There's a lot to look at in this film in relation to what has been studied over the duration of the course, and seeing as Seven Samurai is the other Kurosawa film seen for the lecture it will be used as a comparison in direction style compared to this film which was completed nearly 40 years after. Furthermore, this film has a heavy WWII influence for the majority of the film which will relate to several WWII films seen in throughout the course. Before comparing these films, I'll have to describe this film and what it did in several cinematic aspects. Before all of that, the movie takes place during and after WWII and focuses on a German language professor who has been teaching for over 30 years and decides to retire and write instead because that can sustain him. He doesnt leave because he dislikes teaching, but because he can't have two careers at once. This transitions to how he lives his life at this time in his life at 60 years old and how it is affected by the war, but his spirit pushes him through all of his troubles that are experienced in the film.
The camera positioning in this film has echoed the past films we've seen, as if it has become a trademark in Japanese films to see a camera positioned outside of rooms or homes and viewing into the next area while the audience watch the characters play out the scene. There were no crane shots in this film, some tracking shots which mainly occur when big crowds are in a scene, and for the most part there are set camera positions that pan and tilt, but never zoom in or out. There were never any awkward angles, and the transitions were always immediate. There was only one time slow motion may have been used, but it was difficult to tell due to other rapid movement in the shot that could not be differentiated between slow and fast. The scenes were always prepared as if you are just an on--looker in the next room, yet you are in a position where you are close enough to the professor and appreciate him. This is most clearly seen after a group of people who come to help the Professor find his cat come to his home and the camera is positioned inside and not in the group of people. As for the sound in this film, it takes a very light-hearted approach using a lot of classical music pieces. There's times that the characters would sign childhood songs (I'd believe), and when there was ambient sound used it was done in such a way to create a strong impact on the audience.
Comparing it to Seven Samurai, I believe it almost directly resembles Kurosawa's camera direction style. As for the backdrops Kurosawa provides for these shots, there's definite strict positioning of items and scenes created even at this time in his career. Most notably there are a lot of scenes early in the film that have rubble of buildings destroyed by air raids to quite possibly show to the newer audience at this time in his career what people would experience after the end of WWII. There's a lot of comparison shots with the main character called "Professor" played by Tatsuo Matsumura who was making a living with writing books on his study after he quit his teaching profession in order to lessen his work load at 60 years old. He is a very well off person in terms personality which makes the comparison all that more tragic after he was affected by these air raids. The audience sees him in a luxurious home at the start of the film, see the destruction of it, and then see him in a small shack for an entire year while he lives next to destroyed buildings which again gives an accurate portrayal of what people would experience after WWII and definitely makes those who experienced the war first hand think back.
As seen in many of the films this semester, a lot of realism was put into films made after the war which directly affected the audience at the time. Gojira for example had very realistic scenes in terms of content and sound that would probably terrify some people, we saw how MP were taking advantage of people in Battles without Honor and Humanity, and lastly a very real piece from Tokyo Story with Noriko's husband missing in battle. The realism in this film nearly 50 years after the end of the war to be seems to echo these films in similar fashion, however in a more cheerful way. Seeing as the Professor's home was destroyed by an air raid (which in the film had the siren play before his home was destroyed) and many of his students were devastated by the fact, they spent a whole year building him a new home. Once it was completed, they all celebrated very loudly during the start of an annual birthday banquet for him which drew the attention of military police which took place during the occupation. The police entered to see a large crowd of his students, drunk and happily celebrating in front of him, and they laugh it off and leave instead of doing something that was going to ruin the good time. Lastly, in his new home due to a hole in a fence a cat became apart of his family and he loved the cat dearly as if it were his own child. One day though, the cat disappeared as if it should relate to those MIA from the war which destroyed him inside. That though is a stretch seeing as he lost this cat in about 1945 or 46. The content for the film itself is very rich in that Kurosawa perfectly gets across the Professor's character traits very easily, but this is primarily done so in almost like the set-up for a joke.
There's about 6 main characters in this film besides the cat. The professor, his wife, and 4 of his former students who are about 35 - middle aged for the film. The professor was always cracking jokes, every time one of his former students would bring up something he'd always have something funny to say about it. He was widely referred to as a professor of pure gold, with no impurities whether it was because of his lovable personality, child-like attitude, or knowledge. He again was always cracking jokes whether it was during the time he had his huge home, when he was in his little shack, in his new home, and even in his old age. His students adored him for his comedy and insight to the obvious things that kids would relate to as well as adults. For example, while celebrating his birthday in his large home surrounded by his students it came up that he hated air raids because they would warrant all lights to be turned off which then led to him saying he hated the dark since he was a little kid. His students toyed with him a bit about why he was afraid of the dark because they were all grown up. He points out that in the dark you are vulnerable and dangerous things can lurk there that can harm you and calls this justified logic. He then uses an example himself about his neighbors and labels them as badgers, or more accurately badgers disguised as humans. He says being afraid of the dark is natural for human beings, which relates to his pure solid gold nature. His comedic nature is shown throughout the film, and the beginning of his inner child is seen in this scene. It fully comes out while he is in his shack hiding under covers because of a thunderstorm, a 60 year old man hiding under covers from a storm. One more key aspect to his character is his sentimentality towards others which his students show their appreciate to him from time to time in the film and he starts to well up and gets finicky trying to get a tissue to compose himself. Another golden age relation comes from the wife, however it is not a traditional wife seen in previous films. Most wives seen in past films had children, and as far as the audience knows (I'd assume) they do not have a child. Nevertheless, she is subservient to him, cares for him, and does everything a good wife should do. She's slowly given depth in terms of her love for the Professor after he loses his cat and his health deterioration over the years, but nothing more. The other students are very appreciative of the time he's spent teaching them and aren't given much more depth outside of that. They are all conveyed like that along with happy go-lucky and protective of their teacher. The entire film takes a more up-beat look at how one person pushes himself through the troubles of the war, which eventually relates to an on going joke about him and death at his age and how he survived the air raids. The students would go 'Mahda kai?', and he'd respond 'Madada yo!' even in what is perceived as his final banquet he'd attend due to health issues.
One last note about the film itself, one of the most peculiar parts of it was the end credits which was actually a dream sequence from the Professor at his ripe old age of 76. His 4 students were near in case anything were to happen about him, and made a joke if he dreams solid gold dreams after he slept talk. The dream also used the Mahda kai and Madada yo running joke and ended with some surreal and otherworldly art that changed color occasionally to represent that solid gold dream.
The final part of this analysis is from the following scene: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqj3y4_madadayo-1993-part-1_fun (8:43 - 12:00). The clips and screenshots are 480 quality.
Shot 1: A medium two-shot of two men entering the Professor's locked property. The man on the left hops over his fence and unlocked the side door to let the other man in with a hand gesture. The man on the right is locking the side door to his main entrance. With a tracking shot, the characters are now silent and the man on the left pulls the man on the right into the Professor's yard because he was drifting away to get a closer look at his property. The two men enter a gate, and lock that behind them and approach the house.
Shot 2: A medium two shot tracking shot. The man on the left man attempts to open the window to his home because the Professor's wife told them to in order to validate the Professor's full-proof Bulgar prevention plan. Both of them quietly go to the back.
Shot 3: A long two-shot that immediately becomes a close-up. They both notice a door is open and the lights are on. The silence is broken at this point and joke about his plan as it seems to be flawed. Once the comment ends, the man with glasses opens the door and peaks his head in followed by the other man to see....
Shot 4: A shot on a sign labeled as such, which immediately turns into a medium two-shot of the two men turning towards each other and start suppressing their laughter. Th camera pans down as they enter the room and slowly moves toward them as the shot cuts to..
Shot 5: A medium shot of the bulky man poking his shoe into the door to get a response. Both men then poke their heads in and observe the room. Once the two men look forward, the camera cuts to a picture of another posted sign saying "Burglar's Passage" with an arrow pointing right. They both stand up and stare at the sign with the camera panning upward with the sign now in frame. Both of them follow the sign's instructions.
Shot 6: A long two-shot. The two men quietly go down a hallway until they approach a lit room. They both enter and the camera cuts to...
Shot 7: A medium two-shot tracking shot of the men in the room. Once both men enter the room, the camera moves to include the next sign in the frame of the shot. The bulky man turns back and chuckles towards the other man. With grins on their faces, the camera pans downward with them to see a box of cigarettes and an old ash tray with a single cushion at their feet. They both move around the set-up and the camera follows their foot movement and panels up to see their faces. They get in a hearty silenced laugh. The camera also has in-frame another sign labeled "Burglar's Exit" which is then seen by the other two. The man with glasses loses control while the other one is almost speechless. The man with glasses exits the room and then goes to the yard.
Shot 8: A medium shot on the bottom half of the man with glasses. The man with glasses puts on his shoes once he gets out of the house.
Shot 9: A medium two-shot. The man with glasses unlocks the side door and exits with the other man following him. Both of them exit the door.
