Kurosawa Week: Hidden Fortress (1958)

by Kit

Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, the inspiration for Star Wars, is rarely ranked among his best but compared to most films, especially those released today, it is an astounding action movie. It tells an amazing adventure of a general having to escort a princess from a hidden fortress back to her kingdom with 200 rho of gold needed to rebuild the kingdom —all while evading enemy armies and patrols. However, this story adds a unique twist; telling it from the point-of-view of two greedy and bumbling peasants who are not that likable.

Plot

The movie begins with the two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, who are wandering, now impoverished after trying and failing to join the Yamana Clan, and now quarreling just over whose fault it is. Their bickering gets so vociferous they decide to part ways. But both are soon captured by the Yamana Clan and forced to dig for the missing gold of the recently defeated Akizuki clan.

After a prison uprising they manage to escape and stumble across some pieces of hidden gold, as well as its owner, Princess Yuki, now wanted by the Yamana Clan, and one of her generals, Makabe (Toshiro Mifune), who are now hiding at a fortress hidden in the mountains.

Soon, however, they have to leave the fortress with the Makabe pretending to be a poor peasant and Princess Yuki pretending to be a mute as they carry the gold hidden in sticks all the way across Yamana Clan to Yuki’s home where she and Matabe can rebuild her clan and continue the war against the Yamana Clan, rescuing one of Yuki’s slave girls in the process.

Why it Works

This is not easy but a lot easier than say, Seven Samurai. But I have noticed a few things.

First, The two comic foils, are introduced with enough time for us to understand who they are and what they will be doing for the next two hours; getting greedy and getting into trouble because of their greed. He also establishes what writing courses call a “need,” they need to stop being so greedy. Kurosawa is smart enough to do this subtly, as, though Makabe and Yuki comment on their greed, he never throws it at us with some character telling them that they “need to stop being greedy because it will get you nowhere” and bla-bla-bla. Thus, announcing to us morons in the audience what is going to happen in the movie.

He also manages to make the dramatic action story interesting by making Yuki and Makabe, two characters who could easily have become bland and boring, interesting and likable. The scenes where they are forced to act as straight men, annoyed by the antics of Tahei and Mataschichi, are funny largely because we get the scene not strictly from the point-of-view of the two peasants (how some might have done it) but from Yuki’s or Makabe’s point-of-view. They are annoyed at these two peasants for causing them trouble on what is a very important task.

And on that point, while the movie, as other films like to do, uses the characters of Yuki, the General, and the slave girl to define the greed and bumbling nature of the peasants, it also uses the peasants to define them. The peasants almost naked sense of self-interest shows the courage and determination of Yuki and the General as well as the loyalty of the slave girl to Yuki. And it does so without announcing it in the BIG BOLD WORDS most movies like to use.

He also makes sure transitions between the comic relief scenes involving the peasants and more serious scenes focusing on Princess Yuki and General Makabe flow seamlessly. We’ve all seen movies like this where you have a group of characters that are clearly comic relief plucked into a drama and the result is you have two separate, very different movies going on. And you feel it.

One example, and it will be strange referencing this in a Kurosawa review, would be Madea’s Family Reunion (see, told ya) where the comedy scenes involving Madea’s antics and the scenes with the domestic abuse plot line sometimes come one after the other creating a jarring affect. It jolts you out of the movie.

Hidden Fortress never does this, instead you never notice the transition from comedy to drama/action, making the movie an enjoyable, rollicking adventure film that will have you laughing and gripped with suspense.

Flaws

I didn’t watch the Criterion version but the Essential Art House version, instead. Now, having watched a fair number of films from the early-1930s I’m kind of used to films where the print has clearly aged so I didn’t notice any flaws there.

But just comparing my Criterion DVD of Seven Samurai with the Art House DVD of Hidden Fortress I am going to make a guess that Criterion does a better job writing the subtitles for their movies than Essential Art House does. Some of the dialogue in the subtitles was, compared to the work done on Seven Samurai, not that good. Or maybe that was just the script, but I do remember seeing a version of Seven Samurai on TCM where the subtitles were also much poorer than the Criterion version so, who knows?

