From Shugoro Yamamoto’s novel Diary of a Town Magistrate, Dora-Heita was written in the late 1960s by Kon Ichikawa, Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi and Keisuke Kinoshita—four major Japanese filmmakers—as part of their dream of their independent production company. But funding wasn’t forthcoming for their samurai comedy, which loosely used Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961) as a model. Ichikawa finally made the film, his 74th, when he was 85 years old and the only one of the four remaining. (Ichikawa himself passed away last February.) However long the world had to wait, his is a glowing and profound film.
The film is set in the Edo period. Koheita Mochizuki, nicknamed Dora-Heita (Alley Cat) for his womanizing ways, has been assigned to Horisoto as chief magistrate. His immediate task is to “clean up” the district of its entrenched corruption. Controlling mobs are his target, but to do this job Dora-Heita eschews “protocols,” going places that samurais are not supposed to go, such as brothels. This invites youthful, idealistic samurai reprisals. Dora-Heita, though, pursues his own consistent aim: the enforcement of ethics which derive from humanity’s civilized mind rather than from Nature.
Although much of it is taken up by indoor dialogues, this is a visually spacious work. Most of the action unfolds in darkness, which Ichikawa uses as a time-distance indicator in lieu of long-shots. Rather than the stark black and white of Yojimbo, Ichikawa employs (beautifully!) muted color that blends opposite modes, terror and intoxicating dreaminess, and generates a full, contemplative result.
Artists generally dip into the past to comment on the present. Ichikawa satirically addresses Japan’s corrupt practices today while also reminding his countrymen of the ethical strain in its complex national character.
A Kurosawa version would have been raw, robust, existential. Ichikawa’s film is timeless.
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DORA-HEITA (Kon Ichikawa, 2000)
By grunesFrom Shugoro Yamamoto’s novel Diary of a Town Magistrate, Dora-Heita was written in the late 1960s by Kon Ichikawa, Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi and Keisuke Kinoshita—four major Japanese filmmakers—as part of their dream of their independent production company. But funding wasn’t forthcoming for their samurai comedy, which loosely used Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961) as a model. Ichikawa finally made the film, his 74th, when he was 85 years old and the only one of the four remaining. (Ichikawa himself passed away last February.) However long the world had to wait, his is a glowing and profound film.
The film is set in the Edo period. Koheita Mochizuki, nicknamed Dora-Heita (Alley Cat) for his womanizing ways, has been assigned to Horisoto as chief magistrate. His immediate task is to “clean up” the district of its entrenched corruption. Controlling mobs are his target, but to do this job Dora-Heita eschews “protocols,” going places that samurais are not supposed to go, such as brothels. This invites youthful, idealistic samurai reprisals. Dora-Heita, though, pursues his own consistent aim: the enforcement of ethics which derive from humanity’s civilized mind rather than from Nature.
Although much of it is taken up by indoor dialogues, this is a visually spacious work. Most of the action unfolds in darkness, which Ichikawa uses as a time-distance indicator in lieu of long-shots. Rather than the stark black and white of Yojimbo, Ichikawa employs (beautifully!) muted color that blends opposite modes, terror and intoxicating dreaminess, and generates a full, contemplative result.
Artists generally dip into the past to comment on the present. Ichikawa satirically addresses Japan’s corrupt practices today while also reminding his countrymen of the ethical strain in its complex national character.
A Kurosawa version would have been raw, robust, existential. Ichikawa’s film is timeless.
Tags: Akira Kurosawa, Ichikawa
This entry was posted on May 2, 2008 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.