Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Kazuo Kato,
Junzaburo Ban, Kyoko Tange
Genre:
Drama/Fantasy
Director:
Akira Kurosawa
Screenplay:
Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo
Oguni, from the novel "City Without Seasons" by Shugoro Yamamoto
Cinematography:
Yasumichi Fukuzawa, Takao Saito
Composer:
Toru Takemitsu
Runtime:
244 minutes
I don't know if it's because of my fascination for Asia, asians, and
their culture, but every Kurosawa movie is an experience for me. This was
his first color movie, and he used the medium in a great way even in the
dark ambient of post-atomic Japan.
We follow the lives of some of the poorest, most desperate people trying
to survive using their imaginations and trying to forget their lives by
drinking or creating their own fantasy world to escape reality. The movie
starts in a brilliant way with a "mentally challenged" kid who believes
he's a tram driver. We follow him through all his preparation, and in a
beautiful scene we see him inspect the imaginary tram even though we obviously
can't see it. This is only one of the many ways the people try to get past
their problems here.
Two friends drown their problems with alcohol. A father of a young kid "builds"
his house with his imagination, asking his kid to help him with details like
the color of the fence and the material to use. They even debate if a swimming
pool would be useful or not. A group of women chit-chat and gossip about
their "neighbors." What we see is a continuing depiction of this surreal
world: the contrast between the stark reality and the beautiful imagination
of these people. The use of Technicolor helps enhance these visuals greatly.
Up until the end, Akira drives us, welcomes us into his world full of the
contrast between tragedy and comedy. One of the most beautiful movies about
imagination as a toy to forget tragedy. Stunning.
