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Welcome to the nerd Paute.
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Missing Frames. This
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is the podcast where we watch all of the movies
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we should have seen by this point in our lives.
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I'm your host, Sean Eastridge.
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We're hanging out on the nerd Party Network, a collection
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of podcasts dedicated to all things entertainment. Check us out
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at the nerd Party dot com and make sure you're
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following us on Twitter x blue Sky at joint nerd
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Party on Twitter and X and I don't know what
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is it on Blue Sky? What even is Blue Sky? I?
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I honestly don't know. I'm so sorry. You might as
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well ask me what we are on TikTok?
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Who are vague?
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Who even is? What is this? What are the kids
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using these days?
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I proudly hit a point where as more social networks
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came out, I was like, look, guys, I I just
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can't do this anymore. I'm just I'm the old man.
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I'm just staying frozen. It's all tapping out. You could
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find a nerd Party.
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It's out there on all the places and go follow
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a be a pal, be a buddy.
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That voice you're hearing, the sultry tones you're hearing on the.
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Other side of the microphone are those of one mister
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John Mills.
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It's been a minute, John, Welcome back to the show.
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I'm so pleased to be back.
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Missing Frames is one of my favorite shows, Sean like,
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and you know what, for anybody who's tuning in who
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didn't hear it, they should go back and they should
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listen to everything that you did in the count down
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count up to Superman, James Gunn Superman, and you did
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an incredible series counting down to that, and I honestly,
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I don't know that I've gotten a chance on Mike
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to congratulate you on what an absolutely amazing series.
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It was.
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Like, it's still the whole reason that this medium of
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podcasting exists is so that cool stuff like that can happen.
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It happened on Missing Frames.
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Go back and listen to his catalog, guys, because it
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is well worth.
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I really appreciate it, and it was such a blast
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to do.
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And the best part is now all the Superman followers
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I've gained from that will abandon ship because now we're
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going back to talking about film and cinema.
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Well, whoa whoaoa.
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Martin Scorsese is in the Star Wars universe.
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All rules of cinema are out the window, my friend,
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nobody's allowed to criticize anything anymore.
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One hundred on. We're on a whole other level now,
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but absolutely.
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But you know, not only is you know, twenty twenty
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six we have Supergirl coming out this summer, and we'll
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talk plenty about that, But twenty twenty six is actually
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the ten year anniversary of Missing Frames I've been doing
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Are you kidding me?
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As of November I have been doing this ten years?
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Is that?
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Oh my gosh?
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Which means the nerd Party has been around for ten years,
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which is.
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Oh more than has more than it was right around
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because aggressive negotiations. I think where the og. We're the
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last standing og. Aggressive negotiations. The Star Wars podcast, if
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you'd like to go and listen to that, real good show.
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I think it is fantastic, but it's we're gosh, and
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we take weeks off every now and then because we're
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human beings and we have to and we're at four
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hundred and twenty six episodes and that's like weekly. So
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however many years that works out too, because you got
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a plus a few more weeks here and there because
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we took time off, but.
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So much math. I don't like any of this math.
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But when I say time off, I mean literally just
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one week here and there. Right, that's what we do now.
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You guys have been you guys have been chipping away
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and it's incredible.
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But it's like, yeah, we've been doing this.
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For a decade now, which is just the same. I
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still remember helping design the logo, Yes, I just I
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remember pitching to Tristan. He was like, you should join
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the nerd party.
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What would you do?
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And I'm like a film podcast. He's like, okay, what's
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the angle And I'm like, I don't know. We watched
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the movies we should have seen and he's like, okay,
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let's run with that.
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And a little bit of anniversary trivia for everybody. Then,
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Is that the missing frames logo? The show art that
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you see come up in your your podcatcher was in
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fact inspired by the bit in the video for Closer
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by nine inch Nails where it says frame missing. That
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was the actual inspiration point for it.
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I've never seen that video.
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Actual inspiration point that it, and that was that was
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my pitch for it.
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I'm learning something new about my show ten years down
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the line that I didn't.
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Know right, this is incredible and one of the original
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members of the nerd Party, there was only one person.
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There was maybe two people that caught it when they
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saw it where they're like, hey, is that well, now
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I have.
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To watch that video. That's great, and excuse to watch
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the nine inch nails video is okay by me.
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It's always good good.
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But we're hanging out and we're watching a movie that
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you have never seen this time around and a Currakrasala masterpiece.
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He had another masterpiece by this Crasala dude high and low,
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and I did not. I realized you hadn't seen it
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until we were talking about doing a Carosala and you
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said this one.
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You know, I will.
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I will admit that my level of Corosawa knowledge is
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way too limited. I know all about his life and
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his impact on Western film, world film, and I've seen
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you're a Star Wars fan. You can't call yourself a
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Star Wars fan unless you've watched The Seven Samurai and
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Hidden Fortress, right, Like, that's that's just required. But there
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are a whole lot of his films where they're always
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those ones that I intend to be like, Oh, I'm
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gonna go check that out, and then you never get
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around to it because you're busy watching Jack Frost because
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it's free on Prime, and you're like, that's ninety minutes
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in my life. But Michael Keaton, Oh no, oh no,
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that would have been too high brow for me, my friend,
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I'm talking about the horror movie.
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Horror came out.
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Oh yes, oh oh, that's an exquisite ninety minutes. I
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was even I questioned my life choices. I was gonna say.
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One of the great landmarks of Missing Framesis is I
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actually had Joseph Cross, the young boy in the film
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Jack Frost, with Michael Keaton.
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He is a wonderful actor.
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And filmmaker, and he was on the show a few
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years ago for the Atlanta Film Festival promoting a film
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of his. But I was just trying to bring it
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all around. But we blew it, We blew it. It's
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the horror film. Another thing on We'll put it on
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the Missing Frames.
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No, no, no, I'm going to I'm going to advise
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against that one.
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Fair enough.
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But I'm very interested to see, you know, High and Low,
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because Spike Lee just did an adaptation of it. Highest
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to Lowesst with Denzel Washington and it didn't get great notices,
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but like, I still want to give that one to try,
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but I don't want to give that one to try
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until I've seen the original.
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Yes, so yeah, and this is a great I mean,
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I similar to you. Like when I went to film school,
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Obviously my experience and understanding of Carassala who he was was, Oh,
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the Hidden Fortress. George Lucas obviously a major influence on
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Star Wars, and the first one I watched of his
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was Seven Samurai and I adored it. I was like, well,
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that's fantastic, and I would eventually went back and I
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watched Rashaman and I got to Hidden Fortress, and I
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kind of went through all his films, And really, when
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you and I were working together, when we first met,
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I was going through a pretty intense that's probably maybe
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the first real like intense Curasala phase where I got
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a bunch of his movies and was really sitting down
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and watching through them. And I think that might have
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been I may have seen High and Low in film
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school or maybe a little bit before then, but I
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think that was probably about when I saw High and
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Low for the first time and it and I don't
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I won't say too much about it obviously in this
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first part because I want you to go in with
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fresh eyes and perspective, but I will say it immediately
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was like it felt like at the time because George
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Lucas's love of Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai and that
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those were the ones that were so well known by everybody,
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and heind Low was one that people hadn't talked about.
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And I remember when it came up in my cue,
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it was kind of like, well, this is the next
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one to watch, so I'll watch it, And I just
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remember being so like, why aren't more people talking about this?
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And in the year sense, it's definitely raised like it is.
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It is.
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I think it ranks very very highly with Corosawa fans
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as far as like what are his top his great
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films of all time? And I think I think High
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and Low's reputation has only continued to grow and it
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is it is.
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Yeah, I hate.
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The first part of every first part of missing Frames.
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For the person who has seen and loved the film,
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the challenge is not over hyping and not over selling it.
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But I think the reputation it has of being a
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masterpiece and being one of the great works of cinema
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is completely merited. I think you were in for a
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real treat, and especially having seen the You've only seen
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seven Samurai Hidden Fortresses.
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I've seen seven Samurai. I've seen Hidden Fortress. I've seen Rashaman.
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Those are the only three I know for sure that
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I've seen, and people might say, oh, well, how could
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you have seen one and not recall it, believe it
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or not?
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Even me.
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There are occasionally movies where I can't recall whether I've
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seen them, but those are the three that I know
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for sure that I've seen, and I think Raschaman I
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felt obligated to see it because the Simpsons one of
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the greatest jokes of all time reference Yes, exactly, that
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joke is so much funnier when you've seen the.
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Movie so good and you know you can't overstate. It's
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easy to say, well, he inspired Star Wars, but Kurisawa
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his level of.
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He's a master like he is. Arguably I would put
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forth at Kurasawa, just with a little bit that I know.
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Krasawa basically is an unattributed shaper of the American Western. Yeah,
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like it's it's like him and john Ford did those
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that they're the two guys that like made the American
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Western Western happen because his stories were so But even
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that gets into a really interesting thing where the whole
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Samurai era and Medieval Europe and Renaissance Europe like have
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these weird similarities about them. And it's like, I think
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that's why Krosawa plugs in so well with Western audiences
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is there's that kernel that is very relatable at like
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just a base level because you had like the you know,
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had the Ronin and they had the Shia Reeves, and
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it's like when you did like an actual historical analysis,
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it's like, well, actually, the way their societies were set
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up was actually pretty it was pretty similar, guys. And
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then like the American West is pretty similar as well,
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with the sheriff and the and the you know and
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the bandits and everything. You're like, whoa like And it's
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it's so funny like all of that one hundred percent.
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And Kurrasala and his own culture and in his own
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country was criticized for being too Western like he was.
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They were like, oh, you're too exactly. It's just and
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all of the you know, this is all hearsay, and
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in retrospect we can look back and say like, oh,
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that's absurd, but it's like at the time he was,
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what we know now is that he is essentially one
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of the pillars of cinema period of the art form.
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Like yes, you can't. It's not an exaggeration, it's not hyperbole.
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Like he is one of the masters and one of
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the great inspirations of what this art form is and
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what it became. And what is so wonderful about going
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back to his films and watching them is like it's
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not it's no secret, Like it's not something where you
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have to Oh, if I studies, you watch his films
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and you're like, wow, I'd like Rachamon is a great example,
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Like if you're a Christopher Nolan fan, go watch Rachamon
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and be like, oh, okay, this is not like before
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that film like some you know, there are films like
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Citizen King that kind of touched on that sort of
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like that narrative that is happening out of sequence, but
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Rachaman was taking it to a whole other level and
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trying things and it is so much fun and always
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so exciting to go back to one of the great
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masters of cinema and just delve into their works. And
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that was what was so fun about when I was
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really obsessing and going through all of his films.
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But like when you sometimes it's easy to take it.
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For granted, when you're just kind of in that wheel,
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and I think, even in that state of mind, High
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and Low kind of like Rows above the Rest again,
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Like I haven't seen it in a couple of years,
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and I'm really excited because I just got the Criterion
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four K for it, and I'm excited to watch that.
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But it's every time I watch it, I find myself
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admiring it more and more and being more.
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Aware of just how much influence it has had on
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so many modern films. There's so many modern techniques and
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all of Carosala's films. But I'm excited to see what
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you end up taking away from.
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High and Low and that I'm chomping at the bit.
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Now, I am chomping at the bit. I gotta see
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this thing. I let let's let's get to it.
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Man. Well I want to I gotta catch it.
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We will do that.
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And I want you real, do you know anything about Hylow?
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Do you want to try to take a stab at
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the story. Just a random guess what is this movie about?
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I am gonna guess because I think I half read
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a synopsis of Spike Lee's adaptation that he did. But
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there's somebody who's well respected as a long career doing
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something and then there's a whipper snapper that comes up
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and the guy's left trying to defend his status.
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Okay, that is my That is my guest. That is
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my guess at it. So I am so excited for
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you to see that. I'm really excited to chat about that.
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Watch it be the one movie that kurrasaw.
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What did it?
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Was?
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Like alien invasion or something?
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You know, you never know, you never know. He's inspired
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so many things. Maybe maybe maybe all right, let's do this.
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We'll watch it and we'll be back. Stay tuned.
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Now available to oh non video cassette.
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All right, we're back, John. How do you feel about
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High and Low?
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Oh? My goodness.
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I saw so many things in High and Low where
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there were so many moments where I would look at it,
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I would say this is just like and I would
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think of a movie that I've seen. I'm continually blown.
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Away by.
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How impossible it is to overstate how much Akira Kurosawa predicted,
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or influenced or drove film as an art form.
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All of the above.
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Yeah, and it's it's stunning because you watch high and Low.
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It didn't go at all how I expected at all,
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especially for the era I'm used to a very straight
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whe I'm gonna go, you know, like as we talked
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about how like I had no idea what you know
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going in or anything like that, and then I saw
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Thank you HBO Max. I saw like it was like
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a businessman grapples with the ethical level of giving paying
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the rants. So I was like, well, all right, that's
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the movie I'm watching.
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Right we were you were saying, uh more kind of
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like business rivalry, older man younger man. I think you
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00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:25.039
were projecting our relationship, our working relationship when we met.
320
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Yes, but I failed to mention the attractiveness of both.
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So you know that was I But like it's one
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of those things where like the gear shift, that happens
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totally out of the blue, because like they resolved one thread.
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I was like, well, okay, I guess wait, what what's
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going on?
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Here are a few moments like that in this movie
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where you're kind of it I mean narratively, Carasawa is
328
00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.480
so brilliant, and it sometimes there's some films where it
329
00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:53.600
doesn't work as well, And there are other films that
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are not Carrosola films where this doesn't work as well.
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But it's that constant shifting, Like you said, you're always
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kind of on the edge of your seat, never sure
333
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:08.279
where it's going. I don't remember exactly what my reaction
334
00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:10.399
was when I watched it the first time, but I
335
00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:15.039
don't know that I knew the actual plot. I didn't
336
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know there was a kidnapping involved. So I'm watching it
337
00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:22.720
and at the beginning, it's this businessman talking to his
338
00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:27.200
colleagues about this takeover of the company, the shoe company.
339
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They run, National National Shoes, brilliant.
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Name forward, it's easy to remember, and I'm thinking, like okay,
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like okay, so it's going to be kind of, you know,
342
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it's some sort of like navigating the choppy waters of
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business takeover and like money.
344
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And blah blah blah.
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And then ten minutes in suddenly it's like a kidnapping movie,
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a child's kidnap.
347
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And then it's not even his kid, it's his chauffeur's kid.
348
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And it's like what right, so mistaken identity with the kids.
349
00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:02.480
But but on top of that, they handled it so
350
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incredibly well for the way a kidnapping happens, where suddenly
351
00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.839
it's like wait a minute, where where is he? And
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like it's dark outside and mom starts freaking out and
353
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it's like, oh, like you know, any parent sees that
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scene and you're like.
355
00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:20.119
Oh gosh, I can feel it in the pit.
356
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Just as a spoiler for anybody who doesn't have kids
357
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who might be listening to this, there is at least
358
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:30.880
once a week when your kids are little where you
359
00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.240
have that moment where you're like, wait, I just lost
360
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.279
track of them. And it's not about looking at your phone.
361
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It's like that's not even involved. You're just like going along.
362
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You just take it for granted, the kids at your side,
363
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and then like you stop and you're like whoa, whoa,
364
00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:44.359
whoa whoa, and like they just shifted sides on you.
365
00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:49.079
But you're like disoriented suddenly. But before we get into
366
00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:50.720
like the rest of the movie, I want to say
367
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:57.079
that there was a stunning moment about the film because
368
00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.200
there were there were three things that like really struck
369
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me that sort of like rooted it to a time
370
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and made me think about things in a really unexpected way,
371
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and you.
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Think just quick because this.
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One of the things that captivated me about it was
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it was the first quote unquote contemporary Corrasawa film i'd seen.
375
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I'd seen mostly his films are period pieces, samurai films.
376
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So I remember starting this and being like, oh, it's
377
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you know, it's early sixties, but it's modern day quote unquote,
378
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and you I think you knew that going into it,
379
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but that was a surprise. I was like, oh, okay,
380
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I haven't seen this vein of Krasawa before.
381
00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.519
Right well, and that that is another thing that's different,
382
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because I mean you could even layer it on.
383
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.160
There is one.
384
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When he mentions I'm not terribly great with the names
385
00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:48.960
of the characters.
386
00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:49.559
Okay, So.
387
00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:57.599
I know it starts with a g Gondodo right, played
388
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by just you know, just played to pitch perfect, like
389
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:07.839
amazing perfection, and it's just like so gloriously real the
390
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.720
way that that he that everybody's portrayed. But he mentions
391
00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:13.440
at one point, he you know, I've worked for National
392
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.920
Shoes for you know, decades, except for my time in
393
00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.599
the war, and I literally got a minute past that
394
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:23.160
I was like, oh, that's weird. World War two is
395
00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:28.720
what he's talking about. Oh weird, right, Oh you fought
396
00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.359
for Oh that's a weird layer.
397
00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:32.200
Right.
398
00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:39.039
But then additionally to see his kid and the chauffeur'st
399
00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:44.240
kid running around playing cowboys and Indians, and it really
400
00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:49.599
was like a blast, because not a blast like haha fun,
401
00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:51.440
but like a blast of cold water to the face
402
00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:55.000
because you see to your point about I'm used to
403
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.440
seeing Kirosawa Samurai period films, and then you sort of
404
00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:03.759
see this this declaration on screen of how much American
405
00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.039
culture had infected Japan.
406
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:07.480
By that point.
407
00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.720
Yeah, which is wild because the mom is still in
408
00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.680
the traditional dress, but the son's running around with a
409
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:14.359
cowboy hat and.
410
00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:19.359
A pistol, and it's that's weird. Yeah, it's really weird.
411
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.839
And that I mean, they're just the capitalistic impulse, like
412
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.440
just the business acumen, the way they're talking about this company.
413
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:27.960
It's very It's.
414
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.599
Like that's it's a whole lair that I hadn't thought
415
00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:32.920
about either until you just bringing it up now.
416
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:33.839
But it is.
417
00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:36.960
We're in this post World War two era, you know,
418
00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:40.119
Japan is at this point started like kind of back
419
00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.559
on its feet, but certainly very heavily influenced by the West.
420
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.079
But I think also.
421
00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:48.759
Just there was it was such a strange thing seeing
422
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:55.640
Kurosawa speak so directly about the issue uh contemporary issues,
423
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.880
because it's not that these are things that aren't addressed
424
00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:03.440
in his period pieces, but because this is a modern
425
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:08.759
film happening in their modern day, he's directly speaking to
426
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:14.559
specific situations and specific walks of life that are recognizable.
427
00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.160
And I know we're saying like modern, and we keep
428
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:23.039
putting quotes around it, but frankly, it still feels modern
429
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:27.240
even though it is taking place in the early sixties.
430
00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:29.759
You know, nineteen sixty three was when the film was released,
431
00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:31.920
so we're probably talking like sixty two is when it
432
00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:36.440
was filmed. It feels so contemporary, Like a lot of
433
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:42.839
this stuff does not feel other than the technology thematically, emotionally,
434
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:47.160
and then even again cinematically. Kurosawa is just such a
435
00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:51.000
genius and has so much influence over this art form.
436
00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:56.440
It all feels contemporary and the way it's talking about everything,
437
00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:57.920
And I think, like the first time I saw it,
438
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:01.680
I was just so blown away by that, because you know,
439
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:06.319
you're you get classic films older films have a vibe
440
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.680
where you're like, Okay, I'm watching an older film, and
441
00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:12.559
of course that's here the framing and the way certain
442
00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:17.680
like scenes are laid out, the way certain like performances.
443
00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:18.599
Are enacted or acted out.
444
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:24.920
But it just feels so modern in its technique and
445
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.319
it's storytelling, and it's it's fascinating.
446
00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:30.359
To sit there and look at the way he moves
447
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.720
the camera and the way he splits up space because
448
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:36.400
that first part you're you basically never leave that room, right,
449
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.720
But he keeps finding ways to set tableaus. And it's
450
00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:44.039
interesting because over on missing On on house Lights, we're
451
00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:47.920
you know, we're looking at were we're looking at Sherock
452
00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:49.920
Holmes movies, and we looked at one from nineteen thirty
453
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.720
nine and yeah, from nineteen fifty nine, and it's like,
454
00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:57.759
it's still very stage. It's still very constrained, it's still
455
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.279
very you know, theatrical and the way it's approaching, whereas
456
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:04.039
you see with Krosawa, somebody who's really like, Okay, this
457
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:05.079
is what a camera can do.
458
00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:06.599
This is what we're gonna do.
459
00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:09.400
We're gonna shoot between the two people to frame the
460
00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:11.759
guy coming across, and the camera's gonna spin around at
461
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:14.000
the end and we're gonna see everybody, And it's still
462
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.279
a very theatrical tableau, but you don't feel like it's theatrical.
463
00:23:17.319 --> 00:23:18.559
It feels more documentary.
464
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:23.039
Yes, yeah, And it like as a result, like I
465
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:27.480
can't help but think of all of the filmmakers, whether
466
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.319
it's Scorsese or Coppola or Lucas. I look at this
467
00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:36.279
film and I go, WHOA, I see so much influence
468
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.079
on those guys, or even de Palma, where it's like
469
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.160
it kind of blows your mind where it's.
470
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.039
Like, holy cow, they really were.
471
00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.240
So influenced by this guy, Like we're we're second order,
472
00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:51.480
We're a second order of magnitude influenced by Yeah.
473
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.079
Yeah, it's like so wild well, And I just love
474
00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:57.960
when you have a great filmmaker who loves storytelling and
475
00:23:58.119 --> 00:24:02.480
is not pretentious about the art, because what Krasawa did
476
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.759
so brilliantly is he understood the medium so well and
477
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.359
was such an expert, such a master of his craft
478
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.400
that the meson saying and everything about the frame is
479
00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:17.799
part of the story, Like you were saying, the way
480
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.799
characters are positioned, the way certain people are standing, other
481
00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.079
people are sitting, to demonstrate the power difference, and like
482
00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:31.440
the dynamics between classes and how everyone relates to each other.
483
00:24:32.839 --> 00:24:39.519
It's that wonderful thing that happens where you see a
484
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:43.640
master of their craft fully understanding the capabilities of their
485
00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.079
art form. And I think it's one of those films
486
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:50.880
that when you listen to the commentary or you read
487
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.920
behind the scenes tidbits, or you start to dissect the
488
00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:58.599
film and what it's saying about society and about rich
489
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.799
versus rich versus poor, and privilege versus not privilege, you
490
00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:07.200
start to understand the way Kurrasawa was like, here's how
491
00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.720
I want to demonstrate that visually, and I mean it
492
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:13.480
is it's such a joy as a fan of film
493
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:18.279
to go back and rewatch this over and over again
494
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.200
to pick up on those things.
495
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.680
Well, just even the themes and the way he explores.
496
00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.319
I couldn't help but think of Parasite and everybody celebrating Parasite,
497
00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:30.519
and I'm like, I forgive me for saying this, because
498
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.759
I enjoyed Parasite. I thought there's a lot of value
499
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.000
to Parasite, but at the same time, I thought it
500
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:37.319
was a little ham handed at certain points, and then
501
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:39.599
at the end, I was like, this is a little much, right,
502
00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:44.240
he went a little far with everything, with the metaphors
503
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:48.599
it were, whereas this is a very subtle thing and
504
00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:54.359
doesn't really come fully together until that final scene. And
505
00:25:54.440 --> 00:26:00.680
what director on earth nowadays would have the courage to
506
00:26:01.079 --> 00:26:06.799
end the film with the protagonist slumped over faced away
507
00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:11.480
from the camera, right and and basically saying to us, well,
508
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.960
how do you feel about like and just ending it
509
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.079
and walking away after you've seen this guy emotionally melt
510
00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:24.119
down because I had to look at you and go
511
00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.559
through this and start off saying I'm not afraid to die.
