Spotlight: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

[TKBowman at aol.com]

I haven't heard anyone mention this yet and I thought the list I would find 
this interesting.

The following press release was issued this Tuesday by the Toronto 
International Film Festival:

Tuesday, July 06, 1999
FESTIVAL TURNS SPOTLIGHT ON JAPAN’S KIYOSHI KUROSAWA

Toronto — Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa is the subject of the 
prestigious Director’s Spotlight at this year’s Toronto International Film 
Festival. The programme features six films, including Kurosawa’s latest 
works, LICENSE TO LIVE and CHARISMA. The line-up includes several Kurosawa 
films which have never been subtitled in English and have been all but 
unavailable in North America. Each year, the Director’s Spotlight presents a 
celebrated filmmaker whose work has yet to be discovered by North American 
audiences and critics. Past Director’s Spotlight filmmakers include Nanni 
Moretti, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Pedro Almodóvar, Aki and Mika Kaurismäki, 
Benoît Jacquot and last year’s featured artist, Darezhan Omirbaev.

A contributor to last year’s groundbreaking National Cinema Programme, New 
Beat of Japan, Kurosawa is probably the most influential and prolific 
filmmaker in contemporary Japanese cinema. His biting intelligence and 
genre-bending instincts have had a huge impact on younger filmmakers. 

>From the outset, Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been concerned with how we lose our way 
in an increasingly standardized, mass-market culture and what happens when 
social conventions lose their hold on people. In each of his films, Kurosawa 
has displayed an ability to twist the rules of genre for more subversive and 
ambitious ends. His second feature, THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DO-RE-MI-FA GIRL 
(1985), begins as a teen comedy, following a young woman as she frantically 
trails her idol around Tokyo, but the film quickly turns into a Godardian 
satire on the pop culture factory (and the manufactured eroticism of 
pornography). Full of unsettling, shocking twists, SERPENT’S PATH (1998) 
follows two men bent on bloody vengeance. One is the father of a murdered 
girl; the other is involved for mysterious reasons of his own. The film’s 
companion piece EYES OF THE SPIDER (1998) follows one of the central 
characters of SERPENT’S PATH as he tries to extricate himself from the 
violent and uncertain world he has become entangled in. Gut-wrenching and 
surprisingly metaphysical, both films turn the sometimes staid yakuza genre 
on its head.

CURE (1997) follows a detective determined to solve a rash of mysterious 
killings. His number one suspect is THE drifter Mamiya, who appears to have 
hypnotic powers. As much a study of the cult of personality and the collapse 
of traditional value systems as it is a thriller, CURE offers a profoundly 
unsettling look at a society which has lost its bearings. 

Kurosawa’s most recent films represent a startling change of pace for the 
director. The gentle, quirky LICENSE TO LIVE (1999) opens with 24-year-old 
Yutaka awaking in a hospital room after spending ten years in a coma. The 
world he knew no longer exists — his family has split up and the only one 
left to care for him is an eccentric family friend. Feeling increasingly 
lost, he decides to realize his childhood dream of opening up a dude ranch. 
Gradually, his family returns but the re-appearance of an old nemesis 
threatens to destroy his fragile, newfound sense of security. The powerful 
allegory CHARISMA (1999) tells the story of Yabuike, a veteran police 
detective who leaves the force after a hostage negotiation goes horribly 
wrong. He travels to a remote forest where he finds a strange tree — named 
Charisma — worshipped by some and reviled by others. When different groups 
threaten to destroy the tree, Yabuike is roused from his lethargy and forced 
to act. All told, Kurosawa’s films paint a compelling and comprehensive 
portrait of a society in ethical and spiritual flux.

Films programmed to date:
CHARISMA (1999) North American Premiere
CURE (1997)
THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DO-RE-MI-FA GIRL (1985)
EYES OF THE SPIDER (1998) North American Premiere
LICENSE TO LIVE (1999) North American Premiere
SERPENT’S PATH (1998) North American Premiere


I'm intrigued by the festival's decision to honor Kurosawa in the coveted 
Spotlight program this year. I'm curious to hear what some of the member of 
the list think about this - especially those who have seen more of his work 
(I've only seen CURE - which I thought was excellent). I'm also amazed to see 
that he's completed 4 films since the relatively recent CURE. Does anyone 
have reviews of the above 6 features? What was he up to in the twelve year 
gap after THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DO-RE-MI-FA GIRL?

Todd