My two favorites are Rashomon and Ikiru, but I suggest you start with Seven Samurai. Also it is the best DVD so since it seems you plan on buying it, that seems the way to go.
The Lower Depths. You get a Renoir, and a Kurosawa… the Kurosawa is one of the best in his oeuvre.
Rashomon and Seven Samurai never get old. Those would be my picks.
I found The Lower Depths (the Kurosawa) to be unforgivably boring. I strongly recommend the Renoir though. Kurosawa seemed to get very-limited when he became set-bound, I thought it made the film excruciating to watch.
I think the set contains him, and makes the film more moving. He’s not able to do what he normally would, and I think he bases the film more on the characters than the elaborate setting of it all.
i cannot say for sure which are the best picks because i wouldn’t justify half of the ones i’ve seen…so…
i can definitely recommend you the WORST Kurosawa movie,which is…Rhapsody in August..
BY FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I once borrowed Rhapsody in August but forgot to see it…
My first was Rashomon. Cannot go wrong there.
Rashomon was my entrance into the catalog of Kurosawa about ten years ago. I have to say, what a sweet starting point.
I started with Rashomon and Seven Samurai as well, but I think Yojimbo, Drunken Angel, and I Live in Fear are just about equal, and might be good starting points too.
@Rus – I’m with you on The Lower Depths. I watched it after the Renoir version, and wanted to scream during the Kurosawa film. He might have been closer to the play, but Renior was closer to me.
SEVEN SAMURAI. If you don’t like SEVEN SAMURAI, just go shoot yourself, you are doing nothing but taking up space.
clearly,no one has seen Rhapsody in August around here that’s why they’re criticizing Lower Depths,sigh….
even Madadayo is more mediocre than Lower Depths,relax folks…
it’s too bad none of us get the chance to see as many bad films as Dimitris, sigh….
yet,another thread destroyed by RUS,damn…….
I found it rather witty. It does seem like a weird way of praising the Lower Depths: through criticism of his other films.
THREAD DESTROYED
POSTING IS NOW IMPOSSIBLE
I am bypassing the RUS destruction in order to revive this thread, and prove that RUS holds no power over us.
The Lower Depths sucks no matter what else he put out.
i suppose Spirit of the Beehive sucks too Nathan?
let’s be serious…
Yojimbo is his most accessible, enjoyable movie, in my opinion. Ikiru runs a very close second. If you start with one of those, you’re sure to go back for more. Seven Samurai is so long, I wouldn’t recomend it first time out. Rashomon seems to divide people, at least on this forum, so I’d argue for the first two.
The Lower Depths is maybe his most human film, other than Ikiru. It’s a dark vision of humanity, but in despair there is also a great love shown in the film. I’ve still yet to hear anything about the film other than it’s boring so, I’m kind of shooting in the dark trying to figure out what was so objectionable about the film.
Maybe someone can enlighten me, and tell me what makes this film boring. It doesn’t have sword fights? It doesn’t count the number dead? It’s not about a nameless ronin chopping limbs off of people?
I’m pretty sure I mentioned that it had to do with the film being set-bound, which kills a lot of films.
THE LOWER DEPTHS is Kurosawa’s version of Maxim Gorky’s play. There’s not a lot of plot, but a great honking barrage of character, all played to perfection by members of the Kurosawa Repertory Company. The film details the lives of a bunch of down and outers who live in a flophouse that seems to be located at the bottom of some kind of ravine. The film opens with people dumping garbage down the ravine onto the roof of the flophouse. Get it? Among the residents of the flophouse are an old tinker and his terminally tubercular wife, a past his prime actor, a prostitute, a man claiming to be an ex-samurai and his wife who now make a living selling candy, and assorted gamblers and dregs of society. The occupants of this flophouse are used to being dumped on. Well, life happens: as the film progresses, there’s a lot of yelling, a death or two, some illusions are shared and several more are shattered, a couple of attempted seductions and a good deal of drinking and sleeping. There’s more to it than that, of course, but it gives you an idea of the rather free-form feel of what goes on. There don’t seem to be the rigorous plot mechanics of SEVEN SAMURAI or RASHOMON at work here. The ragtag nature of the film reflects the ragtag nature of the characters.
The great pleasure of watching this film is in watching a bunch of world-class character actors carry a movie. Most of the cast, like Toshiro Mifune and the indispensable Minoru Chiaki, are familiar from other Kurosawa films. Character is summed up in a single gesture, one remarkable actress whose name I can’t remember but who was a memorable Lady Macbeth in Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD tells you everything you need to know about her character by the way she slouches into a room. Minoru Chiaki seems to have been the Japanese Johnny Depp: he makes me laugh simply by standing up and holding one foot over the fire. The most startling performance comes from Bokuzen Hidari, as an old man who seems to be some kind of pilgrim (his exact status, as priest or pilgrim, is never spelled out in the subtitles but might be apparent to a Japanese audience). Hidari played the hilariously sad-faced farmer Yohei in SEVEN SAMURAI, and is usually used as comic relief. But in LOWER DEPTHS he plays what basically amounts to a Christ/Buddha figure: he’s probably the most intelligent and enlightened person in the film, certainly the least selfish and crass. The man goes through the film with a wide beautiful smile, dispensing intelligent advice and basic human decency but never coming across as self-righteous or smug, even occasionally suggesting a sort of deviousness that makes you wonder exactly what he’s up to. There’s none of the cartoonish grimacing that can occasionally mar his appearances in other films, you really want to just keep watching him. If he was a TV evangelist, you’d send him money. You might even vote for him.
One viewing just isn’t enough for a film as dense as this one. The interactions among the characters are just too intricate, and I’ll need to do some reading on other aspects of the movie. For example, I’d really like to know what the Japanese characters on the back of the pilgrim’s kimono mean, if they offer some insight into his character or the rest of the film. But repeat viewings will be great fun. I’ve discovered a new movie to try to get to the bottom of.
THE LOWER DEPTHS rules.
What about that kills the film? I think the set adds to the film, not only that it makes it much more like the play, but forces us to focus completely on the human aspect of the story, and not the technical ones (which are still impeccable).
Thanks, Roscoe. You win.
I love The Lower Depths. And Rhapsody in August. And Madadayo. I think people criticize some of Kurosawa’s work just because his other films are such masterpieces that ‘merely’ being good isn’t enough.
Thrown of Blood pls.
@Dimitris – Good grief! Is it a crime to have an opinion here? I didn’t actually care too much for “The Spirit of the Beehive”, but personal preferences are not an option on this forum, so I guess it’s a masterpiece. Seriously.
The Lower Depths might as well be a stage play. That’s what killed it.
oh,not really but even Idiot seemed like a stage play,i guess that didn’t really kill it,eh?
opinion?by all means,subjectivity is what am quite bored these days :)
Rashomon (like many here apparently) was my introduction to Kurosawa, but I’m not sure it’s the most accessible of his films to start out on. Seven Samurai or Yojimbo would probably be best to start with I would think.
Oh and I like this by the way: “Thrown of Blood”
Start where he hits his stride as a confident unique voice - either Rashomon or Stray Dog.
If you are put off by long movies
don’t start with Seven Samurai
but If you don’t mind long movies
Start with Seven Samurai
frye
I have yet to see one of his movies, but i want to fix that real soon since i can grab one at barnes and noble now for half off. I have read brief descriptions of most of his films and the three that seem to have the most interesting stories are: Roshamon, High and low, and Seven Samuri. Any suggestions for what is the most essential movie of his. thanks