pherank Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 For anyone interested in finding out more about Japanese cinema - here's a starter list... Ugetsu Tokyo Story The Munekata Sisters Early Summer Floating Weeds Sansho the Bailif Ikiru Woman in the Dunes Branded to Kill Tokyo Drifter The Hidden Fortress Red Beard Seven Samurai Yojimbo Sanjuro High and Low Stray Dog The Bad Sleep Well Throne of Blood Samurai Rebellion Chûshingura My Neighbor Totoro Spirited Away Grave of the Fireflies Hiroshima, Mon Amour (I see this as a French-Japanese co-production) Classic Japanese cinema is full of Samurai-themed stories, but there is plenty of humanity between the sword fights. ;) Link to comment
dirac Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I've never had any trouble enjoying samurai pictures, even if the the female characters can get on my nerves after too much exposure - I'm thinking specifically of Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, where the women are constantly mewling and sniveling at the feet of one man or another while receiving stern lectures on the relative unimportance of canoodling when there's fighting afoot. (You get the same thing in Westerns, of course, but not to the same degree. That said, I prefer samurai to cowboys, at least in the movie house.) Chushingura is one of my favorite movies. I also liked the Mizoguchi version. Link to comment
canbelto Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 You forgot Late Spring. What a wonderful film, I prefer it to Tokyo Story. Link to comment
pherank Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 I've never had any trouble enjoying samurai pictures, even if the the female characters can get on my nerves after too much exposure - I'm thinking specifically of Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, where the women are constantly mewling and sniveling at the feet of one man or another while receiving stern lectures on the relative unimportance of canoodling when there's fighting afoot. I agree that the female roles often leave a lot to be desired. That's one reason why I love "Hidden Fortress" - the princess gets to be a strong and forceful personality (yikes!) Samurai Trilogy is a tough one for me. Some of it is simply great, and some of it is really annoying. I am a huge Mifune fan, which you can probably gather from my list, so I should probably include Samurai Trilogy just for his participation. You forgot Late Spring. What a wonderful film, I prefer it to Tokyo Story. Deciding which Yasujirō Ozu films to mention is tough as he was remarkably consistent. But I like to hear what others prefer... "In the 2012 version of the widely-respected decennial "Greatest Films of All Time" Sight & Sound poll, published by the British Film Institute (BFI), Late Spring appears as the 15th greatest film of all time." Link to comment
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