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Richie, Donald, 1924- . Films of Akira Kurosawa / by Donald Richie with additional material by Joan Mellen. Rev. ed. 0520051378 series Berkeley : University of California Press, 1984.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.A3 K795 1984
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.A3 K795 1984
Yojimbo pp.147-155
Richie opens his analysis of Yojimbo with a quote from Kurosawa, who says the story appealed to him because often in life we find ourselves trapped between two battling evils, and are forced to accept the situation by our own powerlessness. The hero in Yojimbo is different. He possesses the power to effect change, and the courage to step in the fight. The film is about a masterless samurai who comes into a troubled town and cleans it up, akin to popular 1950s Westerns such as Shane and High Noon. Yojimbo also ends in true Western fashion, with a showdown between Yojimbo and his chief rival staged on the small town's central street, and Richie notes this comparison to the Western is often remarked upon. He quotes Kurosawa as stating that he has "learned from this grammar of the Western" that has developed after countless versions. However, Richie also points out the many differences between Sanjuro and the typical Western hero. Unlike Shane or High Noon's Marshall, Sanjuro is primarily self-serving. He lacks concern about the law, seems to relish killing, and requests payment for his services. Kurosawa also crafts Yojimbo into a dark comedy. The townspeople are all caricatures who wear their badness externally, from old, wispy haired coffin maker to the stupid and ugly yakuza thugs. The film's exorbitant violence is treated in a comical and sarcastic fashion, and in the end Sanjuro walks away from the town after having killed nearly all its inhabitants.
Despite his crudenesss and self-interest, we still see Sanjuro essentially as a Western archetypal hero capable of producing positive change. Kurosawa takes advantage of the familiarity with both Japanese and individual viewers with typical Western themes to establish Sanjuro as such a hero. But Kurosawa reworks the essentially Western story in his own style, by adding elements of black comedy and a certain reflexivity on the violence and simplicity of both the Western and jidai-geki genres. These qualities were adopted by Leone's Spaghetti Westerns and filtered back into the American genre. Similarly, the rough cut and insolent image of the hero, who showed no remorse at dispatching several men to achieve his own ends, would turn up in the Westerns that followed.
Despite his crudenesss and self-interest, we still see Sanjuro essentially as a Western archetypal hero capable of producing positive change. Kurosawa takes advantage of the familiarity with both Japanese and individual viewers with typical Western themes to establish Sanjuro as such a hero. But Kurosawa reworks the essentially Western story in his own style, by adding elements of black comedy and a certain reflexivity on the violence and simplicity of both the Western and jidai-geki genres. These qualities were adopted by Leone's Spaghetti Westerns and filtered back into the American genre. Similarly, the rough cut and insolent image of the hero, who showed no remorse at dispatching several men to achieve his own ends, would turn up in the Westerns that followed.
Richie begins his analysis of Ikiru by going over Kanji Watanabe’s, the protagonist’s, actions in the film and explains how they relate to Watanabe’s search for affirmation, for life. He explains how Watanabe searches for solace in self-pity, family, pleasure, his job and devotion to someone (his female coworker), all of which do not work in giving him solace. He ends up finding solace and meaning in devotion to something, an idea, which is embodied by the park he wants to build in a poor Tokyo neighborhood.
Richie’s analysis of Ikiru focuses on the translation of the title, Ikiru, which is “to live.” Richie touches on Kurosawa’s fondness for Dostoevsky, an existentialist, in order to frame Ikiru as a story of a man trying to validate his existence. As Watanabe “layer after layer peeled away,” we realize that it is Watanabe’s actions that make him exist both while he is alive and posthumously. Richie explains how Kurosawa highlights the “irony of the film,” by splitting the film into two parts: one told by an omniscient narrator while Watanabe is alive and one told by the attendees at his wake. The men at the wake, mostly Watanabe’s co-workers, misrepresent Watanabe’s actions at first, but when they finally begin to understand what Watanabe accomplished and why, they are too drunk to follow through with anything. Only one of the office workers takes Watanabe’s actions to heart, but as Kurosawa shows us, after being reprimanded, “he disappears behind his piles of papers as though he were being buried alive.”
