The Rian Johnson Thread

That's more like it.

 

I recently watched a couple of the movies RJ referenced as influences on TLJ in his Empire interview. Below are some brief thoughts on how these might relate to next episode of the saga:




RJ: "Twelve O’Clock High was a big touchstone, for the feel and look of the aerial combat as well as the dynamic between the pilots."

Fantastic movie. This one is basically about the problem of empathy in a time of war. It's set during the exhaustive and dangerous daily daylight raids on German targets by US bombers in 1942. Gregory Peck plays a high ranking military official who relieves the commander of duty (for being too sympathetic with the plights of his men) and takes over. We see the struggle with morale, lack of sleep, discipline, camaraderie, etc as Peck tries to get the most out of the crew, pushing them past their limits, and his own struggles with empathy and exhaustion. I imagine this will have most relevance for Poe's storyline, and the struggle to either maintain a fleet on the run (think of the first couple of episodes of the newer Battlestar Galactica, when nobody could sleep since they had to keep jumping every few minutes for days on end to avoid the Cylons) or to repeatedly execute dangerous bombing raids in an attempt to outlast and wear down their opponents. The aerial footage, which I believe incorporates actual WWII footage, reminded me of George Lucas' work on A New Hope (I've read that he based the aerial rhythms of the Death Star run on WWII footage as well).

*****


RJ: "To Catch A Thief was a great film to rewatch, for the romantic scale and grandeur."

North by Northwest is one of my favorite movies, directed by Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, so I was excited to see them pair up again. I still prefer NxNW, but this one has a breezier, more effortless tone, driven by Grant's portrayal of a suave, playful, playboy ex cat burglar. It's set in a post-Resistance French Riviera. Grant was involved with the Resistance, but has a tense relationship with them now because they don't like how he's basically a self-centered materialist -- imagine if Han Solo never returned at the end of A New Hope to help Luke blow up the Death Star, and instead went and bought himself a villa on Naboo. The main plot involves Grant trying to figure out who is framing him for a string of jewel burglaries, and Grace Kelly plays a wealthy heiress who develops a playful/romantic rapport with him and helps him try to set traps for the real thief. Given that there's a lot of sneaking around on rooftops and witty banter, I'm assuming this movie will have the most relevance for Boyega's storyline, specifically his interactions with Kelly Marie Tran (who has a comedic background) and the rumors of them infiltrating the First Order. In addition to the Grant/Kelly dynamic, it's possible RJ might also draw from Grant's relationship with a female Resistance member called Robie, who both aids and hinders him. Additionally, the "Casino world" may be a direct nod to the French Riviera as depicted in this movie.

*****



RJ: "Three Outlaw Samurai for the feel of the sword-fighting, and the general sense of pulpy fun."

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I'm assuming this has the most relevance for Rey's storyline, specifically in relation to Kylo and the Knights of Ren, and the presumed lightsaber battles we will see. It may also involve a subversion of the classic Jedi code, with Luke and Rey acting in ways that differ from the Jedi of old. I'm basing this on some words from critic Glenn Erickson (via the Wikipedia page): "Gosha and his writers Keiichi Abe and Eizaburo Shiba work clever games with the standard samurai archetypes: all are present, yet they refuse to accept their traditional roles. Gosha's thriller soon lets us know that it is not going to be yet another simplistic morality play about honor and loyalty....[Gosha] makes Three Outlaw Samurai a thorough critique of authoritarian society and the traditional honor code of the samurai. In Gosha's view the oppressive forces are money, power and class. The magistrate subscribes to no code except his own convenience and prestige. The only honor to be found in is therefore the opposition of unjust authority."

** BTW -- anyone know where I can watch Three Outlaw Samurai online?

 

Of those 3 the only film I've seen is the "Three Outlaw Samurai". You should try and watch it! It is fantastic and great fun. I think the description from the critic you quote is a bit exaggerating what the movie is about as far more important are the human interactions, the fight scenes and the changed allegiances of a few of the characters...
I think that this film will most likely have influences on the Ahch-to and the Force plot.

I suspect quite a few scenes were/will be inspired by the film at least visually. Here is an example



As to the plot. There is the interesting plot part of the corrupt local magistrate's daughter being abducted as leverage and how during her captivity the main ronin samurai feels and shows her compassion and her view on him and the peasants cause changes becuase she sees that their cause is just and later when the samurai is caught and tortured she helps him escape (and even wants to go with him)...

