Eclipse Series 7 - Post-War Kurosawa Box - Eclipse from Criterion (1980)

 Other Kurosawa
You've seen the best, now see the rest. That seems to be the theme of the Eclipse Bergman & Kurosawa sets. Nobody who does not have a particular interest in Kurosawa's entire career would be interested in this set. Only after seeing Seven Samurai, Roshomon, Yojimbo, Stray Dog, Ran, Ikiru, Throne of Blood, Kagamusha & other Kurosawa greats and near greats would a Kurosawa enthusiast turn to these five decidedly underwhelming efforts.

The Idiot is a truncated version of a much longer project. Originally, Kurosawa filmed a four hour movie and the studio forced him to reduce it by nearly half. The result is a muddled mess. We haveno idea if the original would have been any good or not. No Regrets for Our Youth has a great plot and a fine performance by Setsuko Hara but bogs down in the talky second half. Scandal is a surprisingly prescient condemnation of tabloid journalism. I Live in Fear is a one joke satire that overstays its welcome and the nicest thing I can think to say about One Wonderful Story is: cute & harmless. All are worth a rental but I advise against expecting to find hidden gems. March 26, 2008

 Lesser Is More
This set from Eclipse/Criterion collects several of Akira Kurosawa's lesser films, and that means better films than most directors could turn out even in their dreams. THE IDIOT isoverlong, and ONE WONDERFUL SUNDAY is sappy at times, but they are both worth seeing anyway. The remaining three are all fine dramas with unusual subjects for Kurosawa, and SCANDAL is my favorite of this set. It goes without saying that the video quality is flawless, though without the extensive restoration that some other Kurosawa titles got, so some film artifacts will be noticed. Don't let that scare you, though; if you likeAkira Kurosawa, and haven't yet bought this collection, GODO IT, and hope that Criterion sees fit to release all of his remaining titlesASAP. February 12, 2008

 Why?
I would love to see these and take advantage of my Amazon Prime membership (that I paid $75 for) for shipping. But, why is amazon selling the criterion and Eclipse sets for full list ("4 by Agnès Varda" as well)? All other sites are offering 10-30 percent discounts? Some of the single disc sets are reduced, slightly, but not the bigger sets. Isn't that why Amazon is in business? Sell a lot, because you sell cheap?
What gives? February 8, 2008

 Good for Kurosawa fans
All of the reviews thus far have been about No Regrets for Our Youth, which along with Dersu Uzala is probably my most-rewatched Kurosawa movie because of the story lines. As others have mentioned, it makes a political statement about freedom of thought and freedom of expression among university students. It gives Kurosawa a chance to tell the other side of the story only two or three years after The Most Beautiful, which promoted youthful enterprise in furthering Japan's war of "defense" against other nations for the glory of the emperor. After the key moment in No Regrets, which was revealed in one of the other reviews, the movie completely changes direction. I am not an Ozu fan and initially had been annoyed by the goofy girl character in the first half of the movie. However, the second half of the movie brought me up out of my seat -- the sudden need for family loyalty in the face of neighborhood scorn was powerfully presented, and the repeated theme "No regrets for my life" really resonates.

Of the other films, I recommend Scandal, which has a real Frank Capra touch to it -- funny since so many of Kurosawa's films transmited their influence back into western cinema. Scandal pits Toshiro Mifune and a local celebrity against the paparazzi of the day, who invent a scandalous story after turning a photo into something more than it really was in order to sell more newspapers. The good guys get a down-on-his-luck lawyer facing a serious moral conflict to represent them in a court case against the tabloid.

Also, The Idiot, which is based on Dostoevsky's novel of the same name, but with a Japanese retelling set among soldiers coming home from the war. It's about a man so stressed by nearly having been executed that he becomes meek as a lamb, and then vies with his much more hormonal friend over how to lead a woman of soiled reputation to her redemption. Although I enjoyed it, it isn't for those people who get tired of foreign movies where people are always struggling with insanity because of some trauma in their lives. There's a lot of insanity in this movie. Unless I'm mistaken, The Idiot has previously been unavailable on DVD.

One Wonderful Sunday and I Live in Fear both bored me. They both had very little plot -- they were essentially just slices of life. Sunday is about a romance, but it's too talky and not very romantic for western sensibilities, although Ozu fans might find it appealing. I Live in Fear is about people worried about nuclear holocaust during the post-World War II years, a theme that had some punch to it but I also found the movie way too talky and sweaty. January 30, 2008

 Freedom of Speech and No Regrets
Last night I watched "No Regrets for Our Youth"-and, when the quick-dissolve succession of still shots of Setsuko Hara posing against the door flashed by, I suddenly realized that I had seen this film on the big screen some 30 years ago. I had remembered that series of shots against the door: it had struck me as strange at the time, and in the dark, with the face of Hara looming enormously, and the quick succession of images of Hara in poses of emotional struggle and uncertainty, it read as something from a silent picture melodrama. Well, 30 years, and one does a gain a bit of experience...I know now that Kurosawa greatly admired silent film.

The film's purported political content was freedom of speech and
thought, and Japan's rising militarism-beginning with the university (and extending into the larger political context as students move into the working world) and is, as in many Kurosawa films, dramatized through the individual and
individual choice.

The love story surrounding Setsuko Hara and her two suitors, their individual choices, emotions and relative political affiliations is a large part of the film's running time.

I think that I may have dismissed the
political issues as somewhat antiquated, as well. After all, we're not in a war, and we have intellectual freedom rules at university.

Oh..wait a minute...we are in a war. And, this morning, driving to the university, listening to National Public Radio, I heard a chilling story that made "No regrets for Our Youth" seem much more timely...!

Perhaps you've read about the UCLA Bruin Alumni Association? They are paying students to "spy" on "left-wing, liberal" professors. Students are instructed to take notes and make recordings of the "Dirty Thirty"-professors suspected of holding left-leaning views.

Interesting that Kurosawa's film, made in 1949 is relevant to 2006. January 20, 2006

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