ArnoldReview: Stray Dog: ***
Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Written by: Akira Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima
Murakami’s life begins to spin out of control. He walks the shady parts of town by night, trying to find gun dealers, trying to not look like a cop. By day he is assisting a veteran cop who has been assigned to tracking the criminal who happens to be holding Murakami’s gun. He is consumed by the gun as an object of desire, of masculine representation in his life; his department issue Colt becomes an obsession, meaning something entirely new to him, something, in itself, that can be dangerous.
The film, as mystery, keeps the audience engaged, but Kurosawa’s camera focuses on the psychological more and more, up until the beautifully shot final scene, which shows the depravity of the human psyche when caught in obsession. The film is conceptually stunning, a difficult task for any film. The fusion of psychological backlog and film noir is pulled off. But the entertainment side of the equation seems to end up lacking somewhat for the cause of delving deeper in Murakami’s mindset. A result that can be achieved without allowing the film to become arduous, which nearly happens in ‘Stray Dog.’
There are not any videos from 'Stray Dog' that I could locate, so in place of the usual trailer and/or clips from the film, here is a tribure to Toshiro Mifune from YouTube.
Links:
An essay on 'Stray Dog' by Terrence Rafferty, from the Criterion Collection.
An essay by Chris Fujiwara on 'Stray Dog,' from the Criterion Collection.
If you watch this:
The 'lower depths' of the city is mostly documentary footage shot by Kurosawa's assistant, Ishiro Honda, who later became famous for directing monster films like 'Godzilla,' 'Rodan,' 'Mothra,' and others.
'Stray Dog' is available on DVD through the Criterion Collection
Film & TV on DVD
I have the Australian DVD which contains some of the Criterion features but not all.
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