Today I learned that ‘jidaigeki’ film is a Japanese genre that means its a period drama, and specifically the time period in Japan before the Meiji restoration, which was when—among other things—Japan began to heavily industrialize. So…the period before all that. The time of samurai, peasants, warlords, etc.
Akira Kurosawa did a lot of work in this genre. It was very popular in the mid-century. I watched The Hidden Fortress yesterday and today. Loved it. Somehow, I’m super glad that I split it up because for whatever reason yesterday, I wasn’t fully drawn into it, but watching the second half of it today and I was hooked. It’s so epic! And what an adventure. I was also reading that it’s one of his more swashbuckling efforts, pure entertainment kind of spectacle rather than many of his other films which were a little more artsy…but I thought it fit right in with the other epics I’ve seen of the time period. Long run-time, massive crowd scenes, big fights, battles, etc. The two farmers—R2D2 and C-3PO—were a little grating at times for me, as was the princess…but in the end, I was completely won over. What a film! I might like it even more than Seven Samurai, but I do need to watch that one again.
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Got my hair cut today. Whew. Feels good. I was loooooong. Tested out a mic setup with our camera. It works. That was cool. Going to take that with me to Criterion this weekend, maybe to a sidewalk podcast, we’ll see. Forgot to do the laundry, dammit. So, have to make sure that gets done tomorrow. Pups are great. Panda will be home tonight. She’s at a concert with Tilde right now. Seems like they’re having a good time.
K. Time for bed. Night night.