I expected a ton more fighting but I liked what it turned out to be

I expected a ton more fighting but I liked what it turned out to be

Man if I had to commit suicide because of attempting to assassinate my colleague I’d be absolutely livid that scoundrel insulted his good name and mocked at his gains he should have died absolutely pathetic

Man if I had to commit suicide because of attempting to assassinate my colleague I’d be absolutely livid that scoundrel insulted his good name and mocked at his gains he should have died absolutely pathetic

I didn’t see this coming at all but I’m so happy to say Kenji Mizoguchi’s The 47 Ronin is more than deserving of every one my five stars, and, in a year where I’ve been relentlessly seeking out masterpieces, it also shocks me to say this is without a doubt one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. I’ve heard of this director before and this stuck out to me from his filmography as a solid intro for two main reasons, one being I already knew this story beforehand and have been wanting to see an adaptation of it for a while(sorry keanu but I refuse to first-watch this story cinematically through your americanized version), and the other being the runtime, I love a challenging watch like this every once in a while so it was only a matter of time before I chose this. I also want to say if you ever do decide to commit to this don’t go in expecting a ‘samurai’ film, obviously the movie focuses on samurai themes but what I mean is don’t go in looking for samurai action akin to something like Seven Samurai, this is completely different but I really love it because of that. It’s much more of a drama, not that Seven Samurai wasn’t but I was shocked by how they were simply skipping action points in the story and just having characters talk about the incidents, and I might’ve been bored by that if the substitute for the action wasn’t more of one of my new favorite scripts ever. It’s another situation like Tarkovsky’s Stalker where every single line spoken was poetic, the fact that it’s even possible to take this rather basic story from history and make it into a 4 hour screenplay-centric drama is absolutely incredible to me. That screenplay was based on Seika Mayama’s play who also adapted it here with the help of Kenichiro Hara and Yoshikata Yoda, I’m sure a lot of it came from Mayama but all three are certainly worthy of my praise. Now moving onto the visuals, and this is no easy achievement for me since I’ve seen so many now but aside from Persona and My Darling Clementine I’d say this is the best looking black-and-white film I’ve ever seen. The camera movement is amazing with shot after shot that bewildered me for coming out this long ago, also with great black-and-white cinematography comes beautiful lighting and that was also on a stunning display, Kôhei Sugiyama’s work here was simply unbelievable. In terms of the acting the blatant standout is Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, he had multiple monologues that I said was one of the best I’d ever seen while I watched them, an absolutely electric performance from start to finish and genuinely one of my new favorite male leads ever. Next to him I think Daisuke Katō was the best but the entire cast delivered on an incredibly high level. With films like this I do understand why its rating isn’t higher, if this story doesn’t click for you getting through this massive runtime could be a rough experience and the slow pace is bound to put some people off, but for me, this beautifully shot and beautifully written drama ultra-focused on themes of a person’s goodness and honor worked like a charm for me. If you go into this with an open mind, a long attention span, and as a lover of slow cinema I don’t see how it couldn’t work for you, I can’t wait to not only see more from Mizoguchi but more from this era of Japanese film because I think this watch just sparked something in me.

“It’s not so difficult to take up a cause in the name of virtue, but to carry one’s initial resolve through to the end can be far more difficult than one has imagined.”

I didn’t see this coming at all but I’m so happy to say Kenji Mizoguchi’s The 47 Ronin is more than deserving of every one my five stars, and, in a year where I’ve been relentlessly seeking out masterpieces, it also shocks me to say this is without a doubt one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. I’ve heard of this director before and this stuck out to me from his filmography as a solid intro for two main reasons, one being I already knew this story beforehand and have been wanting to see an adaptation of it for a while(sorry keanu but I refuse to first-watch this story cinematically through your americanized version), and the other being the runtime, I love a challenging watch like this every once in a while so it was only a matter of time before I chose this. I also want to say if you ever do decide to commit to this don’t go in expecting a ‘samurai’ film, obviously the movie focuses on samurai themes but what I mean is don’t go in looking for samurai action akin to something like Seven Samurai, this is completely different but I really love it because of that. It’s much more of a drama, not that Seven Samurai wasn’t but I was shocked by how they were simply skipping action points in the story and just having characters talk about the incidents, and I might’ve been bored by that if the substitute for the action wasn’t more of one of my new favorite scripts ever. It’s another situation like Tarkovsky’s Stalker where every single line spoken was poetic, the fact that it’s even possible to take this rather basic story from history and make it into a 4 hour screenplay-centric drama is absolutely incredible to me. That screenplay was based on Seika Mayama’s play who also adapted it here with the help of Kenichiro Hara and Yoshikata Yoda, I’m sure a lot of it came from Mayama but all three are certainly worthy of my praise. Now moving onto the visuals, and this is no easy achievement for me since I’ve seen so many now but aside from Persona and My Darling Clementine I’d say this is the best looking black-and-white film I’ve ever seen. The camera movement is amazing with shot after shot that bewildered me for coming out this long ago, also with great black-and-white cinematography comes beautiful lighting and that was also on a stunning display, Kôhei Sugiyama’s work here was simply unbelievable. In terms of the acting the blatant standout is Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, he had multiple monologues that I said was one of the best I’d ever seen while I watched them, an absolutely electric performance from start to finish and genuinely one of my new favorite male leads ever. Next to him I think Daisuke Katō was the best but the entire cast delivered on an incredibly high level. With films like this I do understand why its rating isn’t higher, if this story doesn’t click for you getting through this massive runtime could be a rough experience and the slow pace is bound to put some people off, but for me, this beautifully shot and beautifully written drama ultra-focused on themes of a person’s goodness and honor worked like a charm for me. If you go into this with an open mind, a long attention span, and as a lover of slow cinema I don’t see how it couldn’t work for you, I can’t wait to not only see more from Mizoguchi but more from this era of Japanese film because I think this watch just sparked something in me.

