This film has constantly swapped places with Drunken Angel for my favorite Kurosawa. The complete earnestness of this young man is captivating. Even when he dogs after a woman for hours upon hours at a time, that woman finds herself remembering the charming things of youth, like stargazing. It's funny, and weirdly touching. When he gets together with Sato, it's night and day. Unlike Murakami, Sato always takes the path of least resistance.
It goes without saying that this increasingly maddened, profusely sweaty Toshiro Mifune is one of the most gorgeous men who's ever appeared in a film. Beyond just this, which really is in the crew's very capable hands to a certain extent, his performance is also fucking phenomenal.
Keiko Awaji is also really gorgeous as Harumi Namiki, but just looking at her makes me feel like I'm experiencing heat stroke or something.
The real wonder is how Murakami, tormented by guilt over his mistake, loses his composure. By the end of the film, he's a bundle of nerves, worn away almost to nothing, but he's also just about as edgy as you could get. The scene where he arrives for the meet with Yusa and winds up chasing him is an enduring piece of cinema. I don't think it was possible to make that scene any better.
Of course, it's not just guilt, or grief, it's a matter of pride for both Yusa and Murakami. Murakami has an excess of pride, so that the slightest wound sets him off on a lengthy chase after the source of that swiftly deepening wound. Yusa's pride is already shattered at the beginning, and because of that he puts himself into an increasingly impossible situation, in which his only possible course of action seems to be using that Colt he has his hands on. And he uses every bullet, of course.
Yeah, this movie rules.
"You're broke, so drop the cool act."
This film has constantly swapped places with Drunken Angel for my favorite Kurosawa. The complete earnestness of this young man is captivating. Even when he dogs after a woman for hours upon hours at a time, that woman finds herself remembering the charming things of youth, like stargazing. It's funny, and weirdly touching. When he gets together with Sato, it's night and day. Unlike Murakami, Sato always takes the path of least resistance.
It goes without saying that this increasingly maddened, profusely sweaty Toshiro Mifune is one of the most gorgeous men who's ever appeared in a film. Beyond just this, which really is in the crew's very capable hands to a certain extent, his performance is also fucking phenomenal.
Keiko Awaji is also really gorgeous as Harumi Namiki, but just looking at her makes me feel like I'm experiencing heat stroke or something.
The real wonder is how Murakami, tormented by guilt over his mistake, loses his composure. By the end of the film, he's a bundle of nerves, worn away almost to nothing, but he's also just about as edgy as you could get. The scene where he arrives for the meet with Yusa and winds up chasing him is an enduring piece of cinema. I don't think it was possible to make that scene any better.
Of course, it's not just guilt, or grief, it's a matter of pride for both Yusa and Murakami. Murakami has an excess of pride, so that the slightest wound sets him off on a lengthy chase after the source of that swiftly deepening wound. Yusa's pride is already shattered at the beginning, and because of that he puts himself into an increasingly impossible situation, in which his only possible course of action seems to be using that Colt he has his hands on. And he uses every bullet, of course.
Yeah, this movie rules.
"You're broke, so drop the cool act."
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