Movies you've just watched

[BIL]

Good to see this thread asploding with quality once more. Loved the Kagemusha nod, Tuna. At the time I'd seen few Kurosawas and thought "Wow! Nakadai-san, much versatility, like Jeremy Irons doubleplay as P1 PROFESSOR BOOTY and P2 SHY W/ GIRLZ LMAO in DEADRINGERS!" Was amusing coming back to realise the man is indeed an actor, a goddamn transformer, again and again in Kurosawa's pictures and elsewhere.



Will always credit Mischief Maker for recommending The Sword of Doom, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion as a zankoku jidaigeki triptych. Nakadai's a swordsman in all three to blisteringly contrasting effect.

Ohoho man that one scene where Ungrateful Prick Son thinks he has KAGEMAN dead to rights asking for his opinion on the day's SAKUSEN in front of the unknowing generals - only for KAGEMAN to summon TAKEDASHINGEN from the next dimension with such thundering authority, even junior shits his fundoshi.

"Do not move! A mountain does not move!"

[sumdumgoy]

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[BIL]

Will always credit Mischief Maker for recommending The Sword of Doom, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion as a zankoku jidaigeki triptych. Nakadai's a swordsman in all three to blisteringly contrasting effect.

For those who haven't experienced Harakiri. Both actors used real swords (which is still against industry protocol) to give the impression of weight and realism in this duel. Nakadai was reportedly scared to death during the filming of this scene. As one top comment wrote: "Everything the camera does is basically perfect."

Stories from those films have such a quintessentially Japanese air of uncomplaining duty and utter batfuck insanity. Everyone knows the Real Archery Simulation from Throne of Blood, ofc:

Spoilers for Macbeth :3

But I was gonna look up a source for the dude who played the messenger Mifune runs through receiving a scar, after Mifune's prop sword busted straight through the board underneath his kimono. I have a certain assumption of the aftermath, but I'd like to see if there's any on-set accounts, haha.

EDIT: oh wow, I did the man wrong, that was recurring Kurosawa support Takeshi Kato. Buddy must've seen some shit in his 87 years.

Takeshi Katô, who appeared in mostly miniscule roles in six AK films, is here required to get stabbed by Mifune with a sword and then die. Here's Katô-san, quoted in Galbraith: "It was summertime at the open set, I was hot, the lighting was hot, and bugs were swarming all over me, but I couldn't move until I was killed. I worked for about a week. I kept hoping Mr. Mifune would kill me as soon as possible ... Three cameras shot Mifune coming at me with the sword. I put a piece of wood up my sleeve for safety when he stabbed me. However, he was so quick and powerful that he broke right through the wood and really stabbed me! It was so painful. I was not acting in that scene and I still have a scar under my arm." [p. 234]

Mifune also complained about Kurosawa's abuse of his actors: "Those were real arrows and that's real fear in my eyes. I'm not really acting at all. And until I stopped him, Kurosawa wanted to use a bunch of amateur archers ... just extras ... to shoot the arrows!" [p. 235]

That sounds like a great book!

[sumdumgoy]

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[BIL]

Indeed. Meanwhile, for the stuntman who racked his nuts on an authentic Sengoku-era fencepost... ;w;7

Spoilers for King Lear ;3

[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

My problem was knowing a thousand guitarists and singers, but not one bass player, so no rhythm section. I just gave up, lol.

I work DTF (Direct-to-Film) in the printing industry for garments. If I made my own movie shirt for the group, I'd probably don this:

Spoiler

Wow I've never heard of that one. I see it's on Tubi!

[Lord British]

Harakiri is still my favorite Kobayashi and still the one I'd probably recommend as the first watch. Need to see it in the theater.

[sumdumgoy]

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[BIL]

A PROMISE MADE, A PROMISE KEPT!

Holy fuckin shit. Timely and timeless. TAKE THAT, LAND-LORDS

I've rarely seen such conviction outside of Wakaliwood. Or me fadder's contreh!

