“Sanshiro Sugata” 3/5
Akira Kurosawa’s first movie. It shows hints of his future brilliance: the black and white cinematography is gorgeous and his visual storytelling is already wonderful (especially for 1943). That’s about the most I can say in its favor. The story is a bit lacking, but that could be due to the fact that it was chopped considerably by Japan’s wartime censors and that footage remains lost. But for a first effort from one of the undisputed masters, it’s still worth checking out.
