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Red Beard - too corny to your taste?

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Victor Khomenko

It does run too close to crossing this line. Whether it does crose it, and whether it has other strong redeaming values - is left up to you to decide, but a masterpiece by any standard.
Some **incredibly** strong scenery by the master, and his typical third party story telling is profound, even if slightly tredious at times. The girl story is easily the strongest in its simplicity, and speaks at several levels.
Mifune is in his usual best, in each of his gestures, poses, laconic words and powerful facial expressions.
The basic story is something that lends itself to deep criticism. An arrogant young man suddenly becoming involved, caring and kind through his contact with people more modest and human than he is. This has been told thousands of times, and one would make a mistake by concentrating on it.
For it is nothing but a vehicle, a vehicle that Kurosawa skillfully drives through the shallow waters of his many subplots to nearly perfect finale.
An absolute must for anyone navigating his way through the land of serious movies.

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Speaking of Kurosawa - ToshiroMeyers 03:34:59 03/07/05 (3)
Vic,
Not one of my favorite Kurosawa films, but a good one if you can stay awake through some of the slower portions.
Over the weekend, while looking for used LPs I stumbled across a beat-up book about Japanese cinema. The forward was composed by Kurosawa and it covers the entire history of Japanese film from 1898 to 1959. Everything you wanted to know about the key and not-so-key Directors and Actors, the studios, movie theaters, cameras, war films, technique, music...
A very fascinating read and filled with stills from the various eras.
I'm starting to appreciate Stray Dog and Drunken Angel a lot more, after reading this book.
Tosh
"I think this place is restricted Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish"
- How about High and Low? Definitely one of my K favs. nt - tinear 05:06:20 03/07/05 (1)
  adg
  - Excellent Film - Bad Sleep Well in the same vein - ToshiroMeyers 05:22:37 03/07/05 (0)
    Tin,
    Kurosawa made 4 films (High and Low, Stray Dog, Drunken Angel, Bad Sleep Well) that really gave Mifune a chance to show something other than the "Samurai" characters he played.
    When you look at Kurosawa's library of films, you really begin to see how pathetic the modern crop is.
    There isn't a Director around who could touch such a collection of work...
    Rashomon
    Seven Samurai
    Ikiru
    Ran
    Kagemusha
    Yojimbo
    Sanjuro
    Hidden Fortress
    Throne of Blood
    Stray Dog
    Drunken Angel
    High and Low
    The Lower Depths
    Red Beard
    Bad Sleep Well
    Etc...
    Kurosawa also wrote Runaway Train (unless it was a different guy) with Jon Voight and Eric Roberts, and dozens of others.
    I bow to MY master.
    Tosh
    "I think this place is restricted Wang, so don't tell them you're Jewish"
- Re: Speaking of Kurosawa - patrickU 04:38:24 03/07/05 (0)
  All of his films are worth to see. His weakest for me, Yumi, was still above the average of other directors.
  He was playing in the league of the very best. and sadly it shows us the desolate state of the movie industry as it is today.
  Where peanuts already compare to a feast meal.

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