I ended my recent review of "Sanshiro Sugata" by a sneaky remark. I alleged that the lead actor Susumu Fujita was no Toshiro Mifune... and I wish I could have found a more pleasant way to put it.
Now, let me reformulate. As true as it might be that Fujita doesn't have the same range, charisma or 'magnitude' than international icon Mifune, it is as unfair as comparing Harry Carey Jr. To John Wayne. And after that weird and rather corny opening, his appearance was quite a welcome sight. Indeed, something about the first minutes of the sequel of "Sanshiro Siguta" (which I prefer to refer to as "The Legend of the Great Judo") really set me off. The drunken Yankee sailor (played by Osman Yusuf!) kept blabbering some American slang with a rather convincing accent but the rickshaw was playing it it (no pun intended) as if he was playing in a Mac Senntt film.
Fujita's entrance changes the tone. He looks stern, menacing, and oddly intimidating. The confrontation did not leave much for suspense; it was obvious that for his opening fight scene would be an easy win. Still, whatever is wrong with the sequel has nothing to do with Fujita, who delivers a memorable performance as the young, idealistic and well-meaning martial arts student. It is a good thing because Siguta is in such a perpetual self-doubt that his quest could have taken a trilogy. I doubt it would have helped Kurosawa's career and I am sure he was more than glad to change this after the war. Therefore, at the end Siguta reaches his personal nirvana after Kurosawa stretched his arc as far as he could.
For the rest, it takes a while for the film to find its tone as it keeps being entangled in the necessity to make a point about the art of judo's superiority over boxing, the decadent export of US. Apparently Kurosawa was somewhat forced into making the film a propaganda by underlining without any attempt at subtitlity that boxing incarnates a failure of civilization that is so opposed to the quest of Judo... but for that, Americans are barely present and are replaced by a Japanese manager who's a caricatural sellout. While the film is by no means mediocre, it is not the master's finest hour and you can tell that if it wasn't for that propaganda subtext, it could have made for a better experience. It doesn't help that the image and sound quality (obviously not restored) make it difficult to appreciate.
Now the film is slightly better when it makes connections with the previous one and shows Sigita struggling to forgive himself for the death of Yono's father (played by Shimura in the first film) and when all of sudden, two strange long-haired characters who look like coming from a fantasy horror film and with expressionnist shadows decide to come to revenge their brothers, leading to a climax set in the snow-covered mountains. Iy is so magnificent you'd think it was borrowed from another film... and come way too late in the film.
Overall, it is a decent film but, the result is so beneath the standards of excellence of Kurosawa and of intelligence, that it will probably satisfy some history buffs looking for expressions of propaganda Japanese film and naturally the completists. Apart from that, it is a warmup before Toshiro Mifune who was certainly the muse Kurosawa needed (with Shimura being the touchstone)
Now, let me reformulate. As true as it might be that Fujita doesn't have the same range, charisma or 'magnitude' than international icon Mifune, it is as unfair as comparing Harry Carey Jr. To John Wayne. And after that weird and rather corny opening, his appearance was quite a welcome sight. Indeed, something about the first minutes of the sequel of "Sanshiro Siguta" (which I prefer to refer to as "The Legend of the Great Judo") really set me off. The drunken Yankee sailor (played by Osman Yusuf!) kept blabbering some American slang with a rather convincing accent but the rickshaw was playing it it (no pun intended) as if he was playing in a Mac Senntt film.
Fujita's entrance changes the tone. He looks stern, menacing, and oddly intimidating. The confrontation did not leave much for suspense; it was obvious that for his opening fight scene would be an easy win. Still, whatever is wrong with the sequel has nothing to do with Fujita, who delivers a memorable performance as the young, idealistic and well-meaning martial arts student. It is a good thing because Siguta is in such a perpetual self-doubt that his quest could have taken a trilogy. I doubt it would have helped Kurosawa's career and I am sure he was more than glad to change this after the war. Therefore, at the end Siguta reaches his personal nirvana after Kurosawa stretched his arc as far as he could.
For the rest, it takes a while for the film to find its tone as it keeps being entangled in the necessity to make a point about the art of judo's superiority over boxing, the decadent export of US. Apparently Kurosawa was somewhat forced into making the film a propaganda by underlining without any attempt at subtitlity that boxing incarnates a failure of civilization that is so opposed to the quest of Judo... but for that, Americans are barely present and are replaced by a Japanese manager who's a caricatural sellout. While the film is by no means mediocre, it is not the master's finest hour and you can tell that if it wasn't for that propaganda subtext, it could have made for a better experience. It doesn't help that the image and sound quality (obviously not restored) make it difficult to appreciate.
Now the film is slightly better when it makes connections with the previous one and shows Sigita struggling to forgive himself for the death of Yono's father (played by Shimura in the first film) and when all of sudden, two strange long-haired characters who look like coming from a fantasy horror film and with expressionnist shadows decide to come to revenge their brothers, leading to a climax set in the snow-covered mountains. Iy is so magnificent you'd think it was borrowed from another film... and come way too late in the film.
Overall, it is a decent film but, the result is so beneath the standards of excellence of Kurosawa and of intelligence, that it will probably satisfy some history buffs looking for expressions of propaganda Japanese film and naturally the completists. Apart from that, it is a warmup before Toshiro Mifune who was certainly the muse Kurosawa needed (with Shimura being the touchstone)