Whoever likes this might also be interested to know that the music video is part of a larger film, Sturgill Simpson Presents Sound & Fury, which was released on Netflix the same day that the album...
Whoever likes this might also be interested to know that the music video is part of a larger film, Sturgill Simpson Presents Sound & Fury, which was released on Netflix the same day that the album (Sound & Fury) came out. It's a pretty interesting work and well worth checking out.
Simpson apparently recorded the album while playing Akira Kurosawa films on the background in his studio, and has specifically described his own film as being loosely based on Yojimbo. Being interested in all things Kurosawa, as well as a big fan of Simpson's music, I ended up writing some musings on the film and album on my website. I was a bit feverish that day as I was suffering from a cold, so I'm not sure how coherent and valid arguments I make there, but I think I still pretty much stand behind what I write there.
Very interesting read! Would you recommend watching/listening to anything before watching Sound & Fury? I've only listened sporadically to Simpsons music and know nothing about Yojimbo or anime...
Very interesting read! Would you recommend watching/listening to anything before watching Sound & Fury? I've only listened sporadically to Simpsons music and know nothing about Yojimbo or anime for that matter.
Thanks! I can't really think of anything in particular that would be a prerequisite for the film. It's not a very narrative piece, and has more of a stream of consciousness type of a vibe, like...
Thanks! I can't really think of anything in particular that would be a prerequisite for the film. It's not a very narrative piece, and has more of a stream of consciousness type of a vibe, like many experimental longer form music videos and features do. Just let it flow through you and see where it takes you.
That said, the Netflix subtitles seemed really off to me, so it might be a good idea to read through the lyrics to the album online. The film is basically the album, but with visuals added. And in my view, the visuals do not really reflect the lyrics directly, but rather offer another level, so being familiar with the lyrics might be good. I don't know.
Also, at least I can't really always figure out what's being sung, so I needed to go through the lyrics.
But in general you don't really need to know much about Sturgill Simpson's music, as this is (again) a very different album from what he has done before. It's like an electronic psychedelic blues rock album that's still grounded on Sturgill's core genre of country music. A really interesting mix if you ask me, and pushes all sorts of boundaries really nicely.
As for Kurosawa, the connection to Yojimbo is more thematic than narrative, as far as I can see. However, if you have seen no Kurosawa films before but would be interested in them, Yojimbo is a pretty good starting point, even as it's a fairly untypical Kurosawa work in many ways. Still, it's a really well put together film that flows almost perfectly, and it has been hugely influential, not only with direct remakes like Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing, but also through other intertextual and intercultural connecting lines, the favourite of mine which is a cross-cultural west-east-west cycle that goes from Dashiel Hammett's novels Red Harvest and The Glass Key (west) to Kurosawa's Yojimbo (east), then back to west to the 1966 Italian western Django that it influenced, then again east to the 2007 Takashi Mike film Sukiyaki Western Django, which included this American guy called Quentin Tarantino, who a couple of years later released Django Unchained (west). Now, I'm not saying that Yojimbo is behind everything, especially as Kurosawa himself pretty much lifted stuff off of Hammett without bothering to ask, but there are a number of this type of streams of influences that go through Yojimbo and end up in pretty exciting places. (Rashomon is the other Kurosawa film that is at the centre of a similarly rich web of interconnected works.)
Anyway, so I don't really know if I managed to answer your question, but if you do watch Sound & Fury, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts!
And also, if you also watch Yojimbo, pop again next month into the Kurosawa site that I linked to earlier, as Yojimbo will actually be the film of the month for our film club in November. Shameless self promotion, I know. But we are always happy to welcome new participants.
Meta: I really wish there was an acceptable topic label for "awesome music video", because saying that in a comment is pretty much just noise... but I still feel it's worth pointing out for people...
Meta: I really wish there was an acceptable topic label for "awesome music video", because saying that in a comment is pretty much just noise... but I still feel it's worth pointing out for people and so they can be easily found and filtered for.
Could the label tags for comments somehow be expanded to posts? They don't have to be identical. Recommended, insightful, good read as a possible selection.
Could the label tags for comments somehow be expanded to posts? They don't have to be identical. Recommended, insightful, good read as a possible selection.
Whoever likes this might also be interested to know that the music video is part of a larger film, Sturgill Simpson Presents Sound & Fury, which was released on Netflix the same day that the album (Sound & Fury) came out. It's a pretty interesting work and well worth checking out.
Simpson apparently recorded the album while playing Akira Kurosawa films on the background in his studio, and has specifically described his own film as being loosely based on Yojimbo. Being interested in all things Kurosawa, as well as a big fan of Simpson's music, I ended up writing some musings on the film and album on my website. I was a bit feverish that day as I was suffering from a cold, so I'm not sure how coherent and valid arguments I make there, but I think I still pretty much stand behind what I write there.
Very interesting read! Would you recommend watching/listening to anything before watching Sound & Fury? I've only listened sporadically to Simpsons music and know nothing about Yojimbo or anime for that matter.
Thanks! I can't really think of anything in particular that would be a prerequisite for the film. It's not a very narrative piece, and has more of a stream of consciousness type of a vibe, like many experimental longer form music videos and features do. Just let it flow through you and see where it takes you.
That said, the Netflix subtitles seemed really off to me, so it might be a good idea to read through the lyrics to the album online. The film is basically the album, but with visuals added. And in my view, the visuals do not really reflect the lyrics directly, but rather offer another level, so being familiar with the lyrics might be good. I don't know.
Also, at least I can't really always figure out what's being sung, so I needed to go through the lyrics.
But in general you don't really need to know much about Sturgill Simpson's music, as this is (again) a very different album from what he has done before. It's like an electronic psychedelic blues rock album that's still grounded on Sturgill's core genre of country music. A really interesting mix if you ask me, and pushes all sorts of boundaries really nicely.
As for Kurosawa, the connection to Yojimbo is more thematic than narrative, as far as I can see. However, if you have seen no Kurosawa films before but would be interested in them, Yojimbo is a pretty good starting point, even as it's a fairly untypical Kurosawa work in many ways. Still, it's a really well put together film that flows almost perfectly, and it has been hugely influential, not only with direct remakes like Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing, but also through other intertextual and intercultural connecting lines, the favourite of mine which is a cross-cultural west-east-west cycle that goes from Dashiel Hammett's novels Red Harvest and The Glass Key (west) to Kurosawa's Yojimbo (east), then back to west to the 1966 Italian western Django that it influenced, then again east to the 2007 Takashi Mike film Sukiyaki Western Django, which included this American guy called Quentin Tarantino, who a couple of years later released Django Unchained (west). Now, I'm not saying that Yojimbo is behind everything, especially as Kurosawa himself pretty much lifted stuff off of Hammett without bothering to ask, but there are a number of this type of streams of influences that go through Yojimbo and end up in pretty exciting places. (Rashomon is the other Kurosawa film that is at the centre of a similarly rich web of interconnected works.)
Anyway, so I don't really know if I managed to answer your question, but if you do watch Sound & Fury, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts!
And also, if you also watch Yojimbo, pop again next month into the Kurosawa site that I linked to earlier, as Yojimbo will actually be the film of the month for our film club in November. Shameless self promotion, I know. But we are always happy to welcome new participants.
More than I could hope for! Thank you for your thorough response.
Meta: I really wish there was an acceptable topic label for "awesome music video", because saying that in a comment is pretty much just noise... but I still feel it's worth pointing out for people and so they can be easily found and filtered for.
Could the label tags for comments somehow be expanded to posts? They don't have to be identical. Recommended, insightful, good read as a possible selection.