Scandal by Akira Kurosawa was quite enjoyable even if a little hokey. I loved Toshirô Mifune’s character as a rebellious motorcycle riding artist and thought Yoskio Yamaguchi was very convincing as the scandalized singer. Takashi Shimura was fantastic in Ikiru but his character in Scandal was extremely irritating. Excellent acting all around, however. Even by the minor characters.

Maybe this isn’t one of Kurosawa’s better works, but I enjoyed it.

I thought One Wonderful Sunday was, well, Wonderful!!

This movie is post WWII. Yuzo has come back from the war and has no money. His fiance Masako likewise makes very little money and has shoes that are extremely warn. But unlike Yuzo who has been changed by the war, Masako has a way of spinning something positive into everything seemingly negative. The holes in her shoes, for instance, allow for easy draining when the roads are wet.

Masako does get very down every now and then, especially when encountering the suffering of youth. But she shakes it off for the sake of a fun Sunday with her fiance.

It is a Wonderful Sunday only by sheer determination. Yuko only has 15 yen and Musako only 20. At one point, they are excited to discover they have just enough money to see a Schubert concert. But just before it is their turn to buy tickets, scalpers buy all of the tickets in their price range and sell them for twice as much.

Their spirits turn downward when they focus upon materialistic gain or lack thereof. But Musako somehow manages to steer the couple toward a more simplistic, far less materialistic focus.

At one point, Musako “breaks the fourth wall” and talks directly to the audience, asking us to clap in support of a young couple who wishes to marry but doesn’t have the money to do so. A bit hokey, but not overly dramatic.

At the beginning of the film, Musako claims that it is far better to imagine possibilities than give into stark reality. By the end of the film, she seems to have a definite point even though the film remains extremely realistic and there is no Hollywood ending making all dreams come true in the end.

No Regrets for Our Youth is Kurosawa’s fifth film, set just prior to WWII in Kyoko.

While The Most Beautiful was definitely a Japanese propoganda film, No Regrets for Our Youth seems to be Kurosawa’s attempt to work through what happened to his country during the 1930s with the focus being on the suppression of anti-militarist Kyoko University students.

Setsuko Hara is mesmerizing as the female protagonist, Yukie. She begins as a flirtatious, carefree daughter of an well-known professor who, to her surprise, is dismissed from his post by the government. From that point on, the oppressive nature of her society (which is becoming increasingly fascist and dictatorial) slowly begins to dawn on her. She follows her heart with the constant reminder that “Freedom demands sacrifice”.

Yukie is well-bred and wealthy, yet she discovers that this life leaves her unfulfilled and that she is actually more fulfilled through the hard work demanded of a peasants life. She gives up her social status and returns to the honor of a much more simple rural life and discovers her independence (which does come at great sacrifice).

Apparently, the film is based on the true story of Hotsumi Ozaki who was the only Japanese person to be hung for treason during World War II.

I must admit that I don’t know that much about this period in Japanese history so the historical part of the story was somewhat difficult to follow. I imagine this would have made far more sense to someone in Japan shortly after WWII.