Movie Mondays
Monday March 18th, 2019 with Michael O'Keefe and Joshua Robert Bateman
The Cinema of Masaki Kobayashi: Sacrifice & Post War Japanese Cinema Beyond Akira Kurosawa

While you may not know about Masaki Kobayashi we think that should change. He was a very interesting post war Japanese filmmaker who made a film Josh loved called 'Samurai Rebellion,' (1967) & one Mike adores called 'Kwaidan' (1964). Both hosts agree that Harakiri (1962) is a worthy film & that the series 'The Human Condition,' (1959-1961) is an ambitious trilogy with strengths but clocking in over the 10 hour mark is almost objectively too long. Akira Kurosawa's name may be synonymous with black and white Japanese movies from the 1940s up until the mid 1960s but there were certainly other worthy artists. In the spirit of widening our appreciation of collaborators of this period of Japanese cinema our hosts mention Kurosawa & Kobayashi script writer Shinobu Hashimoto as well as 'Kwaidan,' (1964) composer Tôru Takemitsu. If you are curious about learning more about Masaki Koabayashi both hosts will enthusiastically point you to the writings of Virgina Tech Professor Stephen Prince's and his book which is called: 'A Dream of Resistance: The Cinema of Kobayashi Masaki.'