An interesting element that Richie brings up in his analysis is the music used in the film. The classical piece used in the opening, is known as a ricercare, which, Richie explains, “means to search for again, to hunt for, or to follow.” While Richie acknowledges that there is nothing to suggest whether this was intentional or not, “this, after all, is what the film is about.” Watanabe’s search for meaning in his life is the impetus behind the action in Ikiru. Perhaps because of this, Richie’s analysis seems correct, because we all, as humans, search for meaning in our life and hope that our actions can speak for themselves both during our lives and after we are deceased.
Richie’s final conclusion (which is actually a quote by Richard Brown), that “the meaning of [Watanabe’s] life is what he commits the meaning of his life to be,” is a very positive take on the film, but the films beauty comes from the fact that it can be read many ways. Richie harms his argument though, by using lengthy quotations from the film, which are not always completely relevant and ending his analysis with a description of the film by Kurosawa himself which does little to enhance Richie’s argument and only serves to show Kurosawa’s unhappiness with both the film’s creation and the final product. The negativity of Kurosawa’s own analysis of his film puts a damper on the positive reading by Richie and the sense one gets after seeing the film that he or she has just seen one of the greatest films of all time.
Richie’s analysis of Ikiru focuses on the translation of the title, Ikiru, which is “to live.” Richie touches on Kurosawa’s fondness for Dostoevsky, an existentialist, in order to frame Ikiru as a story of a man trying to validate his existence. As Watanabe “layer after layer peeled away,” we realize that it is Watanabe’s actions that make him exist both while he is alive and posthumously. Richie explains how Kurosawa highlights the “irony of the film,” by splitting the film into two parts: one told by an omniscient narrator while Watanabe is alive and one told by the attendees at his wake. The men at the wake, mostly Watanabe’s co-workers, misrepresent Watanabe’s actions at first, but when they finally begin to understand what Watanabe accomplished and why, they are too drunk to follow through with anything. Only one of the office workers takes Watanabe’s actions to heart, but as Kurosawa shows us, after being reprimanded, “he disappears behind his piles of papers as though he were being buried alive.”
An interesting element that Richie brings up in his analysis is the music used in the film. The classical piece used in the opening, is known as a ricercare, which, Richie explains, “means to search for again, to hunt for, or to follow.” While Richie acknowledges that there is nothing to suggest whether this was intentional or not, “this, after all, is what the film is about.” Watanabe’s search for meaning in his life is the impetus behind the action in Ikiru. Perhaps because of this, Richie’s analysis seems correct, because we all, as humans, search for meaning in our life and hope that our actions can speak for themselves both during our lives and after we are deceased.
Richie’s final conclusion (which is actually a quote by Richard Brown), that “the meaning of [Watanabe’s] life is what he commits the meaning of his life to be,” is a very positive take on the film, but the films beauty comes from the fact that it can be read many ways. Richie harms his argument though, by using lengthy quotations from the film, which are not always completely relevant and ending his analysis with a description of the film by Kurosawa himself which does little to enhance Richie’s argument and only serves to show Kurosawa’s unhappiness with both the film’s creation and the final product. The negativity of Kurosawa’s own analysis of his film puts a damper on the positive reading by Richie and the sense one gets after seeing the film that he or she has just seen one of the greatest films of all time.
belongs to Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (To Live) project
tagged Akira_Kurosawa Ikiru Kurosawa auteur japanese_cinema postwar_japan samurai by dhm ...and 1 other person ...on 29-NOV-05
tagged Akira_Kurosawa Ikiru Kurosawa auteur japanese_cinema postwar_japan samurai by dhm ...and 1 other person ...on 29-NOV-05