Nora Inu - Stray Dog

This post was first published on PFC

It is hard to imagine that the greatest of directors have had humble beginnings. After watching Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Akahige, The Bad Sleep Well (and so on) and the exquisite style in each and every movie, it never crossed my mind that even the great Mr. Kurosawa might have had a few ‘earlier’ movies.

Last week, when I was window shopping for nothing at the local mall, I went through the second hand Japanese DVD collection in a store there. I found one of the movies that I have been looking for in a while ‘The Sword of Doom’ and along with that there was this other DVD of a movie called Nora Inu (Stray Dog) directed by Mr. Kurosawa and starring none other than Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. I picked it up as the Sword of Doom did not have English subtitles.

Nora Inu is the 7th movie of Mr. Mifune and the 9th of Mr. Kurosawa. This was their third collaboration together. Needless to say I was excited. Nora Inu remains one of the most impressive Film Noir movies I have seen. Mr. Kurosawa himself has acknowledged the influence of the works of Georges Simenon, on this movie of his.
Nora Inu revolves around a young detective of the Tokyo police department, Murakami, played by Toshiro Mifune. The story is about his travails as his gun is stolen from him and a series of crimes that take place using that gun. As Murakami hunts around the street of Tokyo, he ends up chasing the ‘stray dog’ that has taken the gun and is now using it to commit various crimes. Assisting him in his search is the wise older detective Sato, played by Takashi Shimura.

Murakami disguises himself as a war veteran and scrounges the underbelly of the city to find a clue that would take him to the person who has his gun. In an elaborate sequence depicting the search we get a glimpse into what might have been Murakami’s past. He might have lived on the streets of Tokyo before he gets the job of a detective. His experience is the Japanese military still shows on him as the senior inspector reminds Murakami to take things a little easy.
The senior inspector appreciates the situation of Murakami and pairs him up with Sato. It is up to Sato as the experienced of the two to keep Murakami in check. When Murakami and Sato unravel the clues behind the perpetrator of the crimes, a strange similarity to Murakami is revealed. The criminal is a war veteran and is disgruntled with the world as he as nothing but bad memories of his life from the war.

To quote from an article on http://www.criterion.com/ about Nora Inu by Terrence Rafferty:

In essence, Stray Dog is the story of a young detective chasing his own shadow.
It’s a highly stylized coming-of-age narrative—a moral tale disguised as a
thriller.
Stray Dog English poster

Toshiro Mifune is excellent as Murakami but it is Takashi Shimura as Sato that steals the scenes from him whenever they are together on screen. It is possible that since this is one of the earlier movies of his the newbie detective character suited him completely. Also, I was more than happy not to see him in a samurai costume. Not that I have anything against it but it is always a refreshing change.

The presence of an overwhelming weather is distinctly captured in Kurosawa movies. You cannot escape from it. Even in this movie, the weather is humid, hot and everyone is sweating and looking form some way to quench their thirst. Added to the discomfort the weather causes , there is the tension of the lost ammunition that Murakami is looking for. There is rain: which you almost always see in a Kurosawa movie, for a brief period and you can feel the relief even if you are just watching the movie. But, the weather again goes back to its ruthless humid nature, bringing out quick irritation and the reactions to discomfort among the characters involved in the story.

The documentary style shots of Tokyo streets and regular life, the details of procedures within the police department, a baseball game all are woven seamlessly into a thriller. The post war depression is evident in the city and as well as its dwellers. There is a hint of the underbelly of the city and we keep seeing it around but never get into the depth of it. We also see the a glimpse of the personal life of inspector Sato. This presentation of using hints and not delving into details in a lot of aspects is something that we see in a lot of Kurosawa's later movies.

I would highly recommend this to all. This is one of the least spoken masterpieces of Akira Kurosawa.

The Human Condition I - No Greater Love

The post was first published in PFC.

It is very rare that you come across a movie that is emotionally draining and uplifting at the same time. In my personal discovery of Japanese cinema, I haven’t seen any other movie that has left such a lasting impression on me. So, taking the risk of making the movie sound trivial, I have decided to share my thoughts on Masaki Kobayashi’s first part of his trilogy The Human Condition.

No Greater Love or “Ningen no joken” is an adaptation by Kobayashi of a story of the same name written by Jumpei Gomikawa. The story is about Kaji a pacifist during the time of WWII in Japan. To avoid getting enlisted in the Japanese army, and to be able to spend time with his newly wed wife, Kaji decides to take the job of a labor superintendent at a mine in Manchuria. It is his belief that his pacifist ideals and their implementation, he can get better productivity and a better working environment.

