Customer Reviews

Madadayo [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think this film would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Japanese culture. This film depicts the lifelong relationship between teacher and student over a course of many years. I think this is the kind of movie only an old man could make, but its implications for the younger generation are strong. It strikes me as the kind of film to watch when you are young and then watch again when you are old to see how your perception of it changes.

On a purely practical note, this is a movie to be enjoyed when you are in a reflective mood and not looking for strong action or really even plotting. This is a film about character and ideas and those looking for samurai battles will be very disappointed.

Also, an important thing to know before watching the movie is that the whole "madadayo" ritual they perform is part of a japanese game of hide and seek. This is explained at the end of the film, but of course the original japanese audience would have known this cultural detail and so i think it would be less confusing for the Western viewer to know this in advance.

As a fan of Kurosawa, I knew that I had to see his last film. The mixed reviews concerned me a bit. After viewing it, however, I am convinced it is one of his greatest works.

On the surface, this is a story about a beloved and somewhat child-like (in a positive way) professor in the autumn of his life. It is a touching and at times seemly overly sentimental story. There are some laugh out loud moments--the scenes with the horse, the professor's attempts to foil robbers and a student doggedly reciting all of the train stops along an extremely long route come to mind. The professor is quick-witted and warm, the acting exceptional.

Many reviewers have already given more details on the plot, so I invite you to watch and look deeper. Although I am not one given to finding allegory everywhere, there are many subtleties here that I assume are completely intentional. A director as great as Kurosawa does not randomly throw in images. So consider...The country of Japan has been torn by war, and so has the professor. We see the results of air raids--the Professor's own home and much of his town has been destroyed. The American occupation is causing changes in the Japanese way of life. Although there is no open criticism, the brief scenes involving Americans and their influences (watch for them!) show you that the Japanese characters find them incomprehensible and aren't sure what to make of them. Additionally, as the film progresses, there is a subtle influx of Western influences-more English words, American customs etc. The Professor is caught between the old Japan and the new. The scene between the kindly neighbor and the callous new landowner illustrate this.

Nowhere is this conflict apparent than in the scene with the missing cat. At first, I thought that it was a little ridiculous to devote so much of the film the the search for a missing cat, and I thought it was over the top in sentimentality. But then, we are shown a few scenes of the professor imagining his lost cat trapped in a bombed-out ruin. Although the war has been over for a few years, the ruins are still smoldering-as if the bombs were recently dropped. The cat is trying to get home, but is confused and frightened. I realized the lost cat must be an symbol for Japanese people caught in the turmoil of a war-torn country in transition. What ultimately saves the Professor is the love and devotion of his students as well as his innate zest for life. When the Professor recovers from his depression, the once destroyed buildings in the background have been rebuilt. Can't be an accident!

There are so many other subtleties here. Watch for the changing role of women, the use of English and German words, the clothing styles, the role of children, music etc. I believe you'll agree this is a great film.

Shortly into this movie, I realized that the sensei may have been a real person in history, but Kurosawa selected his life to represent his own. Metaphorically, Kurosawa was the great sensei of the global film industry. This film released just a few years before his death carried a message to all his beloved fans and students, "Madadayo (Not yet)." Kurosawa died when I was in Tokyo working at the Pacific Stars and Stripes. The week of his death, I had asked my editor to try to arrange an interview with the great film master. Sadly, before I could met him, he passed on. So, it was that when I realized the message of this, his final film, was the he was not ready to pass on, I cried. Subtle, sublime, personal, this film is not designed for average viewers. For devoted Kurosawa fans, it will be a touching farewell. For those with a less intimate relationship with the film master, it may seem slow and unmoving. I, however, was very moved. Kurosawa's passing is truly a loss to the world of media imagery.

"Madadayo" is an unflinchingly sentimental film, in the same vein as "It's a Wonderful Life." It is a story that only an old man could have told, dealing with the love of growing old, and being surrounded by people who love you. There is no bitterness in the Professor's growing old, only the satisfaction of a life well lived, that is not over yet. It is an incredible, moving piece of art.

The story is so simple, and deeply personal that connection is easy. Starting at age 60, when the Professor is "officially an old man," his former students through him a birthday party. At the party, two things happen. First, he must drink a very large glass of beer in one breath. Second, his students ask him "Maadha kai?" ("Are you ready?"), and he sings back "Madadayo" ("Not yet.") Not yet ready to die.

Like the characters in the story, I too loved the professor, and felt that something would be missing from the world, the day "Madadayo" does not come ringing back in response. There are no villains, no life or death struggles, no sharp pains. Just wonderful people being excellent to each other, and making the best out of their brief time alive.

"Madadayo" is also deeply rooted in Japanese culture and sympathies, and this is the first Kurosawa film that I have seen where I feel I have a deeper understanding due to my time spent living in Japan. The enkais, the scenery, the values, it is all familiar. And familiarity and nostalgia are largely what "Madadayo" is about.

I first saw this movie at a Japanese film festival, and I was immediately entraced. It is the first Kurosawa films I have ever seen, and it has left me longing to watch the rest of his work.