All-in-all, a great movie and one worth checking out.

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Guest Review: Fantasia (1940)

Fantasia and its sequel are like nothing else Disney, or any other major American studio, has ever made or attempted and is today widely hailed as a pinnacle in animation. However, when it was released, though the critical reception was mostly positive, audiences were less than thrilled, in fact Walt Disney later said in an interview that Fantasia “nearly broke us”, but defended it as an “artistic masterpiece”. He is right.

Fantasia is an art film. There is no other way to describe it. It has no overall story, linear or non-linear, instead it is a series of vignettes with each one centered around a particular piece of music, each introduced by Deems Taylor with the music performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. They are, with summaries, in order:

—Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach:
—The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky:
—The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas: A sorcerer
—Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
—Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig von Beethoven
—Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli
—Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky & Ave Maria by Franz Schubert

The first two feature absolutely no plot or story and are largely images to fit the music, especially Toccata and Fugue, which is here played on the strings rather than the usual organ, where the visuals can only be described as “impressionistic” in that they give a visual “impression” in animation of the music you are hearing. You “see” the violin strokes, you “see” the music played. In The Nutcracker Suite you have mushrooms and flowers dancing to the various tunes you hear in the suite.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the most famous, with Mickey Mouse as titular apprentice to the sorcerer, Yen Sid (Hint: spell “Yen Sid” backwards). You probably know the story, the sorcerer having told the apprentice to fetch pales of water goes to bed leaving his magic hat behind. The apprentice then uses the hat to make the brooms do it for him but soon finds he can’t control it.

Rite of Spring uses Stravinsky’s most famous ballet, and one of my personal favorites, to tell the story of Earth from its birth in the cloud of dust around the sun and the volcanic eruptions of its early days to the ultimate rise and eventual extinction of the dinosaurs.

Pastoral Symphony features various “pastoral” creatures of Greek mythology such as centaurs and faun dancing and frolicking with the Greek god Bacchus in the day until Zeus appears and scatters the partying flock with his thunderbolts. This one is mostly light-hearted after the dark Rite of Spring.

Dance of the Hours, famous for providing the music for Allan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” is even more light-hearted and comical with dancing ostriches, hippos, and an alligator chasing his hippo, not because he wants to eat her but because he has fallen madly in love with her.

A Night on Bald Mountain & Ave Maria is the final one and tells of the slavic god Chernabog (read: Satan) calling the ghosts and demons to Bald Mountain where he holds a terrifying black mass until the morning church bells chase him away. Fantasia then ends on a chorus singing Schubert’s Ave Maria.

What is Good About It

The animation and the music. Each one is genius in its own way and will have you watching and re-watching again and again. From the stunning strings of Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor to the beautiful chorus at the end the music is fantastic and needs little praise. The presentation is fantastic whether its the dramatic death of the dinosaurs, the terrifying demon Chernabog on Bald Mountain, or the hopeful, heavenly chorus of Ave Maria that closes the movie out.

But splendid animation and music does not a great film make. The true genius of the movie is that it never tells you what to take from it. There is no dialogue and Deems Taylor’s narration only gives a basic outline of what you are going to see, so the interpretation of it is largely up to you. You are never told how to feel about the events of the movie. You are never explicitly told how to feel about the dinosaurs dying out. It is shown, it happens, and the emotional response is up to you.

This means you cannot watch it like a normal movie. You can’t listen to dialogue and say. You have to free your mind and let the movie, and its images, music, and emotions wash over you. You can’t watch it, you have to experience it.

If Snow White is prose, this is poetry.

I will acknowledge, however, that certain moments are rather dull, for example, the Nutcracker Suite can drag on too long. And the movie, as you might have guessed, may be too adult for young children. But its an “artistic masterpiece” and one that is definitely worth checking out.

