One thing that was remarkable about Kurosawa’s film was his presentation of real, full-blooded characters that are bereft of the stereotypes of the Japanese usually seen in America. Detective Sato, the precinct cop who becomes Murakami’s mentor is played brilliantly by Takashi Shimura. The easygoing, sly method of interrogation that Sato employs is meant both to teach the young greenhorn Murakami, and demonstrate just how effective a cop Sato is really put the hook in me. It’s a classic film that bears watching again and again. I highly recommend it if you like police procedurals as I do and how easily they can be transplanted from one culture to another. Give it a try if you’ve got the time.
Saw this movie years ago. It was brilliant and remained with me. Living in America where bullets and guns are ubiquitous, it was a shocking and thought-provoking film. Comedian social commenter, Chris Rock does a riff about how if bullets cost a lot of money, gun crime would go out -- but that's satire. The reality of a society where gun use was so restricted that each bullet represented a life to be taken was stunning.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Marion. Kurosawa really demonstrates how much horror a single gun can inflict on people's lives. I was surprised to learn that Stray Dog was actually a crime novel written by Kurosawa based on the stories of Georges Simenon's Maigret series that was never published, which piqued my interest even more.
ReplyDeleteRead your interview on Allan Guthrie's site today, it was great. Good luck with Loisada, it sounds like a great book.