In Contention

Tag: Akira Kurosawa

  • CINEJABBER: Drifting along in the same stale shoes

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    And speaking of the weekend, thank God it’s here.  That’s all I can say.  I’m still pushing through Peter Weir’s catalogue.  Next up: “Dead Poets Society,” which I probably haven’t watched since I owned the VHS.  But more and more, I’m finding that “The Way Back” is more reflective of his early work, and it perhaps has the most in common with “Gallipoli.”

    After that I’m thinking about re-visiting Kurosawa’s work.  Much of the early stuff I’ve never seen, actually, and it’ll be a nice reprieve from Oscar madness during the season.  Boy is that absolutely necessary.

    But I also need to hunker down and finish reading Charles Portis’s “True Grit.” I’m hoping to do something special list-wise around the release of the Coens’ new adaptation and as much as I loathe the first film, I never sat down and read the novel until recently.  It’s a real charmer and easy to see why the Coens were drawn to it’s no-nonsense prose.

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  • LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1947 and 1948

    Catch up with the idea behind this series here.

    1947 kept the preachy, socially conscious train rolling at the Oscars with “Gentleman’s Agreement” taking the top prize. Anything exposing anti-Semitism was going to be hard to beat in the post-World War II period and the fact that it was actually well-made didn’t hurt either. More impressive is the fact that the Original Screenplay category that year featured both Charlie Chaplin and Vittorio De Sica as nominees.

    1948 saw the Brits take over and “Hamlet” becoming the first non-Hollywood production to ever take Best Picture. It also saw the debut of the Best Costume Design category and the first of thirty-four nominations for Edith Head. The Academy was at last, thinking a bit more globally, but they still missed out on some great titles. Such as….

    1947 – “One Wonderful Sunday” (Akira Kurosawa)

    Three years before “Rashomon” would make him an international celebrity and Academy Award recipient, Kurosawa was honing his craft with small, contemporary stories that focused on post World-War II Japan and its inhabitants. This small gem is exactly what it says on the tin, a wonderful Sunday in the life of an engaged couple. The man has only 15 yen to his name and the woman only 20, but they conspire to make the best of their day in any way they can.

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  • Venice gears up for Kurosawa centenary

    Akira KurosawaWe may be celebrating the 70th birthday of “The Wizard of Oz” today, but the Venice Film Festival has decided to start the party early for another major film-related milestone  coming up next year: the 100-year anniversary of Akira Kurosawa’s birth.

    I’m sure we can expect more retrospectives of the great man’s work when the day rolls around on March 23, 2010, but since Venice has something of a history with the filmmaker (“Rashomon” winning the Golden Lion in 1951 gave a critical boost to his international profile), festival organizers have decided to pay tribute on their own time, with an in-depth panel discussion of his work.

    The formidable, internationally-flavored panel will be chaired by venerable film historian Peter Cowie, while the likes of Richard Corliss, Michel Ciment and Donald Richie. Should be a good sit, though I’m disappointed they haven’t yet mentioned any screenings to accompany proceedings. Surely that would be advisable? Press release extract after the jump.

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