i just finish watch the criterion edition of akira kurosawa stray dog and and i honestly can not think of a good thing to say than and oh and my god . this movie and clocking in at just over two hour and so mesmerized me with it story and naturalistic acting and technique and i honestly do not notice the time . and when it be over and i be drain . the story be simple a rookie detective pistol be steal from him and and a he frantically try to track it down and wind up be use in crime that grow more and more violent . sound like the kind of thing toss off every week in one of the law and order series or any other fake police drama on tv . but the way kurosawa and his co writer and ryuzo kikushima and take this story and layer in shame and guilt and responsibility and reality and acceptance and understanding and pity and anything else you can consider a decent human emotion be breathtaking . try find anything like that on csi or svu . a murakami and the rookie and toshiro mifune internalize his usual intensity and let his eye and expression convey his grow sense of shame and horror when his pistol be use first in a robbery and then again in an even bad crime . a his mentor and det . sato and takashi shimura offer a gentle honesty and low key approach to life that be not temper by any pity for the criminal while he even tell murakami that he hat them . and say it so simply and it like it the most natural thing in the world . the bond that grow between these two men . the chemistry between them . be the heart and soul of the movie and but the incidental character be just a important . a pickpocket who feel pity for murakami and bring him a beer and some food . a young showgirl who just want something pretty in her life . a poverty stricken sister worry about her brother . a gun dealer who love baseball . a hotel owner with the hots for one of his maid . all add to the tapestry of tokyo in the immediate post war period and expand upon the emotion of the piece . add to this kurosawa already masterful technique and sense of storytelling and and you have a thriller more gripping and involve than just about anything churn out by today hollywood ( the bourne . series except ) . the close american film i can think of that even begin to approach this movie combination of an honest and tedious criminal investigation and real human emotion be the naked city and which be make in 1948. and that movie still have it hollywood ish element in the home scene with don taylor detective . stray dog isn not just a movie while it like a ferrari that seem to merely purr a you drive it . until you look at the speedometer and realize youre do 110. on top of this and the criterion edition of the movie have a wonderful documentary about the making of the film . watch the show and first and then watch the documentary to savor it . it totally worth the ticket .