Monthly Archives: August 2020

Dodesukaden
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, and Shinobu Hashimoto from a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto
1970/Japan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065649/reference
First viewing/Criterion Channel

A film must be made with the heart, not the mind. I think today’s young filmmakers have forgotten this and instead they make films through their calculations. That is why Japanese films no longer have an audience. In all honesty, films must be made to target the hearts. During the time of Ozu, my mentor, and also in my time, no filmmaker made films based on theory and calculation, and that was why Japan’s cinema was capable of shaping its golden years. Young filmmakers use techniques to humiliate the audience. This is wrong. We must serve cinema and make a film that would stimulate the audience. Ultimately, the aim should be to make an artistic film. That’s simple, isn’t it? — Akira Kurosawa

This was Kurosawa’s first color film.  And what colors!

The setting is a slum/squatters camp that seems to be located at the edge of a garbage dump.  The plot is made up of interlocking stories and vignettes of everyday life.  Some are comic, some are tragic, and some are a little bit of both.  A key linking device is a mentally-challenged boy who is obsessed with streetcars .  He is the conductor of an imaginary one that travels back and forth through the settlement throughout the day while he chants “Dodes’kaden, dodes’kaden, dodes’kaden” imitating the motor of the streetcar.

Other stories include a girl who is abused and overworked by her uncle while her aunt is in the hospital; a beggar with a big imagination who lives with his small son who scavanges for their food; a couple of comic drunks and their long-suffering wives; a prostitute who lives with her husband and many children; etc.  It would seem to be a grim life but Kurasawa endows everything with vibrant. almost magical color and there is plenty of kindness to go along with the pain.

I knew very little about this going in and was enchanted by it.  This doesn’t look anything like the Kurosawa we are used to but it was clearly made by a master who went wild with the possibilities of color cinematography.  Recommended.

Dodesukaden received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film

Clip

Husbands
Directed by John Cassavetes
Written by John Cassavetes
1970/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Harry: Gus, Archie, look what I did to that phone booth. I kicked the hell out of it. Yeah. Like I’ve been telling my wife for years. Aside from sex, and she’s very good at it, God damn it, I like you guys better. I really do. Now, who the hell else could put up with me, huh? I’m a jerk, I know it. So, let’s go home and get it over with.

I love me some John Cassavetes but I have mixed feelings about this one.

Four married men in their thirties are as close as can be.  One of their number dies.  After the funeral, Harry (Ben Gazzara), Archie (Peter Falk) and Gus (Cassavetes) decide to go on an epic bender.  They end up at a bar where they have a singing contest with other very drunk patrons.  This and the after effects last until morning.  All face going home to get ready for work.  Harry’s long-suffering wife is really not happy to see him and a physical fight ensues.  Archie and Gus try to put Harry back together again mentally.

Harry decides the answer to all his problems is a trip to London.  He talks the other two (who still have not checked in with their wives) into joining him.  The three go to a casino where they proceed to pick up three women.  They take these back to their hotels where they pair off and reunite in the morning.  All this stuff is accompanied by raw emotion as only Cassavetes can write it.

I might have liked this more if I were a man. Surely I could never be married to any one of these three bad boys.  Cassavetes idea of “freedom” is also different than mine.  There’s something about him that is on my wavelength however and I’m glad I saw it.  It’s not something I will be coming back to.

Gena Rowlands has a tiny dialogue-free appearance as Gus’s wife in a flashback in the beginning.  Their children appear at the end when Gus comes home with his tail between his legs.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (Zatoichi to Yojinbo)
Directed by Kihachi Okamoto
Written by Kihachi Okamoto and Tetsuo Yoshida from characters created by Kan Shimozawa
1970/Japan
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Kuzuryu: You just lie around and drink. Don’t you ever take your job seriously?
Sassa the yojimbo: I get by.

Our invincible blind swordsman comes up against the invincible Toshiro Mifune.  Great fun.

Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu), having once again killed several men who ambushed him, returns to his home town for some peace and quiet.  He gets anything but.  The town is divided up into feuding gangs. The town boss is the son of the merchant that is rumored to have stolen gold from the Shogunate.  The boss has hired Sesso the Yojimbo (Mifune) as his enforcer.  Behind his back, Yojimbo is spying for the Shogunate and is also in love with prostitute Umeno, who is the merchant’s mistress and will be until she can repay a debt. Umeno also happens to be an old friend of Zatoichi.  Zatoichi and Yojimbo dislike each other heartily but eventually achieve a grudging respect.  All this plot is accompanied by the usual amount of action.

I will watch anything with Mifune in it and you know how I feel about our blind hero.  I would say this movie has a better than average script for the series but less awesome action than the best of the bunch.  I enjoyed it.

Trailer- no subtitles

Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen)
Directed by Werner Herzog
Written by Werner Herzog
1970/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime

Hombré: When we behave nobody cares. But when we are bad nobody forgets.

I generally love Werner Herzog’s films.  But this sophmore effort was a bridge too far for many reasons.

There is really no plot, per se.  The inmates of a correctional institution trap their overseers in a room and proceed to destroy the facility. All these people happen to be dwarfs.  They revel in being sadistically bad.  Unfortunately, this involves abusing various farm animals and a camel.  They also get a kick out of abusing farm machinery, motor vehicles, and each other.

With a team like Herzog, regular cinematographer Thomas Maunch and composer Florian Fricke, you can expect first-rate production values despite a bargain basement budget. But it’s all in the service of watching amateur actors tear things up.  Not for me.  WARNING:  There is graphic cruelty to animals in this movie.  Best to avoid if this kind of thing triggers you.  I’m serious.

I Never Sang for My Father
Directed by Gilbert Cates
Written by Robert Anderson based on his play
1970/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental

Gene Garrison: Death ends a life. But it does not end a relationship;which struggles on the survivor’s mind,toward some resolution,which it may never find.

This excellent domestic drama is lifted by its superb performances.

Gene Garrison (Gene Hackman) is the dutiful son of his octogenarian father Tom (Melvyn Douglas) and mother Margaret (Dorothy Stickney).  Margaret has been left frail by a heart attack suffered the previous year.

Tom has been a pillar of the community and seems to be known and liked by everyone in town.  At home, however, he is domineering, stubborn, self-centered, controlling and manipulative.  To add to that, he is growing senile and has started to repeat the same stories over and over again.  Margaret is his biggest cheerleader and tolerates his weaknesses.  Tom has already banished Alice (Estelle Parsons), Gene’s sister, from the family.  Gene has never been able to love Tom.

Gene, a widower, tries to break the news that he intends to move to California to marry a woman  he met there on a business trip.  Tom warns that such a move would “kill” Margaret.  Next Margaret supports Gene in his decision but cautions it could be hard on Tom.

Before Gene can take the next step. Margaret has another heart attack and dies.  Now Tom needs Gene more than ever.  Alice comes home for the funeral and gives Gene some advice.

I really liked this movie.  The whole cast is strong but Douglas is stunning.  He has a master actor’s gift of making the audience feel compassion for and frustration with a character at the same time.  It’s a beautifully nuanced performance. Recommended.

I Never Sang for My Father was nominated for Academy Awards in the category of Best Actor (Douglas); Best Supporting Actor (Hackman); and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Derby
Directed by Robert Kaylor
1970/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime

Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly inside the United States.  Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jams) in which both teams designate a jammer (who wears a unique designation on the helmet; currently a star) and four blockers to skate counter-clockwise around a track. The jammer scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to hinder the opposing jammer while assisting their own jammer—in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously.

Interesting backstage look at that slice of Americana known as the Roller Derby, back when the sport entertained millions with its theatrics and slugfests.

This gritty documentary features looks at both male and female derby action and conversations with players.  It gains additional interest by focusing on a charismatic bad-boy named Mike Snell who is a skater wanna-be.  His womanizing, slacker lifestyle is contrasted with the material achievements of veteran skater Charlie O’Connor.

It looks to have been a tough business.  The fights might have been staged but I’m sure a lot of the bruises were  real.  We get a chat with a couple of real bloodthirsty fans as well.  I enjoyed this mostly for nostalgia value.  When I was in Junior High I had a friend whose mother was a big fan and I got to go to a live match once.  I’m not really into fisticuffs so the attraction escaped me.

Leon Russell signs “Queen of the Roller Derby”