Random Thoughts

This is the first DVD on the Early Kurosawa box set. Here’s my most controversial opinion ever: Kurosawa’s just not that good, eh? So I’m actually kinda excited about seeing these movies, because he’s certainly got something going on, and perhaps it wasn’t all covered in schmaltz when he was young?

Let’s find out.

This starts off pretty neat… but it’s obviously got some technical issues: some scenes are just too dark? But otherwise good.

It’s The Saga of the Sandal!

No, I didn’t quite understand what that was about, either.

The opening titles (from 1952) apologised about bits of this movie going missing during the wartime censorship, so perhaps that explains why this movie doesn’t really make much sense? It’s a series of scenes — some that are pretty good, and some that are moronic — more than a narrative.

Hey! Shochiku!

Wow, this is stupid.

But it looks good from time to time.

Man, this is so stupid. It’s like distilled Kurosawa.

Sanshiro Sugata. Akira Kurosawa. 1943.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

This is much better than Makavejev’s previous movie, which was rather overwrought — it seemed like he wanted to have everything in there. This is much more relaxed; perhaps he realised that he could make more than one movie before the state came down on him or something.

Was Makavejev religious? I think I detect some christian damage here.

This is really good. It’s totally digressive in a totally compelling way — each scene leads naturally into the next.

I almost gave this a ⚅ because it’s kinda brilliant? It’s aaalmost a work of genius? But there’s a couple of sequences that don’t quite zip, so:

Love Affair, or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator. Dušan Makavejev. 1967.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Ozu is mixing it up! This character is placed mid-shot as usual, but he’s not staring into the camera! He’s looking slightly to the left of the camera!!1! OZU IS INNOVATING!

Oh, right, hi, welcome back to the Late Ozu Box Set Live Blogging Experience.

I think Ozu has the most movies in the Criterion Eclipse series — twelve films? I enjoyed his early movies a lot, but the first one on this Late Ozu box set seemed… scattered? This is another two and a half hour family drama thing, I think.

I mean, it’s Ozu’s thing — but it does feel like he’s not really making an effort in these scenes: Just doing the same shot over and over again.

And the thing is that the shot works — when the actors are compelling. The guy here isn’t really.

I’m really digging this movie, cats. It’s kinda funky? I mean, there’s a lot being left unsaid, and there’s a lot being said obliquely. It’s like… a melodrama, but shifting between subtle and forthright at the drop of a hat.

The liner notes on the DVD talks about this movie being “sordid” and how Japanese audiences didn’t much like it, but… it’s not at all? It’s depicting these characters, making their best choices, and not judging them. It’s, like, really humane?

Tokyo Twilight. Yasujirô Ozu. 1957.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Wow, this is a snappy film. After watching so many slow French and Japanese movies, it’s overwhelming.

Makavejev’s name seems extremely familiar — I feel like I should know who he is, but I don’t, really.

Very chaotic.

This movie looks great. The shakycam is a bit hard on my stomach, though.

It’s an uneven film — there’s brilliant, striking scenes here, and then there’s jokey anecdote asides that are… fun? But altogether, it doesn’t quite gel, I think.

Hsss.

Man is Not a Bird. Dušan Makavejev. 1965.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

This is most drôle. Ghosts and romance.

Hang on… Is that a young Jacques Tati?

It’s even got a ghost dog!

This started off really well, with lots of zip and pep. It’s still amusing, but it’s gotten a bit bogged down? We’ve been introduced to three fake ghosts and one real, and several other people, so we’ve kinda lost track of the initial characters.

It’s dark, see?

This is a most amiable movie — very pleasant to watch. But it does plod along when it should be doing snap-snap-snap hi-jinx at times. The liner notes mention Blithe Spirit, but it really suffers in comparison: While this has a pretty good premise, they really needed somebody like Noel Coward to step in and make the repartee better.

The ghostly special effects are great, though — and done practically, with two identical sets and optical effects.

Sylvie et le Fantôme. Claude Autant-Lara. 1946.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.