Tag Archives: akira kurosawa

NYPD: HIGH AND LOW

HIGH AND LOW is screening September 8 as part of Film Forum’s NYPD festival

HIGH AND LOW (TENGOKU TO JIGOKU) (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Thursday, September 8, 3:00 & 7:00
Series continues through September 13
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

On the verge of being forced out of the company he has dedicated his life to, National Shoes executive Kingo Gondo’s (Toshirō Mifune) life is thrown into further disarray when kidnappers claim to have taken his son, Jun (Toshio Egi), and are demanding a huge ransom for his safe return. But when Gondo discovers that they have mistakenly grabbed Shinichi (Masahiko Shimazu), the son of his chauffeur, Aoki (Yutaka Sada), he at first refuses to pay. But at the insistence of his wife (Kyogo Kagawa), the begging of Aoki, and the advice of police inspector Taguchi (Kenjiro Ishiyama), he reconsiders his decision, setting in motion a riveting police procedural that is filled with tense emotion. Loosely based on Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novel King’s Ransom, High and Low is divided into two primary sections: the first half takes place in Gondo’s luxury home, orchestrated like a stage play as the characters are developed and the plan takes hold. The second part of the film follows the police, under the leadership of Chief Detective Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai), as they hit the streets of the seedier side of Yokohama in search of the kidnappers. Known in Japan as Tengoku to Jigoku, which translates as Heaven and Hell, High and Low is an expert noir, a subtle masterpiece that tackles numerous socioeconomic and cultural issues as Gondo weighs the fate of his business against the fate of a small child; it all manages to feel as fresh and relevant today as it probably did back in the ’60s.

Even though it takes place in Japan and not New York City, High and Low is screening on Thursday, September 8, in a double feature with William A. Berke’s 1958 police drama, Cop Hater, as part of Film Forum’s “NYPD” festival, paying tribute to the tenth anniversary of the amazing, selfless work done by New York’s Finest on September 11 (as well as every day of every year). The festival, which continues through September 13, also includes such cool double features as Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957) and The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock, 1957) on September 7, Phantom Lady (Robert Siodmak, 1944) and I Wake Up Screaming (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941) on September 8, and the inspired pairing of William Friedkin’s controversial 1980 serial killer movie Cruising and Abel Ferrara’s awesome Bad Lieutenant on September 12, two pictures that are cult classics for very different reasons.

WEEKEND CLASSICS — KUROSAWA: YOJIMBO/SANJURO

Toshiro Mifune can’t believe what he sees in YOJIMBO

Toshirō Mifune can’t believe what he sees in YOJIMBO

YOJIMBO (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
September 2-5, $13, 11:00 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Toshirō Mifune is a lone samurai on the road following the end of the Tokugawa dynasty in Akira Kurosawa’s unforgettable masterpiece. Mifune comes to a town with two warring factions and plays each one off the other as a hired hand. Neo’s battles with myriad Agent Smiths are nothing compared to Yojimbo’s magnificent swordfights against growing bands of warriors that include one man with a gun. Try watching this film and not think of several Clint Eastwood Westerns (particularly Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, since this is a direct remake of that 1964 Italian flick) as well as High Noon. Yojimbo will be screening at 11:00 am on September 2-5 as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics — Kurosawa series, which continues next week with the Kurosawa-Mifune follow-up Sanjuro.

Toshiro Mifune can’t believe what he sees in SANJURO

Toshirō Mifune can’t believe what he sees in SANJURO

SANJURO (Akira Kurosawa, 1962)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
September 9-11, $13, 11:00 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

In this Yojimbo-like tale, Toshirō Mifune shows up in a small town looking for food and fast money and takes up with a rag-tag group of wimps who don’t trust him when he says he will help them against the powerful ruling gang. Funnier than most Kurosawa samurai epics, the film is unfortunately brought down a notch by a bizarre soundtrack that ranges from melodramatic claptrap to a jazzy big-city score. Sanjuro will be screening at 11:00 am September 9-11 as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics — Kurosawa series, with half of the proceeds from all festival screenings benefiting Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

KUROSAWA: STRAY DOG

Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are on the hunt in Kurosawa detective story

STRAY DOG (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
Symphony Space, Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Saturday, August 27, 5:00
Series continues through August 28
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org

Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling police procedural, Stray Dog, is one of the all-time-great film noirs. When newbie detective Murakami (Toshirō 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. Stray Dog will be screening on August 27 at Symphony Space as part of the “Kurosawa” series, consisting of special presentations of the master’s films shown on the big screen in HD for the first time ever; the series concludes August 28 with Rashomon.

