Spotlight: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

[Stephen Cremin]

It was very clear in the weeks leading upto the 1997 Tokyo International 
Film Festival that Kurosawa Kiyoshi was becoming flavour of the moment with 
all the strong word-of-mouth about "CURE".  (There's similar undercurrents 
now for Tsukamoto's "Gemini".)  And there's a fair case to argue that it was 
the first in that chain of psycho-horrors which continued with "Ring" and 
most recently "hypnosis" (Saimin) that are spreading like wildfire across 
East Asia.  "CURE" was released in HK where "Ring" has recently been 
dominating the charts, reputedly racking in its millions (of US dollars) at 
a purchase cost of just US$10,000 (MG).  I guess the official Korean remake 
of "Ring" (Hanmac Entertainment for any enterprising festival directors) is 
still at the top of the charts in Seoul ... and probably better made than 
Nakata's original.

But I think "License to Live" is very much the film that legitimised 
Kurosawa as a "serious" director.  There was then a sense of festival 
directors and critics getting on the bandwagon despite the wide playing that 
"CURE" received.  As others have mentioned, this year's Hong Kong 
International Film Festival held a retrospective to Kurosawa ... but I think 
a mistake to package it around "License to Live" when "Charisma" is the 
obvious film to wait for: a project close to Kurosawa's heart for a long 
time.  Edinburgh IFF are showing his four most recent films - and he'll be 
attending from 19-25 August - but his earlier work has been blocked from 
European screenings until Rotterdam host their own retrospective early next 
year.

But a shame that his other films haven't being subtitled for screening.  
Especially when Mori Tatsuya, director of "A" is often in attendance at the 
same festivals: Mori ends "Kandagawa" with a rose placed where the sun 
doesn't shine, carefully inserted by Kurosawa himself.  And "Sweet Home" is, 
I'm assured, a masterpiece ... it's illicitly available with subtitles in 
America.  But the greatest shame is that none of the festivals seem to be 
bringing Doguchi Yoriko, lead actress of "Do-Re-Mi-Fa" and ever-present 
"muse" ever since...

Stephen Cremin
The Asian Film Library

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Ignoring his 8mm films and omnibus episode, Kurosawa's features (by release 
date) are:

1983 Kandagawa Wars (Kandagawa Inran Sens?)
1985 The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl (Do-Re-Mi-Fa Musume no Chi wa 
Sawagu)
1989 Sweet Home (Sweet Home)
     (Abunai Hanashi: Mugen Monogatari)
1992 The Guard from Underground (Jigoku no Keibi-in)
1995 (Katte ni Shiyagare!! G?datsu Keikaku)
     (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Dasshutsu Keikaku)
1996 (Katte ni Shiyagare!! ?gon Keikaku)
     (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Gyakuten Keikaku)
     DOOR III (Door III)
     (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Narikin Keikaku)
     (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Eiy? Keikaku)
1997 (Fukush?: Unmei no H?mon-sha)
     (Fukush?: Kienai Kizuato)
     CURE (Cure)
1998 Serpent's Path (Hebi no Michi)
     Eyes of the Spider (Kumo no Hitomi)
1999 License to Live (Ningen G?kaku)
     Charisma (Charisma)


For those whose browsers support kanji:

1983 Kandagawa Wars ?_?c?????????? (Kandagawa Inran Sens?)
1985 The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl ?h???~?t?@?*?????????? 
(Do-Re-Mi-Fa Musume no Chi wa Sawagu)
1989 Sweet Home ?X?E?B?[?g?z?[?? (Sweet Home)
     ???????b?E?*?*???? (Abunai Hanashi: Mugen Monogatari)
1992 The Guard from Underground ?n?????x?i?i (Jigoku no Keibi-in)
1995 ??????????????!!?E?*?D?v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! G?datsu Keikaku)
     ??????????????!!?E?E?o?v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Dasshutsu Keikaku)
1996 ??????????????!!?E?????v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! ?gon Keikaku)
     ??????????????!!?E?t?]?v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Gyakuten Keikaku)
     DOOR III DOOR?? (Door III)
     ??????????????!!?E?????v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Narikin Keikaku)
     ??????????????!!?E?p?Y?v?? (Katte ni Shiyagare!! Eiy? Keikaku)
1997 ???Q?E?^?*???K???? (Fukush?: Unmei no H?mon-sha)
     ???Q?E???????????* (Fukush?: Kienai Kizuato)
     CURE CURE (Cure)
1998 Serpent's Path ?????* (Hebi no Michi)
     Eyes of the Spider ?w?????? (Kumo no Hitomi)
1999 License to Live ?j???Q?????i (Ningen G?kaku)
     Charisma ?J???X?} (Charisma)

(Max Schaeffer, BFI, asked the list a while back asked how "Charisma" was 
spelt.  Only Japanese reference I have to it does spell it in katakana as 
above.)


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