Andrew Worsdale : Movies of the week
`Tis the season for film festivals, and the latest celluloid treat is the Japanese Film Festival. This year’s festival is a tribute to auteur Akira Kurosawa, with five of his films included in the line-up.
There are also many contemporary films on show, including the enchanting Village of Dreams, which won the Silver Bear Award at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival.
According to Mr Naito of the Japanese embassy in Pretoria, the festival is “a cultural promotion”, and so, entrance to all films is free. I suggest you see all that’s on offer, but if you want to be picky, here’s my choice:
Ikiru – (To Live). Kurosawa’s neglected masterpiece follows a civil servant who has had the same job for 30 years. He learns that he has cancer, and discovers new meaning in his life when he tries to turn a city dump into a children’s playground. Profoundly moving without resorting to corniness, this is a must for fans of Kurosawa’s elegiac genius.
Yojimbo. This mix of comedy and samurai western has Toshiro Mifune as a mercenary who sells his skills to both sides of a warring faction. Filled with black humour and violent set pieces, this is one of Kurosawa’s greatest films. It had a major influence on Italian director Sergio Leone, who stole the plot for A Fistful of Dollars.
Rashomon. This film was screened at last year’s festival, but is well worth another showing. It’s a landmark movie in the way it explores narrative – the plot centres on four different viewpoints of the rape of a woman and the death of her husband in a forest. The exploration of the fallibility of human nature against the backdrop of a “plot” make this film a masterpiece of humanism and cinematic exploration.
Notorious is a yakuza (Japanese Mafia) film about a morally upright “gangster” who takes up a fight with the organisation because of its illegal activities, and tries to rescue a geisha girl. Made in 1961 the movie was an instant hit and led to 16 sequels. Elegantly framed and with charismatic performances, it is a thriller that is both touching and kinetic.
Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe is a Godzilla-type film about a monster tortoise. This is the ninth installment of a series that began 30 years ago. A Japanese island is destroyed by huge predatory birds and the “monster” comes to the rescue. Echoes of atomic devastation make this comic-book action movie both critically interesting and fantastic fun.
Village of Dreams. A bio-pic about twin artists Keizo and Shogo Matsuyama who grew up in a rural town in the 1940s. It is a beautiful, nostalgic look at how children interpret their community and how artists’ visions are formed – in part because of the prejudices they face from their peers and the adult world.
Cherish His Smile tells the story of two children who must deal with the imminent death of their father. Moving without being maudlin, it is an enigmatic tale about growing up.
Buddies. This comic love story is based on a novel by Kuniko Mukouda. A millionaire and his long-time friend are at odds with each other over the temptation of extra-marital affairs. Perfectly balanced without resorting to cheap laughs, this is ironic entertainment at its best.
Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t. Suo Masayuki whose film Shall We Dance? is the biggest international Japanese box-office hit to date, directs this comedy about a student who joins a wrestling club. The mix of college naivety and macho sport make for a combustibly comic treat.