I'm talking about the entire wedding banquet... The characters, extras, plot revelation, intrigue, humour, suspense, pacing, and directors were seriously a 5-star calibre of filmmaking!... Anybody else agrees?...
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it is a stellar opening, brilliant and beautiful. but i always hesitate to label one thing "the best" in such a broad category. but the way the opening is shot is gorgeous. each scene is a perfectly framed picture. you are immediately drawn in to the story, becoming as voyeuristic and curious as the media men whose conversation is filling you in. one of the things i love about rewatching kurosawas movies, is noticing all the small plot devices that are have now become to some extent cliche, but at the time were completely fresh and visionary.
Unicorns don't care if you believe in them any more than you care if they believe in you.
What plot devices are you speaking of caught_in_a_net? You mean the newspaper reporter exposition?
shareEhhh, I don't know, personally I disliked that whole scene. It was such chaos, not knowing who's who, trying to put names to faces so fast, trying to get a grip on everything thrown at you. I noticed that Kurasawa does that "outside narration" in many of his movies. In Yojimbo, for example, it's the bartender telling him everything, and it's much more clear.
Anywho, I watched Rashomon again afterwards, and that's probably the most fascinating opening. The two men sitting there talking about such an insane murder story, so awful and horrible, they don't understand it, it drives me nuts. I know what happens after seeing it several times, but you just scream at the screen "please, god, just tell me what happens, I NEED to know!". Now, that's a good movie opener ~_^.
Ehhh, I don't know, personally I disliked that whole scene. It was such chaos, not knowing who's who, trying to put names to faces so fast, trying to get a grip on everything thrown at you.
Ehhh, I don't know, personally I disliked that whole scene. It was such chaos, not knowing who's who, trying to put names to faces so fast, trying to get a grip on everything thrown at you.I agree with this. I found the opening confusing. It was too much too fast.
The confusion of rapid-fire names was secondary to the chaos of the Emcee being arrested and the reporters setting the pace. This juxtaposed by the stoicism of Japanese social decorum in it's collective sensibilities was priceless. While not the best, I found this opener fascinating and am inclined to agree with the OP's general appraisal. Armed with a fairly good knowledge of Japanese culture and history, I laughed out loud at the whole scenario, especially the inscrutable faces of the assorted directors and civil officers. An arrest, then mention of Public Works at a private company's secretary's wedding. Confusing? Scandal from word go! Kurosawa had tongue firmly planted in cheek here. That said, I would definitely put this in the top ten of greatest opening scenes. The "confusion" was totally intentional and simply part of Akira's narrative style here. It was almost a tip of Kurosawa's hand when the one reporter said, "best one-act I've ever seen" and then the other reporter stated that it was "just the prelude". Bravo!
shareAnd don't forget, it's only a prelude! Fantastic sequence, I agree. I'm not a big fan of the light tone of the scenes in the ammunition factory, but other than that this is pretty close to perfect. 9/10.
What's the Spanish for drunken bum?
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Hello Mr McLaurel,drunken bum in Spanish is "parrandero borracho"
shareAnybody else agrees?...Yep, & inspirational I would think for a lot of directors & would be directors. It's a fabulous opening & Kurosawa even seems to be winking at the audience when he has one reporter say to another at the end, 'The best one act play I ever saw' & the guy responds 'One act? This is only the prelude'! How right he was.
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It's a great film.
The way the wedding takes a back seat to the political/business intrigue in the room, the opening reminds me of Coppola's The Godfather.