High and Low

[Stranger Than Paradise]

I finished watching it this morning. Film Noir by the great Akira Kurosawa made in 1963. Amazing film. The finest Kurosawa film I have seen. I wouldn't describe it as leftist but it has many issues to do with class in it. Anyway wondering if anyone else had seen it and what they thought of it.

[x359594]

I finished watching it this morning. Film Noir by the great Akira Kurosawa made in 1963. Amazing film. The finest Kurosawa film I have seen. I wouldn't describe it as leftist but it has many issues to do with class in it. Anyway wondering if anyone else had seen it and what they thought of it.

Tengoku to Jigoku (literal translation is Heaven and Hell) was based on an Ed McBain 87th Precinct crime novel called King's Ransom (and notice how Kurosawa keeps the name of the title character, "Kingo Gondo" in the movie.)

It was an excellent movie, one of Kurosawa's best. Certainly it has an implied critique of capitalism.

Another anti-capitalist Kurosawa movie is Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru (literally Bad Guys Sleep Better but released under the title The Bad Sleep Well.) This movie was an inspiration for The Godfather.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

It really has become one of my favourite films of all time. I'm pretty good at charting my favourites and this definitely makes the top 30. I honestly think High and Low is a better title than Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell just has no subtleties to it really although you can see how fittting it is with the kidnappers speech in the final scene. However High and Low is much more complex and can have so many different meanings to it. Sounds better aswell.

Have't seen Bad Sleep Well. Then again this was only the third Kurosawa film I have seen after Rashomon and Ikiru. Both fantastic films also. I've got Kagemusha and I tried to watch it but I just can't get into the whole samurai stuff. What is the best Kurosawa film in your opinion?

[x359594]

...High and Low is much more complex and can have so many different meanings to it. Sounds better aswell... What is the best Kurosawa film in your opinion?

I agree with you about the title.

Hard to say what his best is, but among the best are Stray Dog from 1947 (another noir that vividly depicts post WWII Japan with its begger veterans and black marketeers), 7 Samurai, Record of a Living Being, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo.

Some of these are in the samurai genre, but they're disguised critiques of contemorary Japanese society. Yojimbo was loosely based on Dashiel Hammett's novel Red Harvest. The Hidden Fortress is a fun adventure movie and an inspiration for Star Wars.