Reviews

I just finished watching "Madadayo" and can still feel tears welling up. I was moved at the beautiful movie and its message of kindness and living well. It took me a while to get into the film as it is rather slow and not much does happen, but Kurosawa is a master of mood, characterization and setting the scene and gradually, the movie takes its hold on you.

The movie starts with the Professor's retirement from teaching. We learn he taught German, and he must have been a good teacher as well as quite a character, because large numbers of his students stay in touch with him through the decades. Kurosawa shows us that the students love and respect him dearly, as well as finding him eccentric. They refer to him as "solid gold". However, I kept asking "Why? Why would these people with busy lives, following their own paths, continue to hold birthday parties for their eccentric old professor?" And as the movie continued, I found myself answering my own question. Why not? It's a win-win situation for all involved. The students value the professor's company and despite joking protests to the contrary, the professor enjoys the visits and increasingly comes to depend on them. In post-WWII Japan, there must have been little to celebrate, so having an annual excuse to get together with people you enjoy would be reason enough. Kurosawa also expounds on one of his main themes from "Red Beard"; kindness begets kindness and that is what we continually shown in "Madadayo". The students help build the professor a new house after his home is destroyed in the fire-bombing of Tokyo. The professor loses his cat and the students and the community band together to try to find it, celebrating and congratulating one another when they think they find it, and commiserating and empathizing when they don't. The annual birthday parties continue and evolve from just the male students drinking with their professor to banquets involving their wives and children. I began to fall under the spell of how wonderful it would be to be part of this community, to know these people, to know there were others looking out for me, willing to help if I needed it, relishing my company, and knowing that once a year I could get together with all my friends from school (the ones we all lose touch with because our busy lives follow diverging paths), celebrate the life of a great man (a favourite teacher's lessons stay with you forever) and be part of something bigger and gentler and kinder.

I can understand why someone expecting the excitement of "Seven Samurai", the suspense of "High and Low", or the innovation of "Rashomon" would be disappointed in "Madadayo", but if you enjoyed the lessons of "Red Beard", the gentle pull of "Madadayo" will delight and soothe you. You'll be left with a serene feeling of well-being, wishing you could be one of the Professor's students.

I loved this movie for many reasons:

The film history : it's the first collaboration between Akira Kurosawa (director) and Toshiro Mifune (actor) that continued through 15 more films including the sublime Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo.

The style : it's a great film noir with gangsters, zoot suits, speakeasy's, gambling etc.,

The history : post WW II Japan is a frightening place with rubble, raw sewage, crime and hope. It's a world I hadn't seen before.

Toshiro Mifune : What an amazing actor. He oozes charisma and you cannot take your eyes off of him. His performance reminded me of the first time I saw Russell Crowe, in a little seen mediocre movie called "For the Moment" which I watched many times because of Crowe's intensity.

My only problem is the copy I saw was terrible. The print was faded and half of the subtitles were illegible. When will this be released on DVD? It's not Kurosawa's best film, but it's certainly better than most of the drivel out there.

I just finished watching 'Red Beard' and feel that the characters are all old friends. It could be because the movie is 3 hours long, but it is probably more due to the skill of Akira Kurosawa and his meticulous craftsmanship.

Some complaints of the film are that it is slow, too episodic, too much like TV medical dramas, it treats psychotherapy like the newfound Holy Grail (and in 1965 Japan it might have been), but the movie is so well done it doesn't really matter. Kurosawa considered 'Red Beard' his monument to the goodness of man, and it is inspiring in such a way.

Toshiro Mifune is wonderfully restrained as 'Red Beard', but you know when he starts rubbing his chin, he's going to kick some ass, mostly verbally, but in one scene, physically; he beats the crap out of some thugs who don't want him to take a sick girl to his clinic. His character will cheat, lie and even charge exorbitant medical fees just to ensure goodness prevails and the patients of his medical clinic get the help they need. He also will speak his mind beyond that of a typical doctor; poor parents get chastised, the lazy rich get a dressing down, and even acknowledges that well-being is usually in the mind of the patient and sometimes the best doctor in the world cannot change that.

As always, it's a shame Kurosawa and Mifune went their separate ways after this film, because they truly did bring out the best in one another.

'Firelight' is a classic gothic romance with all the archetypes; the brooding man of the house, the mysterious invalid upstairs, the beautiful governess and lots of snow. Get your lady friends together with a bottle of wine and enjoy! You'll get to see Sophie Marceau's erotic awakening, Stephen Dillane's moral dilemma, and Kevin Anderson's extremely odd American accent (considering he is American).

If you enjoy books like 'Jane Eyre', you'll enjoy 'Firelight', but because 'Firelight' is not a classic of English literature, you may have to hide a chuckle now and then (or just laugh out loud with sheer amusement at the fate of the invalid).

Ah, George Emerson, the ideal man of my adolescent mind. He knows what he wants - Lucy Honeychurch - and goes about getting her in a very direct fashion. A simple plot, yes, but considering this all takes place in the Edwardian era much confusion and delight arises. Young men cannot simply decide they like a young lady (and kiss them in a waving field of barley) and expect no repercussions from the said lady and her most excellent chaperone Miss Charlotte Bartlett. What ensues is a wonderful comedy of manners and characters, coupled with a very winsome romance. Mix in a busybody parson, an over-the-top lady novelist, a philosophising father, Italy and the piano sonatas of Beethoven and you have the best movie of 1985 (and yes, better than Platoon).

The cast is uniformly wonderful, especially Maggie Smith as Charlotte Bartlett, and Daniel Day Lewis as the fuddy-duddy fiance. Julian Sands is a dream as George Emerson.

This is the best of the E.M. Forster film adaptations, and the best in the Merchant-Ivory catalogue for pure entertainment value. No big messages, no big action sequences, but just a delightful, wonderful film.