Dreams

1. Foxes
There is a theme of childhood innocence, in that the child who went spying was curious, not really caring about the consequences. But there is also a theme of revenge, that the foxes want retribution for being spied on. But also a kind of rebellion turning badly, since his mother (?) told him not to go into the forest, and he didn't listen, leading to his demise.

The small child walking though the forest, so small against the large trees, the transitions between lightness and dark, the use of light to enhance the story. The sound, the quiet noise of raindrops and slow steady reedy music. The earthy colors repeat themselves, until the end, when there is both irony and hope in the rainbow he's walking into. The dark hills pass the rainbow, what the child is walking into, could show the change between where he was, the beautiful Field, the rainbow distance showing the allure of adulthood and the ominous mountains showing the actual use of nature.

2. Momo Blossoms

The dark lighting of the interiors of the house, the brightly lit branch of the peach tree as the boy walks towards it, the red light of the doll room, all show a darkness to the interior, while outside is brightly light and beautiful. The theme of respect, the message of treating the trees with kindness, along with greed, in that the trees were cut down but also the child's greed in the beauty of of the blossoms. The sunshine shining though the forest, yet again a transition though the world of reality to the realm of fantasy, were the dolls are able to come to life, dance in a slow sound of rhythm, beautiful in its painfully slow pace.

Showing the child what he missed, the peach trees, a final act of kindness, then when he got close, trying to chase the girl, they disappear and he's once again left with the emptiness. This scene could translate to adolescents, where the joys of childhood are gone, but the respect of adulthood still haven't happened.

The falling peach blossoms, the framing of the child's face on the brown ground, in his simple dark blue clothes, contrast beautifully with the elaborate faces and clothing of the living dolls. They are on a green background, making their beauty pop.

3. Blizzard

Courage is needed to make the final steps. The responsibility of the lives of the men climbing the mountain falls on the only one waking. Their ambition in making this climb. The rope is the tether tying them together, uniting them, but also a tie to life. There is terrible noise as the struggle to get up, the darkness of the surroundings, how the snow isn't pure white, how it flies around angrily. The snow becomes quiet as the women emerges, trying to lure the men to their death, lying saying the snow is warm and hot. The juxtaposition of the sparkly, furry blanket and the snow, how her face appears so serene when her victim is agreeing with her. Then her transformation, her hair flying up, her beauty replaced by demon-like features. The sound changes as she is fought up, as her hold is lost, and the man gains the courage to fight on. The sound of the flapping flag gives hope, growing louder as she flees. The men who didn't awaken the first time now can move on.


4. The Tunnel

Responsibility, and honor play in the heart of the only surviving solider. The dog barking showing what he will always walk with, this constant barking from those he sent on suicide missions, just like the dog. The solider telling him about the parents who still think there son is alive, who are in pain now that they lost someone they love. The blue skin of the platoon visually illustrates there death. The noise of echoing footsteps show he's alone, show he's doomed to walk this road alone. The appearance of the dead coming to the man show the slow trickling in of memories and guilt. First the dog, then the lone solider, then the entire battalion. The tunnel is also in reverse, since there is no bright light at the end, rather another version of hell.

5. Van Crows

The theme is ambition, transformation, of the life of an artist barely hanging on, relying on the pity of those around him. The use of Chopin's music, loud and meaningful. The young Kurosawa meeting withScorsase Van Gogh, show his own struggle in trying to regain his fame, although Van Gogh only had it in his death.

The visual transformation between black and whites of the real world then again into the brightly colored paintings, the use of vivid light like with the haystacks and rivers. The trainmetephor reinstates ambition, to keep climbing, to power and move and fight. The Crows at the end show the pointlessness in always living at full speed, of the fear of what will always be, of death.

6. Mount Fuji in Red
The fearful Japanese running off cliffs like lemmings into the see, because of the consequences of what they did to their enviorment. The use of mount Fiji, a volcano, but the destruction coming from man-made monstrosities around it.

The man cleaning his glasses as he calmly explains that even if they didn't die that second, it was so close, because the radiation would give them cancer, killing them slowly and more painfully. Then he throws the glasses down after they are perfect, showing a metaphor to how Japan reached that way, even though their was perfection, its pointless in the face of a holocaust. The family fighting away, flapping a jacket uselessly as the colored radiation reaches them and kills the parents and their small children.

7. The Weeping Demon

The theme is responsibility, of fear in the face of death. The irony is that there is nothing remaining after this nuclear disaster, that there are no bodies, but the buildings still stay in the background. There is noise to the shaking of the powerful winds. There is more to this, but the giant dandelions confuse the hell out of me, I guess the Buddhist metaphor makes more sense.

8. The Watermills
The Watermills show love and tradition, that its so much more slow then the rest of the dreams, showing the last stage of life, of peace that comes with acceptance of the end that will soon come.

The use of colors, so spectacular, the natural beauty, the water making beautiful noise. The slowing down, the power of the river dictating the noise, the style of life. The celebration of death shows the use of the acceptance ofenevatablity and once its accepted, it can be celebrated.

The entire village of tradition, of working with the environment rather then fighting it. This show a more peaceful time, a idyllic time, but when he talks about the pains of this lack of consonance, such as using cow dung for fuel.

The Magnificant Seven

Seven Samurai was fun to watch, as was this remake. It included all the good markings of a great story, honor, love, banding together of unlikely allies for the good of the helpless. Really any plot choices I could critique I already did in Seven Samurai.

The real beauty in The Magnificent Seven is the scenery, and the bold use of scene shots. In the opening scene, where a still shot of mountains and village, showing the credits, then slowly action approaching, simply stunning. The three minutes that lacked dialogue in when the seven were traveling into the village, stunning, it also illustrated the story, of the men eating together while the hodgepodge character, Chico, ate fish alone.