“It’s not so difficult to take up a cause in the name of virtue, but to carry one’s initial resolve through to the end can be far more difficult than one has imagined.”

Director- Mizoguchi Kenji.This is the fourth film I have seen of his.This might have been a pretty good film for 1941, but in hindsight, it indeed has some glaring weaknesses in its overall structure, as well as the focus being on too many characters.The film, for the most part, is far from a typical Jidaigeki film and lacks action for all of the runtime. Instead, the film is made more in line as a courtroom drama, except for a few scenes here and there.The film doesn't explain to us why the boss of the ronin decides to attempt to murder the antagonist. Thus, most of the events didn't seem to be justified because of a lack of probable cause.The characters were too into themselves for most of the film, never divulging their plans as is. They instead decided that they are always in the right and that in the end, they will be successful no matter what. These signs of martyrdom are despised by me as they are counterproductive, to say the least.The acting of the cast is in focus due to the style of shooting not being quite developed to add more pizazz during that era. Mizoguchi really did the best he could for the year it was made in.The film has a simplistic aura to it, making it a good watch for someone trying to understand more about shot choices and framing. The writing leaves more to be desired, but the visuals are good enough to hide its lacking aspects to a degree. The runtime is quite bloated and could have been easily cut by an hour and thirty minutes with little effort. The final arc of the film should have been the ronins committing seppuku directly after killing the antagonist. The added scenes with the girl impersonating a guy are dead weight.Part one of the film should have been cut massively and stripped to its bare bones, allowing the viewing of the film to be much more engaging. If I had watched it in two parts, I might have had fewer issues with it, but I decided to persevere through both parts in succession, leading to boredom.The film could easily have been cut to two hours and thirty minutes to three hours, and would have been a much better film. Also, a lot and I really mean a whole lot of action scenes should have been added to it to make it intriguing, but it would have altered the purpose as well as the focus of the film and hence the lack of it is understandable.Mizoguchi was forced to make this as a military propaganda piece for World War Two, and it ceremoniously fails at that. Mizoguchi removes the entire honour of Seppuku from the film and doesn't show it at all. The only people we see committing it are those who are doing it entirely of their own will and good faith, without any motives.The government must be trying to get a rise of nationalism from their soldiers, leading them to sacrifice their lives for a pipe dream, cause no questions asked, and I am glad that Mizoguchi didn't entirely succumb to their pressure. Still, he was unable to instil his usual themes of female-centric cinema in this work.Overall, the film, though, could be considered an integral watch for Mizoguchi fans, is a whole different animal to deal with. I had an interesting few days of film viewing, having seen it with The Naked Gun today and having seen 2001: A Space Odyssey in a theatre yesterday. I will review them both tomorrow if time permits.

Director- Mizoguchi Kenji.This is the fourth film I have seen of his.This might have been a pretty good film for 1941, but in hindsight, it indeed has some glaring weaknesses in its overall structure, as well as the focus being on too many characters.The film, for the most part, is far from a typical Jidaigeki film and lacks action for all of the runtime. Instead, the film is made more in line as a courtroom drama, except for a few scenes here and there.The film doesn't explain to us why the boss of the ronin decides to attempt to murder the antagonist. Thus, most of the events didn't seem to be justified because of a lack of probable cause.The characters were too into themselves for most of the film, never divulging their plans as is. They instead decided that they are always in the right and that in the end, they will be successful no matter what. These signs of martyrdom are despised by me as they are counterproductive, to say the least.The acting of the cast is in focus due to the style of shooting not being quite developed to add more pizazz during that era. Mizoguchi really did the best he could for the year it was made in.The film has a simplistic aura to it, making it a good watch for someone trying to understand more about shot choices and framing. The writing leaves more to be desired, but the visuals are good enough to hide its lacking aspects to a degree. The runtime is quite bloated and could have been easily cut by an hour and thirty minutes with little effort. The final arc of the film should have been the ronins committing seppuku directly after killing the antagonist. The added scenes with the girl impersonating a guy are dead weight.Part one of the film should have been cut massively and stripped to its bare bones, allowing the viewing of the film to be much more engaging. If I had watched it in two parts, I might have had fewer issues with it, but I decided to persevere through both parts in succession, leading to boredom.The film could easily have been cut to two hours and thirty minutes to three hours, and would have been a much better film. Also, a lot and I really mean a whole lot of action scenes should have been added to it to make it intriguing, but it would have altered the purpose as well as the focus of the film and hence the lack of it is understandable.Mizoguchi was forced to make this as a military propaganda piece for World War Two, and it ceremoniously fails at that. Mizoguchi removes the entire honour of Seppuku from the film and doesn't show it at all. The only people we see committing it are those who are doing it entirely of their own will and good faith, without any motives.The government must be trying to get a rise of nationalism from their soldiers, leading them to sacrifice their lives for a pipe dream, cause no questions asked, and I am glad that Mizoguchi didn't entirely succumb to their pressure. Still, he was unable to instil his usual themes of female-centric cinema in this work.Overall, the film, though, could be considered an integral watch for Mizoguchi fans, is a whole different animal to deal with. I had an interesting few days of film viewing, having seen it with The Naked Gun today and having seen 2001: A Space Odyssey in a theatre yesterday. I will review them both tomorrow if time permits.

Un très bon film sur une histoire légendaire du Japon!

Un très bon film sur une histoire légendaire du Japon!