He is adamant at putting his methods to test and his efforts backfire, because the mine worker’s boss, Okazaki, is extremely cruel and brutal with the workers. Kaji gets a little support from his mine supervisor Okishima. The situation gets complicated when about 600 starving Chinese POWs arrive at the camp. They are sent as manpower to assist in the mining but they are so ill and famished that they cannot even carry themselves. The army officer who hands them over to Kaji does not take his pacifist ways lightly and tries to keep tabs on Kaji taking him to be a ’socialist’.

Kaji on the other hand takes complete responsibility for the POWs but he finds that the Chinese prisoners resent his attempts to treat them with kindness. Their past experiences with Japanese soldiers, and Japan’s military incursion into China makes them suspicious of every Japanese. Kaji’s unusual behavior ends him at odds with both the prisoners and his fellow supervisors. When, after achieving a productivity gain, Kaji decides to take a brief vacation, his enemies arrange for some of the Chinese prisoners to escape, endangering Kaji’s position.

Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai in Masaki Kobayashi's Kaji is played by none other than the amazingly talented Tatsuya Nakadai. Nakadai is known for being the favourite of Masaki Kobayashi. The team up of Kobayashi and Nakadai rivals the other famous director actor pairing of Kurosawa and Mifune. Interestingly after the famous split of Kurosawa and Mifune, Kurosawa took Nakadai as his next leading man. For me, it is impossible to choose between Mifune and Nakadai. They are legends in their own right and when they share the screen together its absolute magic.

Nakadai morphs himself into Kaji and we forget that this is the same actor who did so many samurai roles. He easily blends into this idealistic character and immaculately portrays Kaji on screen. Humanity is Kaji’s greatest strength and weakness. His tough moments to tender situations, from his complete disbelief at the situation to his utter despair at his inability to change things, all are brilliantly portrayed by Nakadai. He is just amazing!

No Greater Love is visually stunning and emotionally heavy. It is the first installment of this 10 hour epic trilogy. I believe that technically this film is a masterpiece. The scenes are beautifully composed, framed, and lit. This film explores the many facets of the human experience in fascist Japan during WW-II. Inhuman acts as well as humanistic ideals clash on the screen as the existing establishment believes in exploitation and brutality towards their employees and Kaji tries to spread his revolutionary beliefs.

There is a common underlying there in many Kobayashi movies. There is always an individual who finds himself at odds with his society. It is said that his distaste for war and the strict establishment on screen is a direct result of his own experience. In 1942, when he began his career at Shochiku studios, Kobayashi was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army and sent to Manchuria. He refused promotion above the rank of private and was also a prisoner of war. He was later released in 1946, returned to film making, becoming an assistant to Keisuke Kinoshita.

It is thus very obvious that the ordeal of Kaji possibly came from the director’s own experiences during the war. Kaji protests, struggles but fails against an oppressive and inhumane system. Nothing changes by his efforts but, it stands out as an assertion of humanity.

There are so many anti-war movies made by several Japanese masters but this series remains the crown jewel. This is a collection item.

Arboretum

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Suzuki Seijun’s - Story of a Prostitute

This post was first published on PFC.

This is the second article on my experience of Suzuki Seijun’s movies. The earlier article is here.
Before, I could get my hands on the DVD of Tokyo Drifter, I roamed around a few DVD stores that I thought were Japanese to look for it. Some turned out to be Chinese and some Korean but I couldn’t figure out a Japanese movie rental place. Finally, one day I asked the store person at a Korean DVD rental place as to where a Japanese movie rental store is. The guy smiled and said, walk down the street, there is a DVD store named ‘NIPPON Video’.

Duh! I have walked in front of that store I do not know how many times but it never registered in my head that Nippon Video is one place where I should be going. Well, the fun just started. I went the store, and found one kid who speaks some English to help me set up a membership there. Now, I knew that I was going to a Japanese store so, I learnt the Japanese title by heart so that I can show off what I learnt :). I told the kid, I need ‘Tokyo Nagaremnono’. He looked at me quizzically for a second. I repeated my request. He asked me to follow him. I did. He went to an aisle and picked up a DVD and gave it to me with a huge smile of satisfaction that he had served the customer appropriately.

What I got was a Japanese dubbed version of the ‘Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift‘. I looked at the kid for a second and told him, “Not this, I need Tokyo Nagaremono”. He pointed to me and said this is the one. I wanted to say, “Why in the world would a Desi speaking in English and who doesn’t know Japanese, want a Japanese dubbed version of a Hollywood movie?”But I said, “Sorry, this is not the one I am looking for. The movie was made in the 1960s”. Then he said, “No DVD 1960″. I thanked him for his service and left the store. Nowadays, I take a print out of the movie information from IMDB and show it to people there and let them figure it out for me.

