Jon (kuzu)

This film has always sat in the backseat to Kurosawa's samurai epics but that doesn't mean that it is in any way inferior and, if anything, is much more powerful in its human message. Kurosawa takes a subject that could have been cornball-ridden drivel in the hands of a lesser director and makes movie magic: it's powerful with its subtlety, sad with its exuberance, and warm with its sometimes cold and depressing message. Go see this now and, if you have already, go see it again. An existential masterpiece.