Strange to see a movie as old as I am, and realize once again the brilliance of a Japanese film-maker, whose work has a timeless quality, centered around its humanity. It is firmly set in its own chronology, don’t get me wrong. What makes it timeless is that it, like all Kurosawa’a films, no matter what the story line, deals with what it is like to be human. That is to say, our leading man may not be a hero, necessarily, not a superstar, but maybe just one guy, trying to make his world a little better place-or at least understand it. This movie has all the elements of classic film noir, yet it is infused with humanity, something that others of the same genre cannot always claim.
The world of post war Japan had a long way to go to improve to a better place. Westernizing corruption had descended like a plague on Japan, and Kurosawa gives a no frills look at the worst of it. The “jazz joints” the prostitution, the pathetic lives that ordinary people led following World War II is shown to us graphically, almost sin by sin. And the director shows that moral choices are harder to make when you start with nothing. But I am getting ahead of myself.
This is one of the early, more or less forgotten films of the master director Akira Kurosawa. To many, it is extraordinary mainly because it showcased a young Toshiro Mifune. The story, I have heard from others, was not that extraordinary. It was an ordinary detective’s tale. (Not so.) In his autobiography, Kurosawa points at this film with some bitterness and wry humor as the movie that was nearly shut down by the ASPCA, and the American censors (who did regulate cinema in post war Japan) for inhumane treatment of dogs. The fact that the young director had a very ill looking dog panting in the hot sun for his opening shot is true. The dog was a stray. His ultimate fate is unknown.
AKIRA KUROSAWA
I have written much of this remarkable man, and I won’t bore you with my adulation. This is one of the first genuinely original works of the young director, who had been working as Assistant director at Toho studios for a few years. The script writing was credited to Kurosawa, with help from Ryuzo Kukushima, who would collaborate with Kurosawa on YOJIMBO and HIDDEN FORREST as well. This is not the first meshing of Kurosawa and Mifune. They had met years earlier when Kurosawa was assisting Yamamoto and Mifune was cast as a gangster, and they had already worked together in the lesser known DRUNKEN ANGEL, where Mifune played a gangster, (not unlike the man he is chasing here, as the detective). While the stars are important, and this one had Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, another incredibly dynamic combination, much more can be said for the consummate care with which Kurosawa constructed this film, with all the elements in place.
FILM ELEMENTS
CINEMATOGRAPHY
A signature Kurosawa element is the use of the camera to tell the story. I suspect that is one of the reasons his movies have become classics, and will remain so. The use of shadow, and broken shadow to reveal the tawdry side of Post war Japan is remarkable. This can be seen as The young detective goes undercover, and the scenes become darker, and the worse the environment, the more broken the shadow, and the more chaotic the viewing from the audience, as image after image is presented. This does more to give you a feel for the movie than any dialog could have done. A similar progression occurs in DRUNKEN ANGEL, a movie I have failed to review because the captioning is so horrible in the Hong Kong version .
The man behind the camera was
Asakazu Nakai.
THE MUSIC-
I found nothing truly remarkable here, although the association of Western Music with corruption is unmistakable. Original music was credited to Fumio Hayasaka
EDITING-
Kurosawa claimed that he learned a great deal in the cutting room, and editing though credited to Toshio Goto and Yoshi Sugihara, was something that over the years, Kurosawa tended to need less and less, as he began to construct his movies with great attention to detail. But in this case, the opening sequence and subsequent editing of a Stray dog turning to mad dog were among the scenes cut, due to the ASPCA.
THE TIMES
Post War Japan was a creative era in film history, and Kurosawa was not the only film-make to present the unpleasant changing face of Japanese culture. Yet , when the character of the older detective is introduced, an older, more intrinsically Japanese tradition takes hold. There is now the aspect of honor involved, where previously, it was all angst and guilt and uncontrolled passions. With the older detective come traditional family values . His home is a quiet sanctuary in the midst of chaos. Yet interestingly, the older detective fails to meet the new challenge on its own terms, and in the end, our hero has to take a slightly different path to recover his lost gun- and this is where you see Mifune, who really says very little during the movie, show his stuff.
THE STORY
An ordinary detective story will deal with some mystery (OK we have some mystery) and it won’t go too deep into the personal feelings and motivations of the main characters. In character driven defective stories the character is already known to most audiences...most of us know the Sam Spade character, for example. And we have had many such to get to know over the years, in various stages of education and sensitivity, from the Chandler novels to The James Paterson Alex Cross series, and many others I don’t know. But what if the main character (in this case) is a blank slate, a new detective? What if his personality is fed to us a bit at a time, and all the associations we get from him are visual clues, not easily revealed by the conversation and dialog? The character of our young detective as well as his history are revealed to us, but only should we care to look, or perhaps stated more accurately, look at the world through his eyes.
