Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I should probably take a break from Kurosawa before I get sick of him, but fuck me if I didn't love this one too. It's another one of his samurai films, with the emphasis here on adventure. It's easy to see why George Lucas cites this as an important influence on Star Wars.
That's actually the reason I was curious to see Hidden Fortress. The main influence seems to come from the "sidekick" characters in this movie, who are clearly the template for C3PO and R2D2. The movie starts from their perspective, eventually meeting up with the real heroes, and then they provide comic relief and running commentary for the rest of the movie. They are both cowardly, constantly bickering with each other, but also kinda lovable... I guess it's more like having two C3POs. And what's great is that even though they ceaselessly argue and fight and chicken out and try to escape or make off with a bunch of money, we love them and are with them every step of the way. Then, meanwhile, we have the rest of gang doing all the real heroics, especially the consummate badass Toshiro Mifune, and being the one's to move the story forward. So now that I think about it, it's basically the Scooby Doo gang: 2 girls and a guy that do all the heroics, and then 2 lovable cowards who steal the spotlight. I wonder if the Hanna Barbera folks were fans of Hidden Fortress.
This is a very entertaining and exciting movie, and more lighthearted than some of the other Kurosawa films I've seen. Not that Seven Samurai or Yojimbo are major bummers, but there is some sadness or darkness under the surface there. Here, the underlying themes are more about friendship and loyalty, and I think the ultimate message is a positive one. In fact, one of the things I love best about Kurosawa that is very much on display in The Hidden Fortress is his humanist approach to his films. He empathizes with everyone, even some of the ostensible villains, and gets you to give a shit about the characters, and by extension the story. It's a sign of Kurosawa's empathy for the characters that the big climax comes about not because of the machinations of the plot, but because of a supporting character's emotional arc. As great as his movies are on a technical level, what's truly special is how he generates excitement by getting you involved with the characters first.
Of course, the movie is just plain exciting on an action/adventure level too. We get a lot of chases, sneaking past the enemy, clever ruses, an awesome sword-fight on horseback, a duel with spears, and more. There's one part where the heroes are escaping from the bad guys, and Mifune is riding off on his horse and reaches out his hand and effortlessly scoops on one of his companions and puts her on the back of the horse that made me want to cheer because it was so perfect and exhilarating.
I'm thinking if I watch more Kurosawa soon, I should try something that's not a genre film. Which makes me a little nervous, because as I've said before, what I like about him is how he makes an incredible, entertaining genre flick and then imbues it with depth and heart and empathy. Will I want to see a straight up drama from him? I mean, take for example John Carpenter or James Cameron... two of my favorite directors, but I'm not sure I'd want to see a subdued character piece from either one of them. But Kurosawa's earned more than enough good faith at this point... and I hear great things about Ikiru.
Oh. One last thing. Apparently the real title for this one is something closer to The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress... maybe I missed something, or maybe I'm just an idiot, because I cannot figure out who the three villains would be.
7 comments:
Maybe its just me, but Im sometimes turned off by the Kurosawa characters (like the two in this one) who keep it constantly turned up to 11. Its funny at first but I just can't watch that kind of histrionic performance very long before it starts to grate on me. I gave up on this one a few times early on before I finally committed to sitting down and watching it. Once Mifune enters the picture it gets more watchable, and then excellent, and then fantastic... but I get tired of Tahei and Matakishi real fast when they're not being offset by other charaters.
Although now that I think about it Kurosawa's films probably belong in any worthwhile history of Mega-Acting for that reason. Mifune himself even gets to do some in RASHAMON. But it just gets a litte shrill for me at times. Am I the only one who struggles with this aspect of Kurosawa, or are there others?
No doubt those guys are broad comic characters, but I guess they never really grated on my nerves the way they did yours.
That kind of big-arms, theatrical acting wasn't unique to Kurosawa, really, but was present in Japanese cinema at that time (other filmmakers like Ichikawa or Mizoguchi or Suzuki seem to encourage similarly broad performances in some of their films) and actually now that I think about it is still there today (think Miike or some of Takeshi Kitano's films). It can be a little jarring to us Westerners, but I think it works like something of an acquired taste. I think those two guys in HIDDEN FORTRESS are pretty funny, and nearly all of the Mifune films I've seen have him going way over-the-top, often to great effect.