512
00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:30.920
I was making a statement I'm not. And then at
513
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:33.960
the end he's he's just a victim of.
514
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:36.680
Desire.
515
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:40.440
He's a victim of seeing that great success on the
516
00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:45.480
hill looking down on him that whole time, right, And.
517
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.640
It's it's, you know what, the sin of coveting. And
518
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:54.000
but it's also like the film is not necessarily.
519
00:26:55.319 --> 00:27:01.640
It's not sympathetic towards the kidnapper, but it's not detached
520
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.039
from him either. A lot of that comes through, I
521
00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:07.440
think the performance, But I think that final scene is
522
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:07.920
really what.
523
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:13.519
It's really what hits the nail on the head is
524
00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:15.400
we sit with.
525
00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:18.559
That moment and we're I mean, Gondo is kind of
526
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:21.599
at like just like what was what was the point
527
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:22.039
of it all?
528
00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:25.240
And the guy's basically like the point was I hate you?
529
00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:29.720
And it's like okay, wow, like all right, And and
530
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.759
like you said, there's no feeling of resolution, there's no
531
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:36.640
feeling of like, yeah, there's a victory in that, you know,
532
00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:40.720
the kidnapper is getting his due, but Gondo is still ruined.
533
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:44.240
He has to start over this horrible thing happened to him,
534
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.640
and there isn't necessarily.
535
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.640
A come up. It's like it's kind of saying.
536
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:53.279
Like, you know, nobody won, nobody wins here, everybody lost. Yeah,
537
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:58.480
And and it's it's that that you do have this
538
00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:03.519
situation where Gondo is undone by his rivals who are
539
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:04.839
trying to screw him over.
540
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:06.680
So what was he.
541
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:10.359
Climbing for? Anyway, He's trying to climb the next round
542
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.799
of the ladder when this happens, and then at the end,
543
00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:14.480
it's like what were you bothering with that?
544
00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:14.680
For?
545
00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.680
There's no happiness at any stage of this entire thing.
546
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:23.960
Everybody's miserable and the thing that hurts to an extent
547
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.440
and this is where it's going to be difficult for
548
00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:29.799
me to convey, So please help me out if it
549
00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:34.319
feels you're getting lost here. One of the things that
550
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:38.880
of course everybody deals with when they encounter old films
551
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:44.960
from America, especially is I'm going to pull very specifically
552
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:46.480
Breakfast at Tiffany's.
553
00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.240
And you know why I'm pulling it in relation to.
554
00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:52.000
This, I don't because I have not seen Breck.
555
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:52.759
You've never seen it.
556
00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:00.680
There is a racial stereotype in that movie that is, uh,
557
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:05.440
really uncomfortable in a lot of ways. But I've always
558
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:10.680
contextualized and said, yeah, it sucks, but America as a
559
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.000
whole was dealing with the trauma of World War Two.
560
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:17.119
They were giving people like it was a really unhealthy thing.
561
00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:18.680
I do think I know what you're talking about.
562
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.279
But I'm so I'm sort of like, I'm not excusing it,
563
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.279
but I'm rationalizing it.
564
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:24.599
I'm saying, like, I understand what.
565
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.039
You're putting it.
566
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:28.400
You're contextualizing it, right, even more than rationalizing it.
567
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:32.240
And and so I sort of like I never gave
568
00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:33.960
it a pass, but I was like, this is it's
569
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.720
the time. But then I look at this film and
570
00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:44.200
a Kara ter Sawa with this layered, beautiful structured story
571
00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:48.920
businessman and and class warfare and the crime procedural in
572
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:53.000
the middle of it that Michael Mann, You're welcome, you.
573
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.720
Know that sort of thing, David Fincher, Michael David.
574
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:02.319
And I look at that, and I go like, it's
575
00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:07.000
embarrassing because I look I look at like, oh, the
576
00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:10.440
nerve we had this is this is the country that
577
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:13.680
the only one you know up to up to the
578
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:15.759
point of this recording, who knows what the future holds,
579
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:21.400
that's been nuked twice, right, And like there's a maturity
580
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:25.079
to the film where I'm like, I I'm not entire
581
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:29.119
I don't feel like I could really contextualize breakfast at Tiffany's.
582
00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:32.599
Anybody, Well, I think you know Japan in general, because
583
00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:36.279
I mean their unique history and their approach to life.
584
00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.799
I've all since I was a kid.
585
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:43.720
I just you know, growing up and discovering anime and
586
00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:47.519
then really getting into Japanese films and you know, Kurasawa
587
00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:48.519
and other filmmakers.
588
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.920
But like, Japan has such a spiritual, thoughtful.
589
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.319
The culture in general is so spiritual and thoughtful in
590
00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:02.200
the way they approach things, and Kurosawa I think was
591
00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:07.960
one of the early artists who was giving voice to
592
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:13.839
those complex, complicated emotions and feelings about everything.
593
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:15.160
It was never.
594
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.279
It's never about pointing fingers or laying blame. It was
595
00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:23.839
almost like a sad acceptance of what the war was
596
00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:28.799
and what Japan's role in that war was. And so
597
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.240
there's a humbleness to that culture and the way they
598
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:38.799
see life, but it makes the interpretations they have of
599
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:44.559
like in this case, the class conversation and the rich
600
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:49.440
versus the poor. There's like I said, that kidnapper, you're
601
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:55.799
not necessarily sympathetic towards him, but it's a clear eyed.
602
00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:58.720
View of him. It's not filtered through.
603
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:04.319
You know, the filmmaker is obviously going to have a
604
00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:07.920
perspective no matter what, even if like they are trying
605
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:10.759
to be as clear eyed as possible, that is in
606
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:14.200
and of itself a perspective, and I think what Kurasawa
607
00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:18.200
is trying to do in this situation and the thesis
608
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:22.319
statement by the end of the film is like like
609
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.680
there is there is nobody to blame in everybody to
610
00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:28.759
blame here, and just being that clear eyed about it,
611
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:32.279
I think is very ingrained in Japanese culture.
612
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.480
Well I think I think what you see there, you know,
613
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.319
is that you know, film is an art form that's
614
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:43.839
coming up, and it's something where American America is a
615
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:49.519
very young country, and I think that other countries in
616
00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:54.039
general with a lot more history are going to be
617
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:58.039
able to, like it's the way they're going to communicate
618
00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:02.000
with the medium is going to reflected that that long
619
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.240
storied evolution of the culture coming up to that moment
620
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:05.640
in time.
621
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.799
It's it's just a bit different.
622
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:11.119
And then of course blockbusters will undo us all, you know,
623
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:17.359
a few decades later, but it's it's it's just a
624
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:21.079
it's so beautiful because the thing is we're we're talking
625
00:33:21.079 --> 00:33:21.839
about Kursawa.
626
00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:23.160
But I think it's.
627
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:27.799
Important as well to really shout out with the complex
628
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:33.000
camera moves and everything his you know, director of photography.
629
00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.559
We go handheld at certain scenes when we're going through
630
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:43.799
the drug user's alley, right and going through it's so
631
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.079
claustrophobic without getting confused.
632
00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:50.519
And the train sequence as wells stunning.
633
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:54.599
It's insane, everybody getting up and moving around and getting
634
00:33:54.599 --> 00:33:57.880
into the compact space. Like there were specific moments where
635
00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:01.519
I was thinking to myself, uh uh, you know, cocos
636
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:03.960
of the context we're watching the film, I'm like, how
637
00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:06.240
do they get the camera there? Like it's you know,
638
00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:08.760
it's that sort of thing, like I completely believe I'm
639
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:09.719
on a train.
640
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:11.679
That's traveling at high speed.
641
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:14.880
Well they you know, it's like some of it is.
642
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.199
I think some of them is actually on the train.
643
00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:19.599
And I don't know how much of it was a set.
644
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:21.199
I mean, at a certain point, I think some of
645
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:21.800
it had to be.
646
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.639
But uh, I think a lot of the movement because
647
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:27.599
the natural light that you get from the movement and
648
00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:30.440
just the feeling of movement when you're on a train
649
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:33.079
is so different from when it's staged. And I think
650
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:36.199
Kisawa wanted that that he wanted that reality. He knew
651
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:39.519
you couldn't replicate it, so he's very careful about which
652
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:43.920
shots were a live train that was actually moving versus
653
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:48.000
on a set. And I think you're absolutely right. I
654
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.400
mean the cinematograph. I think he worked with two cinematographers,
655
00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:54.440
his older one and then the one that he would
656
00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:57.480
work with from this point on into the future. And
657
00:34:57.719 --> 00:35:00.480
you have a lot of Krasawa films before this that
658
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:02.599
were sort of the full frame.
659
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:04.599
I don't remember the exact specs of it.
660
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:07.000
But this is the wide screen, so we're getting a
661
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:09.039
lot of we have a lot of frame to fill,
662
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:14.280
and it's so beautifully framed and everything is so dynamic,
663
00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:18.440
and I just I just love the way it looks,
664
00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:20.840
and I love that sense of movement. I love the
665
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:25.639
sense of experimentation. And Kurasawa would typically he would always,
666
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:28.239
I mean, he would use long lenses, and he would
667
00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:32.760
always have I think at least two cameras going during
668
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:35.559
any given scene, so one would be kind of the
669
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:37.400
static shot and one would be moving.
670
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:42.239
So it would make editing. It always made it.
671
00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:45.800
He always was clear about what the movements were and
672
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:48.119
what he wanted from each one, but he wanted those
673
00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:52.039
options as well. But I just love the I love
674
00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:54.159
the look of the film. I love that we have
675
00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:57.360
we start things off in this very kind of clean,
676
00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:58.719
air conditioned space.
677
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:00.480
We spend a lot of time there.
678
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:02.840
Like I think maybe about I want to say, like
679
00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:06.639
forty five minutes of the film. That first forty five
680
00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:10.440
minutes is really just in Yeah, you're a Mifune's home
681
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:13.239
and we're there with the police, and like you said,
682
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.480
we get a lot out of that space.
683
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.880
We get a real sense.
684
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:20.480
Krasovl is, he was always great at this, just the
685
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:23.920
sense of staging and creating the space for the audience
686
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:27.599
to understand where everything is in relation to each other.
687
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:30.880
It expands beyond the home once we start to do
688
00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:34.840
the investigation and we start to go into the underworld
689
00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:41.159
and we see that relationship between Gundo's house, the house
690
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:45.559
on the hill, and this underground, this CD underbelly of
691
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.880
the society that they're living in. And I just love
692
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:52.800
I love the way it's it's all portrayed.
693
00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:55.320
But even the you know, with the CD underbelly that
694
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:58.639
you're talking about, like we then got you know, the
695
00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:01.719
wrong We go down rung by rung and we wind
696
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:03.320
up in the lowest of the low which is the
697
00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:08.960
drug alley, and but then it it's literally you feel
698
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:11.480
like that is just around the corner from the nice
699
00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:14.840
downtown that they see each other at.
700
00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:18.800
And you have this great.
701
00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:24.760
Moment where the guy basically bums a light from Gondo. Yes,
702
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.679
And the only thing I could think afterward, after the
703
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.559
move the film is over, it's like, how many times
704
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:32.800
have I seen something like this? I know there was
705
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:35.639
a part of my little lizard brain that was expecting oh,
706
00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:37.360
we're going to find out that he's in on it
707
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.239
or something, right, like, because that's exactly what an American
708
00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:43.039
director nowadays would do, right And like, it turns out
709
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:45.480
he stayed the whole thing himself, and it's like, and
710
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:47.280
then you have to sit there the rest of the
711
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.199
movie you're like, that doesn't even make sense, but you're
712
00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:57.920
spared that here, And I think that there's just that
713
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:03.440
idea of all of those different wrongs. But additionally, I
714
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:10.079
gotta give him credit for the staging of when the
715
00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:14.119
kidnapper goes and buys the drugs on the dance floor, right,
716
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:18.400
it's so beautifully done. Everybody crammed into the place, moving
717
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:20.440
around that is making sure.
718
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:22.719
We gets so it's so kinetic.
719
00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:26.719
But like again, just the complexity of the scene, but
720
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:30.159
just the clarity with which we're able to see that
721
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:32.960
switch away, that sleight of hand where they where he
722
00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:37.639
hands the drugs off. It's so good. It's so good,
723
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:41.519
and it really is. It's what Kurasawa at years. At
724
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:44.239
this point he'd been decades into his career, but he
725
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:47.880
just mastered that understanding of being able to tell stories
726
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:53.000
visually and trusting the audience to to go along with him.
727
00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:55.639
Well, I got I gotta ask you though, because.
728
00:38:55.400 --> 00:39:02.920
Like I, you know, everybody absolutely acknowledges you know, Kursawa
729
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:07.159
is amazing, Like what a what a storied career, And
730
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:10.679
I understand why this is regarded as such an incredible film.
731
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.599
I think it's incredible. I got to know, though, like,
732
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:15.760
is there anything that you think, like does it does
733
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:18.519
it drag for you at any point? Like does it
734
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.440
do you have any challenge with pace or anything?
735
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:20.719
Yeah?
736
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:22.519
I wanted to and I wanted to talk about this
737
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:26.440
because I think my early viewings each time I have
738
00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:31.039
found that I maybe just because I'm familiar with the
739
00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:34.239
film and understand what it's trying to say. Uh, it's
740
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:38.280
each viewing, I've appreciated it and loved it more and more.
741
00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:40.400
I think the first time I saw it, I was
742
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:44.840
thrown to me the most compelling part. And I found
743
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.159
this a lot with Kubrick's works when I watched Kubrick's
744
00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:49.440
films the first time I saw them. A lot of
745
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:51.559
his films are kind of divided into a first half
746
00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:54.440
and a second half where everyone loves the first half
747
00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:56.079
and then the second half kind of drags.
748
00:39:56.559 --> 00:39:58.480
But then the more you think about it, and the more.
749
00:39:58.280 --> 00:39:59.960
You rewatch it, you're kind of thinking of like clock
750
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:02.599
or orange full metal jacket as well, shut like all
751
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:05.880
of these. The more you start to think about it
752
00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:08.639
and appreciate what the second half is saying about the
753
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:12.480
first half and how they throw each other into context.
754
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:15.559
I think for me, the first time, I was so
755
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:21.920
invested in the story of the kidnapping with Gondo's chauffeur
756
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.320
his son, and so when that was resolved early on
757
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:26.880
in the film. And when I say early on, I
758
00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:28.519
mean the film is about two and a half hours long,
759
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:31.519
so it's about an hour into the film, I remember
760
00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:34.440
thinking like, okay, so where are we going next? And
761
00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:40.880
the film shifts gears into like police procedural, very very detailed.
762
00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:44.400
Please like step by step we go through.
763
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:52.199
Every point of this investigation with the police. And now
764
00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:55.639
I love it, because I absolutely love The actor's name
765
00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.239
is Tatsuya Nakadai, one of the great Japanese actors.
766
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:01.920
He was in Yojimbo, and I believe he was in
767
00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:03.599
Sanjuro as well before this.
768
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:06.280
I haven't seen either one of those either, so sorry.
769
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:07.719
For wonderful, wonderful films.
770
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:08.000
Uh.
771
00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:12.719
And he was also in the Human Condition how Rakiri
772
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:15.239
h incredible actor.
773
00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:16.960
Which character did he play?
774
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.360
He played the lead detective in this film.
775
00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:22.840
Oh oh yeah, oh yes, okay, so I know I
776
00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:25.119
know exactly what you're talking. He amazing.
777
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:28.880
I think because I was so invested in Toshira Mifune,
778
00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:32.840
who's the He's Gondo, the main the main character, quote unquote.
779
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.360
But the film kind of has like two or three
780
00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:37.559
minutes it's like he is the main character, and then
781
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:40.679
it hands it off to the police, and then we
782
00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:42.400
handed off almost to the kidnapper.
783
00:41:42.440 --> 00:41:45.599
The kidnapper sort of becomes the main character in the
784
00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:46.719
third act of the film.
785
00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:51.039
But I think this is all our long way of
786
00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:56.480
saying I was thrown by the switch from intense kidnapping
787
00:41:56.599 --> 00:42:00.320
plot and ransom and kidnapper and our are they going
788
00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:05.840
to get the guy to methodical, slower paced, step by
789
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:11.360
step detective look and police work and procedural That threw
790
00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:13.840
me the first time I saw it, and not to
791
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:16.440
the point where I was like, well this film, this
792
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:18.920
is I don't like this at all, but it did
793
00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:22.199
with it was like, well, the first hour so is
794
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:25.840
much more engaging and exciting to me. But now I'm
795
00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:29.440
just so fascinated by the whole film, and so fascinated
796
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:36.880
by the whiplash of switching gears so completely, and as
797
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:40.280
we've said, you see it so often employed in modern cinema,
798
00:42:40.559 --> 00:42:44.599
like David Fincher and other great filmmakers who have done
799
00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:49.920
similar things with their films. I'm more impressed by it.
800
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:52.000
I'm more interested in what's going on.
801
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:53.320
And I just love.
802
00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:59.199
The dynamics and relationships of these officers, these detectives with
803
00:42:59.239 --> 00:43:02.079
each other. They're so oh dynamic, and they's so they
804
00:43:02.119 --> 00:43:05.039
all have such unique personalities, and I love.
805
00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:07.679
That section of the film.
806
00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:08.840
There is a.
807
00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:12.119
In terms of the Switch, there was a book and
808
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:13.800
I can't remember the title of it. I barred it
809
00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:16.639
from my dad and we're talking. This is decades ago,
810
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:18.760
so I remember it was written by I think it
811
00:43:18.840 --> 00:43:24.199
was like Larry Niven and Larry McMurtry, right, so like
812
00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:28.719
weird pairing, right, sci fi writer, Western writer. But they
813
00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:33.840
both wrote one half of the book, and there was
814
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:36.840
no like collect like it was one wrote in this voice,
815
00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:39.480
one wrote in that voice, or two completely different characters.
816
00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:42.559
And then the final scene is the two characters meeting
817
00:43:42.760 --> 00:43:46.000
and you find out this all happened before the previous
818
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:48.599
two parts of the book. So that's what ties it
819
00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:51.800
all together sort of thing. And this is a similar
820
00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:54.840
sort of experience where I find it so satisfying because
821
00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:59.039
of that tie together scene. So much hinges on that, Yeah,
822
00:43:59.159 --> 00:44:05.960
so much hinges on that because that resolution scene then
823
00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:09.400
informs everything that you just experience in the police procedural, right,
824
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:13.280
And it's one of those things where like, no, you
825
00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.679
said it earlier, and you're right, Kursawood doesn't ask us
826
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:20.440
at all to sympathize with the kidnapper at all, but
827
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:27.079
we understand what he's been through and you can't help.
828
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:32.480
But wonder now with that procedural part that happens because
829
00:44:32.519 --> 00:44:36.039
the detectives they clearly state it's our mission, this is
830
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:38.960
our job to make sure that mister Gondo is taken
831
00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:39.320
care of.
832
00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:40.559
We can't let him down.
833
00:44:41.760 --> 00:44:43.840
And if they had simply said, look, you got the
834
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.920
kid back, sorry about your money, and walked away and
835
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:51.960
it's cold case territory. Now, how different this guy's life was.
836
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:56.440
This isn't because Gondo went after him. It's because the
837
00:44:56.480 --> 00:45:01.000
police went after him, and that in of itself is
838
00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:02.199
really interesting.
839
00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:03.760
Yeah, I think you're right.
840
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:07.159
I think that is what I have admired about that
841
00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:12.599
sequence is the relationship, the emotional connection the police develop
842
00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:16.440
with Gundo, even though it's not overtly stated, it's not obvious,
843
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:19.119
but what happens is they see this man go through
844
00:45:19.119 --> 00:45:22.519
this moral dilemma where at first he's like, I'm not
845
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.599
gonna do it, it's not my responsibility. He tries to
846
00:45:25.599 --> 00:45:28.199
talk himself out of it, he tries to rationalize with
847
00:45:28.320 --> 00:45:31.599
himself why I can't pay this ransom. It's going to
848
00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:36.039
ruin my life, and then ultimately makes this incredible sacrifice
849
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:40.199
because he is a good person, and you see the
850
00:45:40.239 --> 00:45:44.039
police recognize that, and so we as the audience end
851
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:48.719
up like rooting for their investigation, not just because we
852
00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:50.559
want to see a bad guy taken down, but because
853
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:53.360
of their cause. Is yes, of course we want to
854
00:45:53.400 --> 00:45:56.519
find this kidnapper, but we're doing it because we want to.
855
00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:03.119
We want to support and help this man who made
856
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:05.760
a sacrifice that we admire. We admire this person, right,
857
00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:09.119
and therefore yes, it's our job to do this. But
858
00:46:09.360 --> 00:46:13.000
there is that emotional undercurrent, even though it's kind of
859
00:46:13.039 --> 00:46:15.000
stated like it's like, think of Gondo what he's going
860
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:15.960
to going through.
861
00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:18.039
We see it represented by like.
862
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:21.159
Him mowing his lawn and sweat, you know, the sweat stains,
863
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:24.360
and you know, just that quiet recognition and even at
864
00:46:24.400 --> 00:46:27.639
the end when they they're like, we've gotten back most
865
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.360
of the money except the money that was spent on drugs.
866
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:33.280
But then you have the creditors moving around the house
867
00:46:33.320 --> 00:46:37.519
and putting for sale signs and stickers on all the items.
868
00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:42.039
The victory is it's a bittersweet victory, and you recognize
869
00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:46.119
the pain of that, but you also the nobility of
870
00:46:46.360 --> 00:46:49.360
everyone involved. It's like it's almost like we talk about
871
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.679
real world and how grounded and contemporary it feels, but
872
00:46:52.719 --> 00:46:56.079
it's almost like it in some ways it's like a
873
00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:59.880
why am I blinking? It's a wonderful life Frank kaeperf
874
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:03.360
where it's almost like everyone is a good person and
875
00:47:03.400 --> 00:47:06.119
they're all gonna help each other out and we're all
876
00:47:06.599 --> 00:47:08.559
like there is that feeling of we're all in this
877
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:14.360
together that is sort of fantastical, but it's done so
878
00:47:14.519 --> 00:47:18.440
well and it's earned, and you you just you go,
879
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:21.400
you go with it because because the pain and the
880
00:47:21.400 --> 00:47:23.599
suffering is so genuine.
881
00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:26.000
And it's and but the thing is that you know,
882
00:47:27.159 --> 00:47:29.320
I get what you're saying with the Frank Caeper thing.
883
00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:32.880
But it's also a social commentary in and of itself
884
00:47:33.280 --> 00:47:36.440
because the kidnappers cardinal sin is he just presumes, because
885
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:38.880
the guy is a rich guy, he must be an
886
00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:42.519
a hole that doesn't deserve good things in life, right,
887
00:47:42.559 --> 00:47:45.679
And it's like so you layer that on where it's like, well,
888
00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:51.239
you know, he's he's still a good person. He's more fortunate, yes,
889
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.639
but he's still a good person. You know, like he's
890
00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:01.960
you know the complexities of life and and personality. I mean,
891
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.719
this is this is the type of film that easily
892
00:48:06.920 --> 00:48:09.679
could turn someone into and this is going to do
893
00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:11.400
this to me. It's going to put me on a
894
00:48:11.400 --> 00:48:15.880
Cursawa kick, right because I'm like, of course I've seen
895
00:48:16.360 --> 00:48:20.559
The Hidden Fortress and seven Samurai. No lifelong Star Wars fan.
896
00:48:20.599 --> 00:48:22.880
It's like eventually we all read here with a thousand
897
00:48:22.880 --> 00:48:25.039
faces too, and we don't want to admit that it's
898
00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:27.880
boring as hell, but it is. But like it's one
899
00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:29.599
of those things though where it's like, yeah, this is
900
00:48:29.639 --> 00:48:31.800
part of the curriculum of being a Star Wars fan,
901
00:48:32.079 --> 00:48:35.000
whereas this is outside that curriculum. And it's like it's
902
00:48:35.159 --> 00:48:37.239
it's that moment and I'm not saying I was ever
903
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:39.239
like that, where it's like curs I won'tly have value
904
00:48:39.239 --> 00:48:42.880
in that in that sense. Sure, obviously the films were great.
905
00:48:43.199 --> 00:48:45.079
But what you're saying, what you're saying is kind of
906
00:48:45.079 --> 00:48:46.559
what I was touching on in the first part. I
907
00:48:46.559 --> 00:48:48.719
feel like High and Low now is held in the
908
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:53.599
regard that it should be, whereas before George Lucas not intentionally,
909
00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:58.360
I think it's just people grasped onto George Lucas referencing
910
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:03.599
Hidden Fortress by and specifically there are two servant characters
911
00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:06.480
who inspired R two D two and three PO and
912
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:08.440
Lucas was like that unlocked the door for me, where
913
00:49:08.519 --> 00:49:12.800
oh we start with the droids the servants, and that's
914
00:49:12.920 --> 00:49:17.360
kind of our humble way into this grand epic story.
915
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:19.800
But people really latched onto that. So I think Ki
916
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:22.079
and Low, even when it was first released, was kind
917
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:24.599
of seen by critics as like, oh, it's good, but
918
00:49:24.679 --> 00:49:28.800
it's not like a major work of Kurasawa's, so it's like,
919
00:49:28.840 --> 00:49:31.440
you're not guilty of anything other than what Like, I
920
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:36.079
think Ki and Low as people have celebrated seven Samurai
921
00:49:36.199 --> 00:49:38.840
rightfully so and Rasham on other films.
922
00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:40.159
It's like, well, wait a second, let's take a look.
923
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:42.559
At these other ones, like Akro, which I think has
924
00:49:42.599 --> 00:49:45.760
always been held in high regard, but I think nowadays
925
00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:48.960
some would say it's his best film, which rightfully so,
926
00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.039
but some would say, you know, this one and red
927
00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:55.559
Beard and other films are worthy of being up.
928
00:49:55.480 --> 00:49:56.159
There as well.
929
00:49:57.559 --> 00:50:00.079
Because you said red Beard. I thought it was so
930
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:05.039
oh cool how they added the pink tint to the yes,
931
00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:07.000
even though the rest of the film is in black
932
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:07.480
and white.
933
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:08.719
And I think it's the.
934
00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:09.880
First time color.
935
00:50:10.119 --> 00:50:12.440
Yeah, I think that's the first time there's color in
936
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:14.079
a Krasawa film.
937
00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:17.360
It was so brilliantly done, Like it was just it's
938
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.559
shocking to see it. We're like, oh my gosh, like
939
00:50:20.639 --> 00:50:23.639
and it's and I gotta say, like, the score is
940
00:50:23.679 --> 00:50:31.960
so minimal, but every time they use like very it's like, right,
941
00:50:32.079 --> 00:50:35.719
those big moments, Yes, it's almost like Hans Zimmer finding
942
00:50:35.760 --> 00:50:37.519
a drum set for a Superman.
943
00:50:37.159 --> 00:50:39.840
Movie or something like, hey, all right, it's an important moment.
944
00:50:40.039 --> 00:50:41.719
Well, it's also great to curs amid.
945
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:44.400
You know he did this in seven Samurai where they
946
00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:47.800
have that map and you know they're drawing on it
947
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:51.000
and saying here's where we're going to set up our defense.
948
00:50:51.679 --> 00:50:54.320
Here's how many bandits theyre are. So it's like every
949
00:50:54.360 --> 00:50:59.480
time we then see that payoff visually in the action
950
00:50:59.599 --> 00:51:01.880
of the film, we just get a little kick because
951
00:51:01.880 --> 00:51:03.639
it's like, oh, we were in on the planning, Like
952
00:51:03.719 --> 00:51:06.599
this is so cool. And it's another great example of
953
00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:10.760
set up and payoff where they specifically said these suitcases
954
00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:14.920
will emit a smell, they will emit a color, a pink,
955
00:51:15.559 --> 00:51:20.599
smoky color, and so to have that payoff visually is
956
00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:23.800
just so wonderful, and Krasawa does that brilliantly. Just that
957
00:51:23.960 --> 00:51:28.920
set up something that feels arbitrary when an expository isn't paid.
958
00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:30.440
Off in a way that feels really exciting.
959
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:32.800
Can I say something that is going to be weird
960
00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:35.239
and it's a very personal thing, but at the moment,
961
00:51:35.920 --> 00:51:38.000
well no, it's just a weird thing. I just want
962
00:51:38.039 --> 00:51:40.199
to get it on a record for time, you know,
963
00:51:40.239 --> 00:51:42.039
as this I love when you get weird things on
964
00:51:42.079 --> 00:51:45.320
the record. As this goes out, like Robert Zemecha's starting
965
00:51:45.360 --> 00:51:47.960
contact at some point an alien species going to hear
966
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:55.159
these words somewhere out there. But with with Gondo sitting
967
00:51:55.199 --> 00:51:57.599
down and saying back to my apprentice days.
968
00:51:57.639 --> 00:51:59.159
He's like, I know how to cut the thing in
969
00:51:59.199 --> 00:51:59.960
and put it in there.
970
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:04.199
Who I saw in that moment was my dad, Because
971
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:08.719
my dad he worked for the phone company his entire life, well,
972
00:52:08.719 --> 00:52:10.960
I mean, you know, not since childhood, but like basically
973
00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:14.519
it was his whole professional career. And he he was
974
00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:16.559
a guy who went up in the cherry picker and
975
00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:18.960
worked on the phone lines back before they had the
976
00:52:18.960 --> 00:52:21.960
wisdom to bury them, you know, phone company smarter than
977
00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:22.920
the electric company.
978
00:52:22.639 --> 00:52:25.119
But whatever, And so he was the one.
979
00:52:25.159 --> 00:52:27.719
And but he wound up, you know, climbing up the ranks,
980
00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:29.920
and like eventually he gets an office job and he's
981
00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:32.440
like helping like build computers and stuff like that. Always
982
00:52:32.440 --> 00:52:35.039
an engineer at heart. But I see my dad in
983
00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:37.159
that scene, and it's such a beautiful thing.
984
00:52:38.199 --> 00:52:40.000
Because when my wife.
985
00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:42.320
And I moved into our first house, it was a
986
00:52:42.360 --> 00:52:47.159
flip house, right, because it was before the market crash
987
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:49.639
that caused all the housing values to fall whatever. Right,
988
00:52:50.800 --> 00:52:53.280
they had rented out the three different levels of the
989
00:52:53.280 --> 00:52:58.079
townhouse before they flipped it, right, so each floor had
990
00:52:58.119 --> 00:53:01.880
a different phone line coming in, so only one phone
991
00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:04.599
line worked. And I know kids. This is landline stuff.
992
00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:06.159
So I'll speed it up at this point because nobody
993
00:53:06.199 --> 00:53:09.599
uses anymore. But basically my dad I was like, ah,
994
00:53:09.719 --> 00:53:11.960
they want, you know, one hundred and fifty dollars per
995
00:53:12.239 --> 00:53:14.920
jack and everything. And my Dad's like, okay, all right,
996
00:53:15.039 --> 00:53:16.719
I'm gonna come out there. And he came out there
997
00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:19.760
and he still had his old toolkit from when he
998
00:53:19.960 --> 00:53:21.719
was the guy that went and worked on the lines.
999
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:22.079
Right.
1000
00:53:22.320 --> 00:53:24.119
Remember him looking at me and he's dead now so
1001
00:53:24.159 --> 00:53:27.199
they can't sue him. He looks at me and he goes,
1002
00:53:27.360 --> 00:53:29.679
don't tell anybody I did this because I could get
1003
00:53:29.679 --> 00:53:32.519
in a lot of trouble. And he rewired our whole
1004
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:33.920
house because he remembered how.
1005
00:53:33.760 --> 00:53:36.960
To do it. Oh that's great, and yeah it was.
1006
00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:37.599
It was brilliant.
1007
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:40.079
But when I see Gondo in that scene, like it's
1008
00:53:40.159 --> 00:53:45.119
so relatable. You learn in that one moment because he
1009
00:53:45.159 --> 00:53:47.239
makes a comment to his wife, you've always had money.
1010
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:47.880
You don't know what.
1011
00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:50.920
It's like and you and the thing is if you
1012
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:52.960
if you stop and you think about it. At the end,
1013
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:58.079
that guy again the kidnapper, is presuming Gondo's had money
1014
00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:02.199
his whole life. And God was like, no, I started
1015
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:05.840
out pretty low too, and I climbed my way up
1016
00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:07.920
and so like you get that whole aspect of the
1017
00:54:07.960 --> 00:54:12.840
class warfare thrown in there, and it's like it's so beautiful,
1018
00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:13.679
it's gorgeous.
1019
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:15.280
It's such a I don't know, I don't know.
1020
00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:18.559
It's also like just just again speaking of the framing
1021
00:54:18.599 --> 00:54:20.719
and the blocking is you know, he is sitting on
1022
00:54:20.760 --> 00:54:23.440
the floor and like getting his hands dirty, and you
1023
00:54:23.480 --> 00:54:25.639
see it, like, you know, all the police around him
1024
00:54:25.639 --> 00:54:27.000
are just kind of watching him and.
1025
00:54:27.039 --> 00:54:28.000
Amazed by him.
1026
00:54:28.440 --> 00:54:32.800
And again it provides that emotional connection and that motivation
1027
00:54:32.920 --> 00:54:34.960
for them later on to really really like we're going
1028
00:54:35.039 --> 00:54:36.800
to get this guy, and not only get this guy,
1029
00:54:36.800 --> 00:54:40.320
but we're actually going to set him up in a
1030
00:54:40.360 --> 00:54:45.320
way that will ensure his punishment is right worse than
1031
00:54:45.480 --> 00:54:49.239
it would have been. It's something else. Kisawa was commenting on.
1032
00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:52.119
Part of his motivation for telling the story, I think
1033
00:54:52.199 --> 00:54:56.960
was because the kit punishments for kidnapping in Japan.
1034
00:54:57.119 --> 00:54:58.280
Prior to World War Two.
1035
00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:03.199
It it wasn't a serious crime, so the punishments weren't serious.
1036
00:55:03.559 --> 00:55:05.920
But post World War Two there was an increase in
1037
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:11.400
child kidnapping, and the punishments were remained too lenient for
1038
00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:14.119
a little while, so I think at this point, by
1039
00:55:14.159 --> 00:55:16.320
the time the film had come out, the punishments were
1040
00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:21.760
a little bit more serious. But Kurrasawa was basically saying like, hey, guys, like,
1041
00:55:22.079 --> 00:55:24.920
doesn't this seem stupid to you that I was only
1042
00:55:24.920 --> 00:55:26.800
going to get off like five I think, what was
1043
00:55:26.840 --> 00:55:28.079
it five years or something?
1044
00:55:28.199 --> 00:55:31.039
Not even that, yeah, you're yeah, you know.
1045
00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:36.480
And the emotional devastation that are just not you know, emotional,
1046
00:55:36.519 --> 00:55:41.840
physical everything, Like the devastation caused by this simple act
1047
00:55:42.679 --> 00:55:48.280
is so beyond what the actual punishment was, Like, I
1048
00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:52.000
think Kurasawa was really speaking to that and saying, like, guys,
1049
00:55:52.119 --> 00:55:54.320
come on, and I think, like I said, I don't
1050
00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:57.559
know the exact timing, but I do know somewhere around
1051
00:55:57.559 --> 00:56:01.079
this point, those punishments became much more more severe than.
1052
00:56:00.920 --> 00:56:05.960
They were rightly so rightly so for sure. I mean,
1053
00:56:06.199 --> 00:56:09.280
it's just it's if people listening haven't figured it out yet,
1054
00:56:09.559 --> 00:56:10.599
this is a movie you should see.
1055
00:56:10.760 --> 00:56:12.840
Yeah, you should see him. You should You should definitely
1056
00:56:13.199 --> 00:56:14.079
go ahead and catch that.
1057
00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:17.039
Did you feel like, you know, we were talking about
1058
00:56:17.039 --> 00:56:19.320
the pacing and just the brilliance of that procedural section,
1059
00:56:19.400 --> 00:56:22.000
but did you feel any sense of did it throw
1060
00:56:22.039 --> 00:56:24.119
you off at all? For my first viewing it kind
1061
00:56:24.119 --> 00:56:26.840
of did Were you into it? Like, did you feel Oh,
1062
00:56:26.880 --> 00:56:27.639
I was all.
1063
00:56:28.159 --> 00:56:30.760
I was all for it because I love gearshift movies.
1064
00:56:31.039 --> 00:56:34.280
Yeah, and so I and I steal that from a
1065
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:36.119
friend of the show, Mike Schindler. He's the one that
1066
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:38.800
first used Gearshift movie with me, and I'm like, I've
1067
00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:43.760
used it ever since. But I loved it because it
1068
00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:45.079
was one of those things where I was like, I
1069
00:56:45.119 --> 00:56:46.599
realized it was like an hour in I was like
1070
00:56:46.960 --> 00:56:49.840
an hour and a half like what I was like, honestly,
1071
00:56:49.880 --> 00:56:51.400
what I was afraid of that it was gonna be
1072
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:54.880
like a MOPy hour and a half, like the husband
1073
00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:59.280
and wife are like having hard time because he hesitated or.
1074
00:56:59.199 --> 00:56:59.679
Something like that.
1075
00:56:59.679 --> 00:57:02.440
I hate. Okay, I've seen that enough, but yeah, to
1076
00:57:02.519 --> 00:57:04.880
shift over and it's like then it's a police procedural
1077
00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:08.039
and suddenly it's their movie. It's like, oh, this is
1078
00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:12.320
this is really interesting. And I never, I never once
1079
00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:13.079
got bored.
1080
00:57:13.519 --> 00:57:14.880
I was always fascinated.
1081
00:57:14.920 --> 00:57:20.199
I was always in it and seeing the kidnapper, you know,
1082
00:57:21.119 --> 00:57:23.440
paying attention to the newspaper.
1083
00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:27.800
Clippings and the uh even even seeing.
1084
00:57:27.599 --> 00:57:31.840
The boson go and talk to the garbage guy, right,
1085
00:57:32.079 --> 00:57:36.199
who's like, that's another aspect of life that we're seeing
1086
00:57:36.280 --> 00:57:38.480
right there. It's like, what a what a life this
1087
00:57:38.519 --> 00:57:40.760
guy has? Right, Like he's complaining, He's like, oh, they
1088
00:57:40.760 --> 00:57:43.159
always throw tin and that doesn't burn. What's wrong with them?
1089
00:57:43.159 --> 00:57:45.920
He's like right out the window and everything like that. Yeah,
1090
00:57:45.960 --> 00:57:46.639
there's such a life.
1091
00:57:46.679 --> 00:57:48.840
I mean, all the supporting characters, each one of them
1092
00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:52.920
has they are like, they each have their own personality,
1093
00:57:52.960 --> 00:57:55.440
and I think that's what keeps that that second part
1094
00:57:55.480 --> 00:57:59.000
of the film so interesting, is just at we are
1095
00:57:59.079 --> 00:58:02.119
so exposed how the society works, and we have such
1096
00:58:02.119 --> 00:58:04.960
a strong understanding of it by the end of the film,
1097
00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:08.679
and we understand what this place is, what the dynamics are,
1098
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:11.760
what the class differences are, and how they all interact
1099
00:58:11.840 --> 00:58:14.440
with each other, and it's just it's so good.
1100
00:58:14.920 --> 00:58:15.880
Like I'm just thinking of.
1101
00:58:15.880 --> 00:58:19.760
Like when we we even like when we transition into
1102
00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:21.400
the second half of the film, how we're looking at
1103
00:58:21.400 --> 00:58:23.199
the house on the hill and the detectives are kind
1104
00:58:23.199 --> 00:58:24.920
of like, yeah, you know, i'd kind of hate that
1105
00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:27.440
guy too, Like look at that house, kind of looking
1106
00:58:27.480 --> 00:58:30.000
down They walk off and then we pan down to
1107
00:58:30.079 --> 00:58:33.440
the gross water, we see the kidnappers reflection, and suddenly
1108
00:58:33.519 --> 00:58:36.599
we're following him into the muck of his life and
1109
00:58:37.760 --> 00:58:39.719
it's all it's all just so good, but it's all
1110
00:58:39.760 --> 00:58:41.239
in the service of the story.
1111
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:41.960
Like it's not.
1112
00:58:42.119 --> 00:58:46.480
Like that's the brilliance of it is when you see
1113
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:49.960
somebody who is so confident in what they have to
1114
00:58:49.960 --> 00:58:54.280
bring to the table, like Kurrasawo was, it is so.
1115
00:58:55.920 --> 00:58:57.719
It is just so enjoyable.
1116
00:58:57.920 --> 00:59:01.840
It is so because it's it for more effective, more
1117
00:59:01.840 --> 00:59:05.519
compelling and more engaging storytelling. And then it's just so
1118
00:59:05.639 --> 00:59:08.280
much fun to think about it, to talk about it,
1119
00:59:08.320 --> 00:59:10.880
to go back and revisit it and really start to
1120
00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:14.159
break it down and analyze it. But what were some
1121
00:59:14.199 --> 00:59:16.159
other things that stood out for you? Like, you know,
1122
00:59:16.239 --> 00:59:19.079
we talked about like David Fincher, we talked about the
1123
00:59:19.119 --> 00:59:22.360
crazy influence of Kisawa in this film, But what are
1124
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:23.559
some other things that you loved.
1125
00:59:23.920 --> 00:59:28.239
I mean that I think that you know, the the
1126
00:59:28.280 --> 00:59:32.480
actor who played the chauffeur was brilliant. He was he
1127
00:59:32.559 --> 00:59:36.519
was heartbreaking, you know, like that's another aspect of the
1128
00:59:36.559 --> 00:59:38.320
culture that you see where he's like he's on his.
1129
00:59:38.360 --> 00:59:39.320
Hands and knees.
1130
00:59:39.880 --> 00:59:41.719
I'll do anything for the rest of your life, I
1131
00:59:41.760 --> 00:59:45.159
swear to God, just just help, like when he throws
1132
00:59:45.239 --> 00:59:46.000
himself down.
1133
00:59:46.719 --> 00:59:47.239
I think that.
1134
00:59:49.880 --> 00:59:54.199
Like the probably if I were to recommend like one
1135
00:59:54.360 --> 00:59:58.960
scene as like the calling card scene that I think.
1136
00:59:58.960 --> 01:00:01.639
Is just brilliant, I don't know.
1137
01:00:02.039 --> 01:00:05.000
I mean, it's it's more a piece of it, like
1138
01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:08.599
you have to pick. Obviously there's the ending scene in
1139
01:00:08.639 --> 01:00:14.079
the you know, in the jail, but like in the
1140
01:00:14.079 --> 01:00:17.400
the kidnapping part of it, it's the sitting down on
1141
01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:21.519
the floor and showing him putting the little packets in
1142
01:00:21.400 --> 01:00:26.440
the in the suitcases, right, and then in the police
1143
01:00:26.480 --> 01:00:28.039
procedural part.
1144
01:00:28.639 --> 01:00:30.559
For me, it's really.
1145
01:00:32.519 --> 01:00:37.320
Like the part that really is wild is that that
1146
01:00:37.960 --> 01:00:40.599
the sequence where they go to the drug alley. Like
1147
01:00:40.639 --> 01:00:43.119
I know I made reference to it before, but there
1148
01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:48.440
are so many things where the sense of place is
1149
01:00:48.480 --> 01:00:49.880
so real I never doubt it.
1150
01:00:50.760 --> 01:00:53.880
So the sense of unease too, even in the music,
1151
01:00:54.039 --> 01:00:54.880
like it's varies.
1152
01:00:55.559 --> 01:00:59.320
But what's especially crazy about the drug alley part is
1153
01:00:59.480 --> 01:01:03.800
again drawing the comparison to American cinema, right Reafer Madness
1154
01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:04.559
and all this stuff.
1155
01:01:04.599 --> 01:01:05.039
It's like this.
1156
01:01:05.079 --> 01:01:08.800
Overblown like the Cursawa like I believe that this is
1157
01:01:08.880 --> 01:01:11.760
probably how the Drug Alley was. Like, you know, it's
1158
01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:15.320
a bunch of people, you know, tweaking and and like
1159
01:01:15.440 --> 01:01:20.119
look they look filthy and needy, and you know, like,
1160
01:01:20.320 --> 01:01:22.840
but it's not like the it's not like the way
1161
01:01:22.880 --> 01:01:26.400
American cinema was portraying drug use of the at the time.
1162
01:01:27.320 --> 01:01:30.840
It feels much more authentic. And even the fact that
1163
01:01:30.880 --> 01:01:34.920
the camera doesn't flinch from showing us the dead addict
1164
01:01:35.880 --> 01:01:37.960
with the needle in her hand, and you know, the
1165
01:01:38.400 --> 01:01:43.119
like the Mio Wallace trickle of a vomit right down
1166
01:01:43.199 --> 01:01:50.599
her chin, and it's like, you know, I mean, it's
1167
01:01:50.599 --> 01:01:52.800
one of those things where I just I struggle for
1168
01:01:52.840 --> 01:01:56.760
the words because of the fact that it's weird to
1169
01:01:56.920 --> 01:02:02.480
encounter a film for nineteen sixty three that can still
1170
01:02:03.360 --> 01:02:07.840
sort of leave you in awe of what it accomplishes.
1171
01:02:09.280 --> 01:02:13.039
I'm not taking anything away from American cinema obviously, Like
1172
01:02:13.719 --> 01:02:16.000
you know, yes, I've seen Touch of Evil and Citizen
1173
01:02:16.079 --> 01:02:18.719
Kane and other movies that aren't by Orson Wells and
1174
01:02:18.760 --> 01:02:22.039
stuff like that, but like it's one of those things.
1175
01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:22.599
Where there is a.
1176
01:02:25.119 --> 01:02:33.480
There is a true sense of cinemas.
1177
01:02:33.079 --> 01:02:35.760
As a pure art form here that.
1178
01:02:37.480 --> 01:02:42.360
Makes you stop and watch it, not because you just
1179
01:02:42.400 --> 01:02:45.320
want to get to the next scene, not because you
1180
01:02:46.039 --> 01:02:49.000
are solely invested in what happens next. Like you said,
1181
01:02:49.039 --> 01:02:52.119
the characterizations, it takes the time for me to feel
1182
01:02:52.159 --> 01:02:55.320
like I know these cops like bos I loved Boson
1183
01:02:55.559 --> 01:02:58.880
the entire time. He was so much fun, you know,
1184
01:02:58.960 --> 01:03:01.800
and the way he he has almost that same tell
1185
01:03:01.880 --> 01:03:04.199
that you see in other Kurosawa films of the old
1186
01:03:04.239 --> 01:03:09.559
man rubbing his ball, you know, like it's so it's
1187
01:03:09.599 --> 01:03:16.000
so beautiful in that sense, and so you know, like
1188
01:03:16.079 --> 01:03:18.079
I think at the at the end of it all,
1189
01:03:18.199 --> 01:03:23.599
it's that you're drawn in to this work because the
1190
01:03:23.639 --> 01:03:28.280
work itself is beautiful and everything else is secondary, you know.
1191
01:03:28.400 --> 01:03:31.679
It's it's just a given that it's beautifully structured and
1192
01:03:31.880 --> 01:03:38.280
well written and very well performed. And also it's so
1193
01:03:38.599 --> 01:03:43.360
weird seeing to share a Mafune in such a subtle role.
1194
01:03:43.639 --> 01:03:47.519
I've seen him a very large performances before this, but
1195
01:03:47.599 --> 01:03:49.039
he very restrained here.
1196
01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:52.920
He and Tatsi and Nakadai the detective, they are very
1197
01:03:55.360 --> 01:04:00.280
not cast against type, but outside of the image.
1198
01:04:00.119 --> 01:04:01.440
That we know them for.
1199
01:04:01.639 --> 01:04:03.960
And at the time, it was the same thing Miffune
1200
01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:07.039
seeing Uh oh, we're gonna go see a Kirosawa and
1201
01:04:07.079 --> 01:04:09.920
Miffune film and you see him like this, It's almost
1202
01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:13.320
kind of like when you saw, like, uh, Robert de
1203
01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:17.039
Niro and King of Comedy after Raging After Raging Bull.
1204
01:04:17.320 --> 01:04:19.440
You're like, wait a second, what's going on here?
1205
01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:25.519
It's it's that similar to use Schindler's term gearshift. Miffune
1206
01:04:25.719 --> 01:04:29.440
everything is insular. He has the intensity like there are
1207
01:04:29.440 --> 01:04:33.800
moments where you you know, you you'd see the flashes
1208
01:04:33.960 --> 01:04:37.679
of the Mifune character quote unquote that we've seen in
1209
01:04:37.760 --> 01:04:41.880
other films like Seven Samuraian, Thrown of Blood and and
1210
01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:45.239
even you know Stray Dog, which is another earlier film
1211
01:04:45.239 --> 01:04:48.039
of Kurasawa's that shares a lot of this one's DNA,
1212
01:04:49.679 --> 01:04:52.920
but so much of it is just subtle, understated intensity,
1213
01:04:53.039 --> 01:04:57.440
and a lot of the final scene, of course, brings
1214
01:04:57.480 --> 01:04:59.440
all of that home because he doesn't do much or
1215
01:04:59.480 --> 01:04:59.920
say much.
1216
01:05:00.079 --> 01:05:03.639
He is there fully in service to.
1217
01:05:04.199 --> 01:05:10.599
Yeah, the every every time I unlock a different maffuone performance,
1218
01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:17.400
I can't help yes again, lifelong Star Wars fan, everything
1219
01:05:17.440 --> 01:05:19.880
like that, I can't help but think of the fact
1220
01:05:19.960 --> 01:05:22.599
Lucas wanted him for Obi Wan origonally and I'm like, what.
1221
01:05:22.679 --> 01:05:24.280
A different effing.
1222
01:05:26.519 --> 01:05:31.960
Different Obi, Like, there's gotta be some alternate universe one
1223
01:05:31.960 --> 01:05:34.760
of you doctor who types out there helped me out, Like,
1224
01:05:35.360 --> 01:05:39.960
there's gotta be a doctor Who universe guy that's gonna
1225
01:05:39.960 --> 01:05:41.599
take me over where I get to see Star Wars
1226
01:05:41.599 --> 01:05:45.360
with t Shira Maffune in it, because I mean, like,
1227
01:05:45.440 --> 01:05:47.760
my yeah, that's.
1228
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:49.440
Like face meltingly wild.
1229
01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:56.920
It's probably not as accessible, right because the British, the
1230
01:05:56.960 --> 01:05:59.679
great British actor makes it, makes it so much more
1231
01:05:59.800 --> 01:06:02.639
sense for American audiences and turn it into what it
1232
01:06:02.719 --> 01:06:03.719
is sort of thing.
1233
01:06:03.760 --> 01:06:06.440
But it would have been such an interesting film to
1234
01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:07.360
see a minute.
1235
01:06:07.519 --> 01:06:14.039
And this was I think Mifune and Kurrasawa they did
1236
01:06:14.159 --> 01:06:17.199
Redbeard after this, and I think that was the end.
1237
01:06:17.199 --> 01:06:19.000
Of their collaboration. Really.
1238
01:06:19.639 --> 01:06:19.960
Yeah.
1239
01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:25.119
So it's just a very interesting like those two films
1240
01:06:25.159 --> 01:06:34.000
feel like a shift in Kurasawa's his filmography just thematically
1241
01:06:34.280 --> 01:06:38.360
tonally high and low feel there and The Bad Sleep well,
1242
01:06:38.400 --> 01:06:40.840
I can't remember exactly where that is in relation to these.
1243
01:06:40.840 --> 01:06:41.800
I think it's a little bit.
1244
01:06:41.679 --> 01:06:48.840
Before but he shifts from It's not pure optimism, you know.
1245
01:06:48.960 --> 01:06:52.000
Rassamont is not like an it's an optimistic film, and
1246
01:06:52.039 --> 01:06:55.239
that the ending is kind of a it has an
1247
01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:56.599
optimistic vibe to it.
1248
01:06:56.679 --> 01:07:02.719
Well, that's not how I recall it, but I I.
1249
01:07:04.800 --> 01:07:09.159
He shifts from being more like heroic and celebratory of
1250
01:07:09.280 --> 01:07:12.599
like you know, with Seven Samurai and Hidden Fortress, these
1251
01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:18.239
are exciting, fun films. Throne of Blood is dark, it's Shakespeare,
1252
01:07:18.719 --> 01:07:21.159
but like it feels like at this point he shifts
1253
01:07:21.239 --> 01:07:24.320
and Redbeard is kind of walking the line between that
1254
01:07:24.440 --> 01:07:28.800
optimism and that pessimism. But Krosawa tried to take his
1255
01:07:28.840 --> 01:07:32.400
own life at some point, not long after this because
1256
01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:36.960
the film. Yeah, because his films were he kind of
1257
01:07:37.400 --> 01:07:39.679
didn't lose it, but the films were not being as
1258
01:07:39.719 --> 01:07:40.360
well received.
1259
01:07:40.360 --> 01:07:44.360
There was the Deskaden and then what was the other one.
1260
01:07:44.480 --> 01:07:45.559
I can't remember the name of it.
1261
01:07:45.559 --> 01:07:48.880
It's really good, but he really struggled for a little
1262
01:07:48.920 --> 01:07:50.679
but he felt like he was out of touch with
1263
01:07:50.719 --> 01:07:54.400
society and what people wanted from modern's But.
1264
01:07:54.280 --> 01:07:57.800
That's so heartbreaking like that, and that that speaks in
1265
01:07:57.840 --> 01:08:00.880
and of itself, like when you think about it, that
1266
01:08:01.000 --> 01:08:06.079
somebody as gifted, as talented, as amazing, as influential as
1267
01:08:06.159 --> 01:08:12.480
Corrosawa can feel that way of that type of story
1268
01:08:12.559 --> 01:08:14.679
needs to be shared. I had no idea about that
1269
01:08:14.679 --> 01:08:16.680
that type of story needs to be shared far and
1270
01:08:16.760 --> 01:08:18.880
wide so that the next time somebody wants to come
1271
01:08:18.880 --> 01:08:24.239
in and play insult comedian with a work that somebody made.
1272
01:08:25.199 --> 01:08:28.840
You know, there's a place for criticism, sure, but you know,
1273
01:08:29.199 --> 01:08:30.159
maybe consider.
1274
01:08:29.920 --> 01:08:31.680
The human being on the other end of that one.
1275
01:08:32.880 --> 01:08:37.159
And I say that on the tenth anniversary of Well,
1276
01:08:37.199 --> 01:08:40.479
near the tenth anniversary of the release of I'm sorry
1277
01:08:40.479 --> 01:08:45.359
of Batman versus Superman. So try to remember that, you know,
1278
01:08:45.479 --> 01:08:49.359
there's a human being receiving your criticism on the other end. Interesting,
1279
01:08:50.720 --> 01:08:54.720
I was guilty of it too. Okay, it's ten years
1280
01:08:54.720 --> 01:08:57.279
of some conversations. I'm not proud of anymore.
1281
01:08:57.520 --> 01:09:01.000
Look, you can dislike a movie, just don't hate. Don't
1282
01:09:01.000 --> 01:09:03.159
hate person needlessly the people.
1283
01:09:03.039 --> 01:09:03.600
Who made it.
1284
01:09:04.720 --> 01:09:11.159
I think there is a shift in tone to darkness
1285
01:09:11.319 --> 01:09:16.239
and pessimism and less hope in humanity that we start
1286
01:09:16.359 --> 01:09:18.640
to see in High and Low, and we've seen it
1287
01:09:18.680 --> 01:09:21.800
in other films. But I think because of this film's
1288
01:09:21.800 --> 01:09:26.760
placement in his filmography, because he and Mifune only worked
1289
01:09:26.760 --> 01:09:30.199
together one more time, and I don't I don't remember exactly.
1290
01:09:30.680 --> 01:09:32.560
I think it was just a falling out. I think
1291
01:09:32.560 --> 01:09:38.239
it was just I think it was that it was
1292
01:09:38.279 --> 01:09:40.960
literally that it was just, look, I'm done, Like, I
1293
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:42.279
don't want to do another one of these.
1294
01:09:42.439 --> 01:09:45.279
Carasawa was, you know, a notorious perfection.
1295
01:09:45.319 --> 01:09:48.319
It's very difficult, and I think Maffune was just like,
1296
01:09:48.479 --> 01:09:50.039
I can't do this anymore.
1297
01:09:50.319 --> 01:09:52.279
I'm exhausted by this process.
1298
01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:57.479
I think it's a fascinating film to look at in
1299
01:09:57.560 --> 01:10:01.199
the scope of Kurrasawa's filmography and to take that bird's
1300
01:10:01.199 --> 01:10:04.520
eye view and see where High and Low kind of
1301
01:10:04.560 --> 01:10:08.159
falls in that in that area, and you look at
1302
01:10:08.159 --> 01:10:12.039
the films like Kagamusha and ron uh Ron, which in
1303
01:10:12.159 --> 01:10:16.800
you know particular, is another one of Kurosawa's masterpieces. Just
1304
01:10:16.920 --> 01:10:21.600
the darkness of that film and the sheer despair, High
1305
01:10:21.640 --> 01:10:28.439
and Low still believes in humanity, and I feel like Ursula.
1306
01:10:28.680 --> 01:10:30.119
I think it's the other film I was thinking of,
1307
01:10:30.159 --> 01:10:32.640
and that's a really good one too, But I think
1308
01:10:32.680 --> 01:10:34.840
you see that you start to see the darkness seep
1309
01:10:34.920 --> 01:10:35.800
end with this film.
1310
01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:38.600
Oh my gosh, yes, because basically the at the end
1311
01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:42.000
of it all, it's like it you know, who's wrong,
1312
01:10:42.119 --> 01:10:42.720
Who's right?
1313
01:10:43.119 --> 01:10:44.840
Yeah, the system sucks.
1314
01:10:45.119 --> 01:10:48.199
Yeah, yeah, this even when it's inevitable that bad things
1315
01:10:48.199 --> 01:10:50.159
are going to happen, because this system sucks.
1316
01:10:50.680 --> 01:10:52.079
And it's like, even when.
1317
01:10:51.960 --> 01:10:55.920
The bad are punished and the good quote unquote triumph,
1318
01:10:56.439 --> 01:11:00.479
there's still no real winner. Everyone loses, like you said,
1319
01:11:00.560 --> 01:11:05.439
So it's it's incredibly morally complex, and like you said,
1320
01:11:05.439 --> 01:11:07.760
even in the early sixties, to have a film in
1321
01:11:07.920 --> 01:11:10.920
that way and just kind of be like what are
1322
01:11:10.960 --> 01:11:12.119
ye know, it's.
1323
01:11:12.000 --> 01:11:16.560
A pretty demand. It's a pretty high demand of the audience.
1324
01:11:16.640 --> 01:11:17.640
And I think even.
1325
01:11:17.399 --> 01:11:20.880
Now it still feels that shock and that the intensity
1326
01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:23.520
of that ending. You still feel it today, that sense
1327
01:11:23.560 --> 01:11:28.079
of things are just left unresolved really and you just
1328
01:11:28.159 --> 01:11:33.399
kind of feel like Hugh, but yes, yeah, anything else.
1329
01:11:34.920 --> 01:11:37.359
Thank you for suggesting this film.
1330
01:11:37.640 --> 01:11:40.640
Sure, well, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I'm
1331
01:11:40.640 --> 01:11:44.000
really excited to see if you decide to delve into
1332
01:11:44.840 --> 01:11:47.159
oh his films.
1333
01:11:48.800 --> 01:11:51.239
Actually, you know what we're going to be going into.
1334
01:11:51.319 --> 01:11:54.800
Part of part of what pointed us toward Kurrasawa is
1335
01:11:54.880 --> 01:11:57.279
on house Lights here on the network. We're going to
1336
01:11:57.319 --> 01:12:00.800
be as of this recording in the near future, looking
1337
01:12:00.800 --> 01:12:02.439
at a bunch of Corosawa films.
1338
01:12:02.520 --> 01:12:04.279
Oh, that's so good.
1339
01:12:04.520 --> 01:12:08.079
Yeah, and such Rasaman will be one of them.
1340
01:12:08.279 --> 01:12:12.920
Yeah, and uh, you know so looking forward to that,
1341
01:12:13.199 --> 01:12:14.199
and it's so much fun.
1342
01:12:14.239 --> 01:12:17.119
It's one of the great joys in life, especially like
1343
01:12:17.119 --> 01:12:20.880
if you're a film fan finding a great filmmaker and
1344
01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:22.800
just sitting down and saying, you know what, let me
1345
01:12:22.880 --> 01:12:25.720
just start at the beginning and just go.
1346
01:12:25.640 --> 01:12:26.279
All the way through.
1347
01:12:26.399 --> 01:12:29.319
Well, we won't be watching his entire film modity, because
1348
01:12:29.760 --> 01:12:33.319
that will take up I will say there's one there's
1349
01:12:33.359 --> 01:12:38.119
a film called One Wonderful Sunday that Kurrasawa did before
1350
01:12:38.199 --> 01:12:40.479
Corrosawa became Carosawa.
1351
01:12:40.600 --> 01:12:41.760
It's before Rashamon.
1352
01:12:41.840 --> 01:12:45.359
I think it's like nineteen forty seven, forty eight, and
1353
01:12:45.479 --> 01:12:48.199
it to me is like a precursor to Before Sunrise.
1354
01:12:48.560 --> 01:12:51.000
It is about a hold on.
1355
01:12:51.039 --> 01:12:53.960
I'm writing this down right now, serious, ladies, gentlemen, I'm
1356
01:12:54.000 --> 01:12:56.520
actually picking up a pen like my olds do.
1357
01:12:57.000 --> 01:13:00.000
I am good. Let's see One Wonderful Sunday. It is
1358
01:13:00.079 --> 01:13:02.760
a film that no one talks about, I feel like
1359
01:13:02.840 --> 01:13:08.359
except for me. Nineteen forty seven it is, you know,
1360
01:13:08.720 --> 01:13:14.279
very posts World War two. Japan is still recovering this
1361
01:13:14.359 --> 01:13:17.359
young couple. It all takes place in a day and
1362
01:13:17.399 --> 01:13:19.680
they want to go out on a date. It's the
1363
01:13:19.720 --> 01:13:21.800
only day of the week they can see each other,
1364
01:13:22.199 --> 01:13:26.399
and just them trying to enjoy that day.
1365
01:13:26.479 --> 01:13:27.439
Despite like.
1366
01:13:29.479 --> 01:13:34.640
It reminds, it feels like the precursor to link later
1367
01:13:35.640 --> 01:13:38.399
and to those slice of life films, and I feel
1368
01:13:38.399 --> 01:13:41.920
like nobody talks about it, and I love it so much.
1369
01:13:41.960 --> 01:13:44.239
It's one of my I think, one of the great
1370
01:13:44.359 --> 01:13:47.000
underrated Kurrosla films. And again I think it's because it
1371
01:13:47.039 --> 01:13:51.880
came out prior to Rashaman. It doesn't do anything like
1372
01:13:52.319 --> 01:13:57.039
you know, crazy groundbreaking for like, oh Rachaman was out
1373
01:13:57.039 --> 01:14:00.079
of sequence and blah blah blah, but it feels so
1374
01:14:00.680 --> 01:14:01.239
like high and low.
1375
01:14:01.279 --> 01:14:03.960
It feels very contemporary in that slice of life way.
1376
01:14:04.640 --> 01:14:07.000
I would highly recommend it to everyone listening. If you
1377
01:14:07.039 --> 01:14:07.880
haven't seen it.
1378
01:14:07.960 --> 01:14:11.119
Well maybe it's somebody's missing frame.
1379
01:14:14.840 --> 01:14:18.079
What do we want to do for a rating system?
1380
01:14:18.119 --> 01:14:19.439
How many briefcases?
1381
01:14:19.560 --> 01:14:22.640
How many how many.
1382
01:14:22.439 --> 01:14:24.079
Folks spraying briefcases?
1383
01:14:24.760 --> 01:14:28.520
How many grandmother couch upholstery briefcases? Do we want to
1384
01:14:28.520 --> 01:14:28.920
do this?
1385
01:14:29.479 --> 01:14:29.640
Yeah?
1386
01:14:29.720 --> 01:14:33.079
With five being the highest and one being the high
1387
01:14:33.119 --> 01:14:34.600
and low?
1388
01:14:35.279 --> 01:14:35.439
Oh?
1389
01:14:35.560 --> 01:14:38.720
Five easy? Five yes, this is it's a brilliant film.
1390
01:14:38.840 --> 01:14:43.600
It's flawless, it's just for me something else very interesting.
1391
01:14:43.680 --> 01:14:45.600
Just speaking of the title of the film, the Japanese
1392
01:14:45.680 --> 01:14:49.640
title translates to heaven and Hell and they change it
1393
01:14:49.640 --> 01:14:50.560
to High and Low.
1394
01:14:50.720 --> 01:14:52.800
I guess they thought it would be well, they knew that,
1395
01:14:53.560 --> 01:14:57.920
they knew that Oliver Stone was going to need to.
1396
01:14:58.399 --> 01:15:00.760
But it is so like again, just the brilliance of it,
1397
01:15:00.840 --> 01:15:07.680
like it is so that is such so demonstrative of
1398
01:15:07.760 --> 01:15:10.199
what the film does. It takes you from heaven all
1399
01:15:10.199 --> 01:15:11.479
the way down to the depths of Hell.
1400
01:15:13.000 --> 01:15:14.600
I love it. I love this movie so much.
1401
01:15:14.720 --> 01:15:20.479
Definitely, it's like, definitely top three Carissaba for me probably.
1402
01:15:21.600 --> 01:15:23.880
And one of the great films of all time for sure.
1403
01:15:24.079 --> 01:15:25.600
Easy I agree.
1404
01:15:25.880 --> 01:15:28.319
All right, well, John, thank you for hanging out. And
1405
01:15:28.560 --> 01:15:30.600
why don't you tell the good people at home where
1406
01:15:30.600 --> 01:15:31.279
they can find you.
1407
01:15:32.079 --> 01:15:36.399
I'm Kessel Junkie online and here on this network on
1408
01:15:36.439 --> 01:15:39.600
the aforementioned house Lights where we look at the work
1409
01:15:39.640 --> 01:15:43.680
of directors as with Tristan Riddell and Darren Moser, and
1410
01:15:43.720 --> 01:15:46.960
you can hear me on Aggressive Negotiations, a Star Wars
1411
01:15:47.000 --> 01:15:51.439
podcast that keeps on going. We're ten years in and
1412
01:15:51.479 --> 01:15:54.279
still having fun. So go ahead and give those a
1413
01:15:54.359 --> 01:15:58.359
listen and Sean, I know that here on missing Frames
1414
01:15:58.640 --> 01:16:01.359
people can hear you, but where else can they annoy you?
1415
01:16:01.439 --> 01:16:03.479
Online? Because I want people to annoy you.
1416
01:16:03.920 --> 01:16:06.439
I know you do, John, and they can do so.
1417
01:16:06.640 --> 01:16:10.439
At ya shondor Man on Twitter. I'm Schondormano five.
1418
01:16:10.359 --> 01:16:15.920
On letterbox stand at Shondorman on Instagram. And that's that
1419
01:16:16.119 --> 01:16:18.600
is that, John, Thank you so much. We should hear
1420
01:16:18.640 --> 01:16:19.920
the Corosola.
1421
01:16:19.439 --> 01:16:23.159
Film in the not too distant future if you if
1422
01:16:23.199 --> 01:16:26.720
you haven't exhausted all the options on house Lights, we will.
1423
01:16:26.960 --> 01:16:27.840
We'll figure something out.
1424
01:16:27.880 --> 01:16:29.479
We'll watch High and Low too.
1425
01:16:30.960 --> 01:16:34.520
We should we should highest to lowis that would be uh?
1426
01:16:34.600 --> 01:16:37.800
I don't know. Actually wait a minute, Yeah, what's up?
1427
01:16:38.119 --> 01:16:40.760
Yeah? Yeah? Is it? Is it highest to Lois? Is
1428
01:16:40.800 --> 01:16:42.279
that the spikes the spike lee one?
1429
01:16:42.319 --> 01:16:42.760
Yeah?
1430
01:16:43.000 --> 01:16:46.479
Feel obligated at this point? We can, I think so.
1431
01:16:46.880 --> 01:16:49.199
Although I did see Shirak and I don't know how
1432
01:16:49.239 --> 01:16:50.000
excited I am.
1433
01:16:52.279 --> 01:16:54.479
I just keep thinking about the Old Boy remake and
1434
01:16:54.600 --> 01:16:56.880
how meaningless everyone said it.
1435
01:16:57.039 --> 01:16:59.079
I still haven't seen Old Boy the original.
1436
01:16:59.279 --> 01:17:01.800
I haven't seen any I haven't seen the Old Boy either.
1437
01:17:03.319 --> 01:17:05.720
But I like, I'm just like, when you have a
1438
01:17:05.720 --> 01:17:08.960
movie like High and Low, I'm like, is it just
1439
01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:09.880
gonna depress me?
1440
01:17:09.960 --> 01:17:12.560
Even with Denzel and it, is it just gonna depress.
1441
01:17:12.279 --> 01:17:16.319
Me to probably kind of remoke a great movie.
1442
01:17:16.600 --> 01:17:18.479
So maybe we just need to go harassed Brad and
1443
01:17:18.680 --> 01:17:20.359
get him to watch Ghosts of Mars with us.
1444
01:17:21.119 --> 01:17:21.680
We'll do that.
1445
01:17:21.760 --> 01:17:24.319
We'll do that perfect well. Thank you John, and thank
1446
01:17:24.359 --> 01:17:27.479
you everybody for listening. We will see you at the movies.
1
00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:04.879
Welcome to the nerd Paute.
2
00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.039
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Missing Frames. This
3
00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:24.280
is the podcast where we watch all of the movies
4
00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:27.120
we should have seen by this point in our lives.
