Eclipse Series 7 - Post-War Kurosawa Box - Eclipse from Criterion

Essential Collection for Kurosawa Fans

"Postwar Kurosawa deserves a lot of praise for making early films by the great Japanes director available at reasonable prices. I thought the quality of the DVD's was good but then I've thought that about a lot of DVDs of older films that other reviewers have complained about. The set consists of 5 films.

In my opinion, the two best movies in the set are "No Regrets for our Youth" and "One Wonderful Sunday". These are near the quality, overall, of later works of the Master. "No Regrets..." tells of the idealism of young Japanese at the time the War was becoming reality. One person emerges from all the idealism and bravado as someone who walked the walk and talked the talk. In viewing this person's metamorphisis from observer to participant we see the early ability of the young director in using film to enhance a statement. In "One Wonderful Sunday" we get to observe young people trying to discover themselves in the midst of the destruction and corruption of Post-War Japan. Both of these films have a strong impact.

Two movies; "Scandal" and "I Live in Fear" come across as a bit excessive for the statement that is intended. This may be due to the times in which the films were made ("I Live in Fear" tells of a successful businessman who wants to escape the threat of atomic war). Kurosawa is usually more subtle in his statements which led me to be a bit less impressed with the extremeness of these two films.

The final film, "The Idiot" is an adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. It is a bit long but it is still impressive as the story of how innocence eventually gets corrupted by the passions of the world around us. It come across more as a theater production captures on film.

Until this set came out, I was looking at trying to find rare VHS copies of the same movies. This set was well worth the price. Overall, I liked it better than my set of early Hitchcock movies.
September 22, 2008

Other Kurosawa

You've seen the best, now see the rest. That seems to be the theme of the Eclipse Bergman & Kurosawa sets. Nobody who does not have a particular interest in Kurosawa's entire career would be interested in this set. Only after seeing Seven Samurai, Roshomon, Yojimbo, Stray Dog, Ran, Ikiru, Throne of Blood, Kagamusha & other Kurosawa greats and near greats would a Kurosawa enthusiast turn to these five decidedly underwhelming efforts.

The Idiot is a truncated version of a much longer project. Originally, Kurosawa filmed a four hour movie and the studio forced him to reduce it by nearly half. The result is a muddled mess. We haveno idea if the original would have been any good or not. No Regrets for Our Youth has a great plot and a fine performance by Setsuko Hara but bogs down in the talky second half. Scandal is a surprisingly prescient condemnation of tabloid journalism. I Live in Fear is a one joke satire that overstays its welcome and the nicest thing I can think to say about One Wonderful Story is: cute & harmless. All are worth a rental but I advise against expecting to find hidden gems. March 26, 2008

Lesser Is More

This set from Eclipse/Criterion collects several of Akira Kurosawa's lesser films, and that means better films than most directors could turn out even in their dreams. THE IDIOT is overlong, and ONE WONDERFUL SUNDAY is sappy at times, but they are both worth seeing anyway. The remaining three are all fine dramas with unusual subjects for Kurosawa, and SCANDAL is my favorite of this set. It goes without saying that the video quality is flawless, though without the extensive restoration that some other Kurosawa titles got, so some film artifacts will be noticed. Don't let that scare you, though; if you like Akira Kurosawa, and haven't yet bought this collection, GO DO IT, and hope that Criterion sees fit to release all of his remaining titles ASAP. February 12, 2008

Why?

I would love to see these and take advantage of my Amazon Prime membership (that I paid $75 for) for shipping. But, why is amazon selling the criterion and Eclipse sets for full list ("4 by Agnès Varda" as well)? All other sites are offering 10-30 percent discounts? Some of the single disc sets are reduced, slightly, but not the bigger sets. Isn't that why Amazon is in business? Sell a lot, because you sell cheap?
What gives? February 8, 2008

Good for Kurosawa fans

All of the reviews thus far have been about No Regrets for Our Youth, which along with Dersu Uzala is probably my most-rewatched Kurosawa movie because of the story lines. As others have mentioned, it makes a political statement about freedom of thought and freedom of expression among university students. It gives Kurosawa a chance to tell the other side of the story only two or three years after The Most Beautiful, which promoted youthful enterprise in furthering Japan's war of "defense" against other nations for the glory of the emperor. After the key moment in No Regrets, which was revealed in one of the other reviews, the movie completely changes direction. I am not an Ozu fan and initially had been annoyed by the goofy girl character in the first half of the movie. However, the second half of the movie brought me up out of my seat -- the sudden need for family loyalty in the face of neighborhood scorn was powerfully presented, and the repeated theme "No regrets for my life" really resonates.

Of the other films, I recommend Scandal, which has a real Frank Capra touch to it -- funny since so many of Kurosawa's films transmited their influence back into western cinema. Scandal pits Toshiro Mifune and a local celebrity against the paparazzi of the day, who invent a scandalous story after turning a photo into something more than it really was in order to sell more newspapers. The good guys get a down-on-his-luck lawyer facing a serious moral conflict to represent them in a court case against the tabloid.

Also, The Idiot, which is based on Dostoevsky's novel of the same name, but with a Japanese retelling set among soldiers coming home from the war. It's about a man so stressed by nearly having been executed that he becomes meek as a lamb, and then vies with his much more hormonal friend over how to lead a woman of soiled reputation to her redemption. Although I enjoyed it, it isn't for those people who get tired of foreign movies where people are always struggling with insanity because of some trauma in their lives. There's a lot of insanity in this movie. Unless I'm mistaken, The Idiot has previously been unavailable on DVD.

One Wonderful Sunday and I Live in Fear both bored me. They both had very little plot -- they were essentially just slices of life. Sunday is about a romance, but it's too talky and not very romantic for western sensibilities, although Ozu fans might find it appealing. I Live in Fear is about people worried about nuclear holocaust during the post-World War II years, a theme that had some punch to it but I also found the movie way too talky and sweaty. January 30, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...