The Sea Is Watching; or, The Measure of Love Misfortune added to misfortune only doubles the misery. The Sea Is Watching is yet another Akira Kurosawa’s project that did not see its realisation before the director’s death. As a result, it was made as a tribute to Kurosawa after his passing. I have been meaning to watch the movie together with After the Rain (1999), but somehow something kept coming up and I kept forgetting about it. Thankfully, I finally managed to check it out and I share my thoughts on the film.
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: 海は見ていたRuntime: 119 min
Synopsis Japan, 19th century. Oshin (Nagiko Tono) works as a prostitute. She lives in a house inhabited by other ladies for company. One day, a samurai named Fusanosuke (Hidetaka Yoshioka) arrives in a house looking for safety after injuring a man in a fight. Oshin shelters Fusanosuke and falls in love with him. Unfortunately, the samurai breaks her heart by marrying somebody else. Then, Oshin meets a wanderer Ryosuke (Masatoshi Nagase).
Distant Stillness Maybe it’s an insane wall of expectations from myself, but I think that The Sea Is Watching is an inferior film when compared to After the Rain. Indeed, both have the spirit and charm of Akira Kurosawa, yet the story of The Sea Is Watching feels so out of place from the director’s dramatic repertoire. All in all, the centre focus of the script is a prostitute with romantic feelings.
Come to think of it, if I hadn't known anything about the film, I would have assumed it was crafted by Nobuhiko Obayashi because of the female-oriented plot, traditional Japan setting, rich colour palette, and a touch of violence. That being said, we know Kurosawa is the one who wrote the script and director Kei Kumai did the directorial chores, and he pulled off the job in a satisfactory way.
While watching the film, I really sympathised with the difficult plight of Oshin, but at the same time, I thought her profession is overly romanticised in the film. Oshin’s professional friends are wholeheartedly supportive of the main heroine while dealing with their own share of toxic relationships. To be honest, all of the them function like remixed variations of Cinderella waiting to be saved and there is no Cruella de Vil in sight to stir things up for Oshin.
Still again, Kurosawa’s story is very poignant and it highlights the unpredictability as well as the sad uncertainty of life. You invest yourself emotionally into another person only to discover that this person does not understand you at all.
With regard to performances, Nagiko Tono played Oshin beautifully and it makes me all the more surprised that this actress did not have greater gigs in historical dramas. Super young Hidetaka Yoshioka convincingly portrays a scared samurai, whereas Masatashi Nagase does a great job as a disillusioned and pitiful loner. A word of mention also goes to Misa Shimizu who portrayed Kikuno.
Recommendations I won’t write “if you like Kurosawa, then…” Just watch The Sea Is Watching and judge for yourselves if you sense the cinematic master’s vibe. It’s a well made slice-of-life tale, but After the Rain resonated better with me.
Overall score: 6/10
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After the Rain; or, Purification With this current… even if the rain stops, the river will remain insuperable. If I understand correctly, After the Rain is one of the few Akira Kurosawa’s projects that were made after his passing in 1998. I believe these were mentioned in a documentary devoted to the filmmaker called A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies (2000), but I am uncertain if the movies were made posthumously because Kurosawa wanted them completed or if his friends decided to honour the director in such a way. Either way, I would like to talk about one of the movies from this 2000-ish lineup; that is, After the Rain directed by Takashi Koizumi.
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: 雨あがる Runtime: 91 min
Synopsis Ihei Misawa (Akira Terao) is a ronin who roams through princely states in search of a new master. He is accompanied by his loyal wife Tayo (Yoshiko Miyazaki). They shelter themselves in an inn waiting for the rain to stop in order to cross the mountain. The Misawas help out the poor who also try to avoid heavy rainfall. When the sky clears, Ihei stops a fight between youngsters in the woods. This mature act draws the attention of a local master Lord Nagai Izuminokami Shigeaki (Shiro Mifune) who invites Ihei to his castle.
Spectres in the Woods Evidently, After the Rain was only based on Akira Kurosawa’s screenplay, but you can tell from the get-go that a great care was undertaken to replicate the feel of the master’s auteur cinematic style. Takashi Koizumi himself served as an assistant director on Kurosawa’s movies raging from Kagemusha to Madadayo. In addition, legendary composer Masaru Sato was brought on board to provide a film score. In addition, Kurosawa’s frequent performers also appear in the film.
What truly grabbed my heart was the sense of tranquillity oozing from this movie. Amazing cinematography wonderfully captures vivid images of nature, forests, and rivers. Indeed, the film could have been made back in the 1960s, but I really appreciate the fact that it took 30 years to make because we can appreciate all the sequences in colour.
The story itself cannot go unnoticed as well. The main character is a different type of regular on-screen samurai. Ihei Misawa is a man known for his kindness and generosity. Paradoxically, these are the personality traits that frequently get him in trouble and render him unemployed. With its narrative structure (memories and flashbacks), After the Rain feels like a classic fairy tale.
Some viewers on letterboxd expressed disappointment with regard to the ending of the film, but I think it could not have been more perfect. It is touching and at the same time witty conclusion of the misunderstanding between Misawa and the local master.
With regard to performances, Akira Terao (who already appeared in Ran, Dreams, and Madadayo) really shines as the main hero. The same can be said about Yoshiko Miyazaki who plays the graceful wife. Shiro Mifune is very convincing as the hot-headed Lord Shigeaki, but he also gives his character a touch of comedy. The legendary Tatsuya Nakadai appears in a cameo role as the mentor figure of the main character.
I did manage to see the film by complete accident because I spotted a DVD at a book exchange point in my local shopping centre. The disc was issued in 2004 by Tantra distribution label and it is a widescreen version placed within 4:3 aspect ratio, so to get out the original resolution of the film, I had to scale the film via VLC software. There are no bonus features on the disc, but at least the translation seems okay and you have the option to choose between Polish subtitles and Polish voiceover. Interestingly, the distribution label was issued the film on VHS, but I don’t know if it was a 4:3 pan-and-scan version or the widescreen release as on the DVD.
Recommendations All in all, I extremely enjoyed this film and I wholeheartedly recommend it to not only Akira Kurosawa’s fans but also to viewers who look for peaceful movies to pass their free time. After the Rain is undoubtedly for keeps.
Overall score: 10/10
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Listen, old man. I’ll get paid for killing. And this town is
full of men who deserve to die. Think about it. Sebei, Ushitora, the gamblers
and drifters; with them gone, the town would have a fresh start.
Yojimbo (1961) is yet another classic samurai film directed
by the master of filmmaking Akira Kurosawa. The story about a mysterious ronin who
cleans up the town from bad guys became so popular that it spawned a sequel,
Sanjuro (1962), two unofficial continuations (Incident at Blood Pass and
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo from 1970), and countless remakes, the most popular of
which is Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Let’s take a look at
Toshiro Mifune’s, arguably, most iconic role:
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: 用心棒 Runtime: 110 min
Synopsis
Japan, 1860s. After the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, many
samurai became masterless. One of them, calling himself Kuwabatake Sanjuro (Toshiro
Mifune), wanders aimlessly through a desolate countryside. He eventually
reaches a small town that is the battle ground between two rival gangs.
Ushitora (Kyu Sazanaka), with the help of the town’s major (Kamatari Fujiwara),
wants to fully control the town, but Sebei (Seizaburo Kawazu), supported in
turn by the sake brewer (Takashi Shimura), also has the same aspirations.
Sanjuro wittingly decides to set in motion a game that will lead to the
annihilation of the two gangs. Unfortunately, his plans are interrupted with
the arrival of Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai), the younger brother of Ushitora.
The Honour of a Samurai
I have seen Yojimbo for the first time 6 years ago, on
Criterion DVD, and it instantly became one of my all-time movies, together with
Kurosawa’s direct sequel Sanjuro. Toshiro Mifune is undeniably too cool for school
as a shabby ronin who tricks the baddies and settles the score.
