The Desert Island/DVD Meme

[thewayne]

You're standed on a desert island and you were only able to rescue a dozen DVDs (a dozen because the layout for ten looks stupid). Fortunately your DVD player and TV can be solar-powered. What movies would you take?

Here's mine: (under the cut)

Create your own Movie List @ HotFreeLayouts!

Comments

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I'd pick that particular set, but all of them are ones I've seen and liked. I was pleasantly surprised to see Seven Samurai in your list, too!

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I have quite a collection of Kurosawa on DVD and laser disc, including: Dersu Uzula, Ran, Yojimbo, Rashamon, Dreams, and probably a couple more. Rashamon always rates highly with Kurosawa for me, and Dreams is an excellent film, one of his last before his death. Very moving film.

[(Anonymous)]

Sweet. I've been wanting to see more of his films. Unfortunatley, they're harder to find on DVD than 7 Samurai. I'll keep those you listed in mind.

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that. That was my comment. I forgot to log in again....

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Heh. No problem.

Dersu Uzula is a very obscure film. It was made after he had sort of become persona non grata in the Japanese film industry. He was in poor health, and he attempted suicide. Fortunately he did not succeed. The film was financed by the Russians, filmed in Siberia, and it is his only film that won an Academy Award though several were nominated. It's entirely in Russian. And it revitalized his career.

Ran is sort of King Lear, Yojimbo was the original Fistful of Dollars, Rashomon is a great film that was also remade into a western. Dreams was one of his last films, it's a collection of short features based on his memories and dreams of childhood. One segment has Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Goh.

Another pair of Kurosawa films that I'd recommend is Throne of Blood, an amazing film considered perhaps the best cinematic treatment of Shakespeare ever, it basically is MacBeth done Samurai-style. And then there's Hidden Fortress which was a major inspiration for George Lucas to make Star Wars, also an excellent film.