Which isn't to say that all Japanese films went for this still... just look to say, Ozu, for a far more subdued used of actors in Japanese film.
I have to admit, Japanese cinema (and not just Kurosawa, as you rightly point out) sometimes leaves me feeling like there's a joke I'm not in on. It's weirdly specific to Japanese films; I've never felt the same way even with films from other foreign cinemas, even that of other Asian countries.
Even with Kurosawa's obvious Western influences and style, there are often little details about his films which I just feel like I lack the context to really get. Part of that I think includes not quite having the cultural experience to completely understand what traditions/contexts the broad performances are meant to be taken in.
I mean, not that its completely mysterious or anything; its just that I always tend to be really aware that there's a small part of the meaning that a cultural outsider can't quite fathom. On the other hand, Mifune is just so damn badass that even when he's mega-acting it always seems to make sense (just watched THRONE OF BLOOD for the first time on thursday, and even though its a pretty bleak movie I have to admit his bug-eyed freakouts in that one really put a big smile on my face).
Oddly, I think its the fact that Kurosawa makes kind of western film that makes me so accutely aware that Im not quite on a level; with someone like Ozu, its sometimes such an alien situation that I just get comfortable being an outside observer to a different culture. With a lot of Kurosawa or sometimes Kobiyashi, a lot feels very familiar and so that little bit that's lost in translation feels more prominent. To me, anyway.
And holy crap man, Im awed by your knowledge of foreign film. Ive tried to sample some of the biggies, but I must confess Ive never watched a damn thing by Ichikawa or Mizoguchi or Suzuki. I know, I know, but time is short and Seagal makes like 3 films a month so its hard to fit anything else in. Any specific reccomendations for those three?
Yeah, I know what you mean about the alien or otherworldliness of Japanese cinema. That happens sometimes with foreign films in general, where I feel like I'm missing out because I don't understand all the cultural context of what's going on. Although then you have to wonder if the stuff you don't understand is cultural, or if it relates to the quirks to the individual filmmaker. My current strategy is to be lazy, not bother with any research and just accept the movie from my Western perspective, whether it makes sense or not.
I don't mean to imply that I'm some sort of scholar of Japanese cinema, I've probably only seen one or two movies each by Ichikawa, Mizoguchi and Suzuki. But I have noticed some of that same mega-cinema style that I associated with Kurosawa in their films.
I would venture to guess that Suzuki's your best bet, BRANDED TO KILL would be up your alley... it's a sort of absurdist/comedic crime thriller that Jarmusch borrowed a few moments from in GHOST DOG.
BRANDED TO KILL is added to the queue.
One interesting perspective is in Seagalogy -- on describing Seagal's account of his life, one person comments that he has a sort of Japanese perspective on storytelling, which is less interested in literal reality and much more focused on a symbolic or emotional truth. Seen in that light, the larger-than-life characters in a lot of Japanese films might make more sense. On the other hand, if anyone can explain to me why Tetsuo gets gigantic at the end of AKIRA (spoiler) I will have to eat my hat. Also, explain Tetsuo from TETSUO: THE IRON MAN. Whats the deal with these Tetsuos, Japan?
I'd like to think that those movies are intentionally hard to follow/abstract/expressionist/whatever, but then part of me thinks that maybe the Japanese have a higher aptitude for the fucking weird than Americans do, and it all makes perfect sense to them.
Yeah it's hard to know sometimes, isn't it? I had the impression that I was supposed to understand what was happening to AKIRA's Tetsuo, but not TETSUO's Tetsuo. With something like BATTLE ROYALE, I feel like I get most of it but some parts feel frustrating baffling, like what the fuck is going on with their teacher. Then I have to ask is it a) unclear filmmaking b) cultural cues lost in translation or c) purposely opaque. As I said, though, it seems like this happens with Japanese films with a much greater frequency than any other foreign film, so I'm inclined to think there's at least some element of possibility "a" at work.
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