As other reviewers more eloquent than I have said, this film presents a touching look at the relationship between teachers and students, but in unique historical and personal circumstances. With World War II as its backdrop, "Madadayo" sticks to the relatively simple life of a high school German teacher and author and the lifelong relationships he has with many of his former students. The depth of the now-adult students' appreciation and friendship for their teacher manifests itself in a yearly celebration of the teacher's life, as well as everyday kindnesses (memorable incidents include the students' worries that the teacher's house is not protected from burglars and their efforts to 'correct' this problem by breaking into his house and finding out for themselves how the teacher will handle it, and my particular favorite, the loss of the teacher's pet cat and the heartbreaking emotions this brings to the characters).

This movie is not epic, nor does it contain much action. It does, however, have a lot of heart (which is a somewhat corny phrase, but truly fits this film). I give it my highest recommendations.

This was Akira Kurosawa's final film, and appropriately it fell into the camp of his quieter, more reflective films. It is the story of a full life that takes place after most would say that life is over, the story of a teacher's experiences after retirement -- filled with drama, heartbreak, tragedy, joy and the love and devotion of his former students, who care for the aging man and his loyal wife, giving him a birthday party each year in which part of the ritual becomes the cry and response of his students chanting: Maadha Kai (ready?) and his reply: Madadayo (not yet!) -- he is not ready to die.

In the film's final scene, several students watch over the professor as he sleeps. He has been ill and they wonder what he is dreaming about. We become privy to the dream -- the professor is a young boy playing hide-and-seek. The children are waiting for him to hide, calling out Maadha Kai (are you ready?) and as he searches in the hay piles for a place to hide, he replies Madadayo (not yet), until he is distracted by the beautiful sky, and pauses to look at the surreal swirling clouds.

One cannot see this film without thinking of Kurosawa himself, surrounded by those who loved and respected him, enjoying life, looking back and dreaming of his past (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams had come out three years before). A lovely film which will be enjoyed by many but appreciated most by Kurosawa fans.

DVD extras include a trailer, filmographies and 6 beautiful watercolor storyboard illustrations. The film is in Japanese with optional English subtitles.

This wonderful, humble, simple film is so very compassionate, loving and sincere that you may wonder, "how is this possible?" How is it that someone in the '90's could dare make a film devoid of irony, sarcasm or bitterness?

It seems a miracle that Kurosawa was allowed to make a film which has, as it's main point, human kindness and love.

This film makes me wish that I were a better person. It makes me think about mortality and one's legacy, and it makes me think about the people I love.

Good old Kurosawa...always urging us on to make the difficult choices to live better, truer, more socially responsible lives. See if you don't watch this film, then call your mother, or check in on your brother or sister, or reconnect with an old friend. It's the kind of film that shows you how precious our human relationships are, and what a gift this life can be.

Akira Kurosawa's final film is, in his own words, about "the enviable world of warm hearts." It follows the twilight years of the beloved Japanese essayist Hyakken Uchida, from his retirement in 1943 to his final dream. His students call him a lump of "pure gold," without any flaws--and that is what the movie is truly about--having a kind soul, loving life, and being loved. Uchida Sensei thus evinces all the traits of the classic Kurosawa hero, but the director has never been this poigniant since his masterpiece "Ikiru" (which the film recalls in many ways), perhaps because of the personal nature of the story--Kurosawa once attempted suicide, but obviously left with a love for life. In the poetic, spare style of "Madadayo," Kurosawa even manages in some scenes to catch up to the master, Yasujiro Ozu... Terrific. Those without the taste for the moving quality of the simplicity of the plot and pace of the film may also find it long and overly sentimental, as it has been criticized, but I feel that such viewers are overlooking Kurosawa's subtle accomplishments.

It pains me to write this but I was, frankly, disappointed with "Madadayo". For the final film of his illustrious career, Akira Kurosawa chose something that seemed like a mixture of "Goodbye Mr. Chips", "I Remember Mama", and "Lassie Come Home". Yes, it was a farewell film and, yes, it was probably intentionally understated, and yes, the ending was nicely done but I watch Kurosawa for the masterful way he bring his message to film. What I got in "Madadayo" was something "not with a bang but with a whimper." There are extended scenes in this movie that are practically embarrassing to watch. The main one was about a lost cat (could this be the Japan that he could no longer find? No, I think it was just a lost cat). Anyway, that's what I was left with. I had just finished watching a number of early Kurosawa films and I was left with the impression that anyone of them was better than his final film. There's a reason that this is one is rarely mentioned.

Akira Kurosawa's atypical swan song, unabashedly sentimental and set on a small, intimate stage, reflects the director himself at twilight, confronting his own impending mortality. (Kurosawa actually passed away five years after the film's debut, at age 88). Mirroring the astonishing journey and legacy of its prodigious director, this deceptively simple film is a moving affirmation of a life richly lived, and the respect and admiration that comes with the wisdom of experience. It would be a shame to miss the uplifting joys--and occasional sorrows-- of "Madadayo."