Unlike the other films in this series so far, this two hundred and twenty three minute film (split in half on the Criterion Collection) has almost no wikipedia entry. But its taking a more period piece set of the drama than that Keanu Reeves film that I personally haven't seen but I've head is not great. The thing about the film that I could glean from the wikipedia on the film entry itself is that its release date of Part One was December 1, 1941. Now this film, being a historical retelling of The 47 Ronin being made right when Japan was in World War Two and right around the time that the attack on Pearl Harbor was being finalized is something to be thinking about. Like how Cold War Era American films of the 1950's talked about the fears of the society being invaded by alien creatures and Westerns like High Noon seemingly being a veiled hint of America going it alone against the dangers of Communism- movies can be used to show a sense of nationalism or good values that people like. Sure I may be completely wrong right now since I right these plot synopses and general info before I watch the movies, but the idea of a samurai code of ethics (which was actually somewhat adopted by the Japanese military of I remember my listening to a podcast of Japanese History I found on Itunes) so if I am reading this right it is a military film.
Edit: After a few minutes of gleaning the actual event of the 47 Ronin- there was a Cinema and Television section where it further explains that the whole project was commissioned by the Japanese military but the director chose a play that sounds rather philosophical and it was received rather poorly and too serious for what people wanted but hey the director (Kenji Mizoguchi who is known for what seems to be his cinematography skills) and the studio put out part two anyway cause they wanted to. In a way its a propaganda piece that fails at what it seems to be doing and yet its somehow in the Criterion Collection for its cinematography and critical acclaim. Which isn't a bad accomplishment- I don't think the Nazi propaganda films made are here on Criterion and yet I've heard that the director of those gave some really nice shots. But yeah war aims and philosophical bends of the nations do and will affect the cinema in times of stress or war.
Well the opening is making me definitely see that its a propaganda piece with Japanese text being translated to "Defend the homes of those who fight for a Greater Asia." or pretty much- fight against those who would be against the Empire of Japan. Thank you Shokichi Films and Cabinet Poduction Bureau. The actual title of the film translated is "The Loyal 47 Ronin of the Genroku Era" The Ronin, or leaderless samurai, avenging the death of their master and becoming sort of a folk tale in Japan seems to be a perfect thing for a film that was commissioned for the war effort- even though the ending of the tale has them being executed for the crime of plotting and succeeding to commit their revenge plot. I'm actually surprised though that the whole credits are being translated since sometimes in foreign films they don't get that, so all you get are words that you can't read. Oh okay, scratch that, they translated the design crew of important people and the actors not so much. So for people that wonder who's playing who and don't know Japanese? Just use wikipedia though I don't think they have linked pages for the actors- older films and foreign films tend to seemingly have that issue.Wait no, the film is weird with seemingly there being no translation and then the Actors names come up and those get translated again- maybe those untranslated names were production staff or something. These credits are really long though- they end right around the three minute and forty nine second mark, but its to be expected because there needed to be a lot of actors to pull this off and with it being a nearly two hour movie just for part one alone its okay.
Just a heads up it starts that this story is eighty years after the Tokugawa established their Shogynate in Edo- later Tokyo for those who prefer a more modern name from when Emperor Meiji really stepped in after Japan realized it needed to modernize- but Tokyo and Emperor Meiji and therefore the Meiji period is still off in the distance by about 150 to 200 years give or take because the whole incident that started it was in 1701. So just to give you a heads up since Japan loves historical drama and retellings of their history and therefore they have a pretty decent period drama business in movies and tv. Jidai Geki or period drama has their own division of chanbara or the jidaigeki that really do the swordman style thing are great. And because many places in Japan are still surprisingly still standing from the Edo and Meiji period and that costuming is rather wholesale cheap and that like other nations focus on their own historical periods that they like and the idea of these period pieces make sense because you get the sense of large sets and large extra casts to fulfill the fighting in these films are known for.
And if Jidai Geki sounds like the term Jedi from Star Wars- George Lucas liked the samurai genre it seems.
I do have to say that the long take of the establishing shot for 1941 length of film is rather surprising.
