Tokyo monogatari (Tokyo story) 1953 - The compelling contrast between the older and younger generation

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IMDB Rating: 8,3

Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, So Yamamura, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura

"Tokyo Story is widely considered both the best film of Yasujiro Ozu's long career and among the finest films ever made. It paints a quiet, nostalgic view of traditions and values lost in a changing society, seen through the lens of a single family's experiences. Old virtues, such as honoring one's parents, are pushed aside in the unrelenting tumult of the modern city. Tokyo Story showcases Ozu's idiosyncratic style in its maturity. Throughout the film, he shoots through a 50 mm lens at a constant low angle, subordinates spatial continuity to the composition of a given shot, and punctuates the film with shots of empty space. Instead of using flashy cinematic devices, he focuses on the nuances of everyday life, which has the odd effect of lifting the film from mere melodrama to a meditation on the fleeting nature of human existence. Tokyo Story shows a master director at the peak of his talents, producing one of the classics of world cinema." - www.allmovie.com

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Ikiru (Doomed/To live) 1952 - An intensely lyrical and moving film, one of Kurosawa's own favorites

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IMDB Rating: 8,4

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Main Cast: Takashi Shimura, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka, Minoru Chiaki

"This contemporary drama from Akira Kurosawa, better known for such sweeping samurai epics as The Seven Samurai (1954), is arguably his best film and the most articulate vision of his existential philosophy. The film's protagonist seems to spring directly from the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre or Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych: a tragic, pathetic figure who has so immersed himself in daily routine that he never learned to live. Only when confronted with his own imminent demise does he give his live meaning by building a playground over an open sewer in an impoverished section of town. The film is structured in a peculiar bifurcated arrangement: it begins as a straightforward plot that, halfway through, shifts into a fragmented narrative recounted in flashbacks by mourners at Watanabe's funeral. In the second half, we witness Watanabe's dogged struggle through the lenses of his baffled co-workers' own unexamined lives. Initially viewing his efforts with suspicion if not contempt, his workers fail to give Watanabe any credit for his single-handed effort to build the park. This section of Ikiru becomes compelling and ironic thanks to Kurosawa's deft depiction of Watanabe's inner state in the first half. Ikiru opens with an X-ray of Watanabe-a literal manifestation of his interior world. The rest of the section, through a tour-de-force of impressionistic and expressionistic cinematic devices, shows Watanabe's slow awakening from his quarter-century stupor to learn what it is to live. Takeshi Shimura delivers a staggering performance as Watanabe; his large pleading eyes and hangdog face burn a haunting image in the viewer's mind long after the film ends. The emotional force of Ikiru leaves the viewer feeling both transformed by Watanabe's evolution and contemplative about one's own life." - www.allmovie.com

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Of mice and men 1939 - Steinbeck's classic invisioned perfectly

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Lewis Milestone
Main Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Charles Bickford

"This 1939 film version of John Steinbeck's classic novel was a surprising choice for comedy producer Hal Roach; in fact, Roach had no intention of filming the property until forced to do so as a result of a lawsuit brought by director Lewis Milestone. Milestone was a filmmaker of many parts - in the silent era, he had been known for his skills as a director of comedies, while with the dawn of sound films, he was responsible for one of the most enduring and serious dramas of the time, All Quiet On The Western Front (1930), which is among the earliest sound films that is considered easily watchable by modern audiences; and across the 1930's, he moved between romantic comedies (The Captain Hates The Sea) and serious, topical dramas (The General Died At Dawn). But it was with Of Mice And Men in 1939 that he came into his own as a stylist and he ended up with one of the most prestigious movies ever to come out of Hal Roach Studios, nominated for four Academy Awards. This adaptation of John Steinbeck's short novel, appearing just two years after the book's publication, was released in the same year as John Ford's more prestigious and star-powered adaptation of the author's The Grapes Of Wrath, and yet it still managed to impress critics and audiences. The performances by Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lenny (a role he had to maneuver and campaign for to earn a shot at) possess and immediacy that makes them seem like finely-honed theater work. And Milestone also got superb performances out of a supporting cast that included Bob Steele (essaying his first 'serious' role, after years of playing in B-westerns), Betty Field, Charles Bickford, Noah Beery, Jr., Leigh Whipper, and Roman Bohnen. For many of those concerned, this movie would be some of the best work they ever did; with just a few lines in a very spare script, all of these players create memorable and finely-etched characters, that audiences know and understand in just a few frames, their work filling out the corners and background of this story in fine, full dramatic form. Composer Aaron Copland, then 39 years old and coming into the production on the late end (as film composers usually do), also rose to the occasion, on his first opportunity to score a movie. The result was a poetic and lyrical film that was perhaps a little less bravura than Ford's masterpiece, but no less haunting in its nuances and its overall impact. Milestone later tried to repeat the artistic success, working as an independent producer/director under the auspices of Republic Pictures, on The Red Pony, with slightly less impressive results.
 Of Mice and Men retains its raw dramatic power. On its initial release, however, it proved a bit too powerful for many filmgoers, and it lost money.
The 1981 TV remake of Of Mice and Men starring Robert Blake and Randy Quaid, was a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1939 version. The 1993 theatrical remake, starring Gary Sinise (who also directed) and John Malkovich, is perhaps closer to the source than its predecessors, but only time will tell if it attains the classic status of the Lewis Milestone version." - www.allmovie.com

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East Lynne 1931 - A powerful melodrama with good performances

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IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: Frank Lloyd
Main Cast: Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel

"There were several silent film versions of East Lynne, all of which made money. 1931 yielded no fewer than two adaptations, one set in modern times and retitled Ex-Flame. Fox Studios' version restored the original title and the 1860s setting, but couldn't do much with that creaky plot. Ann Harding portrays Lady Isabel Carlisle, who nearly a decade of family hardships learns that her son has fallen ill. Despite being nearly blind as the result of a bomb explosion, Lady Carlisle returns home to see her son one last time - just before dying herself." - www.allmovie.com

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