WARNING! If you haven't seen this film yet, or the prequel for that matter, you will NOT want to read this review.
This film may be an artistic failure, but it is a very intriguing one.
Thematically, there is little that is new. It's a thinly disguised remake of "Sugata Sanshiro." The intrigue lies in the way Kurosawa disguises that fact. It's a window into his creative process.
Kurosawa adds only two elements to the plot: the young rikishaman Daisaburo and (important) the crazed Higaki brother Gensaburo. More on these later.
Visually the film is quite appealing. Instead of his trademark wipes AK uses dissolves to good effect on a few occasions, as when Sanshiro and the priest engage in zazen (sitting meditation.) The dissolve shows the priest still upright and Sugata sprawled on his back, fast asleep. of course there is also the famed series of multiple exposures showing without words the increasing confidence and skill of Daisaburo (well played by the unknown Ko Ishida.) The scene in which Gennosuke and Tesshin (both played by Ryonosuke Tsukigata) meet is well handled by doubles and precise editing, without split screen or multiple exposure.
Susumu Fujita's performance is superior to his effort in the original. And this time he displays real judo ability, in the series of throws he applies to Ishida in the training scene, and a well-executed ukemi (breakfall)while he is studying Gennosuke's karate manuscript.
The fight scenes are uneven at best, and the climactic fight between Sanshiro and Tesshin drags on far too long. (Compare it with the concise end fight in Part One - a couple of rolls in the grass, and suddenly Gennosuke has our hero in a lapel choke.) But the first sequence in the American embassy, showing Sanshiro's disgust with the spectacle of Western boxing, is superb from start to finish.
Now back to the plot. It's hard to "get" this film if you haven't seen the first one, as every event in this film refers to the first one, except for the final scene in the cabin. A few examples: the rickshaw, Sugata's question "What is boxing?" (last time it was "What is Judo?"), the opening throw into water, the final throw down a hill, etc. The only change to speak of is Sugata's tokui-waza (favorite technique.) In the first film it was "yama-arashi", mountain storm in English, as its name implies a very violent throw. (Look what happened to all who received it in the first film!) This time it's "kata guruma", or shoulder wheel, a more controlled technique since the thrower need not release his grasp of the receiver. (This is the technique with which Hansuke Murai nearly beat Sugata in the first film.) Sugata uses this throw at least four times: on the American sailor, twice on Daisaburo, and on Tesshin in their duel. He uses the more potent yama-arashi only against the champion boxer nicknamed the "Killer", and therein lies the point. After killing several men in matches, he doesn't want to kill any more. (He warns the sailor, "you might get hurt" and looks for a place to dump him without permanent damage.) Daisaburo is a plot device to get the story moving, true, but the fact that Sanshiro agrees to teach him is a sign of maturity.
What of Gensaburo? First he is a visual reminder that this is a sequel (two Higakis as foes instead of one.) Above all, Sanshiro defeats him with his spirit, without resorting to violence. As Lao Tzu put it, "to win without fighting is the acme of skill."
This analysis may seem far-fetched. It is after all only one man's opinion. Kurosawa himself thought little of this film, and his biographers dismiss it as well. But an unprejudiced viewing unearths a lot of ideas here.
And who knows? Perhaps the notion of telling the same story more than once led to Akutagawa's short stories and "Rashomon" - and all that came in its wake.
A final thought: While this film touting the superiority of Judo over boxing was being made in Japan, a film touting boxing over Judo was made in the USA. It's called "Blood on the Sun" and starred James Cagney, a legitimate Judo black belt. A curious coincidence.
This film may be an artistic failure, but it is a very intriguing one.
Thematically, there is little that is new. It's a thinly disguised remake of "Sugata Sanshiro." The intrigue lies in the way Kurosawa disguises that fact. It's a window into his creative process.
Kurosawa adds only two elements to the plot: the young rikishaman Daisaburo and (important) the crazed Higaki brother Gensaburo. More on these later.
Visually the film is quite appealing. Instead of his trademark wipes AK uses dissolves to good effect on a few occasions, as when Sanshiro and the priest engage in zazen (sitting meditation.) The dissolve shows the priest still upright and Sugata sprawled on his back, fast asleep. of course there is also the famed series of multiple exposures showing without words the increasing confidence and skill of Daisaburo (well played by the unknown Ko Ishida.) The scene in which Gennosuke and Tesshin (both played by Ryonosuke Tsukigata) meet is well handled by doubles and precise editing, without split screen or multiple exposure.
Susumu Fujita's performance is superior to his effort in the original. And this time he displays real judo ability, in the series of throws he applies to Ishida in the training scene, and a well-executed ukemi (breakfall)while he is studying Gennosuke's karate manuscript.
The fight scenes are uneven at best, and the climactic fight between Sanshiro and Tesshin drags on far too long. (Compare it with the concise end fight in Part One - a couple of rolls in the grass, and suddenly Gennosuke has our hero in a lapel choke.) But the first sequence in the American embassy, showing Sanshiro's disgust with the spectacle of Western boxing, is superb from start to finish.
Now back to the plot. It's hard to "get" this film if you haven't seen the first one, as every event in this film refers to the first one, except for the final scene in the cabin. A few examples: the rickshaw, Sugata's question "What is boxing?" (last time it was "What is Judo?"), the opening throw into water, the final throw down a hill, etc. The only change to speak of is Sugata's tokui-waza (favorite technique.) In the first film it was "yama-arashi", mountain storm in English, as its name implies a very violent throw. (Look what happened to all who received it in the first film!) This time it's "kata guruma", or shoulder wheel, a more controlled technique since the thrower need not release his grasp of the receiver. (This is the technique with which Hansuke Murai nearly beat Sugata in the first film.) Sugata uses this throw at least four times: on the American sailor, twice on Daisaburo, and on Tesshin in their duel. He uses the more potent yama-arashi only against the champion boxer nicknamed the "Killer", and therein lies the point. After killing several men in matches, he doesn't want to kill any more. (He warns the sailor, "you might get hurt" and looks for a place to dump him without permanent damage.) Daisaburo is a plot device to get the story moving, true, but the fact that Sanshiro agrees to teach him is a sign of maturity.
What of Gensaburo? First he is a visual reminder that this is a sequel (two Higakis as foes instead of one.) Above all, Sanshiro defeats him with his spirit, without resorting to violence. As Lao Tzu put it, "to win without fighting is the acme of skill."
This analysis may seem far-fetched. It is after all only one man's opinion. Kurosawa himself thought little of this film, and his biographers dismiss it as well. But an unprejudiced viewing unearths a lot of ideas here.
And who knows? Perhaps the notion of telling the same story more than once led to Akutagawa's short stories and "Rashomon" - and all that came in its wake.
A final thought: While this film touting the superiority of Judo over boxing was being made in Japan, a film touting boxing over Judo was made in the USA. It's called "Blood on the Sun" and starred James Cagney, a legitimate Judo black belt. A curious coincidence.