The story itself may be a bit hard to follow upon initial viewing
because there is a short exposition riddled with many characters, but you can get the
gist of what is going on as Kuwabatake Sanjuro slashes his way through
expendable rogues. I will never get enough of a scene in which he rescues a
family in distress!
If you are a Star Wars fan, then keep an eye out for an “arm
cut” sequence that George Lucas repeated verbatim in A New Hope. Part of me
likes to think that the plotline of Yojimbo is exactly what happens to Obi-Wan
during his 20-year-long stay on Tatooine. (On a side note, did you know that Toshiro Mifune was originally offered the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi?)
Going back to the movie, Yojimbo was allegedly inspired by
a 1942 film called The Glass Key, but the researchers of Kurosawa also point at
Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest (1929) novel as a major source of inspiration.
Regardless of the influences, Yojimbo remains one of the first action stories
with a nameless hero as the protagonist (Sanjuro actually makes up his name in
the two movies).
With regard to performances, Toshio Mifune is evidently
awesome as Sanjuro. Second best performance is the one of Tatsuya Nakadai as
the malevolent samurai with a revolver. Nakadai is currently 87 and I wish him
long, healthy years, because he is one of the few living legends from the Kurosawa
era who are still around. Yojimbo has also many supporting parts done by
frequent collaborators of Kurosawa, including Takashi Shimura, Eijiro Tono, and
Susumu Fujita.
In addition, the music score by Masaru Sato is just amazing.
It feels very experimental, yet it perfectly fits every scene. I absolutely
agree with an interpretation that the jaunty sounds of flutes and big band are
meant to reflect Sanjuro’s state of mind.
Recommendations
Highly recommended to anyone who wants to explore the
lighter stuff of Akira Kurosawa’s impressive filmography. Yojimbo is a wonderful story
that blends action, satire, and folk tale. If you have enjoyed a Fistful of
Dollars with Clint Eastwood, then Yojimbo will be even greater entertainment. Check
it out if you can because this film is a true 60-year-old gem. Gusts of wind have
never been so epic.
The herein review was created out of my conference presentation about King Lear in late 2015. Later, the post-conference publication was in preparations, so I deleted the review as I incorporated some of the excerpts into the article. However, the publication never came to fruition, thus I decided to re-upload the original review.
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: RanRuntime: 160 min
Plot
Set in the Sengoku period, we follow the life of Lord
Hidetora Ichimonji (played by the epic Tatsuya Nakadai) who decides that it’s
high time to retire and thus divides the kingdom between his three sons Taro
(Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryû). Needless to say,
Saburo is the only son sane enough to warn his father about probable disloyalty
of his offspring, but Hidetora rejects such accusation and banishes the
youngest heir, giving only Taro and Jiro a share in the land. Well, not very
long afterwards, it turns out that indeed Hidetora’s sons turn against him,
stripping him of his title and massacring his troops. Devastated and on the
brink of madness Hidetora, with a faithful Fool (Pîtâ) to accompany him, is on
the run through a raging war in Ichimonji kingdom. The father’s only hope for
redemption is his rejected son Saburo.
The pain of adapting Shakespeare
Obviously, as with the rest of Shakespeare’s plays, King
Lear has had countless cinematic adaptations with many big-name actors starring
in the leading role, and Kurosawa already had his takes on Shakespeare before
with the famous Throne of Blood and The Bad Sleep Well. However, it was twenty
years after these two films when he finally decided to make Ran. On a side
note, the title is not an English verb, but a Japanese word meaning “chaos”. In
a nutshell, we can sum up Ran as a pessimistic study of the lust for power,
betrayal of the father, and the outbreak of morbid wars. This film is the most
grim, dark, and depressing motion picture out of the whole of Kurosawa’s
repertoire, completely contradicting the social and often optimistic messages
of his previous films (such as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro).
