90% (2)  Yojimbo  110 min,  Not Rated,  [Action, Drama, Thriller]  [Akira Kurosawa]  [13 Sep 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 83%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 97%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors:  Eijirô Tôno, Isuzu Yamada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa
Writer:  Akira Kurosawa (story), Akira Kurosawa (screenplay), Ryûzô Kikushima (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Japanese    Country:  Japan
Plot:  Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Toshiro Mifune portrays a Samurai who finds himself in the middle of a feud-torn Japanese village. Neither side is particularly honorable, but Mifune is hungry and impoverished, so he agrees to work as bodyguard (or Yojimbo) for a silk merchant (Kamatari Fujiwara) against a sake merchant (Takashi Shimura). He then pretends to go to work for the other, the better to let the enemies tear each other apart. Imprisoned for his "treachery," he escapes just in time to watch the two warring sides wipe each other out. This was his plan all along, and now that peace has been restored, he leaves the village for further exploits. Yes, Yojimbo was the prototype for the Clint Eastwood "Man with No Name" picture A Fistful of Dollars (1964). The difference is that Fistful relies on Eastwood for its success, whereas Yojimbo scores on every creative level, from director Akira Kurosawa to cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa to Mifune's classic lead performance.
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89% (2)  Throne of Blood  110 min,  Not Rated,  [Drama]  [Akira Kurosawa]  [22 Nov 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 81%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 98%,   External Reviews
Awards:  3 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors:  Akira Kubo, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune
Writer:  Hideo Oguni (screenplay), Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay), Ryûzô Kikushima (screenplay), Akira Kurosawa (screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Japanese    Country:  Japan
Plot:  After securing a major victory on the battlefield, Taketoti Washizu and one of his commanders, Yoshiaki Miki, find themselves lost in the maze-like Spider's Web forest. They come across a spirit-like seer who tells them of their future: both have been promoted because of their victory that day; Washizu will someday be the Great Lord of the Spider's Web castle while Miki's son will someday rule as Great Lord as well. When they arrive at the castle, they learn that the first part of the prophecy is correct. Washizu has no desire to become Great Lord but his ambitious wife urges him to reconsider. When the current Great Lord makes a surprise visit to his garrison outpost, Washizu is again promoted to commander of his vanguard but his wife reminds him of the danger that comes with the position. As pressure mounts, Wahizu takes action leading to its inevitable conclusion.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This moody and violent drama is the Japanese version of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Even translated into the Japanese language, the timeless story of political intrigue, murder, greed and revenge remains a classic.
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87% (2)  Osaka Elegy  90 min,  [Drama]  [Kenji Mizoguchi]  [31 Jan 1979]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 74%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Chiyoko Ôkura, Isuzu Yamada, Seiichi Takegawa, Shinpachirô Asaka
Writer:  Tadashi Fujiwara (dialogue), Kenji Mizoguchi (story), Saburo Okada (story "Mieko"), Yoshikata Yoda (screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Japanese    Country:  Japan
Plot:  Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss, Mr. Asai, so she can pay her father's debt, and prevent him from going to prison for embezzlement. She also sends money for her brother, Hiroshi, to pay his university tuition, but asks her father not to tell him that it is from her. She tricks Mr. Fujino into giving her money so that she can marry her boyfriend Nishimura, but Fujino calls in the police.
Rotten Tomatoes:   This is one of director Kenji Mizoguchi's first true masterworks in his long, highly celebrated career. Ayako, a young switchboard operator, tries to resist the advances of Asai, the owner of the pharmaceutical company where she works. Her love interest Nishmura, a young executive at the same company, does not seemed bothered, and her drunken father, who is up to his eyes in debt, is even less helpful. After a loud argument, her father throws her out of the house. With nowhere else to go, Ayako becomes Asai's mistress. She tries to pay her drunken father's numerous debts and help her brother Hiroshi with his studies. They eagerly accept the money but instead of gratitude, they demand more. Thanks to a comical mix-up at a doctor's office, Asai's wife finds out and the affair comes to an abrupt end. Yet thanks to her father's drinking, her family's financial situation seems as pressing as ever, which all but forces Ayako into prostitution. Unfortunately, the police catch her in the act. Even though her father and brother have been living off her, they brand Ayako a disgrace and cast her out of the house to face an uncertain future. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
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83% (2)  Sisters of the Gion  95 min,  [Drama]  [Kenji Mizoguchi]  [01 Nov 1979]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 77%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 89%,   External Reviews
Awards:  1 win.
