Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are on the hunt in Kurosawa detective story
STRAY DOG (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
January 6-14
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling police procedural, STRAY DOG, is one of the all-time-great film noirs. When newbie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) gets his Colt lifted on a bus, he thinks he will be fired if he does not get it back. But as he searches for it, he discovers that it is being used in a series of robberies and murders that he feels responsible for. Teamed with seasoned veteran Sato (Takashi Shimura), Murakami risks his career — and his life — as he tries desperately to track down his gun before it is used again. Kurosawa makes audiences sweat as postwar Japan is in the midst of a heat wave, with Murakami, Sato, prostitute Harumi Namiki (Keiko Awaji), and others constantly mopping their brows, dripping wet. Inspired by the novels of Georges Simenon, STRAY DOG is a dark, intense drama shot in creepy black and white by Asakazu Nakai and featuring a jazzy soundtrack by Fumio Hayasaka that unfortunately grows melodramatic in a few key moments — and oh, if only that final scene had been left on the cutting-room floor. A new 35mm print of STRAY DOG kicks off Film Forum’s celebration of Kurosawa’s centennial, four weeks and twenty-nine films, including such outright classics as THRONE OF BLOOD, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, RASHOMON, DERSU UZALA, SEVEN SAMURAI, and RAN as well as such lesser-known faves as IKIRU, DRUNKEN ANGEL, and SCANDAL. YOJIMBO and SANJURO make up a terrific double feature on February 3, while the extremely standard and boring SANSHIRO SUGATA films are screened together on January 18. Keep watching this space for more select reviews.