High and Low

Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1963, bw (9.0*)
Excellent crime thriller from the Japanese master director Kurosawa, in the tradition of his excellent police procedural Stray Dog (1949). A millionaire factory manager, played by Tashiro Mifune, has mortgaged everything to buy just enough stock to take control of his shoe company in order to maintain his high quality standards while other greedy board members insist on putting out a flimsy cheap shoe that will not last a year and forcing their customers to rebuy shoes more often.

That very day, the executive's son is playing with his chauffeur's son and they change cowboy and outlaw outfits, and a kidnapper abducts the wrong child by accident, but still demands a hefty ransom or he'll kill the child. So now Mifune must weigh the dilemna of losing his company by paying the money he needs to save the child, or sacrificing a child, who's not his own anyway, to save his career.

This film also becomes a police procedural as they try to narrow down the kidnappers location in a race against time, as they feel the child is likely to be killed in either case. Other than his classic masterpiece Seven Samurai, my favorite films of Kurosawa's are these gorgeous crime films in black and white, which are detective stories filmed like 40's film noir. His film Stray Dog caused a huge wave of popularity for these films in Japan in the 50's.

This is now # 449 on our 2011 Edition of Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net (all polls)

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Stray Dog

Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1949, bw (9.0*)
One of famed director Akira Kurosawa's earliest films, about a rookie detective, played by Toshiro Mifune in one of his first starring roles, who has his gun stolen on a crowded bus. He then searches for his revolver relentlessly after it is used in the commission of a crime, as he then feels personally responsible for any victims of whoever is using his weapon. At the same time, he faces the dirision and ridicule of fellow detectives for having lost his gun to thieves on the street.

Beautifully shot in post-war Tokyo, much of in the dangerous black market streets and alleys. In fact, an assistant director stood in for Tishiro Mifune in some of the scenes shot in dangerous locales where guns were sold and criminals rule. Rarely shooting scenes straight on, most are shot from odd angles as if the viewer is spying, like crime witnesses, on the action from behind walls, doors, from earth level (sometimes you only see the feet of the detective), through windows, or rooftops. Kurosawa has put his own stamp on a tense thriller in the style of American film noir, and he actually caused a wave of Japanese police films following the success of this film.

A must-see classic for fans of Kurosawa and Japanese cinema; from the Criterion Collection. It may be argued that his early black-and-white period, which includes his masterpiece The Seven Samurai, was his most successful creatively - it's certainly my favorite era of his.

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Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1954, bw (8.7*)
Famous and often-copied bw classic by Japan's best filmmaker examines a crime from various points of view: from the criminal's, the victim's, the victim's spouse, and an angel present at the time. Of course, no two versions of the crime are exactly alike, which is the point of the film, that our own mindset and point of perspective make objectivity nearly impossible, that the world is shades of gray filtered by our own ego and the mind's preconceptions, making an accurate recollection of 'reality' highly improbable. Maybe the world isn't exactly what you perceive it to be, but what we do perceive is altered by our minds.

This is one of Akira Kurosawa's best films, who often based his films on Shakespeare, like Throne of Blood, based on Macbeth. If you aren't familiar with his work, this is a good beginning film. It may be a bit slow for western audiences, as most of his films slowly evolve rather than rush through the story, but it will reveal artistic rewards for discerning film fans. A classic of his with more action is The Seven Samurai, generally considered one of the best films ever made, and one that is always in my top 10 all time.

A recent film which used this technique is Vantage Point, a 2008 political thriller about the shooting of a U.S. president in a foreign country, which examined the plot from about 10 characters until the entire story was revealed.

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Throne of Blood

aka Spider's Web Castle
Akira Kurosawa, 1957, Japan, bw (7.9*)
In spite of the lurid title, this is another of the great Japanese director's early masterworks, it's not really a horror film. Based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, Kurosawa made it entirely Japanese, building his castle on Mt. Fuji, and mixing elements of Japanese theater into the film. Kurosawa even trucked in the black volcanic soil of Fuji into the studio lot to film the castle interiors.

The story involves the castle of the title, surrounded by a maze-like forest that adds to its protection. One day while lost in this forest, two military leaders who are lifetime friends receive a prophecy from a ghost that leads them into their own web of power seeking and mistrust, as they are each to become castle lords themselves. No medieval Japanese film can avoid war, and this has some beautifully filmed battle sequences, once again using stark black-and-white cinematography to show the power of horses and soldiers in battle, much like his earlier classic The Seven Samurai.

His new favorite actor Toshiro Mifune is featured in this one as well, though this film is not quite as artistic as Seven Samurai, it adheres to the Shakespearean story, so it's a bit more melodramatic and staged looking in comparison, though that's an honest cinematic interpretation of the play. With some haunting and huge-scale images, it's still a great example of the early Kurosawa style, and a worthy entry into the pantheon of Shakespeare transformed to film.

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Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa, 1957, Japan, bw (10*)
This masterful samurai epic (well over 3 hrs) is really a treatise on medieval war tactics. The story is about a small farming village that annually gets invaded and robbed by a small cavalry gang, usually just after harvest, when they steal most of the food but leave the villagers just enough for survival. Eventually they’ve had enough, and send a few men into a nearby town to recruit unemployed and disgraced samurai, led by master actor Tishiro Mifune, to help them defend themselves; they find seven in all.

The first half is slow but told with lots of humor, the second half is an exciting war exercise and a primer on how action films should look. The innovative camerawork had never been seen, and influenced every action film since. Blurred action, filmed during a rainstorm with mud and water flying (see photo below), rapid edits, handheld cameras, and extreme closeups - the viewer feels thrown headlong into the middle of the action itself. Retold as western The Magnificent Seven, and the sci-fi film, Battle Beyond the Stars. Kurosawa’s masterpiece is one of the best in cinema history.

Now #2 (rising from 7th) all-time on our compendium of Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, 2011 Edition

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