04-10-2020, 09:52 AM
I'm a devout Kurosawa fan as you well know and in my eyes, he can do no wrong. That being said, this is a flatter one for sure. I've always felt Shimura was less appreciated by the west because he's usually upstaged by Mifune in the Kurosawa films. He's an understated actor, very pedestrian, but therein lies his power.
Suggest you look at Ikiru (1952) which is one of his best Kurosawa collabs without Mifune. That film is immensily powerful, but it falls apart in the final scenes where they ruminate on the why of it all way too long (why is painfully obvious - it's a device to reiterate how misguided the world is). Stray Dog (1949) is also good but also stars Mifune. Both are contemporary dramas. He also has reoccuring roles in the Kaiju genre, usually as Doctors, appearing in a few Godzilla films, Mothra and Ghidorah. Those performances aren't stand out. Godzilla could upstage Mifune.
Suggest you look at Ikiru (1952) which is one of his best Kurosawa collabs without Mifune. That film is immensily powerful, but it falls apart in the final scenes where they ruminate on the why of it all way too long (why is painfully obvious - it's a device to reiterate how misguided the world is). Stray Dog (1949) is also good but also stars Mifune. Both are contemporary dramas. He also has reoccuring roles in the Kaiju genre, usually as Doctors, appearing in a few Godzilla films, Mothra and Ghidorah. Those performances aren't stand out. Godzilla could upstage Mifune.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse