Sugata Sanshirô
I liked this one. It had a narrower focus than most Kurosawa movies, giving it a shorter runtime and a more simplistic story arc (which is postive in this case). Having our leading man running afoul on his search for a master is something I've never seen as far as I can remember. You'd think it'd be a common problem for a protagonist to have, but I can't say I've experienced that part of the story. We often see our hero search for a mentor, but we only ever see him set out, and then, after an undetermined amount of time, he's ready to give up and presto! The master he's ment to find appears beside him. To actually see him make a wrong choice tells us more about him and about his problem, which the new master deduces: He's unexperienced, reckless and unmature. He lacks wisdom and discepline, something made appearant when he starts a streetbrawl when someone delivers a slight. He's also stubborn, something that actually helps him as he gets booted out of his school, which he refuses to accept. From his stubborness comes a lesson in humility, something his master nurtures and builds on, creating a better man and a smarter, fiercer fighter.
Also, for some reason, he appears to have super-human strength, as he kills a man by throwing him into a wall that, at the very most, stands 2,5-3 meters away.
I was a bit confused as to the (some might say one-sided) emnity that arose between Sugata and Mr. Higaki. I never really quite understood where the rivalry stemed from, other than Higaki being denied access to Sugata for a fight. There might have been something about the ju-jitsu master's daughter, but if that was the case, I found it to be underdeveloped. In any case, their final showdown on the windy hillside was very nicely choregraphed and atmospheric. Kurosawa appearently was very lucky with the weather, as he was only allowed three additional days for on location shooting and the storm only arrived on the third day.
Finally, a word on the costuming. The influence western culture had on the japaneese seems to have taken hold during the time of the story, evident by the western style clothing worn by some of the cast. The mixing and matching of old and new was something I hadn't seen before though, and was skillfully done by, for example, Sugata's master. The combination of traditional japaneese attire with, as far as I'm able to destinguish, a Trilby/Fedora actually looks very good. I hereby dub him "best dressed" of the movie
A nice glimps into a prominent directors beginnings. Good nom, Nope!