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Toon-arama: Spirited Away (2003)

Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is a beautiful and enchanting fantasy film about a young, pre-teen girl's coming of age. This is a great movie for young children, especially girls who are around the title character's age, and for audiences in general who want an entertaining and gloriously made work of art that they will remember and return to for years to come.

Note: I’m reviewing the Disney dubbed release, not the Japanese release, which I have never seen.

The Plot

The movie is about Chihiro, a 12-year old girl who is unhappy that she is having to move to a new town. On the way they get lost and find themselves at an abandoned amusement park. But while they are there the sun sets, spirits awaken in the theme park, and her parents are transformed into hogs.

Panicked and afraid she flees and is saved by a mysterious boy who can change into a dragon named Haku. He helps her get a job at the place, which is revealed to be a spa of sorts for spirits/gods owned by Yuba, who has Haku under her control. There she hopes to work and keep her parents from being fed as hogs, with no idea if she will ever be free from Yuba.

This is about all I’m going to explain as I’ve pretty much set up the plot and the rest of the movie is Chihiro undergoing a series of fantastical events and trials involving such things as a spirit that feeds on greed, what appears to be a sludge spirit, and a mysterious train.

Why its Awesome

The first reason is Chihiro. At the beginning of the movie she is sullen over having the move and at times early on in the movie she can be rather whiny. And when the ghosts appear, she reacts much like a 12-year old girl would react: she panics. Then she spends much of the first half scared and bewildered. This is not the super-capable and super-amazing girl that many movies feel the need to show us. This is a normal, pre-teen girl.

But we like her because we see the good in her. Once she realizes she is in this strange world for the long haul she shows incredible perseverance and strength, even when she is scared to death. Which makes us like her even more. Thus we have a character who is realistic enough to relate to but likable enough to root for.

The second reason is the animation by Hayao Miyazaki. This stuff is simply gorgeous and brings to life a world that is utterly alien. The work here tops even the best of Disney Studios. The movie is filled with colors and the animation moves beautifully. This is animation at its best and proves that even animated movies made for children should be seen as works of art in and of themselves.

There is also the music composed by Joe Hisaishi. It ranges from tender piano pieces to sweeping, brass-accompanied works that perfectly convey the wide range of movie’s emotions from the sadness and isolation of Chihiro to the fear and excitement of the spirit world. Highlights are the soft “One Summer Day”, the somber piano melody “The Sixth Station”, the exciting “Procession of the Spirits”, and “Reprise”, which is often called “Waltz of Chihiro”.

The only flaw might be the voice acting behind Chihiro, as she can scream a lot and some might find her too whiny for the first part of the movie. But that is a minor beef.

This movie could be called a Wizard of Oz for our age. It takes a young girl and thrusts her into a land that is completely unfamiliar and forces her to grow and mature. The movie has some frightening images and so it might not be good for some kids, it's nothing worse than Snow White or nightmare-haunter Pinocchio, but its well-worth watching regardless. Its one of the best movies I have ever seen.

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Guest Review: Top Hat (1935)

by Kit

Every once in a while you need a movie that will make you smile. The Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers flick Top Hat is just such a movie. Widely considered their best, it is an escapist, non-cynical comedy that will put a big smile on your face.

The plot

The plot is rather simple: Fred Astaire is famous dancer Jerry Travers who has arrived in London for a show put on by his friend and producer Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton) and Horace’s royal we-using butler, Bates (Eric Blore). Ginger Rogers is Dale Tremont, a "designing woman" (fashion model), who is visiting London with her designer Alberto Beddini (scene-stealing Erik Rhodes) staying in the room below Horace and Jerry. Also, its subtly revealed that Horace’s wife, Madge, who knows both Fred’s and Ginger’s characters is scheming to get them together.

At the beginning of the movie Jerry wakes Dale up in the middle of the night with his dancing prompting her to complain to the front desk. Fred runs down to see who it is that called to complain and meets her in the hallway and is instantly smitten. Ginger? Not so much. But he decides to pursue her, much to her great annoyance. Eventually, though, he pursues her to a gazebo where its raining.

