RHAPSODY IN AUGUST (1991) The previous 25 years, during which Kurosawa made only five films, were especially daunting in how hard it took to mount a production. Rhapsody in August came together remarkably easy in comparison. Kurosawa wrote the film during Dreams, found financing easily through the studio Shochiku, and ran into Richard Gere in …
And we’re back! That’s right, it’s the inevitable late return of your favorite second rate podcast, High and Low (Brow)! In all seriousness, we’ve had a busy and bitter January up here in Minneapolis, so we’re a bit behind in our posting schedule but we hope to rectify that for you in the coming weeks. …
“But who, if he is not totally without humor, could take this story seriously? The story is so obviously pushed to the extreme of its conventions that one simply has to make fun of it.” – Andre Bazin in The Cinema of Cruelty Bunuel followed his masterpiece on Mexican street youths, Los Olvidados (1950), with …
DREAMS (1990) Surprisingly, it took a little bit of doing following the triumphant success of Ran for Kurosawa to secure financing for his next film, the much smaller Dreams. Then again, Kurosawa’s ambitions were for a pure art film which jettisoned plot and obvious spectacle for something more personal. Perhaps too personal, as a …