"Heart Stick" is a series of films by the film industry's "Shakespeare", the famous Japanese director Kurosawa Akirato, released in 1961. It may be less famous than Films directed by Akira Kurosawa, such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Chaos, and may even be less well-known than released in 1964, remade from another of its western films, Red Dead Redemption. Even so, it can't hide the brilliance of a classic film. This movie, which has been around for 60 years, has a Douban score of 8.9, proving that the classic can stand the test of time.
"Heart stick" in Japanese means top door stick, bodyguard. In the movie "Heart Stick", in which Ronin is the protagonist, it is naturally the meaning of bodyguard. In Japan, samurai are people with high martial arts and the spirit of Bushido, who generally serve a certain family, become their thugs, bodyguards, and serve the family. Once there was no family employment or the family was not left behind, the samurai would lose their source of livelihood and become ronin. "Stick of Hearts" is a story centered on the ronin Kuwata Sanshirō.
The plot of "Heart Stick" is very simple, telling the story of the ronin Kuwata Sanshiro wandering to a small town and finding that the town is ruled by two evil forces, resulting in the entire town people not having a good life, and the people are miserable. He used his scheming and his superb martial arts to cause the two forces to eventually fight each other, losing both sides, completely eliminating the evil forces, and returning the town to a peaceful place.
Such a simple plot, in the hands of the master Kurosawa Akira, the absurdity, tension, humor, blood and other techniques are comprehensively used, and a seemingly unremarkable movie with a plot is intriguing, 60 years are still talked about, and even remakes can be loved by everyone, why such a film with an ordinary plot as "Stick of Heart" can have such charm, this article will analyze one by one.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 In a big movie under the "small pattern", Akira Kurosawa uses a small town to reflect the oppression of the people by the entire Japanese upper class</h1>
Compared to "Chaos. For such a grand scene set in the great cause of the family and the country, almost all the scenes in "Heart Stick" are built in a dilapidated town. The town is so small that it is only a few steps away from the residences of the two evil forces, and all the plot unfolds in this real projectile land.
In terms of character settings, there are no upper-class big people such as the monarch and the elders of various families in "Chaos" and "Shadow Samurai", only the coffin shop owner, the restaurant owner, the two big snakes in the town, and so on, which are too small in the eyes of the upper-class characters to be small.
There is no war between the two countries in the plot setting, and the grand war scene of the struggle between the two major families is only a struggle between two evil forces formed by some criminals, fraudsters and other marginal figures at the bottom of society. This kind of struggle is nothing compared to the army and soldiers.
Small scenes, small characters, and small fights constitute the "small pattern" of this drama.
In such a small pattern, the "sparrow is small, the five organs are complete" arranged by Akira Kurosawa completely constitute the social epitome of the Samurai era in Japan.
There are patrols who do not do their proper work and do not maintain law and order in the town, but rely on introducing thugs to the evil forces in the town to take kickbacks; there are hotel owners of righteous men who deeply hate the status quo of the town; there are coffin shop owners who rely on the wealth of the dead and have a little kindness in the small traitors; there are even more inspectors who come to inspect on the surface, but in fact they are only going through the motions and taking bribes; plus the two evil forces of the Qingbing guards and the ugly Yin of Nitta, who oppress the common people, have formed a "small Japanese country."
In such "small countries," we see that officials are corrupt and corrupt, seeking their own selfish interests and not caring about the people's lives or deaths. The ground snakes, on the other hand, squeeze the people like vampires and monopolize the silk and liquor markets. The people can only eat rough light rice and taro to maintain food and clothing, and they cannot see a trace of meat. Even for the robbery of the people's daughters, before Kuwata Sanshiro appeared, everyone could only succumb to the oppression of force and endure in silence.
Kurosawa only uses a small "small pattern" such as a small town and a few characters to show everyone a microcosm of the Japanese samurai era that has long been decayed and degenerate, and directly spread the oppression of the Japanese upper class on the people in front of the audience, causing the audience to be indignant, and the setting of this background has laid the foundation for highlighting the new life of the town brought by the wandering samurai like Kuwata, and it is easier to narrow the distance between the audience and Kuwata Sanshiro, hoping that he can also act heroically like him. Save these suffering people from fire and water.
If "Chaos" and "Shadow Dancer" are Akira Kurosawa's elaborate meals, then "Heart Stick" is more like Zhou Xingchi's bowl of soul-destroying rice in "God Eater", which seems simple but has a deep charm.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Under the narrative structure of a flat, straight-talking, unobtrusive single-line film, it hides Akira Kurosawa's deep mastery of the film</h1>
"Stick with Heart" does not have complex character relationships, no thrilling suspense plot, but Kurosawa Akira uses a strong sense of drama, the absurdity of the characters, and the sense of humor to construct the relaxed tone of the film, from the coffin shop owner, the hotel owner, the wife of the Qingbei guard or Hai Zhiji, everyone is a play, it can be said that as soon as the opening scene makes people involuntarily enter the play, achieving the purpose of attracting the audience.
The whole film adopts a single-line narrative structure, and the plot advancement is simple and simple, without sensationalism. From beginning to end, the movie does not have a big scene of explosions or high-tech special effects, and there is no love-hate dog blood plot. Some are just a game of schemes between people, or even a positive hard game.
The rhythm is tight and not procrastinating, many times in the hotel, Kuwata Santoro observes and grasps the overall situation by pushing and pulling wooden windows, strategic layout, dialogue with the restaurant owner to explain some details, and the development process behind other characters, and seamless connection with the events displayed in front of the audience, which can be described as ingenious. Neither affecting the output of large information to the audience, nor affecting the compact rhythm of the movie, a lot of story content is completed in the interior scene, and there is a sense of immediate vision of the drama.
Indoor scenery to see more, go outside, and then look at the farmland that appears in the matching lens, will not feel that the space is small or monotonous, Kurosawa Akira uses this contrast method to enlarge the town, increasing the sense of space of the movie. This is also Kurosawa's profound grasp of the film from plot to characters to space construction, which is also the embodiment of the skills of a film master. No wonder that a movie with such a simple plot has also become a classic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 The black-and-white gray mixing ratio of Akira Kurosawa style uses high-contrast dark gray as the main picture to give the film a rich and full mood</h1>
Akira Kurosawa's use of color, whether it is black and white or color films, is always enjoyed by everyone. In "Heart Stick", Kurosawa's mastery and application of the black-white and gray mixing ratio can be described as textbook-level. Black and white movies are not like color movies, which can use rich colors to adjust the composition of the film, so that the visual content of the film can be enriched. In black and white movies, there are only black and white and gray three colors, how to use these three colors well, will determine whether the composition of the film is exquisite, whether the characters are full of emotions, whether the background atmosphere is accurate and so on.
In "Heart Stick", when the fight or the plot is extremely tense, Akira Kurosawa uses high contrast and dark gray mainly pictures to render this atmosphere, bringing tension and killing.
Use gray rain scenery and wind and sand to create an atmosphere where the war is about to begin, giving people a sense of atmosphere and ready to go.
No matter which composition in the film, Kurosawa contrasts with black and white, and excessively uses gray to form a sense of structure that even the same row of characters is staggered. At the same time, the combination of light gray and dark gray is skillfully used to highlight the facial expressions of the characters and enhance the richness of the characters. When the characters are emotionally lost, the film regulates them in black and gray tones, creating a feeling of gray and darkness. After the picture is relaxed, such as the geisha dancing, the picture is mainly white and black, which increases the contrast, instantly makes people feel bright together, sweeping away the previous dark feeling.
Looking at the world that is basically color movies now, Akira Kurosawa's black and white films, whether it is "Rashomon", "Tsubaki Sanshiro" or "Heart Stick", can make people see a completely different feeling, although it has been more than half a century away from the time of shooting, but these classic films are still full of charm and evocative.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >04 Santoro Kuwata: The representative of the chivalrous spirit of the Japanese samurai Ronin, it also contains the resistance of the people at the bottom</h1>
For the protagonist of the play, Kuwata Mithiro, he is naturally the core character of the Kurosawa Akira series. The Ronin series is representative of Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, such as Tsubaki Sanjuro in "Tsubaki Sanjuro", seven samurai in "Seven Samurai", etc., they have a significant feature of "nameless".
