Akira Kurosawa

Undoubtedly, Akira Kurosawa is probably the most internationally famous Japanese film director. Recently, I watched two of his movies, Rashomon and Throne of Blood. I should have watched Throne of Blood before Rashomon, because the cinematography was disappointing compared to Rashomon.
The film Throne of Blood takes Shakespeare’s Macbeth into the world of feudal lords. Cinematically, the film fell far short of Rashomon, but the story delivered an interesting interpretation of Macbeth and his scheming wife. For the most part, the warrior overplayed his passion and greed. In his New York Times review, Bosley Crowther tells us that "The action is grotesquely brutish and barbaric... with Toshiro Mifune as the warrior grunting and bellowing monstrously and making elaborately wild gestures to convey his passion and greed...".
The film Rashomon shows us one of Kurosawa’s signature vignettes—torrential rain which had to be dyed to show up on film. They could have just added some milk like Singin’ in the Rain. Rashomon became not only an internationally acclaimed film for Kurosawa, but also for cinematographer, Kazuo Miyagawa. This film also constructs a unique storyline of a rape of a woman and the death of her husband. Throughout the film, the music and cinematography propel the story. As the woodcutter hurries through the forest, the combination of camera angles and relentless music drives the woodcutter deep into the forest. Each character shows their own version of what happens in the woods and the viewer never learns which version is true, leaving them to draw their own conclusions at the end. At the film’s conclusion, the woodcutter who has shared his story with a stranger and a priest, finds a sliver of hope for the future represented by the infant left at the ruined monastery. Even though, the woodcutter already has six children of his own, he leaves with the child, and the sun finally comes out. This type of storyline has been copied and remolded many times in movie like Crash and Vantage Point and in multiple series from comedies like Scrubs and Three’s Company to crime dramas like CSI and NCIS. With amazing cinematography and a unique storyline with the story within a story, Rashomon does not disappoint. In addition, one of my favorite movies of all time is The Magnificent Seven, which is an American adaptation of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

Next: Yu Hua's To Live, book and film

The Setting Sun 2

Chapter 5 – The Lady
In this chapter, the author focuses the text around the mother and her eventual death from tuberculosis. Kazuko’s mother is portrayed as the last traditional lady of Japan. The author adds some interesting context including economic theory from Luxemburg and Marxism belief from perfection to destruction; “Man was born for love and revolution” (114). Also, we are shown a couple of recurrent themes in the reference to sails and the mother’s dream about the snake. The snake, perhaps, seeks revenge for her eggs and achieves its goal through the mother’s death. Kazuko laments at the end of the chapter; she believes that life is a struggle, a battle, and tells us that “I must go on living” (124).

Chapter 6 – Outbreak of Hostilities
This chapter was a little confusing. Kazuko discusses how she can depend on love and nothing else, speaks about more than just physical love or human love. I believe she’s talking about the two kinds of unconditional love, both spiritual love and the unconditional love a parent has for a child. Maybe this is why she appears so darn desperate to breed with Uehara. There are obvious conflicts at work in the text. On the one hand, we have Naoji, nihilistic and overwhelmed, who kills himself, and Kazuko and Uehara who profess their love and eventually procreate.

Chapter 7 – The Testament
This chapter is Naoji written memoir which serves as his suicide note.
Naoji portrays his personal torment when he says that “only those who wish to go on living should” (153). In the memoir, Naoji laments about his unrequited love for Suga, the painter’s wife—a contributing factor to Naoji’s negative mindset.

Chapter 8 – Victims
In the closing chapter, Kazuko is pregnant and Naoji is dead, portrayed by Dazai as “victims of a transitional period of morality” (173). As Japan rebuilds, traditions change and the modern world definitely creeps in. At the end Kazuko tells us that “in the present, the most beautiful thing in the world is a victim” (174). I found the characters in the novel rather flat compared to Western novels. They lack depth and do not appear to grow or change. Maybe that was the point. I just do not know.