tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586568821168314585.post6098775264482971745..comments2024-01-17T14:59:12.903-05:00Comments on Roslindale Monogatari: Watched July 23 - 29, 2007: -- Ozu and KurosawaMichael E. Kerpan Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14520243158889746324noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586568821168314585.post-56785465835364769122011-10-08T18:31:25.123-05:002011-10-08T18:31:25.123-05:00Thank you for your very thoughtful post.Thank you for your very thoughtful post.Michael E. Kerpan Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14520243158889746324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586568821168314585.post-64280036191454634972011-08-09T09:54:34.007-05:002011-08-09T09:54:34.007-05:00“Yojimbo” by Akira Kurosawa can stylistically be c...“Yojimbo” by Akira Kurosawa can stylistically be considered as a “study” for his “Sanjuro” made (in) a year after “Yojimbo” (with the same main character played by (the) [a] unique [actor] in the history of cinema (actor) Toshiro Mifune). But thematically it is quite [an] independent film that concentrates on [the] specificity of economic fight between rivaling groups of entrepreneurs with taste for semi-legal or just [outright] illegal strategies of self-enrichment (the types we [are] today in [the] 21st century [so familiar with and] know only too well). Kurosawa uses a tiny (Japanese) provincial city [in Japan] of 19th century as a setting for metaphorizing of up-to-date behavior of international cast of predatory money-makers [like our own day global corporate CEOs]. Like we [are] today (after invented wars and financial collapses [and whole host of other disasters]) Kurosawa in “Yojimbo” thinks what to do in a situation when (a) pathological greed of [the] financial decision-makers endangers the life of (human) population[s]. Again, [as] (like) we [are] today, Kurosawa was disappointed [with the] (in) traditional idea of “revolutionary transformation” of a corrupt society – the experiencee of Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is enough to discourage us from this way. Instead, Kurosawa offers in his too films Sanjuro as, in essence, a role model for our hope. Instead of “revolution” as a strategy for social-psychological transformation of life Kurosawa offers “non-participation”. Sanjuro is [an] outsider by moral reasons. It is this status (under-status[ed]) “of not belonging” [that] colors his personality as [a] moral alternative to those who while being horrified by the cruelty of the system are doomed to participate in its everyday rituals because they share many of its conventions and prejudices. The intensity of “Yojimbo’s” critical energies joins the elaborateness of its analysis of today’s formal democracy’s vices and sins hidden under the beautiful [Universalist declaration of enlightenment and] make-up[s] of its proudly humane ideological pronouncements. “Yojimbo” is full of wit and humor, but also of human emotions, suffering and joy, and real problems.<br />Victor Enyutinkatiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18386075177018131868noreply@blogger.com