MovieChat Forums > Tengoku to jigoku (1963) Discussion > Was I the only one NOT blown away by thi...

Was I the only one NOT blown away by this film?

posted 18 years ago by PyroBurns
14 replies | jump to latest

I really like Kurosawa so I picked this up expecting something totally awesome. Then after watching the movie I was left with the impression that it was just an okay movie. The makings were good, it just didn't really get that far into my head. Then I look at IMDB and see it this high on this list. Obviously many people were blown away by it, and I wonder if I'm like the only person who doesn't hold it to this regard (Factoring out people who don't like Black and White, Subtitles, or Kurosawa movies).

Me and my Spider: http://www.wcsscience.com/biggest/image2.JPG

[–] imdbmeplease-1 18 years ago

yup, you're the only one

[–] LordKao 15 years ago

One of my favorite scenes is the last one, when the faces of Gondo and the kidnapper can be seen together in the glass pane, suggesting that the two men are more alike than it seemed at first glance. It's a subversive little parallelism that questions the difference between legitimate business and illegitimate criminality.

[–] Ricc0 7 years ago

Nice remark.. I too think that Kurosawa was trying to say something there, but I don't think that there was something illegitimate with Gondo's business. I guess Kurosawa was trying to say that the fortunate is responsible and to a large extent for the misery of the unfortunate.

[–] Adler-99 18 years ago

No, you're not the only one. I ususally love Kurosawa and Mifune, but this movie was underwhelming IMHO. I felt the scene in the nightclub was too drawn out and boring. I actually found the Ed McBain book much better.

[–] imwithstupid_35 18 years ago

This movie is a masterpiece. I was blwon away and repetedley smashed on the face with a brick. In my top 5.

my ymdb site

http://www.ymdb.com/mehsuggeth/l35858_ukuk.html

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Eponymous-too 17 years ago

The first hour was outstanding. The other 80 minutes were a little slow, but realistic. Overall, still much better than average.

"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."

[–] UCHoodman 17 years ago

agreed with the above better than average but out of the Kurosawa's I've seen
Ran and Rashomon definitely beat it by a lot.

[–] mothboy88 17 years ago

I haven't seen it in a while (Just picked it up at the library and will watch it today!) but I remember loving it when I was younger. For some reason the scene when he finds the kidnapper and follows him through the streets and alleyways had a real impact on me.

[–] larsonlo 17 years ago

I agree 100% with the person above

[–] jmail-25 16 years ago

I absolutely loved this movie, it's probably my fave Kurosawa film.

There are a number of strange features, e.g. that the first part feels so much like a play -- based almost entirely in Gondo's living room -- while the rest of the film is shot in such diverse locations.

But screw all that, the key point is, it's an entertaining crime film, with real atmosphere.

However, I understand that it's quite different from most Kurosawa films, therefore fans of his might not necessarily find this to be their cup of tea.

[–] spdaile 16 years ago

yes, you're the only one. seems to me, a lot of Kurosawa fans only like the samurai stuff.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wilky37 16 years ago

I just watched this tonight as my 10th Kurosawa film and it might be my least favorite of the lot. Kurosawa has a way of taking an interesting premise and dragging it out so that it's not interesting anymore (I loved Ikiru, one of my favorites of his, but it suffered from this, too, to a lesser extent). In H&L, he just took so long developing themes that I didn't find very compelling. The last half of this movie was really uninteresting...

I tend to think that a lot of his films are longer than they need to be (Seven Samurai, High and Low, Ikiru, and Stray Dog).

My favorite of the ten I've seen is Drunken Angel, which was the first of his movies I ever saw. At roughly 90 minutes, it was thematically deep/complex but also very taut.

I have not seen Sanjuro/Kagemusha/Ran/Dersu Uzala/Dodesakaden(sp) yet.