5
00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:28.519
I'm your host, Sean Eastridge.
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We're hanging out on the nerd Party Network, a collection
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of podcasts dedicated to all things entertainment. Check us out
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at the nerd Party dot com and make sure you're
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following us on Twitter x blue Sky at joint nerd
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Party on Twitter and X and I don't know what
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is it on Blue Sky? What even is Blue Sky? I?
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I honestly don't know. I'm so sorry. You might as
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well ask me what we are on TikTok?
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Who are vague?
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Who even is? What is this? What are the kids
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using these days?
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I proudly hit a point where as more social networks
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came out, I was like, look, guys, I I just
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can't do this anymore. I'm just I'm the old man.
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I'm just staying frozen. It's all tapping out. You could
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find a nerd Party.
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It's out there on all the places and go follow
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a be a pal, be a buddy.
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That voice you're hearing, the sultry tones you're hearing on the.
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Other side of the microphone are those of one mister
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John Mills.
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It's been a minute, John, Welcome back to the show.
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I'm so pleased to be back.
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Missing Frames is one of my favorite shows, Sean like,
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and you know what, for anybody who's tuning in who
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didn't hear it, they should go back and they should
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listen to everything that you did in the count down
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count up to Superman, James Gunn Superman, and you did
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an incredible series counting down to that, and I honestly,
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I don't know that I've gotten a chance on Mike
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to congratulate you on what an absolutely amazing series.
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It was.
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Like, it's still the whole reason that this medium of
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podcasting exists is so that cool stuff like that can happen.
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It happened on Missing Frames.
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Go back and listen to his catalog, guys, because it
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is well worth.
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I really appreciate it, and it was such a blast
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to do.
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And the best part is now all the Superman followers
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I've gained from that will abandon ship because now we're
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going back to talking about film and cinema.
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Well, whoa whoaoa.
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Martin Scorsese is in the Star Wars universe.
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All rules of cinema are out the window, my friend,
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nobody's allowed to criticize anything anymore.
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One hundred on. We're on a whole other level now,
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but absolutely.
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But you know, not only is you know, twenty twenty
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six we have Supergirl coming out this summer, and we'll
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talk plenty about that, But twenty twenty six is actually
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the ten year anniversary of Missing Frames I've been doing
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Are you kidding me?
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As of November I have been doing this ten years?
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Is that?
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Oh my gosh?
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Which means the nerd Party has been around for ten years,
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which is.
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Oh more than has more than it was right around
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because aggressive negotiations. I think where the og. We're the
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last standing og. Aggressive negotiations. The Star Wars podcast, if
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you'd like to go and listen to that, real good show.
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I think it is fantastic, but it's we're gosh, and
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we take weeks off every now and then because we're
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human beings and we have to and we're at four
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hundred and twenty six episodes and that's like weekly. So
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however many years that works out too, because you got
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a plus a few more weeks here and there because
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we took time off, but.
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So much math. I don't like any of this math.
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But when I say time off, I mean literally just
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one week here and there. Right, that's what we do now.
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You guys have been you guys have been chipping away
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and it's incredible.
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But it's like, yeah, we've been doing this.
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For a decade now, which is just the same. I
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still remember helping design the logo, Yes, I just I
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remember pitching to Tristan. He was like, you should join
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the nerd party.
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What would you do?
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And I'm like a film podcast. He's like, okay, what's
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the angle And I'm like, I don't know. We watched
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the movies we should have seen and he's like, okay,
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let's run with that.
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And a little bit of anniversary trivia for everybody. Then,
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Is that the missing frames logo? The show art that
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you see come up in your your podcatcher was in
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fact inspired by the bit in the video for Closer
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by nine inch Nails where it says frame missing. That
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was the actual inspiration point for it.
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I've never seen that video.
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Actual inspiration point that it, and that was that was
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my pitch for it.
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I'm learning something new about my show ten years down
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the line that I didn't.
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Know right, this is incredible and one of the original
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members of the nerd Party, there was only one person.
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There was maybe two people that caught it when they
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saw it where they're like, hey, is that well, now
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I have.
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To watch that video. That's great, and excuse to watch
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the nine inch nails video is okay by me.
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It's always good good.
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But we're hanging out and we're watching a movie that
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you have never seen this time around and a Currakrasala masterpiece.
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He had another masterpiece by this Crasala dude high and low,
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and I did not. I realized you hadn't seen it
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until we were talking about doing a Carosala and you
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said this one.
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You know, I will.
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I will admit that my level of Corosawa knowledge is
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way too limited. I know all about his life and
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his impact on Western film, world film, and I've seen
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you're a Star Wars fan. You can't call yourself a
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Star Wars fan unless you've watched The Seven Samurai and
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Hidden Fortress, right, Like, that's that's just required. But there
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are a whole lot of his films where they're always
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those ones that I intend to be like, Oh, I'm
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gonna go check that out, and then you never get
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around to it because you're busy watching Jack Frost because
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it's free on Prime, and you're like, that's ninety minutes
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in my life. But Michael Keaton, Oh no, oh no,
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that would have been too high brow for me, my friend,
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I'm talking about the horror movie.
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Horror came out.
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Oh yes, oh oh, that's an exquisite ninety minutes. I
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was even I questioned my life choices. I was gonna say.
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One of the great landmarks of Missing Framesis is I
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actually had Joseph Cross, the young boy in the film
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Jack Frost, with Michael Keaton.
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He is a wonderful actor.
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And filmmaker, and he was on the show a few
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years ago for the Atlanta Film Festival promoting a film
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of his. But I was just trying to bring it
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all around. But we blew it, We blew it. It's
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the horror film. Another thing on We'll put it on
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the Missing Frames.
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No, no, no, I'm going to I'm going to advise
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against that one.
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Fair enough.
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But I'm very interested to see, you know, High and Low,
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because Spike Lee just did an adaptation of it. Highest
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to Lowesst with Denzel Washington and it didn't get great notices,
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but like, I still want to give that one to try,
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but I don't want to give that one to try
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until I've seen the original.
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Yes, so yeah, and this is a great I mean,
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I similar to you. Like when I went to film school,
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Obviously my experience and understanding of Carassala who he was was, Oh,
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the Hidden Fortress. George Lucas obviously a major influence on
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Star Wars, and the first one I watched of his
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was Seven Samurai and I adored it. I was like, well,
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that's fantastic, and I would eventually went back and I
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watched Rashaman and I got to Hidden Fortress, and I
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kind of went through all his films, And really, when
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you and I were working together, when we first met,
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I was going through a pretty intense that's probably maybe
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the first real like intense Curasala phase where I got
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a bunch of his movies and was really sitting down
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and watching through them. And I think that might have
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been I may have seen High and Low in film
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school or maybe a little bit before then, but I
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think that was probably about when I saw High and
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Low for the first time and it and I don't
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I won't say too much about it obviously in this
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first part because I want you to go in with
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fresh eyes and perspective, but I will say it immediately
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was like it felt like at the time because George
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Lucas's love of Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai and that
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those were the ones that were so well known by everybody,
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and heind Low was one that people hadn't talked about.
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And I remember when it came up in my cue,
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it was kind of like, well, this is the next
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one to watch, so I'll watch it, And I just
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remember being so like, why aren't more people talking about this?
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And in the year sense, it's definitely raised like it is.
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It is.
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I think it ranks very very highly with Corosawa fans
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as far as like what are his top his great
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films of all time? And I think I think High
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and Low's reputation has only continued to grow and it
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is it is.
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Yeah, I hate.
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The first part of every first part of missing Frames.
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For the person who has seen and loved the film,
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the challenge is not over hyping and not over selling it.
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But I think the reputation it has of being a
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masterpiece and being one of the great works of cinema
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is completely merited. I think you were in for a
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real treat, and especially having seen the You've only seen
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seven Samurai Hidden Fortresses.
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I've seen seven Samurai. I've seen Hidden Fortress. I've seen Rashaman.
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Those are the only three I know for sure that
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I've seen, and people might say, oh, well, how could
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you have seen one and not recall it, believe it
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or not?
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Even me.
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There are occasionally movies where I can't recall whether I've
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seen them, but those are the three that I know
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for sure that I've seen, and I think Raschaman I
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felt obligated to see it because the Simpsons one of
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the greatest jokes of all time reference Yes, exactly, that
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joke is so much funnier when you've seen the.
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Movie so good and you know you can't overstate. It's
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easy to say, well, he inspired Star Wars, but Kurisawa
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his level of.
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He's a master like he is. Arguably I would put
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forth at Kurasawa, just with a little bit that I know.
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Krasawa basically is an unattributed shaper of the American Western. Yeah,
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like it's it's like him and john Ford did those
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that they're the two guys that like made the American
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Western Western happen because his stories were so But even
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that gets into a really interesting thing where the whole
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Samurai era and Medieval Europe and Renaissance Europe like have
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these weird similarities about them. And it's like, I think
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that's why Krosawa plugs in so well with Western audiences
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is there's that kernel that is very relatable at like
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just a base level because you had like the you know,
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had the Ronin and they had the Shia Reeves, and
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it's like when you did like an actual historical analysis,
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it's like, well, actually, the way their societies were set
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up was actually pretty it was pretty similar, guys. And
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then like the American West is pretty similar as well,
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with the sheriff and the and the you know and
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the bandits and everything. You're like, whoa like And it's
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it's so funny like all of that one hundred percent.
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And Kurrasala and his own culture and in his own
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country was criticized for being too Western like he was.
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They were like, oh, you're too exactly. It's just and
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all of the you know, this is all hearsay, and
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in retrospect we can look back and say like, oh,
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that's absurd, but it's like at the time he was,
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what we know now is that he is essentially one
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of the pillars of cinema period of the art form.
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Like yes, you can't. It's not an exaggeration, it's not hyperbole.
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Like he is one of the masters and one of
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the great inspirations of what this art form is and
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what it became. And what is so wonderful about going
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back to his films and watching them is like it's
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not it's no secret, Like it's not something where you
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have to Oh, if I studies, you watch his films
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and you're like, wow, I'd like Rachamon is a great example,
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Like if you're a Christopher Nolan fan, go watch Rachamon
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and be like, oh, okay, this is not like before
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that film like some you know, there are films like
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Citizen King that kind of touched on that sort of
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like that narrative that is happening out of sequence, but
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Rachaman was taking it to a whole other level and
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trying things and it is so much fun and always
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so exciting to go back to one of the great
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masters of cinema and just delve into their works. And
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that was what was so fun about when I was
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really obsessing and going through all of his films.
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But like when you sometimes it's easy to take it.
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For granted, when you're just kind of in that wheel,
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and I think, even in that state of mind, High
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and Low kind of like Rows above the Rest again,
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Like I haven't seen it in a couple of years,
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and I'm really excited because I just got the Criterion
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four K for it, and I'm excited to watch that.
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But it's every time I watch it, I find myself
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admiring it more and more and being more.
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Aware of just how much influence it has had on
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so many modern films. There's so many modern techniques and
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all of Carosala's films. But I'm excited to see what
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you end up taking away from.
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High and Low and that I'm chomping at the bit.
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Now, I am chomping at the bit. I gotta see
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this thing. I let let's let's get to it.
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Man. Well I want to I gotta catch it.
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We will do that.
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And I want you real, do you know anything about Hylow?
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Do you want to try to take a stab at
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the story. Just a random guess what is this movie about?
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I am gonna guess because I think I half read
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a synopsis of Spike Lee's adaptation that he did. But
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there's somebody who's well respected as a long career doing
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something and then there's a whipper snapper that comes up
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and the guy's left trying to defend his status.
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Okay, that is my That is my guest. That is
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my guess at it. So I am so excited for
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you to see that. I'm really excited to chat about that.
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Watch it be the one movie that kurrasaw.
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What did it?
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Was?
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Like alien invasion or something?
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You know, you never know, you never know. He's inspired
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so many things. Maybe maybe maybe all right, let's do this.
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We'll watch it and we'll be back. Stay tuned.
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Now available to oh non video cassette.
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All right, we're back, John. How do you feel about
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High and Low?
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Oh? My goodness.
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I saw so many things in High and Low where
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there were so many moments where I would look at it,
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I would say this is just like and I would
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think of a movie that I've seen. I'm continually blown.
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Away by.
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How impossible it is to overstate how much Akira Kurosawa predicted,
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or influenced or drove film as an art form.
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All of the above.
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Yeah, and it's it's stunning because you watch high and Low.
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It didn't go at all how I expected at all,
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especially for the era I'm used to a very straight
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whe I'm gonna go, you know, like as we talked
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about how like I had no idea what you know
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going in or anything like that, and then I saw
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Thank you HBO Max. I saw like it was like
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a businessman grapples with the ethical level of giving paying
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the rants. So I was like, well, all right, that's
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the movie I'm watching.
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Right we were you were saying, uh more kind of
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like business rivalry, older man younger man. I think you
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were projecting our relationship, our working relationship when we met.
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Yes, but I failed to mention the attractiveness of both.
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So you know that was I But like it's one
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of those things where like the gear shift, that happens
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totally out of the blue, because like they resolved one thread.
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I was like, well, okay, I guess wait, what what's
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going on?
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Here are a few moments like that in this movie
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where you're kind of it I mean narratively, Carasawa is
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so brilliant, and it sometimes there's some films where it
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doesn't work as well, And there are other films that
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are not Carrosola films where this doesn't work as well.
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But it's that constant shifting, Like you said, you're always
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kind of on the edge of your seat, never sure
333
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:08.279
where it's going. I don't remember exactly what my reaction
334
00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:10.399
was when I watched it the first time, but I
335
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don't know that I knew the actual plot. I didn't
336
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know there was a kidnapping involved. So I'm watching it
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and at the beginning, it's this businessman talking to his
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colleagues about this takeover of the company, the shoe company.
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They run, National National Shoes, brilliant.
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Name forward, it's easy to remember, and I'm thinking, like okay,
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like okay, so it's going to be kind of, you know,
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it's some sort of like navigating the choppy waters of
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business takeover and like money.
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And blah blah blah.
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And then ten minutes in suddenly it's like a kidnapping movie,
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a child's kidnap.
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And then it's not even his kid, it's his chauffeur's kid.
348
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And it's like what right, so mistaken identity with the kids.
349
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But but on top of that, they handled it so
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incredibly well for the way a kidnapping happens, where suddenly
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00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.839
it's like wait a minute, where where is he? And
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like it's dark outside and mom starts freaking out and
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it's like, oh, like you know, any parent sees that
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scene and you're like.
355
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Oh gosh, I can feel it in the pit.
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Just as a spoiler for anybody who doesn't have kids
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who might be listening to this, there is at least
358
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:30.880
once a week when your kids are little where you
359
00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.240
have that moment where you're like, wait, I just lost
360
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.279
track of them. And it's not about looking at your phone.
361
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It's like that's not even involved. You're just like going along.
362
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You just take it for granted, the kids at your side,
363
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and then like you stop and you're like whoa, whoa,
364
00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:44.359
whoa whoa, and like they just shifted sides on you.
365
00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:49.079
But you're like disoriented suddenly. But before we get into
366
00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:50.720
like the rest of the movie, I want to say
367
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that there was a stunning moment about the film because
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00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.200
there were there were three things that like really struck
369
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me that sort of like rooted it to a time
370
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and made me think about things in a really unexpected way,
371
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and you.
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Think just quick because this.
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One of the things that captivated me about it was
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it was the first quote unquote contemporary Corrasawa film i'd seen.
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I'd seen mostly his films are period pieces, samurai films.
376
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So I remember starting this and being like, oh, it's
377
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you know, it's early sixties, but it's modern day quote unquote,
378
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and you I think you knew that going into it,
379
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but that was a surprise. I was like, oh, okay,
380
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I haven't seen this vein of Krasawa before.
381
00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.519
Right well, and that that is another thing that's different,
382
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because I mean you could even layer it on.
383
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:42.160
There is one.
384
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When he mentions I'm not terribly great with the names
385
00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:48.960
of the characters.
386
00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:49.559
Okay, So.
387
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I know it starts with a g Gondodo right, played
388
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by just you know, just played to pitch perfect, like
389
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:07.839
amazing perfection, and it's just like so gloriously real the
390
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.720
way that that he that everybody's portrayed. But he mentions
391
00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:13.440
at one point, he you know, I've worked for National
392
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.920
Shoes for you know, decades, except for my time in
393
00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.599
the war, and I literally got a minute past that
394
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:23.160
I was like, oh, that's weird. World War two is
395
00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:28.720
what he's talking about. Oh weird, right, Oh you fought
396
00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.359
for Oh that's a weird layer.
397
00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:32.200
Right.
398
00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:39.039
But then additionally to see his kid and the chauffeur'st
399
00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:44.240
kid running around playing cowboys and Indians, and it really
400
00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:49.599
was like a blast, because not a blast like haha fun,
401
00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:51.440
but like a blast of cold water to the face
402
00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:55.000
because you see to your point about I'm used to
403
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.440
seeing Kirosawa Samurai period films, and then you sort of
404
00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:03.759
see this this declaration on screen of how much American
405
00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.039
culture had infected Japan.
406
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:07.480
By that point.
407
00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.720
Yeah, which is wild because the mom is still in
408
00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.680
the traditional dress, but the son's running around with a
409
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:14.359
cowboy hat and.
410
00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:19.359
A pistol, and it's that's weird. Yeah, it's really weird.
411
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.839
And that I mean, they're just the capitalistic impulse, like
412
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.440
just the business acumen, the way they're talking about this company.
413
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:27.960
It's very It's.
414
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.599
Like that's it's a whole lair that I hadn't thought
415
00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:32.920
about either until you just bringing it up now.
416
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:33.839
But it is.
417
00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:36.960
We're in this post World War two era, you know,
418
00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:40.119
Japan is at this point started like kind of back
419
00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.559
on its feet, but certainly very heavily influenced by the West.
420
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.079
But I think also.
421
00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:48.759
Just there was it was such a strange thing seeing
422
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:55.640
Kurosawa speak so directly about the issue uh contemporary issues,
423
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.880
because it's not that these are things that aren't addressed
424
00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:03.440
in his period pieces, but because this is a modern
425
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:08.759
film happening in their modern day, he's directly speaking to
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00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:14.559
specific situations and specific walks of life that are recognizable.
427
00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.160
And I know we're saying like modern, and we keep
428
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:23.039
putting quotes around it, but frankly, it still feels modern
429
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:27.240
even though it is taking place in the early sixties.
430
00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:29.759
You know, nineteen sixty three was when the film was released,
431
00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:31.920
so we're probably talking like sixty two is when it
432
00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:36.440
was filmed. It feels so contemporary, Like a lot of
433
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:42.839
this stuff does not feel other than the technology thematically, emotionally,
434
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:47.160
and then even again cinematically. Kurosawa is just such a
435
00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:51.000
genius and has so much influence over this art form.
436
00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:56.440
It all feels contemporary and the way it's talking about everything,
437
00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:57.920
And I think, like the first time I saw it,
438
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:01.680
I was just so blown away by that, because you know,
439
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:06.319
you're you get classic films older films have a vibe
440
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.680
where you're like, Okay, I'm watching an older film, and
441
00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:12.559
of course that's here the framing and the way certain
442
00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:17.680
like scenes are laid out, the way certain like performances.
443
00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:18.599
Are enacted or acted out.
444
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:24.920
But it just feels so modern in its technique and
445
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.319
it's storytelling, and it's it's fascinating.
446
00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:30.359
To sit there and look at the way he moves
447
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.720
the camera and the way he splits up space because
448
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:36.400
that first part you're you basically never leave that room, right,
449
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.720
But he keeps finding ways to set tableaus. And it's
450
00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:44.039
interesting because over on missing On on house Lights, we're
451
00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:47.920
you know, we're looking at were we're looking at Sherock
452
00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:49.920
Holmes movies, and we looked at one from nineteen thirty
453
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.720
nine and yeah, from nineteen fifty nine, and it's like,
454
00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:57.759
it's still very stage. It's still very constrained, it's still
455
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.279
very you know, theatrical and the way it's approaching, whereas
456
00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:04.039
you see with Krosawa, somebody who's really like, Okay, this
457
00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:05.079
is what a camera can do.
458
00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:06.599
This is what we're gonna do.
459
00:23:07.079 --> 00:23:09.400
We're gonna shoot between the two people to frame the
460
00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:11.759
guy coming across, and the camera's gonna spin around at
461
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:14.000
the end and we're gonna see everybody, And it's still
462
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.279
a very theatrical tableau, but you don't feel like it's theatrical.
463
00:23:17.319 --> 00:23:18.559
It feels more documentary.
464
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:23.039
Yes, yeah, And it like as a result, like I
465
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:27.480
can't help but think of all of the filmmakers, whether
466
00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.319
it's Scorsese or Coppola or Lucas. I look at this
467
00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:36.279
film and I go, WHOA, I see so much influence
468
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.079
on those guys, or even de Palma, where it's like
469
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.160
it kind of blows your mind where it's.
470
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.039
Like, holy cow, they really were.
471
00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.240
So influenced by this guy, Like we're we're second order,
472
00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:51.480
We're a second order of magnitude influenced by Yeah.
473
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.079
Yeah, it's like so wild well, And I just love
474
00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:57.960
when you have a great filmmaker who loves storytelling and
475
00:23:58.119 --> 00:24:02.480
is not pretentious about the art, because what Krasawa did
476
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.759
so brilliantly is he understood the medium so well and
477
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.359
was such an expert, such a master of his craft
478
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.400
that the meson saying and everything about the frame is
479
00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:17.799
part of the story, Like you were saying, the way
480
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.799
characters are positioned, the way certain people are standing, other
481
00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.079
people are sitting, to demonstrate the power difference, and like
482
00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:31.440
the dynamics between classes and how everyone relates to each other.
483
00:24:32.839 --> 00:24:39.519
It's that wonderful thing that happens where you see a
484
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:43.640
master of their craft fully understanding the capabilities of their
485
00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.079
art form. And I think it's one of those films
486
00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:50.880
that when you listen to the commentary or you read
487
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.920
behind the scenes tidbits, or you start to dissect the
488
00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:58.599
film and what it's saying about society and about rich
489
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.799
versus rich versus poor, and privilege versus not privilege, you
490
00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:07.200
start to understand the way Kurrasawa was like, here's how
491
00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.720
I want to demonstrate that visually, and I mean it
492
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:13.480
is it's such a joy as a fan of film
493
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:18.279
to go back and rewatch this over and over again
494
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.200
to pick up on those things.
495
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.680
Well, just even the themes and the way he explores.
496
00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.319
I couldn't help but think of Parasite and everybody celebrating Parasite,
497
00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:30.519
and I'm like, I forgive me for saying this, because
498
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:32.759
I enjoyed Parasite. I thought there's a lot of value
499
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.000
to Parasite, but at the same time, I thought it
500
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:37.319
was a little ham handed at certain points, and then
501
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:39.599
at the end, I was like, this is a little much, right,
502
00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:44.240
he went a little far with everything, with the metaphors
503
00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:48.599
it were, whereas this is a very subtle thing and
504
00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:54.359
doesn't really come fully together until that final scene. And
505
00:25:54.440 --> 00:26:00.680
what director on earth nowadays would have the courage to
506
00:26:01.079 --> 00:26:06.799
end the film with the protagonist slumped over faced away
507
00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:11.480
from the camera, right and and basically saying to us, well,
508
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.960
how do you feel about like and just ending it
509
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.079
and walking away after you've seen this guy emotionally melt
510
00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:24.119
down because I had to look at you and go
511
00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.559
through this and start off saying I'm not afraid to die.
