When you're broke, you can find all sorts of things that you would like to buy. This particular chase came while I was surfing around for new music and films that might be the shining jem of greatness that I've been scouring the mounds and mounds of fluff in order to find. Somehow I came back around to Akira Kurosawa. I remembered all of the great Samurai movies that I watched in my adolescence on Saturday afternoons. Where have they all gone? Now, if we wish to see these films again (and I'm speaking only of the pieces of supreme film making offered from this particular era of Japanese film making) we have to find the Criterion Collection editions to relive the former wonder of our youth. Don't get me wrong. There are fantastic films that have come out of Japan since then... even fantastic Samurai films. However, in my humble opinion, no one could touch Kurosawa. He singlehandedly made Toshiro Mifune a God.
If you watch Spaghetti Westerns (which also used to come on during the lazy mid-morning of Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons) you can see quite a few similarities between the Genre. Now, I'm not just talking about story-line (however, when you think about it--all movies are westerns)... for there were rarely original ideas that rose to the top of Samurai films or Westerns. Most of the similarities deal with the technical aspects of filmmaking. Just look at the shot compositions, the similar lighting, similar settings, etc. etc. They even took place around the same time frame.
Equally there were a lot of terrible Samurai and Western films made.... but we won't get into that.
We're talking about Kurosawa. For those of you that have not seen the films Yojimbo or Sanjuro, I beg you... take an afternoon or evening to sit down and watch them. So, your girl might not dig spending an evening watching a Samurai flick?
Solution: Order Sushi and Saki. You don't have to eat the Sashimi or Nigiri (slices of raw fish). Order some rolls... ask someone who works there what they would recommend.... just try something different. Tell your girlfriend (or boyfriend) that you're willing to experiment with food in order to find something exciting and new. Make up a good speech and make sure there is lots of Saki.
Now, you should have played through enough psychology that you can watch your film in peace. I can pretty much guarantee that once you are through with those two fine masterworks of cinema, that you will be hooked and running around the house slicing through the air with an imaginary sword-- mumbling something that might sound like Japanese. Or maybe that's just me...
The next weekend, take the time to check out some Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood Western flicks. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly... A Fist Full of Dollars, A Few Dollars More... hell, even Pale Rider. It might take up an entire weekend worth of time... but isn't that return to the wonders of childhood amazement what we're all looking for? Isn't that why we wanted to act or make films in the first place? Didn't we want to be in or create something as mezmerizing and hypnotic as those films that caught the wonders of our childhood imagination? Call me a dreamer... but I remember the time when movies were good. I would love to beg Hollywood to stop putting out this senseless mind-numbing crap. Stop putting these millions of dollars to make a movie that should have never been made in the first place... Or could have been made better with less money. If we stop buying our way into special effects, then we'll have to find a creative way around the problematic obstacle (that might actually require acting?!)
Everyone loves money. But not everyone can control a film with $200 Million behind it. Can you imagine what The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly would have looked like if they had $200 Million to spend? Just lookwhat Lucas has done to Star Wars. Ah, see another film based on the worksof Kurosawa... I guess calling it "Space Samurai" would have been too obvious
-B