WEEKEND CLASSICS — KUROSAWA: THRONE OF BLOOD

Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and his wife, Asaji (Isuzu Yamada), reimagine Shakespeare’s MACBETH in Kursosawa classic THRONE OF BLOOD

THRONE OF BLOOD, AKA MACBETH (KUMONOSU JÔ) (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
August 26-28, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Akira Kurosawa’s marvelous reimagining of Macbeth is an intense psychological thriller that follows one man’s descent into madness. Following a stunning military victory led by Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and Miki (Minoru Chiaki), the two men are rewarded with lofty new positions. As Washizu’s wife, Asaji (Isuzu Yamada, with spectacular eyebrows), fills her husband’s head with crazy paranoia, Washizu is haunted by predictions made by a ghostly evil spirit in the Cobweb Forest, leading to one of the all-time classic finales. Featuring exterior scenes bathed in mysterious fog, interior long shots of Washizu and Asaji in a large, sparse room carefully considering their next bold move, and composer Masaru Sato’s shrieking Japanese flutes, Throne of Blood is a chilling drama of corruptive power and blind ambition, one of the greatest adaptations of Shakespeare ever put on film Throne of Blood is screening August 26-28 at 11:00 am as part of the IFC Center’s “Weekend Classics — Kurosawa” series, which continues through September 11.

KUROSAWA: YOJIMBO

Toshirō Mifune can’t believe what he sees in YOJIMBO, being shown in HD at Symphony Space

YOJIMBO (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
Symphony Space, Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
Sunday, August 7, 3:00
Series continues through August 28
212-864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org

Kuwabatake Sanjuro (Toshirō Mifune) is a lone samurai on the road following the end of the Tokugawa dynasty in yet another of Akira Kurosawa’s unforgettable masterpieces. Sanjuro comes to a town with two warring factions and plays each one off the other as a hired hand. Neo’s battles with myriad Agent Smiths are nothing compared to Yojimbo’s magnificent swordfights against growing bands of warriors that include the evil Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai), who is in possession of a new weapon that shoots bullets. Try watching this film and not think of several Clint Eastwood Westerns (including Sergio Leone’s pasta remake, A Fistful of Dollars) as well as High Noon. The film is being screened as part of Symphony Space’s “Kurosawa” series, featuring the first time ever many of the Japanese auteur’s finest films are being shown on the big screen in HD; coming up is High and Low on August 13, Hidden Fortress on August 14, Stray Dog on August 27, and Rashomon on August 28.

WEEKEND CLASSICS — KUROSAWA: RAN

The Fool (Peter) sticks by Hidetaro (Tatsuya Nakadai) as the aging lord descends into madness in Kurosawa masterpiece RAN

RAN (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
July 22-24, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Inspired by the story of feudal lord Mori Motonari and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran is an epic masterpiece about the decline and fall of the Ichimonji clan. Aging Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) is ready to hand over his land and leadership to his three sons, Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryû). But jealousy, misunderstandings, and outright deceit and treachery result in Saburo’s banishment and a violent power struggle between the weak eldest, Taro, and the warrior Jiro. Hidetaro soon finds himself rejected by his children and wandering the vast, empty landscape with his wise, sarcastic fool, Kyoami (Peter), as the once-proud king descends into madness. Dressed in white robes and with wild white hair, Nakadai (The Human Condition), in his early fifties at the time, portrays Hidetaro, one of the great characters of cinema history, with an unforgettable, Noh-like precision. Kurosawa, cinematographers Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitô, and Masaharu Ueda, and Oscar-winning costume designer Emi Wada bathe the film in lush greens, brash blues, and bold reds and yellows that marvelously offset the white Hidetaro. Kurosawa shoots the first dazzling battle scene in an elongated period of near silence, with only Tôru Takemitsu’s classically based score playing on the soundtrack, turning the film into a thrilling, blood-drenched opera. Ran is a spectacular achievement, the last great major work by one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential filmmakers. Ran will be screening at 11:00 am on July 22, 23, and 24 as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics — Kurosawa series, which continues with Dreams (July 29-31) and Rhapsody in August (August 5-7); ticket sales benefit Japan Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund.

WEEKEND CLASSICS — KUROSAWA: THE LOWER DEPTHS

THE LOWER DEPTHS is another masterful tour de force from Akira Kurosawa

THE LOWER DEPTHS (DONZOKO) (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
July 8-10, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Loosely adapted from Maxim Gorky’s social realist play, The Lower Depths is yet another masterpiece from Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. Set in an immensely dark and dingy ramshackle skid-row tenement during the Edo period, the claustrophobic film examines the rich and the poor, gambling and prostitution, life and death, and everything in between through the eyes of impoverished characters who have nothing. The motley crew includes the suspicious landlord, Rokubei (Ganjiro Nakamura), and his much younger wife, Osugi (Isuzu Yamada); Osugi’s sister, Okayo (Kyôko Kagawa); the thief Sutekichi (Toshirō Mifune), who gets involved in a love triangle with a noir murder angle; and Kahei (Bokuzen Hidari), an elderly newcomer who might be more than just a grandfatherly observer. Despite the brutal conditions they live in, the inhabitants soldier on, some dreaming of their better past, others still hoping for a promising future. Kurosawa infuses the gripping film with a wry sense of humor, not allowing anyone to wallow away in self-pity. A staggering achievement, The Lower Depths is screening July 8-10 at 11:00 am as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics: Kurosawa series, which continues July 15-17 with Dersu Uzala and July 22-24 with Ran.