|
Castle of Cagliostro is the best James Bond film.
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2015 12:21
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 17:01 |
|
|
Nausicaä was actually Hideaki Anno's first major work. Supposedly, when Ghibli (well, what was to become Ghibli eventually) fell behind schedule and started looking for more animators, he stormed straight into Miyazaki's office and handed him his portfolio. After looking through the entire portfolio, Miyazaki hired Anno on the spot and assigned him the God Warrior scenes. So the similarities to NGE are definitely not coincidental. Anno and Miyazaki also remained close friends over the years. Anno voiced the main character in Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, and last year, there was a rumour that Anno could possibly direct a sequel to Nausicaä. I don't know of any direct connections to Akira, but given that it came out only four years after Naucisaä, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some influences. As for Nausicaä's psychic abilities, the manga never really explains them in-depth either, but I actually think it works better this way. Large parts of the film operate on a symbolic level, and in that sense, her abilities aren't so much unique special powers, as they are simply extensions of her natural empathy. It's not that she's the only one who can converse with insects, just that she's the only one willing to listen. Also, definitely check out the manga if you liked the world and characters. It's quite long and very different from the film in some respects, but if you enjoyed one, you're likely to enjoy the other.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2015 12:49
|
|
|
It's interesting how much of Miyazaki's work draws inspiration from European literature and landscapes. Illinois Smith already mentioned Kiki and Porco Rosso. Nausicaä owes a lot to the works of Moebius, Castle in the Sky to Jules Verne and Welsh mining towns, Howl's Moving Castle is based on a British book, and Castle of Cagliostro takes place in pseudo-Italy. I suppose he's in good company, given Walt Disney's fondness for European fairy tales.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2015 14:35
|
|
|
I haven't read the book, but that sounds pretty weird. Kurosawa's works are often political, but they tend to reflect Japanese post-war society. I don't think there's much to be gained by trying to fit his films into the liberalism vs. conservatism framework of the US.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2016 02:29
|
|
|
Random Stranger posted:As for the Lucas connection, I think that Lucas was very clearly influenced by Kurosawa's style even if he couldn't get it down. Star Wars in particular draws on those films in broad ways. Lucas' love for distinct scene transitions definitely echoes Kurosawa's. Also, IIRC, the spear duel in Hidden Fortress was a big inspiration for the lightsaber fight in A New Hope.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2016 19:43
|
|
|
Robutt posted:But it wasn't the extraordinary experience I was expecting, for years several of my friends had hyped up the third act battle scenes which to me felt like the weakest part of the film - I personally loved the beginning and middle sections with the emotional beats and unexpected comedy that surrounds Mifune's character. In terms of visuals, the final battle seems quite tame compared to contemporary action cinema (although I've always liked the way Kurosawa shot rain). I think the reason it's so well-regarded even to this day is because it feels like a perfect culmination of everything that transpired beforehand. By this point in the film, we've spent over two hours getting introduced to all the characters; we know everything about their emotional state and their reasons for fighting. This lends an emotional intensity to the battle scene because we aren't just watching a bunch of actors falling in the mud, we see the death of real people. It hits us way harder than it has any right to because Kurosawa did such a masterful job setting up these characters who are very different from each other, but still very relatable in their own way. Robutt posted:Also as a little side-note: Nausicaa is my all-time favourite Miyazaki film, I don't know quite what it is about it but I think it's great. My man.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2016 23:00
|
|
|
One interpretation I've heard is that the title's a reference to John Ford's 3 Bad Men. No idea if it's true, but Ford was a huge influence on Kurosawa, so it doesn't seem that far-fetched.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2018 03:38
|
|
|
Coaaab posted:e: On a different point, this wiki listing the year's best film according one Japanese film publication forms quite an interesting snapshot of contemporary Japanese film criticism through the decades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinema_Junpo_Award_for_Best_Film_of_the_Year It's sad how dire this list looks from the 90s onwards.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2018 01:04
|
|
|
The Human Condition is the standard by which I judge all other war films. It absolutely lives up to the lofty title. Whether or not you should watch the entire trilogy in one sitting depends on how much tolerance you have for human misery. The story is basically just one emotional gut punch after the other.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2018 21:04
|
|
|
Yeah, Kobayashi doesn't pull his punches. I give him a lot of credit for nakedly addressing Japan's horrific role in the war during a time when most other big directors either ignored the issue entirely (Ozu, Naruse) or at most made some allegorical allusions to it (Kurosawa, Mizoguchi).
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2018 23:30
|
|
|
Any thoughts on the battle scene? That seems to be the part which sticks with most people after their initial viewing.jivjov posted:Its really baffling to see the sheer resistance to that idea...but I know this work (or rather the novel its based upon) is at least partially autobiographical, so there must be at least some truth to it. It's almost impossible to overstate just how brutal the Imperial Japanese Army's conduct during WW2 was, not only against enemy combatants and civilians, but also its own troops. Officer had free reign to strike their subordinates whenever they saw fit, and the predominant ideology was one of physically and psychologically beating trainees into submission. It got worse as the war went on, since new recruits were increasingly involuntarily drafted and discipline correspondingly difficult to maintain.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2018 12:47
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 17:01 |
|
|
It's interesting because one of the biggest changes Kurosawa made from the source material actually turns the story less nihilistic. In Shakespeare, Lear is a genuinely benevolent king whose only flaw is falling for his wicked offspring. Whereas Hidetora in Ran used to be a brutal warlord who united the lands in a bloody conquest and now tries to leave that violent existence behind him. There's a strong undercurrent of "violence begets violence" in the text, while King Lear's moral seems closer to "being good doesn't pay because you'll only get screwed over by those less scrupulous than you".
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2019 14:50
|
|