Lesson of the Three Arrows
Allegedly, Kurosawa became inspired by the so-called “Lesson
of the Three Arrows,” a tale about a Japanese warlord who handed each of his
sons an arrow, asking each to break it. Then handed each son three arrows,
requesting all three be broken together. The inability to do so implied the
message “united we stand”. However, Kurosawa stated the following: “When I read
that three arrows together are invincible, that’s not true. I started doubting,
and that’s when I started thinking: the house was prosperous and the sons were
courageous. What if this fascinating man had bad sons?”
That’s why Lord Hidetora has sons in the story (not
daughters, as in the play): Taro (first son), Jiro (second son), and Saburo
(third son); and it’s the youngest of the whole bunch who breaks the three
arrows by snapping them against his knee, reiterating in this way the horrible
truth to his ignorant father.
King Lear vs. Lord Hidetora
Highly interesting is the also the change which Kurosawa
made with regard to the main character of the tragedy. In the play, we get to
know that Lear was the king of Britain, a man “more sinned against than
sinning”, and a blind ignorant trying to be the king without any
responsibilities. Paradoxically, Kurosawa wanted to create “Lear with
history,” a man haunted by his past misdeeds. In contrast to Lear, Hidetora is,
or used to be, a bloodthirsty monster, a tyrant who created his kingdom out of
the ashes of conquered lands by ruthlessly killing women and children.
Naturally, the obvious choice to play such a badass character would be Toshiro
Mifune who did an amazing job in the previous Kurosawa’s adaptations of
Shakespeare, yet considering the fact that Mifune and Kurosawa were cross with
each other since the making of Red Beard, a not so obvious second-choice man
was hired for the part.
In my opinion, Tatsuya Nakadai in Ran gave the most
outstanding performance in his entire acting career. Crappy latex make-up to
make him look like an 80-year-old did not stop Nakadai from the stealing the
show for himself and providing one of the most interesting as well as menacing
interpretations of Lear. In addition, it should be pointed out that the actor
did most of the stunts himself, including getting out of the castle that was
really on fire! (The best sequence in the whole picture).
Frail men, strong women
Another interesting addition to the original story is also
the preservation of a woman as the evildoer. In King Lear, the daughters do the
dirty job, but in the movie it’s Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada) who pulls the
strings. She encourages the two sons to rebel against their father and later
turn against each other, thus leading to the fall of the Ichimonji clan. That
wicked witch is literally an impersonation of bad karma.
Nevertheless, on the other hand, Kurosawa does not so much
amplify female viciousness but puts it in question. Apart from Kaede there’s
also Sue (Yoshiko Miyazaki), a girl whose family was slaughtered by Hidetora,
but the king spared her and treated… as a sort of a pet in his court. She is
the only one apart from Saburo who is truly kind to Hidetora for she finds strength
and consolation in the teachings of Buddha, informing Hidetora about the
working of Karma before all hell breaks loose.
Last but not least, there’s also the issue of irony
presented in the movie. When running along with the Fool, the two engage into
pondering upon existential matters. When mad Hidetora states pitifully “I’m
lost”, the Fool replies ironically “All men are lost,” enhancing the nihilistic
tone of the whole picture.
Recommendations
All in all, what makes Ran such a unique adaptation of
Shakespeare? Well, it’s certainly a visual masterpiece that everyone should
watch before they die, but it’s great for it transposes the themes from the
original play (chaos, injustice, madness, reconciliation), and also adds new
motifs which amplify the original ones (gender reversal, irony, religion,
violence, and bloodshed). I even dare say that the relation of Ran to King Lear
can be described as the same of an exceptionally beautiful painting to a well
written description of it. In other words, Ran is the visual extension of Lear.
Overall score: 10/10
If you're interested in finding out more about Ran, check out the following
books:
Galloway, Patrick. 2009. Warring Clans, Flashing Blades: A Samurai Film
Companion. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. (p. 63-69)
Prince, Stephen. 1991. The Warrior’s Camera. Princeton: Princeton University
Press. (p. 284-291)
