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Sanshiro Sugata(Akira Kurosawa 1943)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Tsuneo Tomita (novel)
Cast: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Yukiko Todoroki
Genre: Historical Drama
Language: Japanese
Set in Japan 1882, an eager young man named Sugata, who's a strong fighter, wishes to find a master to learn martial arts. He seeks out the Jujutsu master to become his apprentice, but is rejected for his rash, uncontrolled behavior when the master spots him street fighting.
Instead he ends up following a master of Judo, an evil man who's the sworn enemy of the Jujutsu master. Complicating matters...the young Sugata falls in love with his rival's master daughter. A forbidden love that causes the two much emotional discord. In seeking to balance his heart with his head, Sugata learns self discipline, which is at the core of Japanese martial arts.
Sanshiro Sugata is the first film made by the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was made in 1943, during WWII. War time Japanese film censors required scenes removed from the film and as a result 17 minutes is missing which makes for an uneven film....and yet Kurosawa's mastery can still be felt.
I enjoyed it's simple, yet emotional story. I don't care for martial arts films, yet I liked this film as it balanced the marital arts with a human story of quiet determination and self control.
What I liked most was that the lead Sugata seemed to have a warm, open personality which I didn't expect in such a film. He's a nice guy who's the greatest Judo wrestler of the land. My favorite part was the romance scenes between him and his opponents daughter and the scenes with her father. Those scenes were quite touching and well done.
Not the greatest film made by Kurosawa, but still an important one.
Sanshiro Sugata(Akira Kurosawa 1943)
Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Tsuneo Tomita (novel)
Cast: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Susumu Fujita, Yukiko Todoroki
Genre: Historical Drama
Language: Japanese
Set in Japan 1882, an eager young man named Sugata, who's a strong fighter, wishes to find a master to learn martial arts. He seeks out the Jujutsu master to become his apprentice, but is rejected for his rash, uncontrolled behavior when the master spots him street fighting.
Instead he ends up following a master of Judo, an evil man who's the sworn enemy of the Jujutsu master. Complicating matters...the young Sugata falls in love with his rival's master daughter. A forbidden love that causes the two much emotional discord. In seeking to balance his heart with his head, Sugata learns self discipline, which is at the core of Japanese martial arts.
Sanshiro Sugata is the first film made by the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was made in 1943, during WWII. War time Japanese film censors required scenes removed from the film and as a result 17 minutes is missing which makes for an uneven film....and yet Kurosawa's mastery can still be felt.
I enjoyed it's simple, yet emotional story. I don't care for martial arts films, yet I liked this film as it balanced the marital arts with a human story of quiet determination and self control.
What I liked most was that the lead Sugata seemed to have a warm, open personality which I didn't expect in such a film. He's a nice guy who's the greatest Judo wrestler of the land. My favorite part was the romance scenes between him and his opponents daughter and the scenes with her father. Those scenes were quite touching and well done.
Not the greatest film made by Kurosawa, but still an important one.