Things that I can think may have influenced Rian Johnson are probably the visual aspect of the fight scenes - the above example with the Knights of Ren is obvious and while that scene is technically in TFA , we know that it was added later (one may even speculate that it was added at Rian's request), and I have the feeling that parts of the vision will be revisited in TLJ.
Possible other influences can be how people thrown together may change their allegiances. In the Japanese film at least 2 people change their original allegiances - the magistrate's daughter who develops feelings for her "captor" and the samurai who starts off the story as being in employment of the magistrate but in the end joining the ronin samurai and helping fight the peasants cause. The 3rd samurai is also interesting character as he joins in out of not entirely noble motifs, kills one of the peasants by accident and is rather embarrassed that the widow of that very same peasant falls in love with him (without knowing he is her husband's killer) and even when he admits to her that he is the one who made her a widow she still wants to go away with him (this is a feudal japan set film, so one should not be too upset that the female characters are relegated to being not much more than props for the male characters).

So the other (totally speculative on my part) possible influence can be for some unexpected changed allegiances. Maybe Kylo will surprise us and himself?

 

If you're in the US, it's probably on Filmstruck, like the rest of the Criterion collection. If not, well, I do not know of any legal means of watching this film except of getting a DVD/Blu-ray copy from the US, which would also require a Blu-ray player which is not region-locked or can play American discs.

 

One of the movies which was reported to have been watched was the Soviet made Letter Never Sent. Here is a link for the movie on Youtube.

I've been meaning to see it for months now, but never got to doing it...yet.

Trailer:

I suspect the inspiration are mainly the cinematography and the spectacular shots in natural setting...

 

It's very similar to The Revenant as both focus on struggle of man against nature. The only difference is that it's a good film when compared to a nice-looking yawnfest that The Revenant was.

PS. That film is also a part of the Criterion collection.

 

Thanks for the rundown on Three Outlaw Samurai! I will try to catch it soon. Likewise I highly recommend Twelve O'Clock High and To Catch a Thief (the latter is available for streaming on Netflix).

Regarding the theme of changing allegiances, I'm wondering if we could see this in a more general sense of people aligning with the First Order or Republic and reversing these allegiances.

Thank you for the tip! I used to watch the Criterion collection on Hulu before they migrated everything over to Filmstruck.

 

By the way, if any of you studies in the UK (like me) there's a wonderful website called BoB, on which you can watch recordings of broadcasts from some British TV channels. They have a wonderful selection of films both old and new, TV shows, documentaries, etc. Their enormous selection contains five out of seven films that Rian Johnson mentioned at one point or another as sources of inspiration for The Last Jedi: To Catch a Thief, Twelve O'Clock High, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gunga Din and Sahara (1943.)

 

I don't know if this has been noted elsewhere in this thread, but it occurred to me today that one of the characters from Rian Johnson's movie Looper could be considered a kind of model for Kylo.

Spoiler: Spoilers for Looper

In Looper, Cid is a child with strong telekenetic powers, who throws devastating psychic tantrums when he's upset:

The relevant premise here is that Cid will grow up to become a villain named The Rainmaker, and Joseph Gordon Levitt's quest becomes how to stop that from happening: do you kill him as a boy, or do you change events in his childhood so that he never becomes a villain?

We could imagine this little boy as Ben Solo, who is kind and inquisitive but has a dark power inside him, and who could turn out to be a hero or villain, depending on how he's raised and what events he experiences. Unfortunately, in Ben's case, whatever he experienced led him to willingly become a villain.

 

How many of these influential movies' rights are owned by Disney in any country?

Just wondering.

How many do you think will magically appear on Fios, AT&T universe, spectrum, DirecTV, Dish Network, etc. On Demand (for rent) next November?

 

20th Century Fox - Twelve O'Clock High
Columbia Pictures -The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sahara
Criterion - Letters Never Sent, Three Outlaw Samurai
Paramount Pictures - To Catch a Thief
RKO Radio Pictures - Gunga Din

These are US distributors. However, if Disney doesn't own them in the US, then they don't have them elsewhere either. Disney focuses only on films made by its own studios, especially outside of America.

 

Does Criterion own a TV network?

Disney owns ABC, ESPN, etc. Therefore all the 30 for 30 documentaries are controlled by Disney

Turner Entertainment bought RKO Radio Pictures in 1986, when it acquired the rights to little films like The Wizard of Oz and such.


Distribution rights and home video and streaming rights are constantly changing, and deals expire.

Those might be the original distributors but what conglomerate currently controls those movies??

It's more complicated than just listing a studio next to the film name.

 

Criterion does not have a TV network but films that are part of it are shown exclusively on Filmstruck, a VOD service created by TCM.

 

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Poor Rian... As Palpatine said, "It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your [predecessor JJ, will piss SOMEONE off]."

 

Well, it's like the guy said, "When the critics are divided about a work, the artist is in accord with himself."

 

Been a while since I've posted on the forums, but I'm back baby! Bout to watch LOOPER as I wait for Rebels Season 3 to finish up

 

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It seems like Rian is in London right now, maybe even overseeing reshoots (that poster behind him is for a play called Woyzeck which stars John Boyega at The Old Vic Theatre in London.)