One of the things my wife and I like to do is sit down on weekends and watch Akira Kurosawa movies. Kurosawa's films are often sprawling epics about samurais or warlords who struggle to live by codes of honor and pay the price for doing so (or sometimes not doing so) with hundreds or thousands of lives on the line. Kurosawa's films are often amazing to watch to view the size and scope of the settings, memorable characters and a humanistic view of personal motivation. His films are almost like a "how-to guide" on great filmmaking, from the intriguing stories to the realistic acting to the detailed cinematography. The quality of the productions are first rate and carry the thumbprint of his talent throughout the process.
It was with this in mind that we sat down to watch Kagemusha (1980) this weekend. The film was a colorful three hour epic about a warlord who commands his stand in to take his place in the event of his death. When the warlord dies, the stand in (a petty thief) assumes the identity of the warlord to keep other warlords from attacking their area. The film follows the development of the stand in as he struggles to become someone he is not. I won't give away much more of the story except to say this is one tragic film.
Unfortunately, I can't say this is the best Kurosawa film I've ever seen. Multiple lead characters, often a Kurosawa specialty, are a bit more difficult to follow than his other films. Even with subtitles telling me who is who, I had trouble figuring out what was going on and how the characters related to each other. This is also the most talky Kurosawa movie I've ever seen, with conversations bordering on Star Wars-The Phantom Menace length. Nothing is more dull than watching characters endlessly debate each other about what happened in the previous debate (unless it's Inherit The Wind. But back then the filmmakers knew about this thing called story editing to reduce the problem).
Kagemusha did succeed in making me feel for the tragedy of the lead character, a minor criminal who comes to believe in the establishment by portraying its leader. There are some magic moments, such as when the line comes up about how no matter who you pretend to be the shadow of a man will always be true followed by a shot in a latter scene of the stand-in's shadow getting larger behind him. This movie also deserves a little extra credit for rebooting Kurosawa's career and allowing him to film one of his masterpieces, Ran (1985). I give this film a 7 out of 10.
Other odds and ends. I saw part of Catwoman (2005) starring Halle Berry. A ridiculous story so poorly executed its laughable about a meek and mild cosmetics worker becoming Catwoman. Boring CGI, funky costumes (Catwoman looks like an Egyptian Mouseketeer with an S&M bent) and a bizarre green tint to every shot make the old Batman TV show seem like a realistic documentary. What's really funny is seeing Halle Berry give 100% to her performance, seemingly oblivious to how bad the rest of the movie is. What's the old phrase, it's like watching someone polish a vase while the building falls down around her. This is a bad bad movie! I give it -2 out of 10.
Another movie I saw was Henry & June (1989) about the relationship between writers Henry Miller and Anais Nin. It was good, but I couldn't help but notice I was watching yet another movie about a married French woman who has to sleep with many people to feel whole (Belle Du Jour was the same way). What did impress me was Fred Ward as Henry Miller, convincing in a way he usually isn't with every B action movie I've seen him in (Remo Williams? Ever notice there hasn't been a Remo Williams 2 in twenty years?). The guy can act! Who knew?
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