Defo the weakest of the surviving Yamanakas but still a lot to offer
Another a-typical strike at the jidai-geki genre before it had even taken off to how history remembers it today
So thats maybe crazy
Idek how this guy got away with so much (until he didn’t) but everything I find out about him is so fascinating
I hope by some miracle more of his films could be uncovered almost a century later
But somehow that seems too unlikely
So depressing
Anyway about the film actually actual film
Every character has the same depth and earnestness you’d come to expect
The plot spirals and branches into such a steady convolution, which is I get the sense might’ve got a bit too out of control
While handled excellently in the other two, things here felt a lot messier
However, the entire climax is a lot messier and goes to a bleaker reality than the others had
So this kind of compliments the chaos really nicely
And I can see it working even better if this had just taken a few more breaths
The pacing was pretty needlessly ferocious here I think
Just always onto the next segment
Fleshing out every nook and cranny of allllmost every nerve ending of a subplot
Which is super satisfying and rewarding to watch, until something is skipped entirely
Or the pacing slows pretty drastically to observe a plan unfold that is mostly unbeknownst to the viewer
Just upsets the flow a little
And it’s easy to do with a plot this ambitiously scattered about I’m sure, still a bit of a shame
Less of a charm than the others, a slightly duller film to me personally
Reaches something bleaker, but sacrifices some clarity in the story for it
The filmmaking and technical aspects are as strong as ever however - only topped in the other two because they’re lowk masterpieces in their own right
If only we could know for certain if this man would have become one of the absolute all time greats as Ozu and many others predicted
To me, he absolutely is
Defo the weakest of the surviving Yamanakas but still a lot to offer
Another a-typical strike at the jidai-geki genre before it had even taken off to how history remembers it today
So thats maybe crazy
Idek how this guy got away with so much (until he didn’t) but everything I find out about him is so fascinating
I hope by some miracle more of his films could be uncovered almost a century later
But somehow that seems too unlikely
So depressing
Anyway about the film actually actual film
Every character has the same depth and earnestness you’d come to expect
The plot spirals and branches into such a steady convolution, which is I get the sense might’ve got a bit too out of control
While handled excellently in the other two, things here felt a lot messier
However, the entire climax is a lot messier and goes to a bleaker reality than the others had
So this kind of compliments the chaos really nicely
And I can see it working even better if this had just taken a few more breaths
The pacing was pretty needlessly ferocious here I think
Just always onto the next segment
Fleshing out every nook and cranny of allllmost every nerve ending of a subplot
Which is super satisfying and rewarding to watch, until something is skipped entirely
Or the pacing slows pretty drastically to observe a plan unfold that is mostly unbeknownst to the viewer
Just upsets the flow a little
And it’s easy to do with a plot this ambitiously scattered about I’m sure, still a bit of a shame
Less of a charm than the others, a slightly duller film to me personally
Reaches something bleaker, but sacrifices some clarity in the story for it
The filmmaking and technical aspects are as strong as ever however - only topped in the other two because they’re lowk masterpieces in their own right
If only we could know for certain if this man would have become one of the absolute all time greats as Ozu and many others predicted
To me, he absolutely is