512
00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:30.920
I was making a statement I'm not. And then at
513
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:33.960
the end he's he's just a victim of.
514
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:36.680
Desire.
515
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:40.440
He's a victim of seeing that great success on the
516
00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:45.480
hill looking down on him that whole time, right, And.
517
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.640
It's it's, you know what, the sin of coveting. And
518
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:54.000
but it's also like the film is not necessarily.
519
00:26:55.319 --> 00:27:01.640
It's not sympathetic towards the kidnapper, but it's not detached
520
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.039
from him either. A lot of that comes through, I
521
00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:07.440
think the performance, But I think that final scene is
522
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:07.920
really what.
523
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:13.519
It's really what hits the nail on the head is
524
00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:15.400
we sit with.
525
00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:18.559
That moment and we're I mean, Gondo is kind of
526
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:21.599
at like just like what was what was the point
527
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:22.039
of it all?
528
00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:25.240
And the guy's basically like the point was I hate you?
529
00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:29.720
And it's like okay, wow, like all right, And and
530
00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.759
like you said, there's no feeling of resolution, there's no
531
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:36.640
feeling of like, yeah, there's a victory in that, you know,
532
00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:40.720
the kidnapper is getting his due, but Gondo is still ruined.
533
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:44.240
He has to start over this horrible thing happened to him,
534
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.640
and there isn't necessarily.
535
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.640
A come up. It's like it's kind of saying.
536
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:53.279
Like, you know, nobody won, nobody wins here, everybody lost. Yeah,
537
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:58.480
And and it's it's that that you do have this
538
00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:03.519
situation where Gondo is undone by his rivals who are
539
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:04.839
trying to screw him over.
540
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:06.680
So what was he.
541
00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:10.359
Climbing for? Anyway, He's trying to climb the next round
542
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.799
of the ladder when this happens, and then at the end,
543
00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:14.480
it's like what were you bothering with that?
544
00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:14.680
For?
545
00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.680
There's no happiness at any stage of this entire thing.
546
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:23.960
Everybody's miserable and the thing that hurts to an extent
547
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.440
and this is where it's going to be difficult for
548
00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:29.799
me to convey, So please help me out if it
549
00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:34.319
feels you're getting lost here. One of the things that
550
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:38.880
of course everybody deals with when they encounter old films
551
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:44.960
from America, especially is I'm going to pull very specifically
552
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:46.480
Breakfast at Tiffany's.
553
00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.240
And you know why I'm pulling it in relation to.
554
00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:52.000
This, I don't because I have not seen Breck.
555
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:52.759
You've never seen it.
556
00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:00.680
There is a racial stereotype in that movie that is, uh,
557
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:05.440
really uncomfortable in a lot of ways. But I've always
558
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:10.680
contextualized and said, yeah, it sucks, but America as a
559
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:13.000
whole was dealing with the trauma of World War Two.
560
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:17.119
They were giving people like it was a really unhealthy thing.
561
00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:18.680
I do think I know what you're talking about.
562
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.279
But I'm so I'm sort of like, I'm not excusing it,
563
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.279
but I'm rationalizing it.
564
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:24.599
I'm saying, like, I understand what.
565
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.039
You're putting it.
566
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:28.400
You're contextualizing it, right, even more than rationalizing it.
567
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:32.240
And and so I sort of like I never gave
568
00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:33.960
it a pass, but I was like, this is it's
569
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.720
the time. But then I look at this film and
570
00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:44.200
a Kara ter Sawa with this layered, beautiful structured story
571
00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:48.920
businessman and and class warfare and the crime procedural in
572
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:53.000
the middle of it that Michael Mann, You're welcome, you.
573
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.720
Know that sort of thing, David Fincher, Michael David.
574
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:02.319
And I look at that, and I go like, it's
575
00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:07.000
embarrassing because I look I look at like, oh, the
576
00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:10.440
nerve we had this is this is the country that
577
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:13.680
the only one you know up to up to the
578
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:15.759
point of this recording, who knows what the future holds,
579
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:21.400
that's been nuked twice, right, And like there's a maturity
580
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:25.079
to the film where I'm like, I I'm not entire
581
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:29.119
I don't feel like I could really contextualize breakfast at Tiffany's.
582
00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:32.599
Anybody, Well, I think you know Japan in general, because
583
00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:36.279
I mean their unique history and their approach to life.
584
00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.799
I've all since I was a kid.
585
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:43.720
I just you know, growing up and discovering anime and
586
00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:47.519
then really getting into Japanese films and you know, Kurasawa
587
00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:48.519
and other filmmakers.
588
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.920
But like, Japan has such a spiritual, thoughtful.
589
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.319
The culture in general is so spiritual and thoughtful in
590
00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:02.200
the way they approach things, and Kurosawa I think was
591
00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:07.960
one of the early artists who was giving voice to
592
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:13.839
those complex, complicated emotions and feelings about everything.
593
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:15.160
It was never.
594
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.279
It's never about pointing fingers or laying blame. It was
595
00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:23.839
almost like a sad acceptance of what the war was
596
00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:28.799
and what Japan's role in that war was. And so
597
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.240
there's a humbleness to that culture and the way they
598
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:38.799
see life, but it makes the interpretations they have of
599
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:44.559
like in this case, the class conversation and the rich
600
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:49.440
versus the poor. There's like I said, that kidnapper, you're
601
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:55.799
not necessarily sympathetic towards him, but it's a clear eyed.
602
00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:58.720
View of him. It's not filtered through.
603
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:04.319
You know, the filmmaker is obviously going to have a
604
00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:07.920
perspective no matter what, even if like they are trying
605
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:10.759
to be as clear eyed as possible, that is in
606
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:14.200
and of itself a perspective, and I think what Kurasawa
607
00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:18.200
is trying to do in this situation and the thesis
608
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:22.319
statement by the end of the film is like like
609
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.680
there is there is nobody to blame in everybody to
610
00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:28.759
blame here, and just being that clear eyed about it,
611
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:32.279
I think is very ingrained in Japanese culture.
612
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.480
Well I think I think what you see there, you know,
613
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:38.319
is that you know, film is an art form that's
614
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:43.839
coming up, and it's something where American America is a
615
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:49.519
very young country, and I think that other countries in
616
00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:54.039
general with a lot more history are going to be
617
00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:58.039
able to, like it's the way they're going to communicate
618
00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:02.000
with the medium is going to reflected that that long
619
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.240
storied evolution of the culture coming up to that moment
620
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:05.640
in time.
621
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.799
It's it's just a bit different.
622
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:11.119
And then of course blockbusters will undo us all, you know,
623
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:17.359
a few decades later, but it's it's it's just a
624
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:21.079
it's so beautiful because the thing is we're we're talking
625
00:33:21.079 --> 00:33:21.839
about Kursawa.
626
00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:23.160
But I think it's.
627
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:27.799
Important as well to really shout out with the complex
628
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:33.000
camera moves and everything his you know, director of photography.
629
00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.559
We go handheld at certain scenes when we're going through
630
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:43.799
the drug user's alley, right and going through it's so
631
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.079
claustrophobic without getting confused.
632
00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:50.519
And the train sequence as wells stunning.
633
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:54.599
It's insane, everybody getting up and moving around and getting
634
00:33:54.599 --> 00:33:57.880
into the compact space. Like there were specific moments where
635
00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:01.519
I was thinking to myself, uh uh, you know, cocos
636
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:03.960
of the context we're watching the film, I'm like, how
637
00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:06.240
do they get the camera there? Like it's you know,
638
00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:08.760
it's that sort of thing, like I completely believe I'm
639
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:09.719
on a train.
640
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:11.679
That's traveling at high speed.
641
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:14.880
Well they you know, it's like some of it is.
642
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.199
I think some of them is actually on the train.
643
00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:19.599
And I don't know how much of it was a set.
644
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:21.199
I mean, at a certain point, I think some of
645
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:21.800
it had to be.
646
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.639
But uh, I think a lot of the movement because
647
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:27.599
the natural light that you get from the movement and
648
00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:30.440
just the feeling of movement when you're on a train
649
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:33.079
is so different from when it's staged. And I think
650
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:36.199
Kisawa wanted that that he wanted that reality. He knew
651
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:39.519
you couldn't replicate it, so he's very careful about which
652
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:43.920
shots were a live train that was actually moving versus
653
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:48.000
on a set. And I think you're absolutely right. I
654
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.400
mean the cinematograph. I think he worked with two cinematographers,
655
00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:54.440
his older one and then the one that he would
656
00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:57.480
work with from this point on into the future. And
657
00:34:57.719 --> 00:35:00.480
you have a lot of Krasawa films before this that
658
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:02.599
were sort of the full frame.
659
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:04.599
I don't remember the exact specs of it.
660
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:07.000
But this is the wide screen, so we're getting a
661
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:09.039
lot of we have a lot of frame to fill,
662
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:14.280
and it's so beautifully framed and everything is so dynamic,
663
00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:18.440
and I just I just love the way it looks,
664
00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:20.840
and I love that sense of movement. I love the
665
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:25.639
sense of experimentation. And Kurasawa would typically he would always,
666
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:28.239
I mean, he would use long lenses, and he would
667
00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:32.760
always have I think at least two cameras going during
668
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:35.559
any given scene, so one would be kind of the
669
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:37.400
static shot and one would be moving.
670
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:42.239
So it would make editing. It always made it.
671
00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:45.800
He always was clear about what the movements were and
672
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:48.119
what he wanted from each one, but he wanted those
673
00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:52.039
options as well. But I just love the I love
674
00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:54.159
the look of the film. I love that we have
675
00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:57.360
we start things off in this very kind of clean,
676
00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:58.719
air conditioned space.
677
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:00.480
We spend a lot of time there.
678
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:02.840
Like I think maybe about I want to say, like
679
00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:06.639
forty five minutes of the film. That first forty five
680
00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:10.440
minutes is really just in Yeah, you're a Mifune's home
681
00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:13.239
and we're there with the police, and like you said,
682
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.480
we get a lot out of that space.
683
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.880
We get a real sense.
684
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:20.480
Krasovl is, he was always great at this, just the
685
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:23.920
sense of staging and creating the space for the audience
686
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:27.599
to understand where everything is in relation to each other.
687
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:30.880
It expands beyond the home once we start to do
688
00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:34.840
the investigation and we start to go into the underworld
689
00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:41.159
and we see that relationship between Gundo's house, the house
690
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:45.559
on the hill, and this underground, this CD underbelly of
691
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.880
the society that they're living in. And I just love
692
00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:52.800
I love the way it's it's all portrayed.
693
00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:55.320
But even the you know, with the CD underbelly that
694
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:58.639
you're talking about, like we then got you know, the
695
00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:01.719
wrong We go down rung by rung and we wind
696
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:03.320
up in the lowest of the low which is the
697
00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:08.960
drug alley, and but then it it's literally you feel
698
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:11.480
like that is just around the corner from the nice
699
00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:14.840
downtown that they see each other at.
700
00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:18.800
And you have this great.
701
00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:24.760
Moment where the guy basically bums a light from Gondo. Yes,
702
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.679
And the only thing I could think afterward, after the
703
00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.559
move the film is over, it's like, how many times
704
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:32.800
have I seen something like this? I know there was
705
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:35.639
a part of my little lizard brain that was expecting oh,
706
00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:37.360
we're going to find out that he's in on it
707
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.239
or something, right, like, because that's exactly what an American
708
00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:43.039
director nowadays would do, right And like, it turns out
709
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:45.480
he stayed the whole thing himself, and it's like, and
710
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:47.280
then you have to sit there the rest of the
711
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.199
movie you're like, that doesn't even make sense, but you're
712
00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:57.920
spared that here, And I think that there's just that
713
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:03.440
idea of all of those different wrongs. But additionally, I
714
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:10.079
gotta give him credit for the staging of when the
715
00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:14.119
kidnapper goes and buys the drugs on the dance floor, right,
716
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:18.400
it's so beautifully done. Everybody crammed into the place, moving
717
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:20.440
around that is making sure.
718
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:22.719
We gets so it's so kinetic.
719
00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:26.719
But like again, just the complexity of the scene, but
720
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:30.159
just the clarity with which we're able to see that
721
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:32.960
switch away, that sleight of hand where they where he
722
00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:37.639
hands the drugs off. It's so good. It's so good,
723
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:41.519
and it really is. It's what Kurasawa at years. At
724
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:44.239
this point he'd been decades into his career, but he
725
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:47.880
just mastered that understanding of being able to tell stories
726
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:53.000
visually and trusting the audience to to go along with him.
727
00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:55.639
Well, I got I gotta ask you though, because.
728
00:38:55.400 --> 00:39:02.920
Like I, you know, everybody absolutely acknowledges you know, Kursawa
729
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:07.159
is amazing, Like what a what a storied career, And
730
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:10.679
I understand why this is regarded as such an incredible film.
731
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.599
I think it's incredible. I got to know, though, like,
732
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:15.760
is there anything that you think, like does it does
733
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:18.519
it drag for you at any point? Like does it
734
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.440
do you have any challenge with pace or anything?
735
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:20.719
Yeah?
736
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:22.519
I wanted to and I wanted to talk about this
737
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:26.440
because I think my early viewings each time I have
738
00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:31.039
found that I maybe just because I'm familiar with the
739
00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:34.239
film and understand what it's trying to say. Uh, it's
740
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:38.280
each viewing, I've appreciated it and loved it more and more.
741
00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:40.400
I think the first time I saw it, I was
742
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:44.840
thrown to me the most compelling part. And I found
743
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.159
this a lot with Kubrick's works when I watched Kubrick's
744
00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:49.440
films the first time I saw them. A lot of
745
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:51.559
his films are kind of divided into a first half
746
00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:54.440
and a second half where everyone loves the first half
747
00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:56.079
and then the second half kind of drags.
748
00:39:56.559 --> 00:39:58.480
But then the more you think about it, and the more.
749
00:39:58.280 --> 00:39:59.960
You rewatch it, you're kind of thinking of like clock
750
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:02.599
or orange full metal jacket as well, shut like all
751
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:05.880
of these. The more you start to think about it
752
00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:08.639
and appreciate what the second half is saying about the
753
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:12.480
first half and how they throw each other into context.
754
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:15.559
I think for me, the first time, I was so
755
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:21.920
invested in the story of the kidnapping with Gondo's chauffeur
756
00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.320
his son, and so when that was resolved early on
757
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:26.880
in the film. And when I say early on, I
758
00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:28.519
mean the film is about two and a half hours long,
759
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:31.519
so it's about an hour into the film, I remember
760
00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:34.440
thinking like, okay, so where are we going next? And
761
00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:40.880
the film shifts gears into like police procedural, very very detailed.
762
00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:44.400
Please like step by step we go through.
763
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:52.199
Every point of this investigation with the police. And now
764
00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:55.639
I love it, because I absolutely love The actor's name
765
00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.239
is Tatsuya Nakadai, one of the great Japanese actors.
766
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:01.920
He was in Yojimbo, and I believe he was in
767
00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:03.599
Sanjuro as well before this.
768
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:06.280
I haven't seen either one of those either, so sorry.
769
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:07.719
For wonderful, wonderful films.
770
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:08.000
Uh.
771
00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:12.719
And he was also in the Human Condition how Rakiri
772
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:15.239
h incredible actor.
773
00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:16.960
Which character did he play?
774
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.360
He played the lead detective in this film.
775
00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:22.840
Oh oh yeah, oh yes, okay, so I know I
776
00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:25.119
know exactly what you're talking. He amazing.
777
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:28.880
I think because I was so invested in Toshira Mifune,
778
00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:32.840
who's the He's Gondo, the main the main character, quote unquote.
779
00:41:32.840 --> 00:41:35.360
But the film kind of has like two or three
780
00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:37.559
minutes it's like he is the main character, and then
781
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:40.679
it hands it off to the police, and then we
782
00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:42.400
handed off almost to the kidnapper.
783
00:41:42.440 --> 00:41:45.599
The kidnapper sort of becomes the main character in the
784
00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:46.719
third act of the film.
785
00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:51.039
But I think this is all our long way of
786
00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:56.480
saying I was thrown by the switch from intense kidnapping
787
00:41:56.599 --> 00:42:00.320
plot and ransom and kidnapper and our are they going
788
00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:05.840
to get the guy to methodical, slower paced, step by
789
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:11.360
step detective look and police work and procedural That threw
790
00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:13.840
me the first time I saw it, and not to
791
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:16.440
the point where I was like, well this film, this
792
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:18.920
is I don't like this at all, but it did
793
00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:22.199
with it was like, well, the first hour so is
794
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:25.840
much more engaging and exciting to me. But now I'm
795
00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:29.440
just so fascinated by the whole film, and so fascinated
796
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:36.880
by the whiplash of switching gears so completely, and as
797
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:40.280
we've said, you see it so often employed in modern cinema,
798
00:42:40.559 --> 00:42:44.599
like David Fincher and other great filmmakers who have done
799
00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:49.920
similar things with their films. I'm more impressed by it.
800
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:52.000
I'm more interested in what's going on.
801
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:53.320
And I just love.
802
00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:59.199
The dynamics and relationships of these officers, these detectives with
803
00:42:59.239 --> 00:43:02.079
each other. They're so oh dynamic, and they's so they
804
00:43:02.119 --> 00:43:05.039
all have such unique personalities, and I love.
805
00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:07.679
That section of the film.
806
00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:08.840
There is a.
807
00:43:10.239 --> 00:43:12.119
In terms of the Switch, there was a book and
808
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:13.800
I can't remember the title of it. I barred it
809
00:43:13.800 --> 00:43:16.639
from my dad and we're talking. This is decades ago,
810
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:18.760
so I remember it was written by I think it
811
00:43:18.840 --> 00:43:24.199
was like Larry Niven and Larry McMurtry, right, so like
812
00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:28.719
weird pairing, right, sci fi writer, Western writer. But they
813
00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:33.840
both wrote one half of the book, and there was
814
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:36.840
no like collect like it was one wrote in this voice,
815
00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:39.480
one wrote in that voice, or two completely different characters.
816
00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:42.559
And then the final scene is the two characters meeting
817
00:43:42.760 --> 00:43:46.000
and you find out this all happened before the previous
818
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:48.599
two parts of the book. So that's what ties it
819
00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:51.800
all together sort of thing. And this is a similar
820
00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:54.840
sort of experience where I find it so satisfying because
821
00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:59.039
of that tie together scene. So much hinges on that, Yeah,
822
00:43:59.159 --> 00:44:05.960
so much hinges on that because that resolution scene then
823
00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:09.400
informs everything that you just experience in the police procedural, right,
824
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:13.280
And it's one of those things where like, no, you
825
00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.679
said it earlier, and you're right, Kursawood doesn't ask us
826
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:20.440
at all to sympathize with the kidnapper at all, but
827
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:27.079
we understand what he's been through and you can't help.
828
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:32.480
But wonder now with that procedural part that happens because
829
00:44:32.519 --> 00:44:36.039
the detectives they clearly state it's our mission, this is
830
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:38.960
our job to make sure that mister Gondo is taken
831
00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:39.320
care of.
832
00:44:39.400 --> 00:44:40.559
We can't let him down.
833
00:44:41.760 --> 00:44:43.840
And if they had simply said, look, you got the
834
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.920
kid back, sorry about your money, and walked away and
835
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:51.960
it's cold case territory. Now, how different this guy's life was.
836
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:56.440
This isn't because Gondo went after him. It's because the
837
00:44:56.480 --> 00:45:01.000
police went after him, and that in of itself is
838
00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:02.199
really interesting.
839
00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:03.760
Yeah, I think you're right.
840
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:07.159
I think that is what I have admired about that
841
00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:12.599
sequence is the relationship, the emotional connection the police develop
842
00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:16.440
with Gundo, even though it's not overtly stated, it's not obvious,
843
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:19.119
but what happens is they see this man go through
844
00:45:19.119 --> 00:45:22.519
this moral dilemma where at first he's like, I'm not
845
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.599
gonna do it, it's not my responsibility. He tries to
846
00:45:25.599 --> 00:45:28.199
talk himself out of it, he tries to rationalize with
847
00:45:28.320 --> 00:45:31.599
himself why I can't pay this ransom. It's going to
848
00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:36.039
ruin my life, and then ultimately makes this incredible sacrifice
849
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:40.199
because he is a good person, and you see the
850
00:45:40.239 --> 00:45:44.039
police recognize that, and so we as the audience end
851
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:48.719
up like rooting for their investigation, not just because we
852
00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:50.559
want to see a bad guy taken down, but because
853
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:53.360
of their cause. Is yes, of course we want to
854
00:45:53.400 --> 00:45:56.519
find this kidnapper, but we're doing it because we want to.
855
00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:03.119
We want to support and help this man who made
856
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:05.760
a sacrifice that we admire. We admire this person, right,
857
00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:09.119
and therefore yes, it's our job to do this. But
858
00:46:09.360 --> 00:46:13.000
there is that emotional undercurrent, even though it's kind of
859
00:46:13.039 --> 00:46:15.000
stated like it's like, think of Gondo what he's going
860
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:15.960
to going through.
861
00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:18.039
We see it represented by like.
862
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:21.159
Him mowing his lawn and sweat, you know, the sweat stains,
863
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:24.360
and you know, just that quiet recognition and even at
864
00:46:24.400 --> 00:46:27.639
the end when they they're like, we've gotten back most
865
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.360
of the money except the money that was spent on drugs.
866
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:33.280
But then you have the creditors moving around the house
867
00:46:33.320 --> 00:46:37.519
and putting for sale signs and stickers on all the items.
868
00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:42.039
The victory is it's a bittersweet victory, and you recognize
869
00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:46.119
the pain of that, but you also the nobility of
870
00:46:46.360 --> 00:46:49.360
everyone involved. It's like it's almost like we talk about
871
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.679
real world and how grounded and contemporary it feels, but
872
00:46:52.719 --> 00:46:56.079
it's almost like it in some ways it's like a
873
00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:59.880
why am I blinking? It's a wonderful life Frank kaeperf
874
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:03.360
where it's almost like everyone is a good person and
875
00:47:03.400 --> 00:47:06.119
they're all gonna help each other out and we're all
876
00:47:06.599 --> 00:47:08.559
like there is that feeling of we're all in this
877
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:14.360
together that is sort of fantastical, but it's done so
878
00:47:14.519 --> 00:47:18.440
well and it's earned, and you you just you go,
879
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:21.400
you go with it because because the pain and the
880
00:47:21.400 --> 00:47:23.599
suffering is so genuine.
881
00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:26.000
And it's and but the thing is that you know,
882
00:47:27.159 --> 00:47:29.320
I get what you're saying with the Frank Caeper thing.
883
00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:32.880
But it's also a social commentary in and of itself
884
00:47:33.280 --> 00:47:36.440
because the kidnappers cardinal sin is he just presumes, because
885
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:38.880
the guy is a rich guy, he must be an
886
00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:42.519
a hole that doesn't deserve good things in life, right,
887
00:47:42.559 --> 00:47:45.679
And it's like so you layer that on where it's like, well,
888
00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:51.239
you know, he's he's still a good person. He's more fortunate, yes,
889
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.639
but he's still a good person. You know, like he's
890
00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:01.960
you know the complexities of life and and personality. I mean,
891
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.719
this is this is the type of film that easily
892
00:48:06.920 --> 00:48:09.679
could turn someone into and this is going to do
893
00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:11.400
this to me. It's going to put me on a
894
00:48:11.400 --> 00:48:15.880
Cursawa kick, right because I'm like, of course I've seen
895
00:48:16.360 --> 00:48:20.559
The Hidden Fortress and seven Samurai. No lifelong Star Wars fan.