But soon a wrench is thrown into the works when, due to an unlucky set of circumstances, Dale believes Jerry is really the married Horace and Horace is Jerry. So she leaves for Venice and and Jerry and Horace follow. Dale meets up with Horace’s wife, Madge, (Helen Broderick) who she already knows. But, since there is a mix-up we get a rather funny scene where, after telling Madge what happened, Madge reveals, with shocking nonchalance, that Horace has a history of “flirting” with girls (adultery in a Code Era comedy?). Anyway, Horace and Jerry arrive in Venice with Dale and Madge. Hijinks ensue.

Why It Works

There are four reasons this film works: funny humor, great songs, dancing that is a joy to watch, and, most importantly, the phenomenal chemistry between Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

The humor is delivered mainly through the dialogue with very little physical comedy. That is not to say there is no goofy comedy or goofy characters. The goofy comedy is mainly provided by the supporting characters of Horace, Beddini, Bates, and Madge with Fred and Ginger playing the straight men. Erik Rhodes as the over the top, effeminate, Italian fashion designer Alberto Beddini is incredible fun, stealing just about every scene he has. While Fred and Ginger’s chemistry is great (more on that later), most of the good humor come when Fred or Ginger or both are interacting with one of the said supporting characters with the funniest scenes occurring while they are in Venice.

The best example would be a scene where Madge, Fred, and Ginger are sitting at a table. Now, again Madge is trying to set Fred and Ginger up and Ginger thinks that Fred is Madge’s husband. So you have Fred wooing Ginger, Madge playing matchmaker with the two, and Ginger just sitting there stunned.

The songs, composed by Irving Berlin, are a lot of fun to hear. In my opinion the three highlights are “Isn’t it a Lovely Day (to be Caught in the Rain)”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “Piccolino”. The dance scenes for them are a lot of fun, especially the ones where Fred and Ginger dance, which is probably why you are watching the movie.

But, as I pointed out earlier, the main reason it works is because of the incredible chemistry between the two leads. The reason is a combination of two things: Fed Astaire’s magnetic charm and Ginger Rogers’ incredible but subtle acting skills.

Film historian John Mueller pointed out this about Ginger Rogers’ acting: "Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners, not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but, because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began ... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable”. He’s right, she takes Fred Astaire’s natural charm and amplifies.

One scene that illustrates this are “Isn’t it a Lovely Day”. In “Isn’t it a Lovely Day” the only dialogue Ginger has in the scene is at the beginning of the scene when Fred enters the Gazebo. Fred does all of the singing, which means everything she is feeling must be conveyed by her body language and facial expressions. Ginger Rogers pulls it off magnificently, making the audience believe that a single dance could make a woman swoon for Fred Astaire.

Conclusion

This movie is a delight to watch and a must-see. It's not only Fred and Ginger at their best it is Classic Hollywood at their best.

I recommend purchasing the TCM Classics Film Collection Astaire & Rogers Volume 1; it comes with four movies: Top Hat, Gay Divorcée, Swing Time, and Shall We Dance. The Top Hat DVD has a great bonus feature about the making of the film with special attention paid to Rogers and Astaire’s chemistry that provided an important source on understanding their dynamic.

Trivia: A young Lucille Ball appears as the clerk at a flower shop.

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Toon-arama: Avatar: The Last Airbender

by Kit

"You know, Prince Zuko, destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But if you keep an open mind and an open heart, I promise you will find your own destiny someday." —General Iroh

If you asked me a year ago what the greatest animated series was I would have answered affirmatively the early 90s Batman: The Animated Series. Today, while Batman holds a special place in my heart, I would have to go with Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show raised the standard of animated television by giving viewing audiences great stories, writing, characters, voice acting, and animation.

First, a disclaimer: this show has nothing to do with either James Cameron's 2009 feature-length movie Avatar or with the 2010 M. Night Shyamalan adaptation of this cartoon series.

