Last Sat. I saw the last of the films in the Kurosawa retrospective over at the Revue. They had 8 films, and I saw 7 of them, skipping over Yojimbo, which they had shown only a few months back. I was taking a look at my progress, and this means I have now seen 17 (of 30) films by Kurosawa and 11 of them on the big screen! Not bad. I think I did miss out on The Bad Sleep Well in the past year or so. I'd say it is moderately likely that The Bad Sleep Well or Red Beard (many consider this to be one of his greatest films) show up at the Revue or Paradise (or even TIFF, not that I check their schedule that often). I do think it is less likely that Rhapsody in August will turn up, even though it seems pretty interesting. I should be able to squeeze this in at some point this month.
Some minor SPOILERS below if you know nothing about Kurosawa's films...
SPOILERS (you have been warned)...
I enjoyed Ikiru much more this time around, compared to my second viewing, though it still has some pacing problems, including a bit too much time spent in the company of the hack writer, who serves as his Mephistopheles for a long night of entertainment and debauchery. I also don't like how much time is spent with the young female junior employee (who quits to go off and make toy rabbits). But even she is pretty clear that it doesn't feel right to spend time with him, and she sets him off on his last life-course correction. One thing I am slightly ashamed to admit is that I thought the drunk hack writer was actually the yukaza boss slumming it for one evening. (I have a bit of face blindness when it comes to actors in black and white films, and in particular generic pretty girls...) I thought that was the explanation behind why they backed off on trying to develop a red-light district at the park site, but indeed it was more that Shimura was beyond worrying about bodily threats and thus when they found they couldn't intimidate him, they moved on to less troublesome ventures. (Not sure this would actually play out this way, but it makes sense in the context of the film.) Anyway, the novelist was played by Yûnosuke Itô, who is also the "horse-faced" chamberlain in Sanjuro and one of the selfish executives in High and Low. Seiji Miyaguchi, who played the yazuka boss, was one of the most effective samurai in Seven Samurai and has a small cameo as a "phantom samurai" in Throne of Blood. He also plays a prosecutor in The Bad Sleep Well, so I'll have to keep an eye out for him. He shows up in other directors' work as well, most notably in Ozu's Tokyo Twilight, Early Summer and Early Spring, Kinoshita's Farewell to Spring, Naruse's Flowing, Kobayashi's The Human Condition, Kwaidan and The Inheritance (I'm fairly sure I've seen The Inheritance, but I borrowed it from Robarts just in case not). Most of these were fairly small parts, with Seven Samurai probably being his most impactful role.
I'm not quite sure where Ikiru sits now in terms of my favorite Kurosawa films. It's not the top spot, but somewhere in the top 5. I think High and Low is perhaps my favorite, so I'm glad I saw it again. I do like the second half better, though the first offers up an interesting moral dilemma of whether to ruin oneself financially to save another person's child. (Quite coincidentally, I am about halfway through Downing's A Narrow Time which is about a missing child, presumed to be kidnapped, though there are some hints that the child was convinced (by someone else) that her mother was a bad person and left willingly. It's very hard for me to read about children in danger or indeed those that turn against their parents (as in one of the "Julieta" stories from Alice Munro's Runaway). I was going to post something more on this, but I don't really have the time right now.)
I thought it was somewhat interesting that Kurosawa really was able to bring an awful lot of his acting troupe back in as cops in the second half of High and Low, including Kanji Watanabe as a senior officer helping to coordinate the on-going search for the kidnapper (after the chauffeur's child is released unharmed). I've been reading the reviews of Spike Lee's remake of High and Low (Highest 2 Lowest), staring Denzel Washington, and most reviews seem to indicate he struggles with the first half of the movie (perhaps not quite as claustrophobic as the original) but that the second half is really great. I'll probably go see it. It seems to be out in the States but not Canada yet. Should be released soon.
Seven Samurai was amazing. This was definitely a superior experience to watching it a few months back when it came to Carlton (where I found out about it too late to go). They even put in the intermission at around the 2 hour mark, which was much appreciated.
I would say I liked Sanjuro more than Yojimbo, though both were good. In Sanjuro, the samurai is made to think much more about how to avoid violence and to be a "sheathed sword." Though he certainly still has near supernatural prowess.
I'm not sure how many of these I would go see again (or even for a third time), but it will depend on the circumstances. I would probably go see Ran again, given that the screening at the Fox was far from ideal. However, my focus is on trying to see the rest of his films on the big screen for the first time...
Most days I did bike over to Roncesvalles, which usually wasn't too bad going over, but a bit of a hassle coming back, as I was just tired. One evening (I believe Monday), it was quite late and I came very close to hopping on the streetcar with my bike but I didn't. This was a rare case where the traffic flowed very well and the streetcar left me behind. I did catch up to it in the downtown (when it had to stop to pick up passengers...) but at Jarvis it pulled ahead again for good.
Most nights I got back quite late (between midnight and 1 am), though one evening (Sunday?) I was able to stop off at Thai Room in Cabbagetown and pick up an order to go. (Which reminds me - I was overhearing something about "Small Town Swingers" who already know everyone in town that would make a great song, if I get bored and want to see what happens after it gets passed through AI, though I hope I could do a better job...)
So I got a lot of exercise but not much reading time, which is generally the story of summer. Nonetheless, I did finish The Leopard (though I still haven't watched the movie!) and Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem and reread Calvino's Invisible Cities. I had hoped I would be further along with Richler's St. Urbain's Horseman, but I stalled out a while back. I will go ahead and take that and Slouching Towards Kalamazoo on the Stratford trip this upcoming weekend. After this I will alternate between the books in the first two categories in this list, with a bit more emphasis on getting through books piled high in the study. I would say the next round of books will be Lord Vishnu's Love Handles, Canetti's Auto da Fe, Denis Johnson's Angels, Hollingshead's The Roaring Girl, Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Russo's Empire Falls and perhaps Matthiessen's Far Tortuga. There are a few others likely to slip in there, but this would be a good start.
I'll just close with an anecdote that seems so Toronto. On Sat., High and Low was an earlier screening than most of the others, and we left the theatre around 9. I actually forgot my bike was parked further south (closer to Pizzazola's where I had had enough time to grab a slice before the show but was still annoyed I had missed out on dropping in at Bau-Xi by about five minutes, but that is a story for another time). I retrieved my bike and started for home. It was still so hot out, and I figured if I biked flat out I could probably make it over to the Kawartha Lake ice cream shop on Danforth by 10. (It closes at 10 most days in the summer.) So I did that, cutting up to Bloor around Parliament, as the terrain is flatter there than in Riverdale where it is a really steep hill. And indeed, I made it over in 45 minutes, which is pretty good time (certainly faster than the typical transit time when you factor in waiting on the local bus...). The line was fairly long, but I believe the general rule is that as long as you are in the store by 10 and in line, they will serve you. Nonetheless, there was an older couple that got extremely offended when asked to vacate their table at 9:55, so the staff could clean up. When we finally got to the counter, the couple in front of me just took their sweet time choosing two different samples each and then left without ordering anything! Just the sense of entitlement of holding up the line at this late hour and then not ordering a thing. So Toronto. I actually saved half of my order and somehow got it home on the bike. However, I did eat it in the morning rather than the next evening, which had been my original plan. I really need to cut way back on those sorts of treats, and I definitely do not go as often as I used to, and I have cut back on chips and other snacks, though I could still do more. I'm still stalled at 15-20 pounds over where I want to be. Even 5 years ago it was definitely easier to lose weight, but the biking helps to some degree.
With that, I really need to go.
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