Anyway, after that experience, I decided to try a Chinese DVD store near our home. Turns out that they have a small Japanese movie section and they had the movie ‘Story of a Prostitute‘ by Suzuki. Well, I was a bit disappointed that I did not get the DVD of Tokyo Drifter but, I decided to watch this anyway. Sometimes, things from which you do not expect anything or you have no idea about can give you the most rewarding experience. I realized after watching it that my adulation towards him was totally misplaced. I was more interested in the Jazz and the style but this movie changed all that.

The movie is based on a story written by Taijiro Tamura. The story takes place during the second world war. The central character is Harumi, a prostitute, who leaves the city disappointed by the betrayal of her lover. She ends up in a Japanese outpost in Manchuria. The brothel/comfort house that she is in, is used for the soldiers in battle and is provided by the Japanese military. The local commander takes a liking to her and ‘reserves’ her for himself. When he isn’t available, she does need to ‘comfort’ the others who wait in line for her. The commander’s aide Mikami is a loyal aide to him and takes all his abuses in stride. Harumi is at first fascinated by Mikami but on his rejection of her she slowly falls in love with him. Mikami on the other hand is also attracted towards Harumi and they end up comforting each other in hiding. Their love doesn’t care about the military bureaucracy, but Suzuki does. In an explicit, take on the moral attitude towards sacrifice and loyalty, he weaves a wonderful tale of human emotions.

This movie is shot exquisitely in Black and White. The way the characters play out and vent their emotions is tastefully captured. This is in complete contrast to the highly visual and stylish Tokyo Drifter. Suzuki used his personal experiences in the war here. The story was already made into a feature film several years before as Escape At Dawn, co-written by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Senkichi Taniguchi. In an interview in the extra features provided in the DVD, Suzuki refers to the earlier movie as done by masters Kurosawa and Taniguchi. It was a love story where as Suzuki’s interpretation raised it to a completely new level.

Harumi is a fierce woman who is not afraid of authority and believes she has the right to happiness and is willing to go all the way to get it. Mikami on the other hand is submissive and believes in the code of honour and believes in the traditional definitions. Suzuki uses a lot of background imagery to put forth his point of view. The emotional turmoil that Harumi goes through and Mikami goes through are different aspects of betrayal and abuse and they end up having a disjoint point of view about the notion of sacrifice and loyalty. To quote his own words from Wikipedia:

It’s because in drama … you need some kind of moral code
or something binding that the characters either submit to or resist. You need to
have that element in creating drama. When you watch a western, you see that its
foundation is the spirit of sacrifice. The drama in a western develops from that
foundation. In Japanese films we don’t share that element. A code is the
foundation for us. As an army has its own code, prostitutes have their own code.
Characters bound by such a code either resist it or submit to it. – Seijun
Suzuki

The film wasn’t received well at its time because of its realistic portrayal and a radical standpoint compared to the earlier love story. But, his presentation transcends time and culture. He is a true artist. Personally, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

My search for a DVD and a silly encounter in a Japanese video store has sent me into a wonderful cinematic journey as I slowly try and understand and admire the genius of Suzuki Seijun.

Incomprehensible Movies - Tokyo Drifter

This post was first published on PFC.

Late one night when I was watching television during the recent Olympics, I got bored of the sporting events and started flipping channels. I wanted to watch something that would send me to a good night’s sleep. The lights were out and I was guessing the buttons on my remote and thus my channel surfing was to say the least, a little inconvenient. In this struggle to figure out the correct buttons I did end up on a channel that was showing the movie ‘Tokyo Drifter‘. I didn’t struggle with my remote after that. I did not care how long I was awake that night and stayed up until the end of the movie.

The next morning, I was still thinking about the movie and I wanted to share my discovery with my wife but, I forgot the name of the movie. All I remembered was Tokyo. Well, after some research on all Japanese movies that begin with the name Tokyo, it was easy for me to figure out the one that I saw. Did I know the director Suzuki Seijun? No. Did I know the actors? No. But, I remembered the colours the movie had and looking at the poster on IMDB, my search finished.

