Screen/Society--AMI Showcase--Film Noir Series--"Stray Dog"

Film Screening: "Stray Dog" (Akira Kurosawa, 1963, 122 min, Japan, in Japanese w/ English subtitles, B&W, DVD) / A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal's lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami's own dark side. Starring Toshiro Mifune, as the rookie cop, and Takashi Shimura, as the seasoned detective who keeps him on the right side of the law, "Stray Dog" ("Nora Inu") goes beyond a crime thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the nature of the criminal mind. / -- Winner for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Score at Mainichi Film Concours (1950)! / "... a police procedural that echoes American noir while injecting a strain of what can only be termed Japanese humility." - Time Out / "A prescient precursor to the "disparate buddy-cop" genre, possibly the greatest pairing of Mifune and Shimura and full of pitch-perfect performances." - The Criterion / Trailer: https://vimeo.com/88092808