Spielberg to remake Ikiru

[thomas]

Spielberg's studio to remake Kurosawa's "Ikiru"

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=238809

Resources on Kurosawa's "Ikiru"

=> http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/ikiru.html

=> http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/13/cteq/ikiru.html

=> http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cjs/films/reviews/ikiru.html

[moyashi]

Kurosawa should've remade it.

Hmmm, more and more will be done by Hollywood.

[lineartube]

arghh.... I hate remakes.... I hope they won't touch Ran since it's my favorite movie of all times.

[Hoyu]

Kurosawa movies are sacred!

The Magnificent Seven (1960), starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen was a really crappy Hollywood-style adaptation of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai).

Will Hollywood stop at nothing?!?

:mad:

[thomas]

Some remakes can definitely compete wit the original. I am thinking of "The Fly" with Jeff Goldblum or "Cape Fear" with Robert de Niro. "The Magnificant Seven" just borrowed the basic outline from Kurosawa, but it's a bit boring. I only love "maccaroni western" anyhow, lol.

Btw, in Japan Kurosawa is not seen as the celebrated idol he's in the West.

[moyashi]

Not really, but Kurosawa is still well known and has to compete with Juzo Itami and Beat (Takano) Takeshi.

[Hoyu]

Sure... I have heard it argued that since Kurosawa ripped off Shakespeare in a few of his films, that it is perfectly okay for Hollywood to rip off Kurosawa flicks. I respectfully disagree.

Akira Kurosawa was a great writer, yet I have a particular affinity for his cinematography and direction. But it's not just Kurosawa that made his films so great for me. It's when Toshiro Mifune teamed up with Kurosawa that the sparks of cinematic magic really flew. Mifune's acting style is the glue that pulled the very best Kurosawa movies together. I saw a few of Kurosawa's movies that did not cast Mifune, and they were still good, but no sparks (with the exception of later films like "RAN" and "Kagemusha" where Tatsuya Nakadai played the leading role). Heck... even movies made by other greats, like Kenji Mizoguchi, which had Mifune in the leading role became classics.

Have a look: http://www.sprout.org/toshiro/films/byyear1.htm

[thomas]

Kurosawa's Quiet, Tragic Bureaucrat

In hindsight, maybe, "Ikiru" (at Film Forum through Thursday) is not quite what we think of as "Kurosawa." It is not a historical adventure but an intimidating portrait of postwar bureaucracy. It has no faith in feats of arms or the flourish of a samurai. Watanabe is a humble, crushed city employee. His one physical release is to perch on a child's swing in the falling snow. He is not played by the spectacularly fierce (or comic) Toshiro Mifune, but by Takashi Shimura, the actor who — seeming so much more robust — would play the calm, ironic leader of the "Seven Samurai" (1954).

=> http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/05/movies/05THOM.html?ex=1042434000&en=0d9661d344f0bf7e&ei=5062 (registration required, it's free)

[Satori]

I notice this is an old thread, so perhaps there has been an update on this film. One thing people should be aware of is that Spielberg is a huge Kurosawa fan and has been for years. In fact, "The Seven Samurai" is one of the films Spielberg watches before making any film. He loves all of Kurosawa's films and has tremendous respect for him. Let's just hope that respect does justice to this film. :-)

[Apollo]

I am looking forward to it! I am very curious on the result. :-) Kurosawa is great, and I must admit that I am also a great Spielberg fan!!

[Satori]

I am looking forward to it! I am very curious on the result. :-) Kurosawa is great, and I must admit that I am also a great Spielberg fan!!

Me too! I am looking forward to the remake and I am also a Steven Spielberg fan. In fact, I almost met him back in 1991 here in California. He filmed the exterior shots of the London house in the movie "Hook" in Pacific Grove, which is basically between Monterey and Carmel. We flirted a little from a distance, but I didn't get to talk to him. But, hey, how many people can say that, right?! :p I passed a lot of limos on my way home that evening. They were all headed to the location site, so I imagine Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, etc. flew in to San Francisco and were driven from there to Pacific Grove. I also heard they filmed some of the movie around the Sonoma area. An astrologer I know up there said one of the crew members made an appointment with him and Julia Roberts tagged along. He said Julia kept begging him for a reading, but he didn't have the time, I guess. :p

Anyway, I am also a huge Kurosawa fan, so I am particularly interested in how the remake turns out. :-)

[Flashjeff]

Spielberg's a busy beaver these days. He's also supposed to be doing a remake of "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise as the lead. Might be interesting!
:-)

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised no one in Hollywood's taken a crack at adapting "Tomie". Something like that might well be a hit with the teen slasher movie crowd.

[antantrevolution]

arghh.... I hate remakes.... I hope they won't touch Ran since it's my favorite movie of all times.

So do I.

Just look at the bastardised remake of Shall We Dance...

And WE STILL CAN'T GET THE DAMNED JAPANESE VERSION ON DVD IN THE US!!!!!!

Ugh.

Ant

[niafreu]

Bah I can't bear lack of creativity from hollywood. If they can't do something new they should stop trying to remake stuff -_-
I hated The Ring us, wasn't showing all the suspense of the japanese one, and the story of the japanese one is deeper than a movie only. Sadako is so touching in Ring 0 etc.. Their lack of creativity doesn't allow them to rip good movies into pieces and to make a new one as if the old one wasn't existing...

[m477]

arghh.... I hate remakes.... I hope they won't touch Ran since it's my favorite movie of all times.
LOL

Um, Ran IS a remake, essentially. It's Kurosawa's adaptation of King Lear.

[antantrevolution]

LOL

Um, Ran IS a remake, essentially. It's Kurosawa's adaptation of King Lear.

And one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare. Ran is by far, one of Kurosawa's best films.

Ant

[budd]

i bought quite a few of mr kurosawa movies with the borders sale a few months ago, buy 3, get 4
ikiru was one of them.
but certain people gave me a bad review of ran, said it didn't make sense (to them), so i'm going to do more research -- $30 - $40 ain't nothing to play with
i really like the lead in ikiru (t. shimizu?). he has that world weariness about him.
still haven't seen it though.
finally saw a bit of hidden fortress this morning though.
actors back then seemed to be so good, so convincing, no mugging for the camera...