From that time onwards, I knew that I was not looking at any ordinary director. This was one director wanting to speak through the medium of cinema in every way possible. I am always at a loss when it comes to talking about Mr. Seijun because I do not know if I can talk about him without taking about his movies. Him and his movies, I believe, are inseparable. I have watched the Tokyo Drifter multiple times but each and every time, I realize that I haven’t seen the movie at all. Each and every time, Mr. Suzuki shows me something that I haven’t seen.

The theme of loyalty and how valuable is blind loyalty, is common to more than one movie of Mr. Seijun. It is central to Tokyo Drifter. A Yakuza boss Kurata decides to quit the criminal life and his loyal gangster Tetsu joins him. Another Yakuza boss Otsuka decides to hire Tetsu, but he firmly refuses as he wishes to be loyal to Kurata. Otsuka in the meantime tries to pressurize Kurata by taking over the loan on Kurata’s legitimate business. Otsuka also has an eye for Tetsu’s girl Chiharu. A sequence of events leads to Tetsu to become a drifter and leaving Tokyo to save his boss. He realizes later that his boss has turned the tables on him and wants to get a deal with Otsuka. How Tetsu gets to know of the betrayal and what he does forms the rest of the movie.

What strikes you immediately is the use of the colours in this entire movie. It begins with a Black and White sequence with a hint of colour here and there. The rest of the movie has a definite colour ‘coding’ to put it simply. The colours not only represent the characters but also the situation and the emotions floating around. Its an amazing experience! Now, that is just one aspect of the movie. There is also the music that runs in the background that plays an equally effective role. Tetsu and Chiharu sing the same song but, the lyrics they sing effectively surmises their needs and ideas.

What you cannot miss in Mr. Seijun’s movie making is his style. Its uber-cool and fantastic! The action sequences have their own aesthetics that is trademark Seijun style. The other noticeable thing is his use of shades on screen. It looks as if someone did not care to remove the cover on the camera lens. It covers some part of the screen and is used for some reason that I haven’t yet figured out. It still bugs me. Anyone who can elaborate more is most welcome to do so.

To get an idea of the conditions under which this movie was made, I quote from Wikipedia below:

His fan base grew rapidly but did not extend to studio president Kyusaku Hori. Beginning with Tattooed Life the studio issued Suzuki his first warning for “going too far”.[15] He responded with Carmen from Kawachi after which he was ordered to “play it straight”[16] and had his budget slashed for his next film.[12] The result was Tokyo Drifter, an “ostensibly routine potboiler” made into a “jaw-dropping, eye-popping fantasia”.[17] Further reduced to filming in black-and-white Suzuki made his 40th film in his 12 years with the company, Branded to Kill (1967), considered an avant-garde masterpiece by critics, for which Hori promptly fired him

The reason that was given for firing him was this:

“Suzuki’s films were incomprehensible, that they did not make any money and that Suzuki might as well give up his career as a director as he would not be making films for any other companies.”

Incomprehensible movies! He was blacklisted for 10 years before he could make another motion picture. He came back with his acclaimed trilogy Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991).

This post is part of a series of articles on his movies that I shall be sharing with you all here at PFC. I am sure there are people who know a lot more than I do and I wish to hear from them too. In this small way, I hope to pay my tributes to one of the lesser known masters of world cinema. I hope you get to see his movies and enjoy them as much as I have.

Mumbai Siege - 3 Sernior Officers Killed - Coincidence?

183 killed and 327 injured, this is the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attack that happened on 26th November 2008. The latest news is that there is possibly an underworld link. Look at the following information:

1) The captured terrorist mentioned about using a Karachi based merchant trawler.

2) Information is already present that Dawood is based where in and around Karachi.

3) The 3 police officers who were killed are the Mr. Hemant Karkare, Mr. Vijay Salaskar and, Mr. Ashok Kamte.

The question arises that what three senior officers were doing at the same place at that time. Especially when, there were firings going on in more than one location in Mumbai. Coincidence? May be.

Were they eliminated as a part of some plan? Possible? Consider this. Mr. Karkare and Mr. Salaskar were well feared among the underworld especially because of their exemplary work. This is well known. If this reason is not enough, (I shall try and get some links for this) during the initial reporting of the attacks on IBNLIVE, when the news of the killing of all the three police officers was received, there was this report on a possible conversation between the terrorists that 'they had got these guys and the commissioner was a bonus', or something to that effect. Commissioner is a definite reference to Mr. Kamte.

This can mean only one thing: Mr. Karkare and Mr. Salaskar were targets for someone. For an operation to be possibly funded by Dawood, it doesn't seem to be implausible.....

More as information comes out....

My favourites - The Burmese Harp

This post was first published on PFC.