The thing to recognize of Japanese History is that while the Emperor rules in name, it was really for a long time just in name only, because the Shogunates of each period for a while controlled portions of Japan. And so the real power is in the Shogun and his Daimyos that control different areas. I don't know if around this time that the Shogun really started his Daimyo to take a house in Edo and go on pilgrimages to Edo every once in a while to see him. Pretty much, to keep people be relaint on him, he made his retainers spend money so they could spend less money plotting against him. Also the whole monetary system of rice prices being tied to wages and the price of land never really got refigured after that system was created so the economic system was hurting or starting to get bad in later periods and really helped samurai in later periods to be tied to the Daimyos of their area and have privileges that commoners couldn't have like top knot hairstyles and carrying swords and yet by the Meiji period when the samurai class was discontinued, they were just poorer people with class.
For further and probably better descriptions of the whole of Japanese History see the History of Japan podcast on Itunes. Cause its a whole mess of issues.
For being a black and white film, ir is rather pretty and there isn't really much to comment on eight minutes in which for me can be a good thing. Looks like the Shogun sent one of his messengers- and if I am reading it right the old guy is maybe a practitioner/priest of Onmyodo "The Way of Ying and Yang" or something with his headdress and costume that looks like the famous legendary practitioner and somehow now popular culture figure in Japan- Abe no Semei. Pretty much its a belief system that originally came from China- one of the religions that almost got to the modern period until the whole occult thing was prohibited and many of them transitioned into Shinto priests and the like but even currently the idea of these priests and Imperial Civil Servants which they were in a way still are used in anime and manga because they have that mystical air.
And Lord Asano is kind of a rude person so the Imperial throne is washing their hands of him or something- being impolite was a major thing that could hurt your position in Court. And it looks now that somebody, don't know who yet attacked the envoy or something and now the whole house is freaking out.The difference is striking in mise-en-scene. The big house which was seemingly empty erupts into loudness and a ton of people just stream out to carry the hurt people away and restrain the retainer of Lord Asano, (Which I was wrong, the dude who attacked Kira is Asano himself.) I'm guessing that is is role. And as punishment the makes the attacker revert from ceremonial dress to normal attire- which is very bad to do losing face and status. Looks like the whole thing was that the attacker- Asano- held a personal grudge against Lord Kira and that forgetting the whole thing about their being a time and a place to do these things, attacked him. Lord Kira, if I'm reading it correctly, was the Shogun's representative there and therefore the guy has to clearly make sure that people understand that this wasn't an attack on the Shogun himself. And surprisingly he missed his target of killing the dude by an inch or two. Short description why this section of events confused me is that it all happens quickly and Asano I assumed was the Daimyo.
Some of these shots are quite impressive and long takes but yeah right now its rather slow because its setting up a lot of things and idea that will be important later. But hey the guy that got attacked didn't fight back because he remembered that today was the day that the Imperial Envoys would come- therefore he was probably just a priest or somebody in the household- I would know more if they didn't leave out the honorifics. The translation seems to leave out the different honorifics to make it easier for us audiences to understand but the use of honorifics in Japanese is a way to mark the informal or formal nature of a power relationship and familial as well.
The costuming in this is also rather nice since the movements that the costumes force people to do- the flowing robes and the way moving is kind of difficult gives it an old school flair- and with how the women shuffle about makes me remember other films that I have seen where a period drama in Japan is done. Lot of Kurosawa films but yeah this is nice. And I do have to say that cinematography wise, the Japanese style of large rooms with panel interiors in these films lets the camera quickly move in a running scene following the actors or perform swooping entrances into a film.
And because Asano did what he did, the Daimyo orders him to commit harakiri. Which is ritual suicide by cutting the belly and in later practice (the more humane version) also involved another person beheading you. Not pretty. Surprisingly the investigators who were charged to investigate why it happened talked back to the decision because Asano himself seems like a okay guy. And Asano has a worth of 50,000 koku- that worth tied to rice production I referenced earlier and so hey having a rich samurai commit seppuku/harakiri (same practice with similar construction in kanji) would look pretty bad in a way. And hey you can be sure that he wouldn't mess up again and you look good because you spared his life. Pretty much the best possible thing that can be done. Let the man be judged by the samurai code and Mr. Investigator Okado here laughs at the praise Kira got for not bringing his weapon cause he says the actuality of Kira being scared of blood is pretty much super cowardly. And oh no the guy who has final say on the matter as to what happened is distantly related to Kira and therefore Okano says pretty much that's a really bad idea- family is thicker than water.
