04-27-2020, 10:06 AM
This is an oddity, and a bit heavy-handed to my mind, though no doubt a product of the times.
An old industrialist (Mifune all squinty with coke bottle glasses, thinning gray hair, twisted mouth, hunched, with an ashen pallor) lives in fear of atom bombs and takes steps to move his family to a safer haven -- in particular, Brazil.
His family is extensive, including not only his equally old wife and grown kids but their kids, and also a couple mistresses and at least one illegitimate child; and he is providing financial support to many of them, and also employment. Needless to say, none of them want to give up their homes and financial stability, so there is a group attempt to have him declared mentally incompetent.
Which brings them all to loggerheads before a three-man tribunal, one of which is Takashi Shimura, who, recognizing him from all the other movies they've done together, exclaims, "Hey, Bro, how's it hanging?" giving him a high five. But getting back to reality (or the reality of this film), Shimura becomes the odd man out among his peers, feeling that the old man is perhaps saner than anyone.
Mifune does a good job of playing the old man. I did have problems with it early on, as he's too sure-footed, and his stoop can't really hide that gorilla-like strength lurking beneath, and honestly, I could have given him lessons on sitting down and standing up much more slowly and glitchily (having taken advanced studies of this of late). But he did disappear into the role as the film progressed.
No swordfights, though Mifune does wield a fan (everyone is sweaty, no doubt filmed in sweltering heat), mostly to cool himself, but with occasional forays into panicky rage to box someone about the ears.
There's a theremin mixed into the blues score that opens and closes the film. This really worked for me, giving the film a Twilight Zone feel.
BTW, this was released between Part II and Part III of the Samurai trilogy I just reviewed.
An old industrialist (Mifune all squinty with coke bottle glasses, thinning gray hair, twisted mouth, hunched, with an ashen pallor) lives in fear of atom bombs and takes steps to move his family to a safer haven -- in particular, Brazil.
His family is extensive, including not only his equally old wife and grown kids but their kids, and also a couple mistresses and at least one illegitimate child; and he is providing financial support to many of them, and also employment. Needless to say, none of them want to give up their homes and financial stability, so there is a group attempt to have him declared mentally incompetent.
Which brings them all to loggerheads before a three-man tribunal, one of which is Takashi Shimura, who, recognizing him from all the other movies they've done together, exclaims, "Hey, Bro, how's it hanging?" giving him a high five. But getting back to reality (or the reality of this film), Shimura becomes the odd man out among his peers, feeling that the old man is perhaps saner than anyone.
Mifune does a good job of playing the old man. I did have problems with it early on, as he's too sure-footed, and his stoop can't really hide that gorilla-like strength lurking beneath, and honestly, I could have given him lessons on sitting down and standing up much more slowly and glitchily (having taken advanced studies of this of late). But he did disappear into the role as the film progressed.
No swordfights, though Mifune does wield a fan (everyone is sweaty, no doubt filmed in sweltering heat), mostly to cool himself, but with occasional forays into panicky rage to box someone about the ears.
There's a theremin mixed into the blues score that opens and closes the film. This really worked for me, giving the film a Twilight Zone feel.
BTW, this was released between Part II and Part III of the Samurai trilogy I just reviewed.
I'm nobody's pony.