The Magnificent Seven was the last of the great scene westerns, fitting since the last line was "Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose.". This film discussed the drawbacks to the gunslinger lifestyle, the lack of binding that would tether them down, but also makes them drift like tumbleweed, having no family or nothing besides what they can carry.

Like Seven Samurai, this film also made great strides for film, showing that an action story can include love and lose.

Hidden Fortress

Something is to be said for comic relief, of two boffins traveling with the heroes, to break up the tention and provide an access point for the common man to the dramatic leads. In the case of Hidden Fortress, the two wandering peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, who were able to met up with the Princess Yuki and Samurai General Rokurota Makabe. The use of filming from the point of veiw of the lowest characters is a bold choice, ultimatly useful and memorable. The film was given 100% fresh at Rotten Tomatos, and influanced George Lucas to film from the lowest characters point of view in Star Wars IV.

The gold in Hidden Fortress showed greed and motavation for the cowerdly Tahei and Matashichi to move forward with the noblitiy, to follow them through the adventure to get to allied land. The hiding and deception give action and adventure.

The entire film is fun, powerful in its need for sacrifices for the common good, and also its use of transitions and film style.

Fistful of Dollars

The first of the truly great Italian Westerns, the west's first blatant anti-hero, if he can be called that. Clint Eastwood's character, credited as 'The Man with No Name', created an archetype of the new gunslinger, one who doesn't care about the law, love, or politics, the one who does what he wants, be it moral or not so much.

An artistic interpretation of Yojimbo, set in Spain that's pretending to be Southern California.

Kurasawa's compensation for the western redoing of Yojimbo, was that Akira Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima received 15% of the film's worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Kurosawa said later he made more money from this project than he did on Yojimbo.

The use of close camera cuts to faces put an almost uncomfortable intimacy to the film, making the audience be that close to the violence and bloodshed and greed.

The casting of television cowboy darling Clint Eastwood to play this gruff and rugged en'poncho'ed near villain turned out beautifully. The official Rawhide gun and holster, along with authentic Californian jeans and bitter cigars gave a truly 'American West' feel to the Italian masterpiece.

This film did a lot for cinema, giving another decade to the dying silver screen cowboy, recreating him to be more like his audience, seeing both sides of a story, being a spectrum of grays rather then a strait cut black and white.

Yojimbo

Kurasawa attention to detail, his perfectionist nature in the realm of visual composition, this attention to detail leads Kurasawa to be almost godlike in his orchestrating of every scene. In Throne of Blood, the fog set the mood for mystery, deception, and the supernatural nature of the film. In Seven Samurai, the devastating rains set the tone in the town, the rains beating down the earth like the infiltrators beating down the villages moral. The rain also parodying the sadness the villagers felt knowing the are helpless. Because of the nature of rain, its lack of compassion of all it devastates, its uncontrollable nature, all parallels the bandits plaguing the village.

In Yojimbo, the bitter cold wind helps to explain the mood, along with illustrating the turmoil and hostel environment of this warring town. This also allows the fighters to keep their arms in their yukatas, so they can walk around looking both ferocious and crippled. This leads to an almost comic interpretation, because its so far from the truth, since both "rogues" are experts in their field. The gun in this film, its explicate nature as a source of power, combined with the stealing of another man's women, and another son's mother, all provide a kind of oedipul nature (the boys father represnting his own, him being able to take the beautiful women way from him, stealing her away).

The storyline, the use of violence, the adorable dog caring the hand out of the cursed town. This also tranfers though boundries, (I made some good points in my review of Titus). Kurasawa doens't just tell a story, he creates a truely Japanese expreiance. The husband and family groveling as the thank "30 Year old Mulberry Feild" , showing the ties to Japanese emotional nature. There is also the costuming, the setting (plants that are growing).

This film inspired "Fistful of Dollars", the main character inspiring meny meny more nameless saviors and sinners.

Spaghetti West

The American Western, the tales of heroes and bravery, of men with guns dispensing justice and getting the beautiful little lady. These films influenced post-war Akira Kurasawa, who conseved the Japanese Western, not set in the lawless west but the territorial days of Edo era Japan, where heroes' guns morphed into the more blatent swords.

Kurasawa's work, which delved into developing heroes into rounded people, rather then 2D figures that fit pefectly on posters. This persanalization of the hero, creating relatable characters, along with brillant story lines, spurred the Italians into creating the Spaghetti West.

The Story of Yojimbo started the spigetti west. It was remade semi-legally into the first Spegitti Western, ironicly symbolicly staring an American Cowboy. A further post of A Fistful of Dollars is needed to explain the similarites and brilliantness of these two films.

Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai, is one of the most acclaimed Japanese films ever created, and also one of the most influential pieces of film. Akira Kurosawa co-wrote, edited, and directed this masterpiece, a film that became the archetype for group action films.

Seven Samurai has honor, bloodshed, lose, and love. Its covers the full spectrum of humanity, about the tragedies of life, such a starvation, sickness, weakness and finally death. It also includes the honor, in upholding one's beliefs, of defending the weak, and of the poor, huddled masses that raise up to fight their oppressors.

Kurosawa's beautiful use of scenery, his attention to detail, his ablitily to not only move his audiance by the storyline, but also from the sher beauty of it all. From dappled light dancing on the top of bald heads to patterned kimonos gracing the back sides of young women, to unforgiving rain symobolizing both dispare and salvation. The use of bamboo diagonals to lead into the scenes, and the separation of the samurai from the farmers all show the continuty of a strictly Japanese piece along with sublty directing the audiance into watching and feeling what Kurasawa wants them to feel.

The nature of this film, its role as an archatype, is whats fascinating, that this Japanese answer to the Western went on to spur the last of the Great American Film Westerns; The Magnificent Seven.