AKA: Nora inu

There’s just so much to say about Stray Dog that I don’t know where to start. An older, grittier Kurosawa film that deals with questions of re-adjustment and morals in Japanese post-war society; great visual style that fits the mood of the film perfectly; top notch acting from a younger Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura; all centered around a cop drama narrative.

This film makes for an interesting parallel with classical American film noirs from the same time period as they deal with a lot of the same themes despite being opposite sides in World War II and being of completely different cultures (ex. the sweltering heat v. a continuous rain). Great if you’re taking a class on international cinema because there’s just so much here to think about.

I never knew much about Kurosawa’s non-samurai films, but I was pleasantly surprised with Stray Dog, and I’m interested to see if the other noir films (The Lower Depths, The Bad Sleep Well) are just as good.

suspenseful and atmospheric thriller, set in post-war Japan, about a new cop who loses his gun and his attempt to locate it before damage is done with it. He grows into the job with the help of more seasoned cops and we follow the ebbs and flows of the investigation. The parallel between the despairing cop and the ‘stray dog’ who buys the gun and goes on a rampage make this poignant.