I haven't been that thrilled with the previous non-period piece movies of Kurusawa, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. While it lacks the high style of films like Rashomon and Yojimbo, this is a compelling story . This movie is very Japanese. It is hard for me to comprehend the Japanese corporate structure shown in this movie, and it made me think of an American I met who has lived in Japan for years and says the more you see of the Japanese the more you realize that you don't understand them.
This creates an interesting dilemma in terms of analyzing the movie, because a lot of the actions and motivations are so odd that if I saw them in an American film I would consider them examples of a poorly thought-out screenplay. But I accept most things in this movie as simply being very Japanese.
This isn't to say that everything in the movie is nuts. Human nature is human nature, and the themes of corruption and revenge work in any culture. The story itself is well laid out and intriguing, and the acting is excellent throughout. My only real objection is to something that happens near the end, more for the way it was presented than for what happens, but perhaps once again this is something that would seem perfectly sensible if you were Japanese.
This movie might deserve an 8. My enjoyment of it was somewhat spoiled because I've developed cataracts in both eyes and reading subtitles is difficult, meaning I was less able to immerse myself in the movie. But definitely worth watching.
This creates an interesting dilemma in terms of analyzing the movie, because a lot of the actions and motivations are so odd that if I saw them in an American film I would consider them examples of a poorly thought-out screenplay. But I accept most things in this movie as simply being very Japanese.
This isn't to say that everything in the movie is nuts. Human nature is human nature, and the themes of corruption and revenge work in any culture. The story itself is well laid out and intriguing, and the acting is excellent throughout. My only real objection is to something that happens near the end, more for the way it was presented than for what happens, but perhaps once again this is something that would seem perfectly sensible if you were Japanese.
This movie might deserve an 8. My enjoyment of it was somewhat spoiled because I've developed cataracts in both eyes and reading subtitles is difficult, meaning I was less able to immerse myself in the movie. But definitely worth watching.