Does our character ever say, “I was a soldier, and I was treated badly?” (When he reports his gun missing, the supervising officer, says “This isn’t the army. We aren’t going to beat you.” Does he say that he was poor and lonely? (No but his solitary journey into the vagabond life style shows how easy it would have been for him to be “lost” there ) Does he tell his mentor how much he loves and respects him? NO. But it is obvious in the manner which he relates to him, and when his mentor shares his home life with him. Actually, we get to experience all of this with the character. So strange as it may sound, the Japanese ex-soldier detective brings with his character development, a strong element of audience identification. We see the whole world through his eyes.
THE PLOT
A young detective loses his gun on the way home from the shooting range. He spends most of the film trying to recover it. As he does so, and it is not an easy task, he is helped by an older detective. The detective is the source of the interest in this movie. He is tormented when he knows his gun is being used by criminals, and realizes that being a good guy may not be all that easy. The audience gets a taste of post war Japan as seen through the eyes of the young detective.
THE CAST AND PERFORMANCES
Toshiro Mifune as Detective Murakami-This is an extraordinary performance by one of the most charismatic and talented actors ever filmed. The character says little, but his emotions play on his face to an extraordinary degree. When he “plays” the vagabond, and walks the streets as one of the homeless, he is completely believable. I never tire of watching him on screen. His conflict is evident and his sympathy for the criminal is also evident.
Takashi Shimura as Detective Sato-although much has been written about Kurosawa and Mifune, this actor was almost always in Kurosawa’a movies, and as many as 160 throughout his career. An extraordinary character actor, his lot was usually to play the mentor, whether in SEVEN SAMURAI , or here as the older stable and revered mentor to our leading man. He was with Kurosawa from the beginning to nearly the end of his career. He WAS the DRUNKEN ANGEL
Eiko Miyoshi as the first woman in the movie, present on the bus where the gun was stolen. She plays a hardened older woman here, and was in many of Kurosawa’s movies thereafter.
Keiko Awaji as Harumi Namaki showgirl-this is the first performance for the pretty actress, and there is considerable range and conflict shown by her character. She is tempted by wanting “things” and the conflict and corruption is no more clearly shown, as she works in a girlie show. Just a note here, the dancing scenes were a little disturbing, because all the panties seemed to be stuffed with something puffy in the back end, making them look like they were filled diapers. Could this have been intentional???Yikes!!
Noriko Sengoku as Girl-this is the girl who is the first contact in the group of criminals where the detective looks for his stolen gun. This was a nice performance, in particular the way she differed in answering the questions of the young detective versus the older, wiser, kinder detective, who gave her a popsickle to eat in the hot day.
Fumiko Honma as Wooden Tub Shop woman -a simple performance showing how even “honest” people were affected by the poverty and the corruption (the showgirl is her daughter)
Yasushi Nagata as Kiyoshi Nagata
Isao Kimura as Yuro- limited career ...uhh wasn’t he the bad guy?
Minoru Chiaki as Girlie Show director-this is another of Kurosawa’s much employed character actors
Gen Shimizu as Police Inspector-another Kurosawa favorite. Face is also familiar from many of the old monster flicks.
Hajime Izu as Criminal Identification officer this easy going guy would have quite a career in TV later on.
Ishiro Honda as Fleeing villain (also the chief assistant director, a job he would assume for Kurosawa many times) A fascinating guy, he was a good life long friend of Kurosawa’s. He runs like the wind here!
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
If reading subtitles bothers you, I guess this one will be lost on you. But I would suggest you try it anyway. If you get a “dubbed version” , it will be ruined for you. You need to hear the cadence of Japanese speech and charged emotional inflection to get the full impact.
To me, and feel free to disagree, Akira Kurosawa was the greatest director, and the greatest film artist of the previous century. He may have been the greatest who ever lived. I have said this before, and I will repeat it here. I have never failed to be moved by the work of this extraordinary director, and STRAY DOG is no exception. If you have not seen it, make it a point to view it when you can. How could you be disappointed?
If you are interesetd in hearing more adulation of Kurosawa, then I invite you to read some of the following reviews...If not, that's OK too!!!
http://www.epinions.com/content_101681499780 (autobiography)
http://www.epinions.com/content_96751685252 (Richie on Japanese Film history)
http://www.epinions.com/content_95069900420 (DREAMS)
http://www.epinions.com/content_74526461572 (RED BEARD)
http://www.epinions.com/content_72587316868 (HIGH AND LOW)
http://www.epinions.com/content_72450608772 (HIDDEN FORTRESS)
http://www.epinions.com/content_72338607748 (RASHOMON)
http://www.epinions.com/content_43508797060 (SANJURO)
http://www.epinions.com/content_42331049604 (DERSU UZALA)
http://www.epinions.com/content_34015383172 (YOJIMBO)
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-301A-15F4AD73-3A115E1C-prod2 (SEVEN SAMURAI)
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