• Almost like a combination of Open City from Rossellini and Brief Encounter from David Lean (maybe a tad of depression-era Capra)- a two-hander romance, a couple drifting through a city (during a set period of time), in war-ravaged and poverty-stricken post WWII Japan
  • The couple has no money, a hole in shoe—Kurosawa says it’s based on a DW Griffith film
  • Dialogue like “dreams won’t fill your belly”- survival—“the war destroyed that dream”- hard-hitting
great use of lighting here- this is absolutely a painting to be hung on the wall
  • The message is hit and driven home—inflation and black market
  • A great shot at 32 minutes – a symmetrical frame from behind the two as they sit together on a tree – they meet a homeless kid, and Kurosawa shoots him between the fence just after this shot- a nice sequence
A great shot at 32 minutes – a symmetrical frame from behind the two as they sit together on a tree
  • The walking, talking subgenre of films like Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Certified Copy
  • In a few nice shot the ruins of the city make for a Germany Year Zero like set piece
  • Swinging in symmetry again in the moonlight sequence—another great frame
Swinging in symmetry again in the moonlight sequence—another great frame
  • At 96 minutes Kurosawa tracks in on Chieko Nakakita rapidly – heightening her desperation and the seriousness of the situation (he’s hanging by a thread at this point and she knows it)
  • Kurosawa untethers the camera completely in the amphitheater sequence at the end—the camera floats as he pretends to orchestration invisible musicians and then a crane shot of the couple as the camera pulls away—well done
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a crane shot of the couple as the camera pulls away—well done
  • A series of dissolves of them sitting there at the end
  • A Recommend/Highly Recommend border film