05-04-2020, 01:35 PM
When a shady corporation wins a lucrative government contract, suspicions of corruption abound. But investigators get nowhere with the tight-lipped top players ... until someone on the inside starts putting pressure on them of a different kind.
Within the shady corporation, Mifune plays the Corporate Secretary, and Takashi Shimura the Administative Officer. The story opens with Mifune marrying the daughter of the boss. Because she is handicapped, there is a strong suspicion that he married her to solidify his position rather than for love.
This is a scathing indictment of corporate and government corruption. It's also a tale of revenge, fraught with conflicting emotions. I'm not sure I should say more than that. It's long, at 151 minutes, and not one of my favorites. I found myself focusing more on Kurosawa's shot selection, and he makes some amazing choices to intensify the scenes. But late in the movie there's a couple of significant events that he doesn't show, and instead has characters talk about them. I found that somewhat odd, and wondered if he ran out of funds (this was the first film Kurosawa produced under his own production company). Then again, maybe it was his aesthetic choice.
Next up is Yojimbo, then Sanjuro. Surely I've seen one of these, or both. We'll see.
To date, the only films I've skipped in this retrospective so far are Seven Samurai, which I'll likely watch last, and The Lower Depths, which I've seen, and didn't like. I didn't like the French version (by Renoir?) either. As I recall, the idea just seemed too simplistic. But then again, maybe I should revisit it.
Within the shady corporation, Mifune plays the Corporate Secretary, and Takashi Shimura the Administative Officer. The story opens with Mifune marrying the daughter of the boss. Because she is handicapped, there is a strong suspicion that he married her to solidify his position rather than for love.
This is a scathing indictment of corporate and government corruption. It's also a tale of revenge, fraught with conflicting emotions. I'm not sure I should say more than that. It's long, at 151 minutes, and not one of my favorites. I found myself focusing more on Kurosawa's shot selection, and he makes some amazing choices to intensify the scenes. But late in the movie there's a couple of significant events that he doesn't show, and instead has characters talk about them. I found that somewhat odd, and wondered if he ran out of funds (this was the first film Kurosawa produced under his own production company). Then again, maybe it was his aesthetic choice.
Next up is Yojimbo, then Sanjuro. Surely I've seen one of these, or both. We'll see.
To date, the only films I've skipped in this retrospective so far are Seven Samurai, which I'll likely watch last, and The Lower Depths, which I've seen, and didn't like. I didn't like the French version (by Renoir?) either. As I recall, the idea just seemed too simplistic. But then again, maybe I should revisit it.
I'm nobody's pony.
![[Image: badsleepwell-1200-1200-675-675-crop-0000...005332b015]](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/7m/tj/wf/8g/badsleepwell-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg?k=005332b015)