Kuwata Santoro was just asking for his name when he looked at the rice paddies outside the house and took the name temporarily. Just like in "Tsubaki Sanjuro", when the head lady asked him what his name was, he looked at the camellia flowers blooming outside the house and named it Tsubaki Sanjuro, which means camellia, while Kuwata means rice paddy, and Thirty represents a man in his thirties. In "Seven Samurai", the tombstones of the samurai after their deaths are side by side, and it is impossible to distinguish who is who, which also represents another kind of namelessness.
In Akira Kurosawa's Ronin films, the names of these ronin are not important, the important thing is that they represent a kind of heroic act of righteousness that is the same as in Chinese martial arts and Western cowboys, representing a type of person. They only act for the persistence and justice in their hearts, do chivalrous righteousness, do not fear power, do what they feel is right, but never care whether others remember their names, this is the real "chivalry", so when the evil forces in the town disappear and calm is restored, Kuwata Sanshiro only said "goodbye" and turned away, because he had completed his mission.
Although ronin like Sanjuro Kuwata are no longer real samurai, because they do not have the family they work for, they wander around, more like rangers. But when they see the injustice in the world, they can't help but help each other, fighting for the justice in their hearts, fighting for the interests of the people at the bottom, and even sacrificing their lives. From this point of view, the ronin in Kurosawa's eyes is actually a samurai in the true sense, which also implies a criticism of the hypocritical bushido spirit of the upper class in the Japanese samurai era.
Whether it is "Heart Stick" or "Tsubaki Thirty Lang", some are only Thirty Lang's wisdom and martial arts, without the slightest child's love, in "Heart Stick", Kuwata Thirty Lang faces the geisha who is sent to the door, there is no emotion, some are just avoidance and white eyes, making people think that he is particularly cute, but also can feel his upright character.
In order to contrast with Kuwata 30, Kurosawa arranged a patrol with a good look, obscene actions, and a sharp voice, portraying the image of corruption and incompetence, mercenary tolerance, and a big battle is imminent, which should have rushed to the front, but escaped over the wall, and the wife was robbed and could only hide next to her and secretly sad, and said that he had given up his wife to try to prove his decisive incompetent husband image, and the audience watched all this through Thirty Lang's perspective. I feel the brave qualities of this seemingly scruffy ronin.
Since chivalry is a chivalrous, the martial arts naturally cannot be weak. "Stick of Heart" does not have the domestic martial arts film you come and go, colorful fight scenes, some are just direct slashing, the whole drama slashed and killed 19 evil people, the time added up to only 30 seconds, crisp and clean, and finally Kuwata Sanshiro used a flying knife to injure the hand holding the pistol Tsunosuke and won the final victory. This scene also made me see that Akira Kurosawa wanted to show that no matter how advanced the weapon and the enemy could not have a chivalrous heart.
Kuwata Santoro is a ronin and a low-level society, and his final victory in the town is also a kind of hope and support for Akira Kurosawa's resistance to the people at the bottom. Sanshiro Kuwata is the warrior who dares to resist, the coffin shop owner who seems to be chattering, who has always wanted to drive Sanshiro away from this land of right and wrong, silently cares about helping Sanshiro, although a little timid, but also gives Sanshiro a knife at the last moment, they are not real samurai.
Once the people at the bottom are united and everyone can become samurai like Sanshiro Kuwata, the restaurant owner, and the coffin boss, the society will be like the town at the end of the movie, and the new peace will be obtained. This is the director's hope for everyone, in the face of injustice, we must learn to resist, in order to ultimately protect their own interests.
summary:
If you want to feel the charm of Akira Kurosawa's black-and-white films, understand the chivalrous spirit of his ronin samurai, experience his unique sense of humor and attention to the lives of the people at the bottom, and criticize the decadent and hypocritical spirit of the upper bushido, this "Stick of Hearts" is a movie that cannot be missed. If you have seen "Red Dead Redemption" and have not yet seen "Heart Stick", it is also recommended that you look at the collision of Japanese samurai and Western cowboys, taste the different cultures behind it, and also have a different movie-watching experience.