The Burmese Harp is directed by Kon Ichikawa in 1956. It is an anti-war movie, one of the major themes that the Japanese directors dealt with especially, after the horrible aftermath of the second World War. The director uses Buddhist teachings to present his ideas against war and explains it by showcasing the human tragedy associated with. The movie begins with a Corporal from the unit of Captain Inouye narrating the story to us about another Corporal Mizushima when their unit is stationed in the forests of Burma. As the unit advances through the dense jungle, the Captain teaches them to sing to keep up their morale. Mizushima is their unit’s harp player. He has a modified Burmese Harp with him.

When the news of Japan’s surrender reaches the unit, they give up their arms and are held as POWs by the British troops. Before being sent to the POW camp, the British captain asks Captain Inouye if he can convince a Japanese unit holding a hill to surrender so that further loss to life can be avoided. Unable to do the task himself, Inouye asks Mizushima to do the tasks to which Mizushima readily agrees. Mizushima is given 30 minutes to convince the troop to surrender. Risking his life, Mizushima reaches the top of the hill and speaks to the leader of the troop about the surrender. They discuss among themselves and decide to fight until the end. Determined to save the soldiers, Miizushima tries to hoist a white flag to get more time from the British. Misunderstanding his intent, the soldiers pull him inside the cave and get back to fighting. In the end its only Mizushima who is injured but he survives and he becomes distraught at his failure.

Meanwhile, in the POW camp, the rest of the soldiers in Captain Inouye’s unit are wondering about what happened to him. Inouye tries to get some information form an old lady who gets them food for trading with any items the soldiers have. Mizuma, is saved and cared for by a monk. Determined to get back to his unit as he had promised his captain, Mizushima, steals the monk’s robe and heads towards the POW camp. On his way, he comes across bodies after bodies of soldiers and is greatly affected by it. When he reaches the POW camp and makes it to his unit, he has a change of heart and decides to leave the unit and not recognize any of them. He decides to stay back in Burma and bury the bodies of the soldiers. Also, he becomes a monk to come to terms with the tragedy and to find peace within himself. Realizing that the monk is Mizushima, Inouye and his unit try many times to bring him back either by singing or by sending messages to him. They get no response form him. Post war as the peace process begins the POW’s are sent back to their homeland. Right when the unit leaves for Japan,.they get a letter from Mizushima explaining why he decided to stay back.

The strength of this movie lies definitely in its story and screen play. The symbolism in the dialogues are unmistakable For example, the movie begins with the following line: “Down in Burma, soil is blood-red. So are rocks.” . In another scene an old man says “Soldiers from various countries die here. But, Burma is always the land of the Buddha”. Using the stark landscape and the dire circumstances of living, Ichikawa portrays the value of human life and the futility of war in with utmost elegance. The transformation of Mizushima is feels real and leaves an impression on you. The background music adds the to effectiveness of the story. The mood of the soldiers is filled with nostalgia and love for their motherland. Even after the news of the surrender, Inouye tries to motivate his men by encouraging them to think about working for their country once they go back. This is also reflected in the song that the soldiers repeatedly sing, “Hanyu no Yadu or “There’s No Place Like Home.”

For Mizushima, Burma becomes the land where he gets ‘enlightened’. He realizes the purpose of his life and tries to attain it. It is difficult for him to explain to his former fellow soldiers on how he feels and he tries to avoid all contact with them. Also, it is very difficult for him to not return to his homeland and since he doesn’t want his association with his unit to affect his resolution. It is very moving and tragic a situation but, the director uses Buddhist doctrine of salvation from pain is through compassion, knowledge humility and, service. The movie does not pass judgements or try to find out reasons for the war or its aftermath. The harp is the central object for communication used by Mizushima. It represents the constant within him and through the harp he is able to remember his past and also present himself to the future.

The film boasts of an excellent composition by Akira Ifukube. The songs that the unit songs to the tunes that Mizushima plays, the melancholy of the POW camp to the distressing sight of the dead bodies, every scene has been given an exquisite background score that stays with you for a long time. Ichikawa, exploits the landscape of Burma to his advantage. From showing rough and dry terrains to marshy and swampy landscapes, the country of Burma forms an excellent backdrop, add to that the majestic and beautiful Buddha statues and temples. It is simply, stunning. Truly, one of the masterpieces of Cinema.

Ichikawa made this movie all over again in colour. It was released in 1985. By the way, an actor who is common from my previous article is Rentaro Mikuni. notice the change in his tone and dialogue delivery when you compare it to his character ( Kageyu Saito ) in Harakiri. Amazing!