Early Kurosawa saga pits jujitsu against judo in a changing Japan
SANSHIRO SUGATA I (Akira Kurosawa, 1943)
SANSHIRO SUGATA II (Akira Kurosawa, 1945)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Monday, January 18
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Akira Kurosawa might be one of the greatest filmmakers of the twentieth century, but the Japanese master wasn’t immune from laying an egg or two along the way. His debut film, SANSHIRO SUGATA, released in 1943, and its sequel, made two years later (THE MOST BEAUTIFUL was released in between), are a deadly dull duo that pits two styles of fighting, judo and jujitsu, against one another. The relatively straightforward genre film, based on the novel by Tsuneo Tomita that was inspired by the real life of Shiro Saigo, stars Susumu Fujita as Sanshiro Sugata, a hesitant judo champion who is forced back into the ring by politics. While Kurosawa does show flashes of the director he would soon become, the two-part saga is far too worshipful of its subject, lacking any sense of nuance or actual drama, hitting viewers over the head with its very basic themes. The extremely rare double feature is part of the Kurosawa Festival at Film Forum, which continues through February 18 with such upcoming classics as IKIRU, I LIVE IN FEAR, HIGH AND LOW, and DRUNKEN ANGEL.