. Sanjuro (1962) - OK
27. The Most Beautiful (1944) - OK
28. Rhapsody in August (1991) - OK

29. Scandal (1950) - Below Average
30. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) - Below Average

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8 hours ago, Shaz1 said:

Fairy Tail

blue Exocist

Full Metal Alchemist

TriGun

Yu Yu Hakosho

Dragonball Z

Naruto

Ruruni Kenshin

Pokemon

Yu GI Oh

Digimon

Black Butler

Hero Acadmia

One Punchman

Bleach

Sword Art Online

Wolf Rain

Rave Master

Bakuman

Death Note

Code Geass

Darker than Black

Zestria X

Eureaka Seven

Xmen Anime

Norigami

 

Those are all I can think of right now off top of my head.

 

I can see you are a fan of TV shows and series. :) You are not into Anime features?

 

I'm more of a feature / standalone film fan when it comes to Anime. Like the films of Miyazaki, Takahata, Oshii, Satoshi Kon. I have not seen much of the latest sensations like Your Name, Wolf Children, Red Turtle etc. Would love get around them soon.

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5 hours ago, Temujin Khaghan said:

do you guys know most of Kurosawa movies did not run well with the mass audience of Japan during his time and he always was at tight ends to get the budget approval from producers...

Yeah, mostly it happened at the later part of his career. Especially around the time when he broke up with his long time collaborator Toshiro Mifune. He even attempted suicide but fortunately saved at the right time. He was often criticized that his films had made for Western tatse and sensibilities.

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6 minutes ago, Sonix768 said:

Yeah, mostly it happened at the later part of his career. Especially around the time when he broke up with his long time collaborator Toshiro Mifune. He even attempted suicide but fortunately saved at the right time. He was often criticized that his films had made for Western tatse and sensibilities.

they fell out during "red beard" shooting

and I heard mifune was to shoot "ran" but dropped out in the final stages of pre production

it seems at the end of their lives they met at an associate's funeral and cried a lot hugging each other.

legends.

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14 hours ago, Shaz1 said:

Whats Anime features?

 

I usually watch movies of anime that I have watched. Otherwise I don't watch them. I am actually not a movie guy since they take longer. I prefer to watch series or shows. 

Anime features as in Japanese Animation (Anime) films, like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Paprika, Ghost in the Shell, Your Name, The Girl Who Leapt through Time, 5 Centimeters per Second, The Red Turtle etc.

 

I can totally understand people not into movies though. But I'm bit surprised that you feel movies would take longer than series as majority of movies are around 2 hours only.

 

 

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On 7/1/2017 at 11:54 AM, RookieFan said:

Seven Samurai and Rashomon are two of my all time favourites. Both were copied by Hollywood with limited success - one (Magnificient Seven) slightly more successful than the other .

 

 

 

 

True, but the overall tone is very diff in 7 Samurai vs Mag 7; latter is more of a light-hearted, fun movie whereas former is a masterpiece.

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On 7/1/2017 at 1:30 AM, Sonix768 said:

Anime features as in Japanese Animation (Anime) films, like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Paprika, Ghost in the Shell, Your Name, The Girl Who Leapt through Time, 5 Centimeters per Second, The Red Turtle etc.

 

I can totally understand people not into movies though. But I'm bit surprised that you feel movies would take longer than series as majority of movies are around 2 hours only.

 

 

I agree with all these recommendations.

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On 6/29/2017 at 4:40 AM, Sonix768 said:

Nice to this bumped again!

 

Yeah, I have watched all those remaining 6 and completed his oeuvre of 30 films.

 

The Idiot was underwhelming. Kurosawa's inexperience was clearly showing with inconsistent tones and lck of clearance in character development. Had he made this around the 70s or 80s, it could have been an epic. But the technical department was excellent. Also it had a stellar cast. Almost like Japanese all-star gathering.

 

Dreams was visual poetry even though it had few issues with some segments. Was surprised to see Martin Scorsese as von Gogh. :)

 

Dodesukaden, The Quiet Duel and Madadayo were good but not top tier films.

 

In Rhapsody in August, I liked the Japanese grandma portions. But the Richard Gere portions were corny. Did not like this.