Story

Avatar is best described as your typical funny Saturday morning action-adventure cartoon but with an epic story-arc on the scale of the original Star Wars trilogy or The Lord of the Rings. This is attested by the fact that each season of the three seasons are referred to as "Books" with Season 1 being called Book 1: Water. The overall story was planned from the get-go having the occasional alterations and/or additions as the show moved on, none of which damaged or changed the basic integrity of where the show was heading.

The show is set in a fantasy world of four countries, each of which is based on the four elements, they are the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and Air Nomads. In each country there are people capable of "bending" their community's particular element to their will called "Benders". Waterbenders can "bend" water by causing it to levitate, create waves, etc., earthbenders can levitate dirt or stone and throw it or create walls, airbenders can turn the air into a huge gust of wind, and firebenders can create flames and throw them at opponents (firebenders are the only ones capable of creating their element out of nothing, the rest must rely on what is present). Now, a bender can only bender his or her element, but there is one exception to this rule: the Avatar, a person capable of bending all four elements and charged with keeping the four elements in balance and is capable of entering his "Avatar State", where he becomes near all-powerful but is also a danger to those around him. The Avatar is born in every lifetime, reincarnated after his or her death, resulting in a Dalai Lama-style search after the death of each Avatar.

When the show begins we are told that once the four countries lived peacefully together until the Fire Nation began a war with the other four tribes 100 years ago and the most recent Avatar, an airbender, was nowhere to be seen.

Then we meet two siblings, Sokka, a young man who has taken over hunting for the Southern Water Tribe since his father left with the rest of the men to fight in the war, and his sister Katara, a waterbender. On a hunting trip finding the most recent Avatar, a young boy named Aang and his flying sky-bison in a block of ice. Aang, Katara, and Sokka decide set off for the Northern Water Tribe so that Aang can learn waterbending from the masters living there. They must do this while evading Zuko, a scarred and banished Fire Nation Prince who hopes he can "reclaim his honor by capturing the Avatar" and is being helped and mentored by his uncle Iroh. And that is just season 1.

Each of the 3 seasons has its own story arc that moves things closer to the finale. The first season is called "Water", during which Aang must learn Waterbending on a journey with two Water Tribe siblings Sokka and Katara, the 2nd is "Earth", where Aang travels across the Earth Kingdom to learn how to earthbend as well as meeting fan favorites Toph, a blind earthbender, and Azula, Zuko's borderline sociopath sister. The final season is called "Fire" where Aang and the rest of the group must secretly enter the Fire Nation so he can learn the art of firebending and hopefully bring an end to the war by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. The result is a mind-blowing climax that is, in my opinion, one of the greatest TV finales of all time. Still, the key to the show's success is the characters.

Characters

To be successful, a family show must have characters you want to spend time around. This doesn’t mean they have to be perfect little angels (who wants to spend time with those?) but they need to be likable and enjoyable enough to bring the short attention spans back next week. In this Avatar succeeds brilliantly. Nearly all of the principle young characters are likable and enjoyable. Even the villains, such as Azula, who may not be likable per se, are compelling. The reason for this is that these characters have depth far beyond what you would expect from a normal children's show or even most "adult" shows. Yet the show never dwells in their angst. In fact, rather than punctuating the drama with humor and action, it punctuates the humor and action with drama and as a result even the most brooding character, Zuko, never gets annoying because the angst and brooding are not the emphasis of the show.

Moreover, the show provides us with this depth through the character's actions and, sometimes, through humor, rather than exposition. And the show can be very funny at times. The most obvious example of the show's use of humor to bring out depth would be when the evil and power-mad Fire Princess Azula tries to sweet-talk a handsome boy at a party. Azula's typical M.O. is operating from a position of power using threats and, if necessary, using her incredible firebending abilities, abilities which make her a truly dangerous villain. But when she has to actually woo a guy at a beach party with charm and nice words… she bombs. Big time.