896
00:48:20.599 --> 00:48:22.880
It's like eventually we all read here with a thousand
897
00:48:22.880 --> 00:48:25.039
faces too, and we don't want to admit that it's
898
00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:27.880
boring as hell, but it is. But like it's one
899
00:48:27.880 --> 00:48:29.599
of those things though where it's like, yeah, this is
900
00:48:29.639 --> 00:48:31.800
part of the curriculum of being a Star Wars fan,
901
00:48:32.079 --> 00:48:35.000
whereas this is outside that curriculum. And it's like it's
902
00:48:35.159 --> 00:48:37.239
it's that moment and I'm not saying I was ever
903
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:39.239
like that, where it's like curs I won'tly have value
904
00:48:39.239 --> 00:48:42.880
in that in that sense. Sure, obviously the films were great.
905
00:48:43.199 --> 00:48:45.079
But what you're saying, what you're saying is kind of
906
00:48:45.079 --> 00:48:46.559
what I was touching on in the first part. I
907
00:48:46.559 --> 00:48:48.719
feel like High and Low now is held in the
908
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:53.599
regard that it should be, whereas before George Lucas not intentionally,
909
00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:58.360
I think it's just people grasped onto George Lucas referencing
910
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:03.599
Hidden Fortress by and specifically there are two servant characters
911
00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:06.480
who inspired R two D two and three PO and
912
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:08.440
Lucas was like that unlocked the door for me, where
913
00:49:08.519 --> 00:49:12.800
oh we start with the droids the servants, and that's
914
00:49:12.920 --> 00:49:17.360
kind of our humble way into this grand epic story.
915
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:19.800
But people really latched onto that. So I think Ki
916
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:22.079
and Low, even when it was first released, was kind
917
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:24.599
of seen by critics as like, oh, it's good, but
918
00:49:24.679 --> 00:49:28.800
it's not like a major work of Kurasawa's, so it's like,
919
00:49:28.840 --> 00:49:31.440
you're not guilty of anything other than what Like, I
920
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:36.079
think Ki and Low as people have celebrated seven Samurai
921
00:49:36.199 --> 00:49:38.840
rightfully so and Rasham on other films.
922
00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:40.159
It's like, well, wait a second, let's take a look.
923
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:42.559
At these other ones, like Akro, which I think has
924
00:49:42.599 --> 00:49:45.760
always been held in high regard, but I think nowadays
925
00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:48.960
some would say it's his best film, which rightfully so,
926
00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.039
but some would say, you know, this one and red
927
00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:55.559
Beard and other films are worthy of being up.
928
00:49:55.480 --> 00:49:56.159
There as well.
929
00:49:57.559 --> 00:50:00.079
Because you said red Beard. I thought it was so
930
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:05.039
oh cool how they added the pink tint to the yes,
931
00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:07.000
even though the rest of the film is in black
932
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:07.480
and white.
933
00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:08.719
And I think it's the.
934
00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:09.880
First time color.
935
00:50:10.119 --> 00:50:12.440
Yeah, I think that's the first time there's color in
936
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:14.079
a Krasawa film.
937
00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:17.360
It was so brilliantly done, Like it was just it's
938
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.559
shocking to see it. We're like, oh my gosh, like
939
00:50:20.639 --> 00:50:23.639
and it's and I gotta say, like, the score is
940
00:50:23.679 --> 00:50:31.960
so minimal, but every time they use like very it's like, right,
941
00:50:32.079 --> 00:50:35.719
those big moments, Yes, it's almost like Hans Zimmer finding
942
00:50:35.760 --> 00:50:37.519
a drum set for a Superman.
943
00:50:37.159 --> 00:50:39.840
Movie or something like, hey, all right, it's an important moment.
944
00:50:40.039 --> 00:50:41.719
Well, it's also great to curs amid.
945
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:44.400
You know he did this in seven Samurai where they
946
00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:47.800
have that map and you know they're drawing on it
947
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:51.000
and saying here's where we're going to set up our defense.
948
00:50:51.679 --> 00:50:54.320
Here's how many bandits theyre are. So it's like every
949
00:50:54.360 --> 00:50:59.480
time we then see that payoff visually in the action
950
00:50:59.599 --> 00:51:01.880
of the film, we just get a little kick because
951
00:51:01.880 --> 00:51:03.639
it's like, oh, we were in on the planning, Like
952
00:51:03.719 --> 00:51:06.599
this is so cool. And it's another great example of
953
00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:10.760
set up and payoff where they specifically said these suitcases
954
00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:14.920
will emit a smell, they will emit a color, a pink,
955
00:51:15.559 --> 00:51:20.599
smoky color, and so to have that payoff visually is
956
00:51:20.840 --> 00:51:23.800
just so wonderful, and Krasawa does that brilliantly. Just that
957
00:51:23.960 --> 00:51:28.920
set up something that feels arbitrary when an expository isn't paid.
958
00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:30.440
Off in a way that feels really exciting.
959
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:32.800
Can I say something that is going to be weird
960
00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:35.239
and it's a very personal thing, but at the moment,
961
00:51:35.920 --> 00:51:38.000
well no, it's just a weird thing. I just want
962
00:51:38.039 --> 00:51:40.199
to get it on a record for time, you know,
963
00:51:40.239 --> 00:51:42.039
as this I love when you get weird things on
964
00:51:42.079 --> 00:51:45.320
the record. As this goes out, like Robert Zemecha's starting
965
00:51:45.360 --> 00:51:47.960
contact at some point an alien species going to hear
966
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:55.159
these words somewhere out there. But with with Gondo sitting
967
00:51:55.199 --> 00:51:57.599
down and saying back to my apprentice days.
968
00:51:57.639 --> 00:51:59.159
He's like, I know how to cut the thing in
969
00:51:59.199 --> 00:51:59.960
and put it in there.
970
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:04.199
Who I saw in that moment was my dad, Because
971
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:08.719
my dad he worked for the phone company his entire life, well,
972
00:52:08.719 --> 00:52:10.960
I mean, you know, not since childhood, but like basically
973
00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:14.519
it was his whole professional career. And he he was
974
00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:16.559
a guy who went up in the cherry picker and
975
00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:18.960
worked on the phone lines back before they had the
976
00:52:18.960 --> 00:52:21.960
wisdom to bury them, you know, phone company smarter than
977
00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:22.920
the electric company.
978
00:52:22.639 --> 00:52:25.119
But whatever, And so he was the one.
979
00:52:25.159 --> 00:52:27.719
And but he wound up, you know, climbing up the ranks,
980
00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:29.920
and like eventually he gets an office job and he's
981
00:52:29.960 --> 00:52:32.440
like helping like build computers and stuff like that. Always
982
00:52:32.440 --> 00:52:35.039
an engineer at heart. But I see my dad in
983
00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:37.159
that scene, and it's such a beautiful thing.
984
00:52:38.199 --> 00:52:40.000
Because when my wife.
985
00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:42.320
And I moved into our first house, it was a
986
00:52:42.360 --> 00:52:47.159
flip house, right, because it was before the market crash
987
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:49.639
that caused all the housing values to fall whatever. Right,
988
00:52:50.800 --> 00:52:53.280
they had rented out the three different levels of the
989
00:52:53.280 --> 00:52:58.079
townhouse before they flipped it, right, so each floor had
990
00:52:58.119 --> 00:53:01.880
a different phone line coming in, so only one phone
991
00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:04.599
line worked. And I know kids. This is landline stuff.
992
00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:06.159
So I'll speed it up at this point because nobody
993
00:53:06.199 --> 00:53:09.599
uses anymore. But basically my dad I was like, ah,
994
00:53:09.719 --> 00:53:11.960
they want, you know, one hundred and fifty dollars per
995
00:53:12.239 --> 00:53:14.920
jack and everything. And my Dad's like, okay, all right,
996
00:53:15.039 --> 00:53:16.719
I'm gonna come out there. And he came out there
997
00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:19.760
and he still had his old toolkit from when he
998
00:53:19.960 --> 00:53:21.719
was the guy that went and worked on the lines.
999
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:22.079
Right.
1000
00:53:22.320 --> 00:53:24.119
Remember him looking at me and he's dead now so
1001
00:53:24.159 --> 00:53:27.199
they can't sue him. He looks at me and he goes,
1002
00:53:27.360 --> 00:53:29.679
don't tell anybody I did this because I could get
1003
00:53:29.679 --> 00:53:32.519
in a lot of trouble. And he rewired our whole
1004
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:33.920
house because he remembered how.
1005
00:53:33.760 --> 00:53:36.960
To do it. Oh that's great, and yeah it was.
1006
00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:37.599
It was brilliant.
1007
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:40.079
But when I see Gondo in that scene, like it's
1008
00:53:40.159 --> 00:53:45.119
so relatable. You learn in that one moment because he
1009
00:53:45.159 --> 00:53:47.239
makes a comment to his wife, you've always had money.
1010
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:47.880
You don't know what.
1011
00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:50.920
It's like and you and the thing is if you
1012
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:52.960
if you stop and you think about it. At the end,
1013
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:58.079
that guy again the kidnapper, is presuming Gondo's had money
1014
00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:02.199
his whole life. And God was like, no, I started
1015
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:05.840
out pretty low too, and I climbed my way up
1016
00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:07.920
and so like you get that whole aspect of the
1017
00:54:07.960 --> 00:54:12.840
class warfare thrown in there, and it's like it's so beautiful,
1018
00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:13.679
it's gorgeous.
1019
00:54:13.679 --> 00:54:15.280
It's such a I don't know, I don't know.
1020
00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:18.559
It's also like just just again speaking of the framing
1021
00:54:18.599 --> 00:54:20.719
and the blocking is you know, he is sitting on
1022
00:54:20.760 --> 00:54:23.440
the floor and like getting his hands dirty, and you
1023
00:54:23.480 --> 00:54:25.639
see it, like, you know, all the police around him
1024
00:54:25.639 --> 00:54:27.000
are just kind of watching him and.
1025
00:54:27.039 --> 00:54:28.000
Amazed by him.
1026
00:54:28.440 --> 00:54:32.800
And again it provides that emotional connection and that motivation
1027
00:54:32.920 --> 00:54:34.960
for them later on to really really like we're going
1028
00:54:35.039 --> 00:54:36.800
to get this guy, and not only get this guy,
1029
00:54:36.800 --> 00:54:40.320
but we're actually going to set him up in a
1030
00:54:40.360 --> 00:54:45.320
way that will ensure his punishment is right worse than
1031
00:54:45.480 --> 00:54:49.239
it would have been. It's something else. Kisawa was commenting on.
1032
00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:52.119
Part of his motivation for telling the story, I think
1033
00:54:52.199 --> 00:54:56.960
was because the kit punishments for kidnapping in Japan.
1034
00:54:57.119 --> 00:54:58.280
Prior to World War Two.
1035
00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:03.199
It it wasn't a serious crime, so the punishments weren't serious.
1036
00:55:03.559 --> 00:55:05.920
But post World War Two there was an increase in
1037
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:11.400
child kidnapping, and the punishments were remained too lenient for
1038
00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:14.119
a little while, so I think at this point, by
1039
00:55:14.159 --> 00:55:16.320
the time the film had come out, the punishments were
1040
00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:21.760
a little bit more serious. But Kurrasawa was basically saying like, hey, guys, like,
1041
00:55:22.079 --> 00:55:24.920
doesn't this seem stupid to you that I was only
1042
00:55:24.920 --> 00:55:26.800
going to get off like five I think, what was
1043
00:55:26.840 --> 00:55:28.079
it five years or something?
1044
00:55:28.199 --> 00:55:31.039
Not even that, yeah, you're yeah, you know.
1045
00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:36.480
And the emotional devastation that are just not you know, emotional,
1046
00:55:36.519 --> 00:55:41.840
physical everything, Like the devastation caused by this simple act
1047
00:55:42.679 --> 00:55:48.280
is so beyond what the actual punishment was, Like, I
1048
00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:52.000
think Kurasawa was really speaking to that and saying, like, guys,
1049
00:55:52.119 --> 00:55:54.320
come on, and I think, like I said, I don't
1050
00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:57.559
know the exact timing, but I do know somewhere around
1051
00:55:57.559 --> 00:56:01.079
this point, those punishments became much more more severe than.
1052
00:56:00.920 --> 00:56:05.960
They were rightly so rightly so for sure. I mean,
1053
00:56:06.199 --> 00:56:09.280
it's just it's if people listening haven't figured it out yet,
1054
00:56:09.559 --> 00:56:10.599
this is a movie you should see.
1055
00:56:10.760 --> 00:56:12.840
Yeah, you should see him. You should You should definitely
1056
00:56:13.199 --> 00:56:14.079
go ahead and catch that.
1057
00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:17.039
Did you feel like, you know, we were talking about
1058
00:56:17.039 --> 00:56:19.320
the pacing and just the brilliance of that procedural section,
1059
00:56:19.400 --> 00:56:22.000
but did you feel any sense of did it throw
1060
00:56:22.039 --> 00:56:24.119
you off at all? For my first viewing it kind
1061
00:56:24.119 --> 00:56:26.840
of did Were you into it? Like, did you feel Oh,
1062
00:56:26.880 --> 00:56:27.639
I was all.
1063
00:56:28.159 --> 00:56:30.760
I was all for it because I love gearshift movies.
1064
00:56:31.039 --> 00:56:34.280
Yeah, and so I and I steal that from a
1065
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:36.119
friend of the show, Mike Schindler. He's the one that
1066
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:38.800
first used Gearshift movie with me, and I'm like, I've
1067
00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:43.760
used it ever since. But I loved it because it
1068
00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:45.079
was one of those things where I was like, I
1069
00:56:45.119 --> 00:56:46.599
realized it was like an hour in I was like
1070
00:56:46.960 --> 00:56:49.840
an hour and a half like what I was like, honestly,
1071
00:56:49.880 --> 00:56:51.400
what I was afraid of that it was gonna be
1072
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:54.880
like a MOPy hour and a half, like the husband
1073
00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:59.280
and wife are like having hard time because he hesitated or.
1074
00:56:59.199 --> 00:56:59.679
Something like that.
1075
00:56:59.679 --> 00:57:02.440
I hate. Okay, I've seen that enough, but yeah, to
1076
00:57:02.519 --> 00:57:04.880
shift over and it's like then it's a police procedural
1077
00:57:04.880 --> 00:57:08.039
and suddenly it's their movie. It's like, oh, this is
1078
00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:12.320
this is really interesting. And I never, I never once
1079
00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:13.079
got bored.
1080
00:57:13.519 --> 00:57:14.880
I was always fascinated.
1081
00:57:14.920 --> 00:57:20.199
I was always in it and seeing the kidnapper, you know,
1082
00:57:21.119 --> 00:57:23.440
paying attention to the newspaper.
1083
00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:27.800
Clippings and the uh even even seeing.
1084
00:57:27.599 --> 00:57:31.840
The boson go and talk to the garbage guy, right,
1085
00:57:32.079 --> 00:57:36.199
who's like, that's another aspect of life that we're seeing
1086
00:57:36.280 --> 00:57:38.480
right there. It's like, what a what a life this
1087
00:57:38.519 --> 00:57:40.760
guy has? Right, Like he's complaining, He's like, oh, they
1088
00:57:40.760 --> 00:57:43.159
always throw tin and that doesn't burn. What's wrong with them?
1089
00:57:43.159 --> 00:57:45.920
He's like right out the window and everything like that. Yeah,
1090
00:57:45.960 --> 00:57:46.639
there's such a life.
1091
00:57:46.679 --> 00:57:48.840
I mean, all the supporting characters, each one of them
1092
00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:52.920
has they are like, they each have their own personality,
1093
00:57:52.960 --> 00:57:55.440
and I think that's what keeps that that second part
1094
00:57:55.480 --> 00:57:59.000
of the film so interesting, is just at we are
1095
00:57:59.079 --> 00:58:02.119
so exposed how the society works, and we have such
1096
00:58:02.119 --> 00:58:04.960
a strong understanding of it by the end of the film,
1097
00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:08.679
and we understand what this place is, what the dynamics are,
1098
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:11.760
what the class differences are, and how they all interact
1099
00:58:11.840 --> 00:58:14.440
with each other, and it's just it's so good.
1100
00:58:14.920 --> 00:58:15.880
Like I'm just thinking of.
1101
00:58:15.880 --> 00:58:19.760
Like when we we even like when we transition into
1102
00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:21.400
the second half of the film, how we're looking at
1103
00:58:21.400 --> 00:58:23.199
the house on the hill and the detectives are kind
1104
00:58:23.199 --> 00:58:24.920
of like, yeah, you know, i'd kind of hate that
1105
00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:27.440
guy too, Like look at that house, kind of looking
1106
00:58:27.480 --> 00:58:30.000
down They walk off and then we pan down to
1107
00:58:30.079 --> 00:58:33.440
the gross water, we see the kidnappers reflection, and suddenly
1108
00:58:33.519 --> 00:58:36.599
we're following him into the muck of his life and
1109
00:58:37.760 --> 00:58:39.719
it's all it's all just so good, but it's all
1110
00:58:39.760 --> 00:58:41.239
in the service of the story.
1111
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:41.960
Like it's not.
1112
00:58:42.119 --> 00:58:46.480
Like that's the brilliance of it is when you see
1113
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:49.960
somebody who is so confident in what they have to
1114
00:58:49.960 --> 00:58:54.280
bring to the table, like Kurrasawo was, it is so.
1115
00:58:55.920 --> 00:58:57.719
It is just so enjoyable.
1116
00:58:57.920 --> 00:59:01.840
It is so because it's it for more effective, more
1117
00:59:01.840 --> 00:59:05.519
compelling and more engaging storytelling. And then it's just so
1118
00:59:05.639 --> 00:59:08.280
much fun to think about it, to talk about it,
1119
00:59:08.320 --> 00:59:10.880
to go back and revisit it and really start to
1120
00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:14.159
break it down and analyze it. But what were some
1121
00:59:14.199 --> 00:59:16.159
other things that stood out for you? Like, you know,
1122
00:59:16.239 --> 00:59:19.079
we talked about like David Fincher, we talked about the
1123
00:59:19.119 --> 00:59:22.360
crazy influence of Kisawa in this film, But what are
1124
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:23.559
some other things that you loved.
1125
00:59:23.920 --> 00:59:28.239
I mean that I think that you know, the the
1126
00:59:28.280 --> 00:59:32.480
actor who played the chauffeur was brilliant. He was he
1127
00:59:32.559 --> 00:59:36.519
was heartbreaking, you know, like that's another aspect of the
1128
00:59:36.559 --> 00:59:38.320
culture that you see where he's like he's on his.
1129
00:59:38.360 --> 00:59:39.320
Hands and knees.
1130
00:59:39.880 --> 00:59:41.719
I'll do anything for the rest of your life, I
1131
00:59:41.760 --> 00:59:45.159
swear to God, just just help, like when he throws
1132
00:59:45.239 --> 00:59:46.000
himself down.
1133
00:59:46.719 --> 00:59:47.239
I think that.
1134
00:59:49.880 --> 00:59:54.199
Like the probably if I were to recommend like one
1135
00:59:54.360 --> 00:59:58.960
scene as like the calling card scene that I think.
1136
00:59:58.960 --> 01:00:01.639
Is just brilliant, I don't know.
1137
01:00:02.039 --> 01:00:05.000
I mean, it's it's more a piece of it, like
1138
01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:08.599
you have to pick. Obviously there's the ending scene in
1139
01:00:08.639 --> 01:00:14.079
the you know, in the jail, but like in the
1140
01:00:14.079 --> 01:00:17.400
the kidnapping part of it, it's the sitting down on
1141
01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:21.519
the floor and showing him putting the little packets in
1142
01:00:21.400 --> 01:00:26.440
the in the suitcases, right, and then in the police
1143
01:00:26.480 --> 01:00:28.039
procedural part.
1144
01:00:28.639 --> 01:00:30.559
For me, it's really.
1145
01:00:32.519 --> 01:00:37.320
Like the part that really is wild is that that
1146
01:00:37.960 --> 01:00:40.599
the sequence where they go to the drug alley. Like
1147
01:00:40.639 --> 01:00:43.119
I know I made reference to it before, but there
1148
01:00:43.119 --> 01:00:48.440
are so many things where the sense of place is
1149
01:00:48.480 --> 01:00:49.880
so real I never doubt it.
1150
01:00:50.760 --> 01:00:53.880
So the sense of unease too, even in the music,
1151
01:00:54.039 --> 01:00:54.880
like it's varies.
1152
01:00:55.559 --> 01:00:59.320
But what's especially crazy about the drug alley part is
1153
01:00:59.480 --> 01:01:03.800
again drawing the comparison to American cinema, right Reafer Madness
1154
01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:04.559
and all this stuff.
1155
01:01:04.599 --> 01:01:05.039
It's like this.
1156
01:01:05.079 --> 01:01:08.800
Overblown like the Cursawa like I believe that this is
1157
01:01:08.880 --> 01:01:11.760
probably how the Drug Alley was. Like, you know, it's
1158
01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:15.320
a bunch of people, you know, tweaking and and like
1159
01:01:15.440 --> 01:01:20.119
look they look filthy and needy, and you know, like,
1160
01:01:20.320 --> 01:01:22.840
but it's not like the it's not like the way
1161
01:01:22.880 --> 01:01:26.400
American cinema was portraying drug use of the at the time.
1162
01:01:27.320 --> 01:01:30.840
It feels much more authentic. And even the fact that
1163
01:01:30.880 --> 01:01:34.920
the camera doesn't flinch from showing us the dead addict
1164
01:01:35.880 --> 01:01:37.960
with the needle in her hand, and you know, the
1165
01:01:38.400 --> 01:01:43.119
like the Mio Wallace trickle of a vomit right down
1166
01:01:43.199 --> 01:01:50.599
her chin, and it's like, you know, I mean, it's
1167
01:01:50.599 --> 01:01:52.800
one of those things where I just I struggle for
1168
01:01:52.840 --> 01:01:56.760
the words because of the fact that it's weird to
1169
01:01:56.920 --> 01:02:02.480
encounter a film for nineteen sixty three that can still
1170
01:02:03.360 --> 01:02:07.840
sort of leave you in awe of what it accomplishes.
1171
01:02:09.280 --> 01:02:13.039
I'm not taking anything away from American cinema obviously, Like
1172
01:02:13.719 --> 01:02:16.000
you know, yes, I've seen Touch of Evil and Citizen
1173
01:02:16.079 --> 01:02:18.719
Kane and other movies that aren't by Orson Wells and
1174
01:02:18.760 --> 01:02:22.039
stuff like that, but like it's one of those things.
1175
01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:22.599
Where there is a.
1176
01:02:25.119 --> 01:02:33.480
There is a true sense of cinemas.
1177
01:02:33.079 --> 01:02:35.760
As a pure art form here that.
1178
01:02:37.480 --> 01:02:42.360
Makes you stop and watch it, not because you just
1179
01:02:42.400 --> 01:02:45.320
want to get to the next scene, not because you
1180
01:02:46.039 --> 01:02:49.000
are solely invested in what happens next. Like you said,
1181
01:02:49.039 --> 01:02:52.119
the characterizations, it takes the time for me to feel
1182
01:02:52.159 --> 01:02:55.320
like I know these cops like bos I loved Boson
1183
01:02:55.559 --> 01:02:58.880
the entire time. He was so much fun, you know,
1184
01:02:58.960 --> 01:03:01.800
and the way he he has almost that same tell
1185
01:03:01.880 --> 01:03:04.199
that you see in other Kurosawa films of the old
1186
01:03:04.239 --> 01:03:09.559
man rubbing his ball, you know, like it's so it's
1187
01:03:09.599 --> 01:03:16.000
so beautiful in that sense, and so you know, like
1188
01:03:16.079 --> 01:03:18.079
I think at the at the end of it all,
1189
01:03:18.199 --> 01:03:23.599
it's that you're drawn in to this work because the
1190
01:03:23.639 --> 01:03:28.280
work itself is beautiful and everything else is secondary, you know.