Looks like Okado is getting praised by a dude because his loyalty to Asano is commendable and that of a "true" samurai. And the whole debacle of Asano being ordered to commit seppuku and die while leaving his retainers of samurai without a way to get revenge and money (samurai were the soldier class so having them learn trades outside of tactics and refining their tastes was seen as pointless or something like that) Asano's walk to his death seesm to be partially a crane shot because we see him from above and its at a top of a building looking down. Okado must've loved his master as a retainer because him breaking down and crying outside of the place where Asano will die is rather heartbreaking. And then the random lady in the movie that I didn't know the name of is all sad too because Kiyo is the wife of Asano and they are just waiting to hear of the news of Asano's death. And samurai usually want to die with their lord so the 47 Ronin not doing that because they really want justice for Kira being able to leave the castle without a problem- that makes them mad and finally after 30 minutes we have the stage set for the rest of the film and the other film as well. It's a story for revenge against this Kira guy. Oh yeah and because Asano did that thing, all the property is being seized by I believe the Shogun or something like that. Don;t matter really who its by cause either way everybody is losing the pretty nice house and all.
Well I thought the whole intertitle sequences explaining the action would be done but nope I guess that's how we will get our relevant information for the movie. I guess this director really likes long shots of film because that was a long walk. Looks like all the things of the household are being seized though and the use of music while present in some scenes is rather minimal. Surprising that they are all going though the accounts of the domain of Asano all the samurai retainers he had.
And the retainers get the message that Asano is dead and they ask if he had performed a death poem or some final words because the moment of death and knowledge of one's life is something that was learned in what I think is Buddhism or Shinto or Samurai culture in general but the idea of final words and poetry done at one's death was rather important.
I do have to say that the use of shadows in this film is rather nice because the few times so far that shadows are heavily in a scene they can be used to either completely hide a person's features and therefore be moving around in shadow or they can accentuate a person's features in a moment of stress.
Japan is a culture of etiquette it seems because a lot of interactions are between superiors and inferiors. So all this back and forth about etiquette and decency and the main reason why Asano died is that he forgot the date and that pulling a weapon near the Imperial Majesty is a real bad thing to do- while it seems completely weird to us because culture differences it is important for Japan.
Though I do have to say that for a two hour movie part one- there's almost no sword action besides that one moment of Asano attacking and wounding Kira- this is rather wordy but that can be nice to see the back and forth nature of figuring out what to do- commit harakiri to join Asano in death the honorable thing to do or seek revenge on Lord Kira because he was ot punished for the whole mess that cost Asano his life and caused the seizure of his property. Thus scene of the old retainer coming back from Kyoto to report on the whispers of the Imperial Court on the matter was an emotional one- the noblemen and possibly the Emperor himself commented that it was a shame that Asano had failed to kill Lord Kira. Which is nice to see the sympathy from the court because they could have easily decreed that Asano had committed treason. Which this accusation would have followed his retainers and his family for generations since dishonoring your family name and committing treason hurt your future descendants- and because Asano hasn't been declared a traitor and has sympathy from the Court it wil be a lot easier to travel around and plan to kill Lord Kira.
What's difficult for me in this movie to comment on the characters because everyone looks similar and since they are like 47 Ronin and most of the characters are the retainers of Asano, their clothing all looks really similar. So it you were wondering why I commenting on the plot itself and doing the commenting through Asano's retainers vs. Lord Kira, its because they all look similar and their names don't come up all that often.
I do hope Oishi.Kuranosuke?, who looks to be the head of the retainers right about now, comes to a decision cause the others that were from Edo are starting to get mad that they haven't decided what to do about the situation. And now a retainer who turned his back on the house is back, Tokubei brought his younger teenage son as well so now we have a teenager maybe getting in on the revenge action. Looks like 51 men have decided through blood oath to follow Oishi's plan. Oishi's plan is to hand over the castle to the Shogun because otherwise, the Shogun's army will attack and kill them all. Because the handing over of the castle is an act of submission, it looks good while they will still be planning to kill Lord Kira- but now they are Ronin, samurai without a master.
