Kurosawa: Classic Collection [DVD]

IKURU > I LIVE IN FEAR > LOWER DEPTHS > RED BEARD > DODES'KA-DEN
These loosely-themed BFI Kurosawa box sets are often available for under £20 in the periodic Amazon sales, so they are a convenient & affordable way to get a comprehensive Kurosawa library.
This box contains 5 films on 5 discs (with a little booklet of notes & some Alex Cox introductions) & is called `Classic Collection', which doesn't necessarily mean `best' or `most popular' - if you want Kurosawa's greatest hits you should get the `Samurai Collection' box set. `Classic' here seems to mean `serious' - these are Kurosawa's more serious films, many of them literary adaptations and, as such, this collection will probably appeal mostly to long-time aficionados of vintage Japanese cinema.
IKURU (1952) is the best known film here - a poignant story of a terminally ill office worker fighting against bureaucracy & conformity on behalf of others & finding a meaning to his life in the process.
I LIVE IN FEAR (1955) is about an old man obsessed with the idea that Japan will again be a victim of atomic annihilation - is his paranoia a symptom of madness or unflinching sanity? This might not be what people want or expect from a Kurosawa movie but, in its own terms, it's quite successful & provocative - and given the recent nuclear accident in Japan, still relevant.
RED BEARD (1965) took 2 years to make & was the most expensive ever Japanese film - it must be one of the longest too (170 minutes) & is an episodic narrative about a humane doctor trying to modernise & reform his feudal community. Red Beard is difficult to resist but, depending on your point of view, it is either Kurosawa's ultimate humanist masterpiece or where self-indulgence & sentimentality started to take over.
For Kurosawa fans the main interest in this box set comes with THE LOWER DEPTHS & DODESKADEN - two films not previously available on DVD.
LOWER DEPTHS (1957) is about the squabbles of a group of underclass slum-dwellers; an elderly destitute priest arrives & provides a wise commentary on events as they unravel. Very obviously based on an old play, it's been turned into something very 1950s - like a piece of existentialist theatre cleverly turned into something cinematic. It's not so much a gritty realist film about the poor but instead some kind of allegory about how people tell themselves lies & fantasies in order to make their existence bearable. A great film.
DODESKADEN (1970) is a reworking of Lower Depths, again set amongst the squalid inhabitants of a slum. This was Kurosawa's first colour film & it is extremely stylised & experimental. The allegorical dimension is overt - the suspicion must be that the portrait of these outsider characters lost in damaging self-deluding fantasies is a portrait of what it is to be an artist - or the director himself. Kurosawa attempted suicide afterwards, ostensibly because the film flopped, but the film itself feels a bit like a long suicide note.
Although full of (earthly & ironic) humour, both LOWER DEPTHS & DODESKADEN are rather disturbing films, but they are definitely among the director's best work & might make those who think Kurosawa was too mainstream & superficial (especially compared to his rival Japanese auteurs) reconsider their view of the director.

As owner of both the BFI 'Samurai' and 'Crime' Kurosawa collections, this was the next logical purchase, for me. I've resisted, so far, their 'Early' Kurosawa collection. I've bought these as wonderful collector's items, to enjoy the films, appreciate the diversity of the director and relish the lovely presentation and authorative booklet. And, to support the BFI, who do a splendid job, bringing often unseen and unknown films to film-lovers such as you and me.

Akira Kurosawa will forever be synonymous with his world-dominating, ground-breaking take on the samurai and one that he'll be remembered for, above all else. However, he was far from being a one-genre director and in many ways, classics such as Ikiru (included here) are their equal.

Many in the 'Crime Collection' set (which I've also reviewed) - Drunken Angel, Stray Dog and High & Low, 3 in particular, which all show this master director turning to contemporary issues, of a hugely changing Japan. Even if you don't consider them classics, they're as good as anything Hollywood did - OK, minus 'our' iconic screen idols, look at them as very good dramas dealing with big issues of the time; usually in a thoroughly entertaining and accomplished way.

I have digressed, my point having been to show that alternative Kurosawa's are often the equal to his famous films and thus worthy of our attention; so now to this set.

As other reviewers have said, you get two extra films never released on DVD before - Lower Depths and Dodes'Ka-Den and so avid Kurosawa fans and completists will get something extra. For me, it's Red Beard that I most wanted to see, whilst I Live in Fear touches on Ozu territory, in its poignant and respectful look at cold-war paranoia that the whole of the developed world suffered.

I've purposefully gone down the route of the keen movie watcher/collector than film reviewer as I feel, like I did, that much indecision arises as to whether one should buy, this or that, or none at all. I won't try to sway you - I'm not the one who is selling the product!

I will say, though, that these BFI sets aren't cheap and their limited market means little discounting but when compared to individual DVDs, they work out better, if you can can get them, of course. On the plus side, whilst seeming to be un-restored, BFI's exacting standards mean they are the best transfers that you're likely to get. Their price, packaging and presentation also make perfect gifts for the rather special film-lover in your life - such as yourself....

Someone recommended this director to me as I did not know his work. Why this classic series of films had escaped my attention I don't know, perhaps my attention was not drawn by the Samurai collection but I am delighted to have discovered Kurosawa at this stage - a real feast of cinema to enjoy!