Kurosawa & Ozu

This weekend's selections:

Kagemusha: Wandile

Rashomon: George

Yojimbo: Tariq

Sanjuro: Swapnil

An Autumn Afternoon: Jahmile

Early Summer: Alan

Some further thoughts before I slip off into the hazy unknown (seeing an Ozu film always makes me very thirsty for real sake, so I'm going to write first then fall under said influence):

Both of these directors never fail to astonish me with their visual innovations, their ease at storytelling, and their resolute belief in the need for cinema to examine the human condition; neither is afraid to make a film that hands out bitter wisdom to the audience, nor are they reluctant to amuse us with dark humor, as well.

Having spent a significant part of my life studying about or living in Japan, I was always amazed to find that almost all Japanese people knew these directors by name, but almost no one under age 30 had seen the actual films. For whatever reason, Kurosawa and Ozu have an increasingly small audience in their native land, while their influence continues to expand abroad. I like them both (well, love ferociously, to be honest), cannot conceive of my own experience of cinema without them, and find within them constant source of creativity.

For those interested, two links: one to a very fine documentary on Kurosawa, the other a film exploration/documentary by the German director Wim Wenders, which documents his own trip to Japan to pay homage to Ozu's actors, technicians, and life. 

My favorites scenes from Kurosawa and Ozu. The former always terrifies me, the latter gives me pure delight.