And oh no but Oishi finds Tokubei is on the brink of death and Tokubei's son is dead. They had wrongfully thought that Oishi had given up and the fight and committed harakiri. Oishi tells Tokubei of the plan to stand up to the Shogunate's decision and kill Kira. Looks like that's the end of this section of the movie- with Oishi angrily staring at the audience because of what happened and an hour and twenty two minutes in we have the third time an intertitle sequence is used. And since they seem to be used to be larger scene transitions to move the plot along to another place I wonder what will be said now especially now that Part One only has twenty nine minutes left. Okay its a time and place transition with theses last thirty minutes happening six months later.
The Edo retainers are back looking for Oishi because they want an explanation and are moaning that they should have taken this into their own hands. I do have to say again that I am glad that there's a translation of what is being said because some of the sound design in this is far away hard to hear dialogue or dialogue being whispered so its hard to notice when some lines are being said. Oishi looks like a complete tool now and because of that his Edo Ronin are getting mad and his wife is being asked to leave him and return to her family home because he's off enjoying the prostitutes in the town. His wife knows that his heart isn't in the whole debauchery thing and he's acting lost to seem like he has given up the revenge. But yeah Oishi looks be a mess. Oishi's mad at himself for asking to restore the family house now cause its messing with his plans.
And there's a Asano house in Hiroshima- ironic that this movie came out in 1941 cause that line bombs later thanks to the war.
And seven minutes until the end of the film and finally the line saying that they avenge the lord thanks to the restoration of the Asano household is good. So the Asano household has around 50,000 koku vs. Lord Kira's backers, the Uesugi, with 150,000 koku. Yep this story in part two will be an underdog story. And so Oishi's wife is taking two out of the three kids (the oldest is the heir to Oishi so he has to stay) back to her father's house. It's a divorce, but its for the best because if Oishi was still married to his wife when he dies then she might have to die too to protect her honor and as a wifely duty. And sons that don't have the power to be samurai can become priests as Oishi says shis young son would be a good priest to pray for the family.
And Part One ends with Oishi watching his family leave. Impressive because there is no dialogue and besides the ending music there is just slow movement happening for the final three minutes. I can see why the people who commissioned the film and the audience were mad with Part One- its not a awesome sword fighting Jidai Geki film. Part One is two hours of set up for Part Two. And for a film released six days before Pearl Harbor it really isn't a morale booster. It's slow and plodding sadness ending on a note of quiet waiting for some plan to develop.
Overall, I liked the film and it was necessary to build the drama and characters for Part Two where the plan really comes to action. I'd give the film about a six out of ten though. Never have been a great fan of films split in half and the sheer amount of nothing happening besides coming up with a plan to kill Lord Kira and the only sword used was in like the beginning attack on Lord Kira by Asano around eight minutes in is disappointing. Great characters built in the film and the lighting and shadow and the use of long shots is great but for most people I could see this either boring people to death or seeming to be pointless and just watch the hopefully more action packed Part Two. I liked the movie because its rather historically nice but judging it as a movie, even after I have said I liked slow character pieces and whatnot, it still seems more focused on debating the actions of these 47 Ronin with the entire film being not much more than a giant back and forth discussion over what to do. Sure Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa is one of my favorite films and its very similar but this is just so okay that for most of this I wished I was watching a Kurosawa movie.
Going to start watching Part Two now but yeah 6 out of 10. The cinematography is fantastic but the film is so full of either long shots of people walking around or just talking that its a slog to get through. And when I noticed that Tokubei's death scene happened at the hour twenty mark and then I realized that I still had like thirty minutes left I grew bored and wished they almost ended it there on a short of Oishi sadly looking at what his refusal to let Tokubei and his son join the fight against Lord Kira caused. And the other films in the Criterion Collection that I have so far watched just love ending on a shot on a character's face so I was expecting that to happen. Now let's see what Part Two has to offer.
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