[sumdumgoy]

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[sumdumgoy]

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[Sima Tuna]

Will always credit Mischief Maker for recommending The Sword of Doom, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion as a zankoku jidaigeki triptych. Nakadai's a swordsman in all three to blisteringly contrasting effect.

Great movies. Harakiri in particular is such a devastating takedown of the caste system, matched with some of the best samurai action ever filmed.

I've been watching a little bit of Eisenstein. Let's just say... Not so much subtlety, Alexander Nevsky. But I can see why Eisenstein's productions were inspirational the world over to many directors. The quality of the costuming and sets is quite something for the time period. Maybe not exactly the complete sea change that Thief of Baghdad represents... But then, these are more serious stories.

I am always impressed how quickly film matured as a medium. That we could have masterpieces even in the 20s and 30s.

[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

Scored a bag of discs from the Kino Lorber sale. Looking forward to revisits and new experiences!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... SORCERY!

Spoiler

Oh, and I don't care if your disc is OOP... if it's a top-shelf release of a favourite, I'm gonna spend $100 on it.

So, I did!

Spoiler

Ooh, Sorcery of Rocktober Blood fame!

[sumdumgoy]

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[GaijinPunch]

It's not only one of the greatest works of movie art, it's the best Japanese movie without Kurosawa's name.
(Aside from Akira. I'll grant that one exception to the weebs. You got me there, guys!)

Which of Kurosawa's do you think is better? I think none, even though I've yet to see them all.

[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

It's not only one of the greatest works of movie art, it's the best Japanese movie without Kurosawa's name.
(Aside from Akira. I'll grant that one exception to the weebs. You got me there, guys!)

Which of Kurosawa's do you think is better? I think none, even though I've yet to see them all.

Sorry, I don't understand your question... could you rephrase that?

Lol, seems clear to me.

I'm with you GP, I guess I like HaraKiri more than any AK film.

But in my Top 30 director list I have Kurosawa at #8 and Kobayashi at #15 mostly because AK has so much quantity of quality, and probably more diversity, though I still have more Kobayashi to watch.

[sumdumgoy]

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[BIL]

But for my taste, I prefer the try-hard, no-budget energy and rhythm of El Mariachi.

Reminds me of revisiting Desperado a while back. Was surprised to find myself underwhelmed with its action setpieces, yet with a new appreciation for its other qualities. Not sure if that was progress on my part. I should give Mariachi a go, now I'm in one of my every-few-years movie phases.

[sumdumgoy]

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[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

Just forced myself to watch Interstellar directed by my mortal enemy.

I survived, and enjoyed the space travel to some degree. One of his least worst maybe, but fuck this asshole.

[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

Just forced myself to watch Interstellar directed by my mortal enemy.

I survived, and enjoyed the space travel to some degree. One of his least worst maybe, but fuck this asshole.

There's something really personal to this story...
...and I don't mean the movie!

Nah I just think he's a shitty filmmaker

[cj iwakura]

My favorite OOP thing in my collection(neither of which being not worth much due to all the re-releases) is either Criterion's Robocop or Hard Boiled.

[GaijinPunch]

So, I don't think I need to state the obvious in regards to Kurosawa, 'cause it should be obvious to anyone who's experienced enough movies to know which movie of his is considered the better film against Harakiri. Sure, there's objective things to take into consideration; it could be rightly argued that Harakiri has the better camerawork, and that Kurosawa's epic has a much better musical score.

I jerk it to film cameras, and my favorite is the Ketsui Suction Cup of film cameras - coveted by those that have it, and decreed as overpriced/overrated by those that don't. It's a panoramic film camera, and it's the fucking bomb. So a lot of Kurosawa's "best" flicks left me pretty irked w/ the 4:3 ratio and not as much focus on cinematography. But I guess that's all personal preference. I was, howeer, far more on the edge of my seat for Harakiri than just about any other Japanese movie.

[sumdumgoy]

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[Lord British]

If you love cinematography, you must, must, must see Yojimbo and High and Low. Period!
(Also, my wife insists you see Dreams.)

Dreams was my intro to Kurosawa because my high school English teacher showed us the first segment "The Fox in the Rain" in class. I was pretty blown away by it.