Hey remember J-horror? Japanese horror movies? Who cares at this point, right? There was a long-haired lady ghost, maybe a well, a video tape, a tiny boy in his tighty whities? I dunno. On the back of viral success of a few imported movies, Hollywood decided to milk the genre for a few bucks. Attempt one was pretty successful, followed by nothing but suck. Probably the coffin nail was the last iteration of hollywood’s the grudge. Ill.
When this was going on, I became aware of the genre, but knew about the same as anyone in amurrica. However, very early in my relationship with my husband, we shared our favorite movies with each other, and I discovered more. There was a standout among Japanese horror directors that does not get much love in the USA, save from the extremely hip. That’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Did I say Akira Kurosawa? Is that what you read? Go back and reread that name. It’s worth remembering. Kurosawa means something like Blackmarsh, and is a fairly common name. It ain’t like the highlander; there can be more than one. Kiyoshi thinks of himself primarily as a horror genre director, but his work has so much virtue that he keeps getting tapped to direct arthouse movies, like Bright Future. That film is fine, but lets allow the boy to do what he wants.
My husband’s favorite film by him is Cure, but a few others hold special places in his esteem as well. Retribution is the first and unfortunately only one we saw in the theater. Pulse is excellent and had a shit hollywood adaptation filmed in like, a community college in sarajevo after it closed for the night.
The guy is a feminist. I don’t know how common that is in Japan, but the themes of certain other famous j-horrors are sometimes low key misogynist, so it stands out. He doesn’t use the word, but in movies that are otherwise full of subtlety, he will sometimes stop the proceedings to underscore that women are full-on human beings whose lives do not depend on men, and whose lives matter. Retribution features a scene of dark humor at the expense of a traditional-minded male character, Guard From Hell ends with the male and female leads shaking hands and parting ways. He drives away in his car, she walks to the bus. He was once tasked with making a titty film called The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girls and made it without titties, getting into trouble with the studio, blacklisted for years.
That’s just one example of the ways he stands out from the crowd. How do I describe what the movies are actually like? He’s just one of the best movie directors in the world. Sometimes his subject matter will keep you away. Sometimes budget or other constraints have caused weakness in a project, like on Charisma, so I can’t say he’s perfect. But when it’s all working right? Easily as excellent a director as Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Danny Boyle, John Carpenter on his best days.
His movies don’t invade your space, hammer you with what they’re about. They are quiet and reward paying full attention to the screen. They make it hard to look away from the screen, drawing you in with something more than just suspense or drama. It’s hard to characterize the art of making film out of sight and sound, out of medium and edit, of coordinating the work of others to create a single coherent story that transcends its subject matter to get right into your head.
My personal favorite was Retribution. I hope someday a lot more of his older stuff becomes available in the west. It’s hard enough to make the time to give a two minute song your full attention these days, and I’m asking you to watch two hour movies, so… Make of this all what you will.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa good.
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