Masaki Kobayashi Puns

Basically just the title, I just wanted to see what you guys thought about the old samurai movies, do you think they portray things badly, are they historically accurate etc.

Edit: people I forgot in the title: hideo gosha and kenji misumi.

In the case of Harakiri I mean the ronin that comes looking to commit seppuku, and in the case of Samurai Rebellion I mean the scene at about 1h18min of the movies, where the swordsman is asked to go after his friend. These two speak in a very similar tone of voice, very slowly and deliberatly. Both of the movies occur within 100 years of eachother during the Edo Period (the first in the 1630's, the second in the 1730's). Does this reflect any kind of historical samurai courtesy?

Thanks!

Hey, r/JapaneseMovies!

Two of my favourite directors, titled above, have such an incredible (and consistent!) filmography and I've always struggled to find other directors who produced action movies with as much artistry.

Specifically, I'm looking for other classic samurai directors, even though Kurosawa and Kobayashi's alternately themed works such 'High and Low' are equally amazing. I've heard about Kenji Mizoguchi - his 1953 movie 'Ugetsu' is astounding - although I've not seen any others. Would you guys recommend him?

As a reference toward which movies might suit best, my two favourites are 'Harakiri', which equally has some fascinating interpretations of honour alongside the intense combat sequences, and 'Rashomon' which is an insane storytelling feat... Toshiro Mifune's having so much fun in that role. thanks!

It finally managed to acquire 25k votes to land on IMDb TOP250 ranked as #29.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056058/

It's also #3 best rated movie on Letterboxd (after Godfather 1&2)

https://letterboxd.com/visdave34/list/official-top-250-narrative-feature-films/

and #1 most favorited movie on icheckmovies

https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/icheckmovies+-+most+favorite/

I've seen Kobayashi's biggest films (Harakiri, Human Condition, Kwaidan, Samurai Rebellion) and loved all of them. I haven't seen any of the films in this set, and was wondering how they compare, and if anyone would recommend the set as a whole?

So I had seen Samurai Rebellion and I LOVED it. 9/10. I just finished Harakiri and it was sooo good, too. These are samurai movies with so much heart to them. I've seen many of Kurosawa's films, and from what I've seen from Kobayashi the quality of his movies are just as good as Kurosawa's. Dude deserves more recognition. (He's not underrated obviously, just not well known.) Anyway, which of his films should I watch next? I can't wait to continue through his filmography.

I'm working my way through the Human Condition trilogy right now and I just finished the second one. I couldn't help but notice all the parallels between the two films. They both start out in basic, where the main character tries to help the feeble recruit who constantly fails and is constantly embarrassed. This embarrassment causes this character to lose their grip and give in to suicide. There is almost a shot for shot reproduction of this suicide scene with the rifle held upright under their chin. After the end of the first part in both films, we then see the second part begin as the characters now move to the front line. There's just too many similarities for me to think it was all just a coincidence, but I don't see anywhere that Kobayashi inspired Kubrick. Anyone know whether it's true?

I know I'm a filthy capitalist, but I enjoy seeing both sides, so hear me out. I'm a huge fan of Japanese cinema and even teach a small course on it at my university. In post-war Japan, there was a major leftist/socialist movement among the intellectuals in cinema. The most prevalent of these directors is Masaki Kobayashi, a devout communist.

The film features a protagonist, Kaji, a humanist communist in Japan during World War II. In order to avoid battle, he takes a job overseeing labor in Japanese occupied Manchuria. He achieves this position by submitting a socialist manifesto. The Japanese mining companies are willing to try anything to increase production, so they give him a shot.

Once he arrives, he finds effective slave labor of Chinese POWs who are sick and dying. He does virtually everything in his power to fight for them against imperial japan and the other labor bosses who kill a POW without a thought. The first three and a half hours (Part 1 and Part 2) feature Kaji's attempts at humanity at the slave camps. You can imagine how well it goes.

The remaining six hours of the film (Parts 3-6) feature his time in the military, and his attempt to make it home to his wife after the war is over. It's brutal and brilliant.

Not only is this film one of the most technically brilliant films out there, it's relentless communist, anti-state, pacifist, anti-imperialist messages are so clear, it wasn't even allowed to be released for years due to the american occupation in Japan.

I watched it on Hulu Plus, but I'm sure you can find other ways to see it with the internet. Here's the Criterion Collection's page on it.

I literally cannot suggest this movie enough. It's incredible.

https://thefilmera.com/2018/07/25/i-will-buy-you/ for images and more

Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System

I Will Buy You

You know what TrueFilm Kobayashi is more than just samurai masterpieces. I highly recommend you check out his baseball drama.

Kobayashi Masaki’s I Will Buy You is a baseball drama that focuses on talent scouting as a metaphor for the ruthlessness of post-war capitalism. The drama unfolds swiftly, packing a lot of plot into its two hours, hurried almost to a fault. But it also manages to cover a lot of ground, creating a complex and nuanced portrait of the cruelty and greed of this new economic reality. It’s a cynical film, but it maintains a humanist soul. Kobayashi cares deeply for his characters, even as they tear each other apart. In this world, integrity is a prize won through severe hardship.

I Will Buy You stars Sada Keiji, an actor who quickly rose to fame during the fifties and was tragically killed in a car accident at the height of his career, at the age of 37. His role in this film garnered him two Best Actor awards. It’s a good performance, but that’s often despite the script, which is uneven in its dramatic development and saddles him with a lot of expository dialogue. Sada plays the talent scout, Kishimoto. Ôki Minoru plays Kurita Gorô, the prize hitter Kishimoto wants to sign, along with every other major team. The film also stars Kishi Keiko (Kobayashi fans will remember her as Yuki in Kwaidan) as Fueko, Kurita’s love interest, and Ito Yunosuke as Kyuki, the man who helps raise Kurita and teaches him baseball, and whom the talent scouts must win over if they want to win Kurita.

Kishimoto is the heart and soul of the film. His increasing disillusionment with his profession dovetails with the film’s scathing indictments. His journey offsets the film’s cynicism to a degree, as it maintains the possibility for moral integrity and genuine empathy in the face of corrupt and unethical business practices, which one character explicitly compares to human trafficking later in the film. His internal dilemma, however, is often expressed outwardly with some poorly written drama, scenes that are overly melodramatic and saddled with insipid and expository dialogue. These scenes often function to signpost character em