Time Out says
Admirers of the subtleties of Ozu and Mizoguchi, however, might find Kurosawa’s upfront project of attempting to make sense of human nature (irredeemable or not?) a little too obviously didactic – and Toshiro Mifune’s central performance veering on the hammy side of ‘earthy’. Those cavils aside, what’s still staggering is the vigour, fluidity and sheer invention of Kurosawa’s direction. No one anywhere in 1950 made the camera engage with movement and location in the way Kurosawa does here, slicing through the forest, and bringing a kinetic impact to violent confrontations, which is evidently the foundation for modern action cinema. This level of mastery is timeless, and although the movie is overly deliberate at times, when it takes off, it really flies. An essential reissue.
Release Details
- Rated:12A
- Release date:Friday 18 June 2010
- Duration:88 mins
Cast and crew
- Director:Akira Kurosawa
- Screenwriter:Akira Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Toshiro Mifune
- Machiko Kyo
- Masayuki Mori
- Takashi Shimura
- Minoru Chiaki
- Fumiko Homma
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