The last film in the Kurosawa Post War Eclipse series is I Live in Fear; also know as Record of A Living Being (1955). Toshiro Mifune plays a wealthy industrialist that is obsessed with nuclear destruction. He is convinced the world will end in flames, and wants to move his large family (he has at least two other children born out of wedlock with mistresses). He has already started construction on an underground bunker in Amori that he has abandoned for the Brazil plan and his family is trying to get him declared incompetent so they can save the family business, a foundry. The film shows the chotei (Family Court) process which ends with the father reluctantly being declared incompetent. I guess Kurosawa is trying to show that the only sane man is treated as being insane, but it is hard to for me to be sympathetic to him, Mifune is all swagger playing out of character by 20-30 years of age. To be honest, I think this was my least favorite film in the series. They are all interesting in what they say about Kurosawa’s vision of the world, but I think The Idiot was probably the best made film in the series despite the length and lack of a director’s cut..
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Have you seen the film by the name of, "Mifune?" I so loved it.
MK
Posted by: Cousin Kris | August 24, 2008 at 01:53 AM
I don't think that Mifune would be my cup of tea, it looks like a "Lars Von Trier-type" foreign film to me.
Posted by: MC | August 25, 2008 at 10:15 PM