It
is a story of a film role that got away that rivals Tom Selleck’s nearly
appearing as Indiana Jones in Raiders of
the Lost Ark. While the regretful Selleck was forced out by contractual
obligations beyond his control, Toshiro Mifune could only blame his agent’s bad
advice for turning down what would be the iconic role of Obi-won Kenobi. Yet,
even without the Star Wars franchise,
Mifune has attained legendary status, in great part due to his acclaimed
collaborations with Akira Kurosawa. Steven Okazaki surveys the towering actor’s
life and work in Mifune: The Last Samurai
(trailer
here),
which opens this Friday in New York.
Obviously,
Okazaki had a wealth of historically significant films to draw from, including
arguably the greatest death scene ever in Kurosawa’s loose Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood. He also found some tremendously illustrative photos, such as the
montage of sports cars Mifune wrecked during hard-drinking benders. The working
class Mifune essentially fell in acting almost accidentally, but he became the
top Japanese box-office draw of his era and one of its most exportable movie
stars.
Unfortunately,
Mifune acted on a lot of dubious advice during his post-Kurosawa career,
particularly a studio boss’s counsel to start his own production company. When
times got tough, Mifune was forced into television work to keep his company
afloat. None of the footage Okazaki shows from this period will look familiar
to most American Mifune fans. It might be a huge step down from his Kurosawa
classics, but it is Mifune we haven’t seen—and evidently there is a great deal
of it.
Steven
Spielberg would probably only talk about 1941
to pay tribute to Mifune, but he does indeed discuss directing the actor in
one of his least regarded films. We also hear from Mr. Movie Documentary
himself, Martin Scorsese, as well as Mifune’s son Shirô, and Haruo Nakajima, a
contemporary now most closely associated with the Godzilla franchise. Kôji
Yakusho, perhaps the closest contemporary heir to Mifune’s gruff leading man
mantle also provides some context. However, the most endearing moments are
spent with the great-in-her-own-right Kyôko Kagawa, who regrets not having the
opportunity to play a late-in-life Marigold Hotel-style romance with her
co-star from High and Low, The Bad Sleep Well, and Red Beard.