1191
01:03:28.400 --> 01:03:31.679
It's it's just a given that it's beautifully structured and
1192
01:03:31.880 --> 01:03:38.280
well written and very well performed. And also it's so
1193
01:03:38.599 --> 01:03:43.360
weird seeing to share a Mafune in such a subtle role.
1194
01:03:43.639 --> 01:03:47.519
I've seen him a very large performances before this, but
1195
01:03:47.599 --> 01:03:49.039
he very restrained here.
1196
01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:52.920
He and Tatsi and Nakadai the detective, they are very
1197
01:03:55.360 --> 01:04:00.280
not cast against type, but outside of the image.
1198
01:04:00.119 --> 01:04:01.440
That we know them for.
1199
01:04:01.639 --> 01:04:03.960
And at the time, it was the same thing Miffune
1200
01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:07.039
seeing Uh oh, we're gonna go see a Kirosawa and
1201
01:04:07.079 --> 01:04:09.920
Miffune film and you see him like this, It's almost
1202
01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:13.320
kind of like when you saw, like, uh, Robert de
1203
01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:17.039
Niro and King of Comedy after Raging After Raging Bull.
1204
01:04:17.320 --> 01:04:19.440
You're like, wait a second, what's going on here?
1205
01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:25.519
It's it's that similar to use Schindler's term gearshift. Miffune
1206
01:04:25.719 --> 01:04:29.440
everything is insular. He has the intensity like there are
1207
01:04:29.440 --> 01:04:33.800
moments where you you know, you you'd see the flashes
1208
01:04:33.960 --> 01:04:37.679
of the Mifune character quote unquote that we've seen in
1209
01:04:37.760 --> 01:04:41.880
other films like Seven Samuraian, Thrown of Blood and and
1210
01:04:42.000 --> 01:04:45.239
even you know Stray Dog, which is another earlier film
1211
01:04:45.239 --> 01:04:48.039
of Kurasawa's that shares a lot of this one's DNA,
1212
01:04:49.679 --> 01:04:52.920
but so much of it is just subtle, understated intensity,
1213
01:04:53.039 --> 01:04:57.440
and a lot of the final scene, of course, brings
1214
01:04:57.480 --> 01:04:59.440
all of that home because he doesn't do much or
1215
01:04:59.480 --> 01:04:59.920
say much.
1216
01:05:00.079 --> 01:05:03.639
He is there fully in service to.
1217
01:05:04.199 --> 01:05:10.599
Yeah, the every every time I unlock a different maffuone performance,
1218
01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:17.400
I can't help yes again, lifelong Star Wars fan, everything
1219
01:05:17.440 --> 01:05:19.880
like that, I can't help but think of the fact
1220
01:05:19.960 --> 01:05:22.599
Lucas wanted him for Obi Wan origonally and I'm like, what.
1221
01:05:22.679 --> 01:05:24.280
A different effing.
1222
01:05:26.519 --> 01:05:31.960
Different Obi, Like, there's gotta be some alternate universe one
1223
01:05:31.960 --> 01:05:34.760
of you doctor who types out there helped me out, Like,
1224
01:05:35.360 --> 01:05:39.960
there's gotta be a doctor Who universe guy that's gonna
1225
01:05:39.960 --> 01:05:41.599
take me over where I get to see Star Wars
1226
01:05:41.599 --> 01:05:45.360
with t Shira Maffune in it, because I mean, like,
1227
01:05:45.440 --> 01:05:47.760
my yeah, that's.
1228
01:05:47.559 --> 01:05:49.440
Like face meltingly wild.
1229
01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:56.920
It's probably not as accessible, right because the British, the
1230
01:05:56.960 --> 01:05:59.679
great British actor makes it, makes it so much more
1231
01:05:59.800 --> 01:06:02.639
sense for American audiences and turn it into what it
1232
01:06:02.719 --> 01:06:03.719
is sort of thing.
1233
01:06:03.760 --> 01:06:06.440
But it would have been such an interesting film to
1234
01:06:06.480 --> 01:06:07.360
see a minute.
1235
01:06:07.519 --> 01:06:14.039
And this was I think Mifune and Kurrasawa they did
1236
01:06:14.159 --> 01:06:17.199
Redbeard after this, and I think that was the end.
1237
01:06:17.199 --> 01:06:19.000
Of their collaboration. Really.
1238
01:06:19.639 --> 01:06:19.960
Yeah.
1239
01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:25.119
So it's just a very interesting like those two films
1240
01:06:25.159 --> 01:06:34.000
feel like a shift in Kurasawa's his filmography just thematically
1241
01:06:34.280 --> 01:06:38.360
tonally high and low feel there and The Bad Sleep well,
1242
01:06:38.400 --> 01:06:40.840
I can't remember exactly where that is in relation to these.
1243
01:06:40.840 --> 01:06:41.800
I think it's a little bit.
1244
01:06:41.679 --> 01:06:48.840
Before but he shifts from It's not pure optimism, you know.
1245
01:06:48.960 --> 01:06:52.000
Rassamont is not like an it's an optimistic film, and
1246
01:06:52.039 --> 01:06:55.239
that the ending is kind of a it has an
1247
01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:56.599
optimistic vibe to it.
1248
01:06:56.679 --> 01:07:02.719
Well, that's not how I recall it, but I I.
1249
01:07:04.800 --> 01:07:09.159
He shifts from being more like heroic and celebratory of
1250
01:07:09.280 --> 01:07:12.599
like you know, with Seven Samurai and Hidden Fortress, these
1251
01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:18.239
are exciting, fun films. Throne of Blood is dark, it's Shakespeare,
1252
01:07:18.719 --> 01:07:21.159
but like it feels like at this point he shifts
1253
01:07:21.239 --> 01:07:24.320
and Redbeard is kind of walking the line between that
1254
01:07:24.440 --> 01:07:28.800
optimism and that pessimism. But Krosawa tried to take his
1255
01:07:28.840 --> 01:07:32.400
own life at some point, not long after this because
1256
01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:36.960
the film. Yeah, because his films were he kind of
1257
01:07:37.400 --> 01:07:39.679
didn't lose it, but the films were not being as
1258
01:07:39.719 --> 01:07:40.360
well received.
1259
01:07:40.360 --> 01:07:44.360
There was the Deskaden and then what was the other one.
1260
01:07:44.480 --> 01:07:45.559
I can't remember the name of it.
1261
01:07:45.559 --> 01:07:48.880
It's really good, but he really struggled for a little
1262
01:07:48.920 --> 01:07:50.679
but he felt like he was out of touch with
1263
01:07:50.719 --> 01:07:54.400
society and what people wanted from modern's But.
1264
01:07:54.280 --> 01:07:57.800
That's so heartbreaking like that, and that that speaks in
1265
01:07:57.840 --> 01:08:00.880
and of itself, like when you think about it, that
1266
01:08:01.000 --> 01:08:06.079
somebody as gifted, as talented, as amazing, as influential as
1267
01:08:06.159 --> 01:08:12.480
Corrosawa can feel that way of that type of story
1268
01:08:12.559 --> 01:08:14.679
needs to be shared. I had no idea about that
1269
01:08:14.679 --> 01:08:16.680
that type of story needs to be shared far and
1270
01:08:16.760 --> 01:08:18.880
wide so that the next time somebody wants to come
1271
01:08:18.880 --> 01:08:24.239
in and play insult comedian with a work that somebody made.
1272
01:08:25.199 --> 01:08:28.840
You know, there's a place for criticism, sure, but you know,
1273
01:08:29.199 --> 01:08:30.159
maybe consider.
1274
01:08:29.920 --> 01:08:31.680
The human being on the other end of that one.
1275
01:08:32.880 --> 01:08:37.159
And I say that on the tenth anniversary of Well,
1276
01:08:37.199 --> 01:08:40.479
near the tenth anniversary of the release of I'm sorry
1277
01:08:40.479 --> 01:08:45.359
of Batman versus Superman. So try to remember that, you know,
1278
01:08:45.479 --> 01:08:49.359
there's a human being receiving your criticism on the other end. Interesting,
1279
01:08:50.720 --> 01:08:54.720
I was guilty of it too. Okay, it's ten years
1280
01:08:54.720 --> 01:08:57.279
of some conversations. I'm not proud of anymore.
1281
01:08:57.520 --> 01:09:01.000
Look, you can dislike a movie, just don't hate. Don't
1282
01:09:01.000 --> 01:09:03.159
hate person needlessly the people.
1283
01:09:03.039 --> 01:09:03.600
Who made it.
1284
01:09:04.720 --> 01:09:11.159
I think there is a shift in tone to darkness
1285
01:09:11.319 --> 01:09:16.239
and pessimism and less hope in humanity that we start
1286
01:09:16.359 --> 01:09:18.640
to see in High and Low, and we've seen it
1287
01:09:18.680 --> 01:09:21.800
in other films. But I think because of this film's
1288
01:09:21.800 --> 01:09:26.760
placement in his filmography, because he and Mifune only worked
1289
01:09:26.760 --> 01:09:30.199
together one more time, and I don't I don't remember exactly.
1290
01:09:30.680 --> 01:09:32.560
I think it was just a falling out. I think
1291
01:09:32.560 --> 01:09:38.239
it was just I think it was that it was
1292
01:09:38.279 --> 01:09:40.960
literally that it was just, look, I'm done, Like, I
1293
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:42.279
don't want to do another one of these.
1294
01:09:42.439 --> 01:09:45.279
Carasawa was, you know, a notorious perfection.
1295
01:09:45.319 --> 01:09:48.319
It's very difficult, and I think Maffune was just like,
1296
01:09:48.479 --> 01:09:50.039
I can't do this anymore.
1297
01:09:50.319 --> 01:09:52.279
I'm exhausted by this process.
1298
01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:57.479
I think it's a fascinating film to look at in
1299
01:09:57.560 --> 01:10:01.199
the scope of Kurrasawa's filmography and to take that bird's
1300
01:10:01.199 --> 01:10:04.520
eye view and see where High and Low kind of
1301
01:10:04.560 --> 01:10:08.159
falls in that in that area, and you look at
1302
01:10:08.159 --> 01:10:12.039
the films like Kagamusha and ron uh Ron, which in
1303
01:10:12.159 --> 01:10:16.800
you know particular, is another one of Kurosawa's masterpieces. Just
1304
01:10:16.920 --> 01:10:21.600
the darkness of that film and the sheer despair, High
1305
01:10:21.640 --> 01:10:28.439
and Low still believes in humanity, and I feel like Ursula.
1306
01:10:28.680 --> 01:10:30.119
I think it's the other film I was thinking of,
1307
01:10:30.159 --> 01:10:32.640
and that's a really good one too, But I think
1308
01:10:32.680 --> 01:10:34.840
you see that you start to see the darkness seep
1309
01:10:34.920 --> 01:10:35.800
end with this film.
1310
01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:38.600
Oh my gosh, yes, because basically the at the end
1311
01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:42.000
of it all, it's like it you know, who's wrong,
1312
01:10:42.119 --> 01:10:42.720
Who's right?
1313
01:10:43.119 --> 01:10:44.840
Yeah, the system sucks.
1314
01:10:45.119 --> 01:10:48.199
Yeah, yeah, this even when it's inevitable that bad things
1315
01:10:48.199 --> 01:10:50.159
are going to happen, because this system sucks.
1316
01:10:50.680 --> 01:10:52.079
And it's like, even when.
1317
01:10:51.960 --> 01:10:55.920
The bad are punished and the good quote unquote triumph,
1318
01:10:56.439 --> 01:11:00.479
there's still no real winner. Everyone loses, like you said,
1319
01:11:00.560 --> 01:11:05.439
So it's it's incredibly morally complex, and like you said,
1320
01:11:05.439 --> 01:11:07.760
even in the early sixties, to have a film in
1321
01:11:07.920 --> 01:11:10.920
that way and just kind of be like what are
1322
01:11:10.960 --> 01:11:12.119
ye know, it's.
1323
01:11:12.000 --> 01:11:16.560
A pretty demand. It's a pretty high demand of the audience.
1324
01:11:16.640 --> 01:11:17.640
And I think even.
1325
01:11:17.399 --> 01:11:20.880
Now it still feels that shock and that the intensity
1326
01:11:20.920 --> 01:11:23.520
of that ending. You still feel it today, that sense
1327
01:11:23.560 --> 01:11:28.079
of things are just left unresolved really and you just
1328
01:11:28.159 --> 01:11:33.399
kind of feel like Hugh, but yes, yeah, anything else.
1329
01:11:34.920 --> 01:11:37.359
Thank you for suggesting this film.
1330
01:11:37.640 --> 01:11:40.640
Sure, well, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I'm
1331
01:11:40.640 --> 01:11:44.000
really excited to see if you decide to delve into
1332
01:11:44.840 --> 01:11:47.159
oh his films.
1333
01:11:48.800 --> 01:11:51.239
Actually, you know what we're going to be going into.
1334
01:11:51.319 --> 01:11:54.800
Part of part of what pointed us toward Kurrasawa is
1335
01:11:54.880 --> 01:11:57.279
on house Lights here on the network. We're going to
1336
01:11:57.319 --> 01:12:00.800
be as of this recording in the near future, looking
1337
01:12:00.800 --> 01:12:02.439
at a bunch of Corosawa films.
1338
01:12:02.520 --> 01:12:04.279
Oh, that's so good.
1339
01:12:04.520 --> 01:12:08.079
Yeah, and such Rasaman will be one of them.
1340
01:12:08.279 --> 01:12:12.920
Yeah, and uh, you know so looking forward to that,
1341
01:12:13.199 --> 01:12:14.199
and it's so much fun.
1342
01:12:14.239 --> 01:12:17.119
It's one of the great joys in life, especially like
1343
01:12:17.119 --> 01:12:20.880
if you're a film fan finding a great filmmaker and
1344
01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:22.800
just sitting down and saying, you know what, let me
1345
01:12:22.880 --> 01:12:25.720
just start at the beginning and just go.
1346
01:12:25.640 --> 01:12:26.279
All the way through.
1347
01:12:26.399 --> 01:12:29.319
Well, we won't be watching his entire film modity, because
1348
01:12:29.760 --> 01:12:33.319
that will take up I will say there's one there's
1349
01:12:33.359 --> 01:12:38.119
a film called One Wonderful Sunday that Kurrasawa did before
1350
01:12:38.199 --> 01:12:40.479
Corrosawa became Carosawa.
1351
01:12:40.600 --> 01:12:41.760
It's before Rashamon.
1352
01:12:41.840 --> 01:12:45.359
I think it's like nineteen forty seven, forty eight, and
1353
01:12:45.479 --> 01:12:48.199
it to me is like a precursor to Before Sunrise.
1354
01:12:48.560 --> 01:12:51.000
It is about a hold on.
1355
01:12:51.039 --> 01:12:53.960
I'm writing this down right now, serious, ladies, gentlemen, I'm
1356
01:12:54.000 --> 01:12:56.520
actually picking up a pen like my olds do.
1357
01:12:57.000 --> 01:13:00.000
I am good. Let's see One Wonderful Sunday. It is
1358
01:13:00.079 --> 01:13:02.760
a film that no one talks about, I feel like
1359
01:13:02.840 --> 01:13:08.359
except for me. Nineteen forty seven it is, you know,
1360
01:13:08.720 --> 01:13:14.279
very posts World War two. Japan is still recovering this
1361
01:13:14.359 --> 01:13:17.359
young couple. It all takes place in a day and
1362
01:13:17.399 --> 01:13:19.680
they want to go out on a date. It's the
1363
01:13:19.720 --> 01:13:21.800
only day of the week they can see each other,
1364
01:13:22.199 --> 01:13:26.399
and just them trying to enjoy that day.
1365
01:13:26.479 --> 01:13:27.439
Despite like.
1366
01:13:29.479 --> 01:13:34.640
It reminds, it feels like the precursor to link later
1367
01:13:35.640 --> 01:13:38.399
and to those slice of life films, and I feel
1368
01:13:38.399 --> 01:13:41.920
like nobody talks about it, and I love it so much.
1369
01:13:41.960 --> 01:13:44.239
It's one of my I think, one of the great
1370
01:13:44.359 --> 01:13:47.000
underrated Kurrosla films. And again I think it's because it
1371
01:13:47.039 --> 01:13:51.880
came out prior to Rashaman. It doesn't do anything like
1372
01:13:52.319 --> 01:13:57.039
you know, crazy groundbreaking for like, oh Rachaman was out
1373
01:13:57.039 --> 01:14:00.079
of sequence and blah blah blah, but it feels so
1374
01:14:00.680 --> 01:14:01.239
like high and low.
1375
01:14:01.279 --> 01:14:03.960
It feels very contemporary in that slice of life way.
1376
01:14:04.640 --> 01:14:07.000
I would highly recommend it to everyone listening. If you
1377
01:14:07.039 --> 01:14:07.880
haven't seen it.
1378
01:14:07.960 --> 01:14:11.119
Well maybe it's somebody's missing frame.
1379
01:14:14.840 --> 01:14:18.079
What do we want to do for a rating system?
1380
01:14:18.119 --> 01:14:19.439
How many briefcases?
1381
01:14:19.560 --> 01:14:22.640
How many how many.
1382
01:14:22.439 --> 01:14:24.079
Folks spraying briefcases?
1383
01:14:24.760 --> 01:14:28.520
How many grandmother couch upholstery briefcases? Do we want to
1384
01:14:28.520 --> 01:14:28.920
do this?
1385
01:14:29.479 --> 01:14:29.640
Yeah?
1386
01:14:29.720 --> 01:14:33.079
With five being the highest and one being the high
1387
01:14:33.119 --> 01:14:34.600
and low?
1388
01:14:35.279 --> 01:14:35.439
Oh?
1389
01:14:35.560 --> 01:14:38.720
Five easy? Five yes, this is it's a brilliant film.
1390
01:14:38.840 --> 01:14:43.600
It's flawless, it's just for me something else very interesting.
1391
01:14:43.680 --> 01:14:45.600
Just speaking of the title of the film, the Japanese
1392
01:14:45.680 --> 01:14:49.640
title translates to heaven and Hell and they change it
1393
01:14:49.640 --> 01:14:50.560
to High and Low.
1394
01:14:50.720 --> 01:14:52.800
I guess they thought it would be well, they knew that,
1395
01:14:53.560 --> 01:14:57.920
they knew that Oliver Stone was going to need to.
1396
01:14:58.399 --> 01:15:00.760
But it is so like again, just the brilliance of it,
1397
01:15:00.840 --> 01:15:07.680
like it is so that is such so demonstrative of
1398
01:15:07.760 --> 01:15:10.199
what the film does. It takes you from heaven all
1399
01:15:10.199 --> 01:15:11.479
the way down to the depths of Hell.
1400
01:15:13.000 --> 01:15:14.600
I love it. I love this movie so much.
1401
01:15:14.720 --> 01:15:20.479
Definitely, it's like, definitely top three Carissaba for me probably.
1402
01:15:21.600 --> 01:15:23.880
And one of the great films of all time for sure.
1403
01:15:24.079 --> 01:15:25.600
Easy I agree.
1404
01:15:25.880 --> 01:15:28.319
All right, well, John, thank you for hanging out. And
1405
01:15:28.560 --> 01:15:30.600
why don't you tell the good people at home where
1406
01:15:30.600 --> 01:15:31.279
they can find you.
1407
01:15:32.079 --> 01:15:36.399
I'm Kessel Junkie online and here on this network on
1408
01:15:36.439 --> 01:15:39.600
the aforementioned house Lights where we look at the work
1409
01:15:39.640 --> 01:15:43.680
of directors as with Tristan Riddell and Darren Moser, and
1410
01:15:43.720 --> 01:15:46.960
you can hear me on Aggressive Negotiations, a Star Wars
1411
01:15:47.000 --> 01:15:51.439
podcast that keeps on going. We're ten years in and
1412
01:15:51.479 --> 01:15:54.279
still having fun. So go ahead and give those a
1413
01:15:54.359 --> 01:15:58.359
listen and Sean, I know that here on missing Frames
1414
01:15:58.640 --> 01:16:01.359
people can hear you, but where else can they annoy you?
1415
01:16:01.439 --> 01:16:03.479
Online? Because I want people to annoy you.
1416
01:16:03.920 --> 01:16:06.439
I know you do, John, and they can do so.
1417
01:16:06.640 --> 01:16:10.439
At ya shondor Man on Twitter. I'm Schondormano five.
1418
01:16:10.359 --> 01:16:15.920
On letterbox stand at Shondorman on Instagram. And that's that
1419
01:16:16.119 --> 01:16:18.600
is that, John, Thank you so much. We should hear
1420
01:16:18.640 --> 01:16:19.920
the Corosola.
1421
01:16:19.439 --> 01:16:23.159
Film in the not too distant future if you if
1422
01:16:23.199 --> 01:16:26.720
you haven't exhausted all the options on house Lights, we will.
1423
01:16:26.960 --> 01:16:27.840
We'll figure something out.
1424
01:16:27.880 --> 01:16:29.479
We'll watch High and Low too.
1425
01:16:30.960 --> 01:16:34.520
We should we should highest to lowis that would be uh?
1426
01:16:34.600 --> 01:16:37.800
I don't know. Actually wait a minute, Yeah, what's up?
1427
01:16:38.119 --> 01:16:40.760
Yeah? Yeah? Is it? Is it highest to Lois? Is
1428
01:16:40.800 --> 01:16:42.279
that the spikes the spike lee one?
1429
01:16:42.319 --> 01:16:42.760
Yeah?
1430
01:16:43.000 --> 01:16:46.479
Feel obligated at this point? We can, I think so.
1431
01:16:46.880 --> 01:16:49.199
Although I did see Shirak and I don't know how
1432
01:16:49.239 --> 01:16:50.000
excited I am.
1433
01:16:52.279 --> 01:16:54.479
I just keep thinking about the Old Boy remake and
1434
01:16:54.600 --> 01:16:56.880
how meaningless everyone said it.
1435
01:16:57.039 --> 01:16:59.079
I still haven't seen Old Boy the original.
1436
01:16:59.279 --> 01:17:01.800
I haven't seen any I haven't seen the Old Boy either.
1437
01:17:03.319 --> 01:17:05.720
But I like, I'm just like, when you have a
1438
01:17:05.720 --> 01:17:08.960
movie like High and Low, I'm like, is it just
1439
01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:09.880
gonna depress me?
1440
01:17:09.960 --> 01:17:12.560
Even with Denzel and it, is it just gonna depress.
1441
01:17:12.279 --> 01:17:16.319
Me to probably kind of remoke a great movie.
1442
01:17:16.600 --> 01:17:18.479
So maybe we just need to go harassed Brad and
1443
01:17:18.680 --> 01:17:20.359
get him to watch Ghosts of Mars with us.
1444
01:17:21.119 --> 01:17:21.680
We'll do that.
1445
01:17:21.760 --> 01:17:24.319
We'll do that perfect well. Thank you John, and thank
1446
01:17:24.359 --> 01:17:27.479
you everybody for listening. We will see you at the movies.