But the humor in that scene is not purely mean-spirited. While there is some schadenfreude in seeing the evil Azula taken down a peg, we also chuckle because most of us have been in similar awkward situations. The scene also teaches us about her character. As I stated above, her usually M.O. is to use threats and walk around like she owns the place. But at the Beach Party, because she is attending as a normal Fire Nation citizen, she cannot play up her position as fire Princess or use the threat of firebending to coerce others. Therefore, she blows every social encounter and the result is we learn something about her: Princess Azula has difficulty relating to others on an equal level and is possibly very lonely and insecure, perhaps trying to cover for them by threatening and ordering others about.

Many shows might have had her give a brooding speech about her problems. This show relays all of that information in a few awkward social situations that, combined with everything we've seen about her so far, giving us a far more compelling portrait of a villain who is truly multi-layered. More importantly, it’s subtle. Not that any of this means she will be redeemed but the added depth makes the character more interesting than a simple hammy, over-the-top bad-guy.

By giving each character, even the villains, at least some degree of depth, the show is able to have some of the most fascinating and engaging characters in animated history. And then the show allows its characters to grow and mature over the three seasons. Indeed, none of characters ends at the same emotional place were they began, and just about every character must deal his own fears, doubts, and insecurities however small or large those problems may be. And how they confront, or refuse to confront, those problems is what tell us who they really are underneath. Nowhere is this more clear than in the story arc of Prince Zuko, who is constantly forced to confront the question of who he is and what kind of person he will be.

Animation

The animation is also top-notch. The action scenes are fun and well done and the show is drawn beautifully with stunning backdrops and brilliantly uses its colors to create atmosphere and mood. The first season, featuring Aang's quest to learn waterbending, is largely bright, appropriately with a lot of bright blues thrown in. Only sporadically getting straying from light until the bittersweet finale where the show's first major character death (sort of) occurs and the colors get very dark with lots of deep navy blues thrown in. The 2nd season is mostly greens and browns to reflect Aang's journey in the Earth Kingdom. The lighting here, while darker than season 2 is not that dark as things still look up, at least until the end where you have lots of black and dark greens. The third season, the darkest and packed with the most character development, features lots red and black reflecting the dire straights the heroes are in and the emotional tension as they move to the show's climax, which is gorgeously animated on a level that rivals the best Disney movies.

The Rest

I touched on the humor but more must be said. The show has some gut-busting moments in it with jokes that form the characters. They even manage to make the jokes referencing pop culture work within the world they built whether its a WWF-style Earthbending fight or a group of waterbending hillbillies in a swamp.

The voice acting is great too. Both the child and adult actors deliver fine performances. Special mention must go to Grey Delisle (Daphne Blake since 2001) for her performance as Azula, the late Mako (Adm. Yamamoto in Pearl Harbor) for Iroh, and Dante Basco (Rufio, from Hook) playing Prince Zuko. The latter two prove beyond a doubt that the failure of the award-bestowing elite to recognize voice acting in any way is an unforgivable slight. The individual episodes are well-written as well with stories that run the gamut of drama and comedy.

The Flaws, Real and Possible

The only major flaws are, one, that the stories in the first season are hit and miss and, two, the jokes do not start getting funny until season 2. But most shows often have trouble in their first season and, given how amazing season 2 and 3 were, these sins are forgiven as the people behind the show eventually are able to find their footing and deliver.

Some conservatives may not like the heavy use of Eastern philosophy in the show and there are some occasional environmental messages but only in one episode did it move close to the anti-humanism so often seen today in the Environmentalism of the left where Aang finds a group of people living in an abandoned Air Nomad Temple and is upset by what their additions to it (lots of steam pipes). By the end of the episode, however, he is at peace with it saying that he is happy that someone else could make it their home... that’s not exactly Captain Planet. The other environmental moments are few and far between and deal only with issues most conservatives would agree with like not dumping lots of pollution into a fishing bay thereby depriving them of the right to clean water.

Conclusion

Avatar is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and is also among my favorites, ranking right behind Firefly and Doctor Who. Very few live action shows are as good as Avatar. This show aired on Nickelodeon so if you're expecting dark and gritty, stay away. But, if you want a television show with great writing, great animation, great humor, and great characters then check it out.

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