Hi everyone, here's a new episode of Over/Under Movies, and we wanted to remind everyone to please write us a review on iTunes (You can find us if you search for Over/Under Movies) if you enjoy our show so we can get more people like you to listen to us complain about or praise overrated and underrated movies.
In this episode, Ryan, Oktay, and Erik talk about Oktay's picks; two revered Japanese dramas that deal with some heavy themes like life, death, the importance of family, tradition vs. individuality, in a brutally honest but life affirming way.
First off, a vital clarification: Yes, this episode's overrated pick is Yasujiro Ozu's sublime and profoundly moving family drama Tokyo Story. But before Ozu fanboys pull out their knives and axes (They tend to be a violent bunch), we'd like to point out that yes, Tokyo Story is a great film, a masterpiece even. But the main question of this section is, "Can a film you agree to be a masterpiece still be overrated?"
Next, we move on to Akira Kurosawa's seminal masterwork Ikiru, about a monotonous government bureaucrat (Takashi Shimura in perhaps the greatest male performance in film history) who finally begins to live when he finds out that he will die in less than a year. Yes, Ikiru is considered to be one of Kurosawa's best, but general audiences, even many film buffs immediately think about his jidaigeki Samurai films when his name is mentioned. Therefore, we wanted point out his amazing work as a director of contemporary dramas.
As usual, thank you for listening, please write us your comments and iTunes reviews so we can improve the show, and look forward to new episodes when our killer Pacific Northwest-based film critics will discuss one overrated and one underrated film that share the same genre, style, or plot.
You can find us on iTunes if you search for Over/Under Movies and on Twitter @overundermovies. You can also like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/overundermovies so you can be kept up do date on new episodes.
Erik McClanahan is the lead film critic at Oregon Arts Watch, co-host of the Adjust Your Tracking podcast (Also available on iTunes) and a contributor at The Playlist.
Ryan Oliver is a contributor at Gotchamovies.com. He writes reviews and articles for them, and co-hosts their Unspooled Reel podcast.
Oktay Ege Kozak is a film critic for The Oregon Herald, Beyazperde, DVD Talk and is also a contributor and film critic at The Playlist.