 

This is my full ranking of Kurosawa films:

 

01. Seven Samurai (1954) - Masterpiece
02. Rashomon (1950) - Masterpiece

03. High and Low (1963) - Brilliant
04. Ikiru (1952) - Brilliant
05. Ran (1985) - Brilliant

06. Stray Dog (1949) - Great
07. Throne of Blood (1957) - Great
08. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) - Great

09. Yojimbo (1961) - Very Good
10. Sanshiro Sugata (1943) - Very Good
11. Dersu Uzala (1975) - Very Good
12. The Lower Depths (1957) - Very Good
13. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - Very Good
14. No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) - Very Good
15. The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Very Good
16. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990) - Very Good

17. Red Beard (1965) - Good
18. Kagemusha (1980) - Good
19. Madadayo (1993) - Good
20. I Live in Fear (1955) - Good
21. One Wonderful Sunday (1947) - Good
22. The Quiet Duel (1949) - Good
23. Dodes'ka-den (1970) - Good
24. Drunken Angel (1948) - Good

25. The Idiot (1951) - OK
26. Sanjuro (1962) - OK
27. The Most Beautiful (1944) - OK
28. Rhapsody in August (1991) - OK

29. Scandal (1950) - Below Average
30. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) - Below Average

I agree with most of your listings. I would bump up Throne of Blood higher, and ditto for Ikiru (which is my 2nd fav Kurosawa). I'm also very fond of Hidden Fortress.

 

The only movie I'd slightly downvote is Ran.

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On 6/30/2017 at 10:23 AM, Sonix768 said:

I can see you are a fan of TV shows and series. :) You are not into Anime features?

 

I'm more of a feature / standalone film fan when it comes to Anime. Like the films of Miyazaki, Takahata, Oshii, Satoshi Kon. I have not seen much of the latest sensations like Your Name, Wolf Children, Red Turtle etc. Would love get around them soon.

You should see Red Turtle. It's very good. As for Your Name, I don't like Shinkai's themes much, but the animation, etc. were beautiful.

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On 6/29/2017 at 4:40 AM, Sonix768 said:

Nice to this bumped again!

 

Yeah, I have watched all those remaining 6 and completed his oeuvre of 30 films.

 

The Idiot was underwhelming. Kurosawa's inexperience was clearly showing with inconsistent tones and lck of clearance in character development. Had he made this around the 70s or 80s, it could have been an epic. But the technical department was excellent. Also it had a stellar cast. Almost like Japanese all-star gathering.

 

Dreams was visual poetry even though it had few issues with some segments. Was surprised to see Martin Scorsese as von Gogh. :)

 

Dodesukaden, The Quiet Duel and Madadayo were good but not top tier films.

 

In Rhapsody in August, I liked the Japanese grandma portions. But the Richard Gere portions were corny. Did not like this.

 

This is my full ranking of Kurosawa films:

 

01. Seven Samurai (1954) - Masterpiece
02. Rashomon (1950) - Masterpiece

03. High and Low (1963) - Brilliant
04. Ikiru (1952) - Brilliant
05. Ran (1985) - Brilliant

06. Stray Dog (1949) - Great
07. Throne of Blood (1957) - Great
08. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) - Great

09. Yojimbo (1961) - Very Good
10. Sanshiro Sugata (1943) - Very Good
11. Dersu Uzala (1975) - Very Good
12. The Lower Depths (1957) - Very Good
13. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - Very Good
14. No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) - Very Good
15. The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Very Good
16. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990) - Very Good

17. Red Beard (1965) - Good
18. Kagemusha (1980) - Good
19. Madadayo (1993) - Good
20. I Live in Fear (1955) - Good
21. One Wonderful Sunday (1947) - Good
22. The Quiet Duel (1949) - Good
23. Dodes'ka-den (1970) - Good
24. Drunken Angel (1948) - Good

25. The Idiot (1951) - OK
26. Sanjuro (1962) - OK
27. The Most Beautiful (1944) - OK
28. Rhapsody in August (1991) - OK

29. Scandal (1950) - Below Average
30. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) - Below Average

have you seen any new kurosawa films of late?

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