Actors:  Benkei Shiganoya, Eitarô Shindô, Isuzu Yamada, Yôko Umemura
Writer:  Aleksandr Kuprin (novel), Kenji Mizoguchi, Yoshikata Yoda
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Japanese    Country:  Japan
Plot:  Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife. However her younger sister Omocha tells her she is wasting her time and money on a loser. She thinks that they should both find wealthy patrons to support them. Omocha therefore tries various schemes to get rid of Furusawa, and set themselves up with better patrons.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Along with Osaka Elegy (1936), Sisters of the Gion is widely considered one of Kenji Mizoguchi's finest prewar films. The movie takes a realistic look at the life of a geisha in Kyoto's Gion district. Omocha is a geisha with "modern girl" sensibilities; she resents the way that men callously treat women, and she is inclined to ignore the traditions and expectations of her profession. She sets out to beat men at their own game, jumping from patron to patron (a no-no in the geisha business) in order to attain money, nice clothes, and fancy meals. In the process, she deceives and ruins a bumbling, though sincere, store clerk. Her sister Umekichi, on the other hand, possesses all the qualities of the legendary geisha. In spite of Omocha's mockery, she remains devoted to her bankrupt former patron. Eventually, the wronged store clerk exacts revenge against Omocha, landing her in the hospital, while Umekichi's patron abandons her, returning to his wife. As in much of his oeuvre, Mizoguchi shows a deep sensitivity towards the plight of women in society and, as in much of his postwar work, he emphasizes the inevitability of fate. Neither Omocha's guile nor Umekichi's loyalty can do much to alter their cruel predicaments; however, this acknowledgement of their fate yields little of the transcendence seen in such later films as Life of Oharu (1955). ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
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77% (2)  The Lower Depths  137 min,  Not Rated,  [Drama]  [Akira Kurosawa]  [01 Oct 1957]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 75%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 80%,   External Reviews
Awards:  5 wins.
Actors:  Ganjirô Nakamura, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Toshirô Mifune
Writer:  Maxim Gorky (play), Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  Japanese    Country:  Japan
Plot:  In medieval Japan, aging Rokubei, his younger wife of four years Osugi and her uncle run a tenement complex at the bottom of a cliff, the complex which from the naked eye at the top of the cliff looks like nothing more than a rubbish heap. The tenants are a group of down-and-outers with some who operate on the far side of the law. Nonetheless, the tenants are close knit community in wallowing in their collective misery, those who care who know their lives will never get better as long as they stay there. The landlords have no compassion for the tenants, they mockingly only stating that the tenants will be given a favorable standing in a future life for any good deeds done around the tenement. The recent arrival of Kahei, a mysterious elderly man, affectionately referred to as Grandpa, who spins tales of the unknown, provides at least hope that there is a better life out there somewhere. Sutekichi, a thief who arguably is the leader among the tenants, and Osugi are carrying on an affair behind Rokubei's back. Although he has previously professed his love for her, the words were more an empty platitude. He begins to have feelings for Osugi's younger sister, Okaya, who works for her sister cleaning up the tenement under her watchful eye. Okaya does not know if she can trust the words of anyone who lives in the complex, while Osugi, who knows of Sutekichi feelings for Okaya, begins to have feelings of jealousy. Osugi and Sutekichi work toward their own goals at the expense of others within the complex.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa transferred the setting of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths from Imperial Russia to his own country's Edo Period--which, like Gorky's 19th-century setting, was an era of great cultural advances, offset by the miseries of those who weren't in the aristocracy. Kurosawa's film concentrates on Toshiro Mifune, playing a crooked gambler who falls in love with the sister (Kyoko Kagawa) of his cruel landlady (Isuzu Yamada). Herself carrying a torch for Mifune, the landlady exacts a roundabout revenge by killing her own husband and pinning the blame on the gambler. As the landlady descends into madness, those whom she has treated wretchedly laugh at her plight. Originally titled Donzoko, The Lower Depths was renamed Les Bas-Fonds for its French release--the same title bestowed upon Jean Renoir's 1937 adaptation of the Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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