Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable for Kurasawa fans and those with patience
Review: Madadayo - A movie about respect... for teachers, for elders, for friends. It's a movie about dedication to those that have influenced us. I couldn't help but think about those teachers in my life. How much I would like to be able to thank them for the gifts that they continue to give me long after I have left their classrooms.It's a movie about patience with those we may not want to be patient with. It's a movie about becomming more than we were, by respecting and caring for those we believe are worthy. It is a movie about being gracious to those that take care of us. I wouldn't buy it for just anyone though.This is a movie for those who patient. If you like Kurasawa, a good choice.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable for Kurasawa fans and those with patience
Review: Madadayo - A movie about respect... for teachers, for elders, for friends. It's a movie about dedication to those that have influenced us. I couldn't help but think about those teachers in my life. How much I would like to be able to thank them for the gifts that they continue to give me long after I have left their classrooms. It's a movie about patience with those we may not want to be patient with. It's a movie about becomming more than we were, by respecting and caring for those we believe are worthy. It is a movie about being gracious to those that take care of us. I wouldn't buy it for just anyone though.This is a movie for those who patient. If you like Kurasawa, a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Yet!
Review: Madadayo brings you to Japan during the years of World War II and years the war. During these years the story is based around an old teacher is retiring and ends up in a misfortunate situation after another. However, his character is a strong and colorful character that also is a very real person. Madadayo brings the audience very close to this character and the audience gets to feel his agony and happiness in a very real manner. A film for people who want to feel the character and who wants a story to ponder on for sometime after the film.
Rating:
Summary: The Master's Fairwell
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect fim!
Review: This film is without question one of the best films i have ever seen! It's a great example of how Kurosawa could impart immense beauty and meaning into simple and visualy stunning scenes.
Perhaps "Rambo" is a better film for people like James Smith.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect fim!
Review: This film is without question one of the best films i have ever seen! It's a great example of how Kurosawa could impart immense beauty and meaning into simple and visualy stunning scenes.
Perhaps "Rambo" is a better film for people like James Smith.
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Mr. Chips, Kurosawa style
Review: This is not Kurosawa's best work but it was his last movie. If you are true Kurosawa fan, you should get this one. A little bit long but has a few touching moments. DVD is fairly good and with some bonus features.
Rating:
Summary: Kurosawa's final film -- a quiet masterpiece
Review: 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 two years before). A lovely film which will be 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.
Rating:
Summary: Kurosawa's final film -- a quiet masterpiece
Review: 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 two years before). A lovely film which will be 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.
Rating: 
Summary: What a revolting development!
Review: Too bad Kurosawa's last movie is such a schlocky treacle-fest. I understand that he wanted to write a kind of final love letter to his fans and admirers and students, but this one went just a bit too far for my tastes. Kurosawa is not a stranger to saccharine sentimentality (witness REDBEARD), but this one went a step too far in its Pollyanna-like optimism. Faced with the tragedy of WWII (briefly covered and hardly mentioned), the literature professor who is the film's protagonist rises above his setbacks with his steadfast stoicism and optimism and the help of his loving male students who shower him with admiration, gifts, land, and a new home. I had thought Spielberg the master of the cloyingly sweet movie, but it looks as if he learned his nausea-inducing licks from the old master himself. If you like hard-edged reality, or are a fan of Kurosawa's starkly delineated films of old, avoid MADDADAYO. Can't wait to get this one out of my library.
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