I'd never seen Stray Dog, so I gave that a shot. I thought is was a great police procedural, and about Sparks' comments on post-war Japan, it was very much in tune with what directors were trying to do in America at the time by making statements about the shattered kids coming back from the war.
It almost becomes a film noir with it's intersection of a lost generation and the lawmen trying to contain them, but instead of the story being told from the criminals who realize they have no place in society anymore, it's by two police trying to make sense of them.
Watched this one tonight. I really liked it. I think it was pretty much a Japanese noir, at least for more than half of the film. you can tell Kurosawa is trying some things out.
I understand why his reputation is bigger in the West than in Japan - he's clearly adopting Western techniques (many of them) and of course CREATING Western techniques rather than folding into what was going on in Japan at the time.
Auntie Christina - if you're a Mifune fan, Stray Dogs has him young, dashing, clean shaven.
