Hitokiri

Saw Hitokiri, another samurai movie. This time we follow a down-and-out ronin who starts working for an ambitious and bloodthirsty clan which sets him to work killing their enemies. He reasons that with enough murder he's sure to get some high office when they finally gain control, but of course the clan has other plans.

Once again, the central conflict is between the individual protagonist and the corrupt powers that be. The clan is not explicitly corrupt, but they cynically exploit the protagonist's nobler instincts. They first exploit his ambition and then his sense of unease at all the murder. The protagonist is always caught between throwing himself into the role of assassin vs saving himself and retiring from this creepy clan.

The film is fairly long and, like many samurai films, has mob-film-levels of exposition detailing who is the council of where and who is who's niece or beloved or whatever. My attention was tested for the first half but once the psychodrama of the second half starts, as the protagonist faces their doubts about the clan and begins to turn on his masters, it picked up considerably. Not a bad film but, once again, this film felt sort of like homework. Only three more samurai movies to go!

Closely Watched Trains

Saw Closely Watched Trains, a sort of slice-of-life comedy about a boy who goes to work at a train yard in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. The film satirically juxtaposes glorious, martial songs against shoe-less soldiers, pigeons, sleeping dogs. The film is a comedy but, due to time and distance, does not really work well as a comedy. The comedy that I picked up on was alternately baudy, involving prostitutes and jilted men, or dry and absurdist. Not un-funny but not terribly entertaining. I found the life-or-death consequences of lifetime to work more effectively as a means of comedy. A boy is trying to kiss a girl but a bomb explodes. Now that's comedy!

The film keeps returning to the theme of humans ruining bureaucracy. This can be seen as a microcosm of the struggle against authoritarian fascism. Indeed, a sabotage scheme is a subplot of the film. The boy himself is naive and prone to blurting out embarrassing secrets, not realizing that they are secrets. As the film progresses, we get to see him "come of age" and enter into the same corruption that so shocked him before. This is portrayed as somewhat dismal, but only somewhat. By the time we reach that point of the film, we're firmly rooting for him to cheat the far-off fascists.

Not a bad film, bu not a gripping one either. It sort of felt like homework to me. Subtle but dry.