This image from Yojimbo is forever seared in my memory. (Seneca International)
Yojimbo
(1961)
75 minutes
Kicking off the festival on Friday is
Yojimbo the Bodyguard
with Kurosawa's favorite actor Toshiro Mifune.
Mifune plays a masterless samurai who tries to use to his advantage the fact that a
village is being torn apart by two warring factions. This film has special memories for me because my parents
took me to see it at the old Unicorn Theater in La Jolla when I was
still in elementary school, and I had an image forever seared in my
memory of a dog carrying a dismembered hand. It was a very striking
image to a young kid. But now I realize how effective that shot was in establishing the tone of the film and defining the town as a place where social order had collapsed and chaos was reigning. That was part of Kurosawa's genius, to be able to simply and effectively convey ideas in sometimes a single shot. I also now appreciate the film for its mix of
humor, action and genre bending. Plus Mifune is brilliant as a
masterless samurai -- a man who is both strutting and quietly calculating. The film was remade by Sergio Leone as
A Fistful of Dollars
, by Walter Hill as
Last Man Standing
and is even an influence on Takashi Miike's recent
Sukiyaki Western Django.
Friday, December 5 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 7 at 4:15pm
Tuesday, December 9 at 5:30pm
Hidden Fortress
(1958) 139 minutes
This film found renewed interest when George Lucas revealed that it was the inspiration for
Star Wars.
Lucas' admiration and affection for Kurosawa led him to help distribute Kurosawa's
Kagemusha
in the U.S. Set in medieval Japan, the story concerns the efforts of a warlord (Toshiro Mifune) to rescue a princess (Misa Uehara) from a hidden fortress in enemy territory., He's aided as well as hindered by two greedy peasants (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara in what could be considered the droid roles). A fabulously entertaining and humorous film.
Sunday, December 7 at 6:30pm
High and Low
(1963)142 minutes
Toshiro Mifune once again proves how productive his collaboration with Kurosawa could be. He plays Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family
becomes the victim of a kidnapper. The film was based on Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom. Kurosawa mixes elements of a tense thriller with those of social
commentary to create a fascinating and riveting film.
Sunday, December 7 at 12:30pm
Monday, December 8 at 7:40pm
Tuesday, December 9 at 2:00pm
Ikiru (Toho)
Ikiru
(1952) 140 minutes
In
Ikiru
, Takashi Shimura portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with cancer who is forced to reconsider his life. A beautiful and compassionate work.
Saturday, December 6 at 12:30pm
Tuesday, December 9 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, December 10 at 3:00pm
Kurosawa favorite Toshiro Mifune plays a bandit in Rashomon (RKO Radio Pictiures)
Rashomon
(1950) 88 minutes
Proving that there is more than one side to a story,
Rashomon
is a cleverly structured story that provocatively leaves us with no clear answers. Toshiro Mifune is once again stunning as a bandit who insists he is not guilty of murder and rape. The film introduced Japanese cinema to the rest of the world and helped to revolutionize how film stories were told.
Saturday, December 6 at 3:45pm
Monday, December 8 at 5:45pm
Thursday, December 11 at 7:30pm
Mifune yet again stars in a Kurosawa classic, this time Seven Samurai (Columbia Pictures)
Seven Samurai
(1954) 203 minutes
This is simply one of the greatest films ever made. Don't let the long running time scare you off, this film is fleet on its feet as it weaves a tale about a group of poor villagers who hire a rag-tag group of swordsmen to defend their village from bandits. The film boasts spectacular battle, humor, and a compelling tale. It's such a classic story that it inspired among the many remakes the American western
The Magnificent Seven
and the anime series
Samurai 7
. Even the schlocky
Battle Beyond the Stars
claims Seven Samurai as inspiration. In fact many of Kurosawa's films inspire remakes but none improve or even compare to the originals.
Saturday, December 6 at 6:30pm
Monday, December 8 at 2:00pm
Wednesday, December 10 at 6:00pm
For more information go to the San Diego Film Foundation website.
