MovieChat Forums > Nora inu (1963) Discussion > Dumb characters

Dumb characters

posted 14 years ago by yoda87960
14 replies | jump to latest

He forgot his gun? Again? Really? The whole movie hinges on a boring whiny dancer and her boring whiny mother? And the chases that go nowhere. Tell me what exact was the purpose of the 30 minutes of the detective just walking around. I really dig some Kurosawa movies, but I think fans are just blinded by his cribbing from Western movie genres. Just because he's copying the style, doesn't mean it's automatically good.

And he dug out his bullet from the back of a shooting range? Really? Where everyone's been shooting all day long, he found his one bullet. And he ran out on the range like a crazed idiot.

[–] yoda87960 14 years ago

And then the guy missed! Twice!

[–] Mr_McLaurel 14 years ago

That walking scene is really something else, it's true. It stretches on forever, long enough that it almost becomes kind of cool. It's not conventionally entertaining film making, to be sure, but I ended up kind of digging it.

What's the Spanish for drunken bum?

[–] cash_carstar 14 years ago

And he dug out his bullet from the back of a shooting range? Really? Where everyone's been shooting all day long, he found his one bullet.

If you recall, he had made a wild shot (he mentions being very tired at the range) that hit a stump. It was likely the only bullet in the stump.

The long "walking" sequence could be seen as indulgent, I agree. But I found it nice to look at if not trying of my patience. I'm more forgiving viewing a movie at home.

Being influenced by the West doesn't make it good or bad. The film is what it is. I like it. Most Kurosawa films are long and leisurely paced. This film is pretty well representative of the man's work.

"That's what a gym teacher once told me."

[–] yoda87960 14 years ago

Nah, I saw Yojimbo today and it was like a breath of fresh air. Japanese film noir done in the style of the West just doesn't seem to work. It's a shame culture, where very few people are corruptible. How can you blackmail a person willing to commit suicide to save face? I'm sure there's some movie out there to prove me wrong, but this one isn't it.

[–] cash_carstar 14 years ago

I see what you are saying, but Yojimbo is Western influenced as well. Point of fact, it's based on an American Crime novel; Hammett's Red Harvest. So I don't see how Japanese culture neccessarily makes a noir any less workable.

But hey, you don't like it, you don't like it.

"That's what a gym teacher once told me."

[–] yoda87960 14 years ago

Yeah, I kinda defeated my own point. Maybe it's the setting or something, but then again, I liked Ikiru.

[–] cash_carstar 14 years ago

Yeah, I mean you are correct in that the main character in this is very typically Japanese whereas in Yojimbo (same actor) he is very much the American rugged individual.

"That's what a gym teacher once told me."

[–] KenanP 14 years ago

Tell me what exact was the purpose of the 30 minutes of the detective just walking around.

I actually liked that scene quite a lot.
The woman that tipped him off earlier told him that he'd be approached by a black-marketer if he looked desperate enough. So he pretends to be a soldier that has returned from war, but all the criminals see through the act. We follow Mifune's gradual deterioration as he's working undercover, until he's eventually so worn out that he's actually become "desperate enough" for his act to be believable and he's contacted by a criminal without even trying.

I appreciate Kurosawa showing us the entire process rather than just fading to the scene where he meets the criminal immediately, like most directors that cater to people with short attention span would have done.

--------------------------------
Oh you mad cuz I'm stylin on you

[–] wildpeckinpah 14 years ago

KenanP - My thoughts exactly. At first I was thinking that Kurosawa was going to give us maybe a minute or two of Murakami's frustrated search and then have a gun dealer approach him.

Then I was rather surprised that the search was being dragged out but I liked watching the difficulty of the process. It's not supposed to be easy to make contact with the gun dealers plus I think Kurosawa's making a point of Murakami being a green rookie cop who doesn't yet know how to blend in; his naive notion that wearing his old army cap will "sell" his poverty is evidence of that.

By the time he does get approached with the hot tip he's needing he's been looking for so long that the "green" of this rookie cop has begun to wear off and he's more convincing.

This same notion is mirrored in a later scene where the husband of the murdered wife tears up the tomato plants. He sobs that the tomatoes had been green (when he left his wife) but now are red and still growing - much like Murakami.

[–] anti0918 13 years ago

These were my thoughts as well - at first the scene seemed to be dragging out, but watching the reactions he was getting from the locals, it became clear that he simply was a newbie, and didn't have the slightest clue how to look "desperate enough" - it was only when he had truly reached desperation that he succeeded.

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

"What was the purpose of the 30 minutes of the detective just walking around".

To give us a real feel of the city & its more unholy regions; it´s one of the most outstanding montages in any film I´ve seen, outstandingly filmed and edited neorealist stuff. The concluding one-on-one chase & confrontation in the meadows and swampy bush is great as well - better than the oft-celebrated ending of Heat, for instance.

Having seen this as well as High And Low, I think Kurosawa was an outstanding crime noir director.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] New_Wind 12 years ago

I agree with franzkabuki. while watching this scene I recalled italian neorealism. As if kurosawa was trying to show us post-war Tokyo rather than anything.

[–] PhillipNoir 12 years ago

>>As if kurosawa was trying to show us post-war Tokyo rather than anything.

Exactly my thoughts.

And what a post-war Tokyo, without one American face in the crowd. This is 1949 Japan at the height of the occupation and all characters (except for Harumi Namaki's mother) are in western clothes. Note the flimsy outfits of the dance hall girls as they shake their booty at the camera -- amazing! Certainly, this film could not have been made prior to the social upheaval caused after WWII and the occupation.

[–] JellyFish19 8 years ago

It had some dumb moments sure, might be my least enjoyable Kurosawa film, but it's still pretty watchable compared to tother noir thrillers.