Kurosawa turned 100

So Akira Kurosawa’s centennial came and went, and of course, few noticed. Just another sign of the sad state of the global awareness that American film fans have. All over the world cinephiles are more than aware of Kuro-san’s greatness, but here people were too busy wondering if the white powder all over Lindsay Lohan’s feet was baby powder used to counteract athlete’s foot, or if she tripped over a large bag of cocaine on her way out of a party.

I really enjoyed Kuro-san’s 100^th birthday. I read some of Stephen Prince’s scholarly work on Kurosawa’s development of humanist themes, and then I watched the great Kurosawa classic “Throne of Blood”. Going through this semi-memorial exercise got me curious if other people have any film traditions. I know my co-host on our show, Jason Spencer, has a tradition that he watches Planes, Trains, and Automobiles every year on Thanksgiving. Obviously a lot of people have certain traditions with Christmas films. What about you? Any traditions?

Here are my films that close out March:

Samurai 1 (rewatch)

Samurai 2 (rewatch)

Samurai 3 (rewatch)

Miller’s Crossing (rewatch)

Cape Fear (rewatch)

Throne of Blood (rewatch)

Ghostbusters 2 (rewatch)

Greenberg

Monster Ark

How to train your dragon

A lot of rewatches this time through. 21 films in March, not bad.