Free Criterion prints of Kurosawa till midnight 3/24

[Big Wheel]

Streaming on Hulu for the director's 103rd birthday (may be country-restricted, not sure):

http://www.hulu.com/playlist/160174

[Big Wheel]

Ended up watching for the first time:

Yojimbo
Sanjuro

Sanshiro Sugata

Ran out of time before getting to:

Drunken Angel

Rewatching Rashomon or Seven Samurai

Am I the only one who thinks those new to Kurosawa should NOT start with Rashomon or Seven Samurai, but instead pick something shorter/simpler? I watched SS first, over ten years ago, and the length was so overwhelming that it kind of kept me from checking out the other stuff.

[erwbol]

I think I saw Ran first (Criterion DVD) and think it was a good choice, for me at least. Not exactly short, though.

[Quincy]

Am I the only one who thinks those new to Kurosawa should NOT start with Rashomon or Seven Samurai, but instead pick something shorter/simpler? I watched SS first, over ten years ago, and the length was so overwhelming that it kind of kept me from checking out the other stuff.

Not at all. Maybe skip the samurai period altogether and go with High And Low or Stray Dog. You still get Mifune which for me is equally important as it being Kurosawa. The most typical choice for a newbie is The Hidden Fortress unless it's some weirdo who hasn't seen Star Wars (which is probably happening by now, since I know people who are ignorant of The Beatles music).

[ejp626]

I like a lot of Kurosawa films, though a few of the really early ones are hard to take.

If I thought that someone was only going to see one film by him, I would probably go with Ikiru. So I'd start with that one, and then see if they wanted to continue with High and Low and then some of the samurai films, probably Hidden Fortress as Quincy suggested.

I actually was working my way through the Kurosawa box but got really derailed last year. Am penciling in a couple of weeks this summer to try to wrap that up. I then hope to repeat the exercise with my son, but probably in a couple more years when I think he is ready for some of the more violent scenes.

[Head Man]

Streaming on Hulu for the director's 103rd birthday (may be country-restricted, not sure):

http://www.hulu.com/playlist/160174

Only available in the US ......