The last time I watched a Kurosawa film was in March of last year (High and Low rewatch), and the year before that I watched another (Ikiru rewatch), but before that there was a big gap. I had gotten into watching Kurosawa in high school but at some point I just kinda stopped. I don’t really remember why but I did. Watching this film after being deprived of Kurosawa for so long feels like a breath of fresh air after having lived in a poorly-lit bunker with too much bokeh. The performances are great, and I feel like every frame and camera movement was given hours of thought in order to serve the story. I like how the first set was filled with the train drawings, I think it was a great opener for Kurosawa’s first color film. Compared to Kurosawa’s previous works I’ve seen I thought this was pretty average, meaning compared to the modern film industry this is spectacular. Despite this, I definitely won’t forget being able to gasp for air after who knows how many years.
Randecdote (a random anecdote): The wikipedia page for this movie mentions that Kurosawa told the crew that “he wanted to make a film that is “sunny, light, and endearing.”“, which uhhh… At least they got the sunny part in. (although you could argue for endearing)