Akira Kurosawa – Heroic Cinema

Maadadayo (1993)

James — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:20:14 +0000

Here we have a sentimental Kurosawa picture about an elderly teacher who, courtesy of his wise (and somewhat cracking) observations of life and times, has gained the veneration of his doting students. The problem for me with this picture was that I didn’t find my old chap particularly likeable. He seemed to me more an idling opportunist with a high opinion of himself than an erudite poet-philosopher worthy of adoration.

The experience of watching Maadadayo will probably be far more … (read more)

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

Greg — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:22:09 +0000

Few would argue that Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest directors the world has ever seen. The number of masterpieces he produced is simply staggering. If you look back at the catalogue of his works, you notice that at the heart of many of these great films are partnerships with other extremely talented individuals. His long collaboration with Toshiro Mifune, for example, is usually regarded as one of the greatest director/actor partnerships in the history of cinema. Kurosawa’s work … (read more)

The Quiet Duel (1949)

James — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:36:59 +0000

It’s not every day you get to see a film focusing on the medical response to syphilis and the emotional torment of one of the disease’s sufferers.

I can’t say this particular absence in my film viewing habits to date particularly irks me. There’s only so much a spectator can tolerate when submitted to endless studies of a pent-up and remorseful Toshiro Mifune (infected with syphilis) pining in sexual frustration over his (spotless, timid, frail, i.e. stereotyped) wife to never … (read more)

Sanshiro Sugata 2 (1945)

Justin — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:47:50 +0000

After his successful direction of his first film Sanshiro Sugata, and subsequent rise through the ranks of Toho assistant directors in the 1940s, Akira Kurosawa was pressured to make a sequel. The result was 1945’s Sanshiro Sugata II, set five years after the original film and picking up Sugata’s tale as he faces challenges from practitioners of other styles of martial arts.

The film begins with a sequence that mirrors the opening of the first film: Sugata saves … (read more)

Throne of Blood (1957)

Justin — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:04:15 +0000

Fans of Japanese cinema and excellent cinema in general should be no strangers to the works of Akira Kurosawa. Regular readers will have seen me (and others here, too!) swoon and spout hyperbole over many of his films. With good reason, mind you — many of them have become fixtures in critics’ lists of top films: action masterpiece The Seven Samurai, lone samurai classics Yojimbo and Sanjuro, study in truth Rashomon and the colour-drenched epic Ran in particular.

Shamelessly, … (read more)

Rashomon (1950)

James — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:25:08 +0000

“I don’t care if it’s a lie, as long as it’s entertaining.” — the commoner in response to the woodcutter and the priest’s accounts of the murder.

So here we have it, a movie featuring a completely unreliable plot that never provides a factual answer to the crucial murder mystery at its core, that pieces together falsehoods, speculations and fabricated accounts one after another, that boldly misdirects viewers right through to its conclusion, and yet has somehow managed to absorb … (read more)

Drunken Angel (1948)

James — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:29:59 +0000

This is one of my favourite Akira Kurosawa’s movies set in contemporaneous times – not a saumrai in sight, although Toshiro Mifune appears almost as animalistic and out of control here in his first collaboration with Kurosawa as he does in some of his most famous samurai roles (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo). He is not the drunkard of the movie’s translated title, however. The alcoholic is Takashi Shimura’s doctor, Sanada, whose contempt … (read more)

Ikiru (1952)

Ben Jennings — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 01:59:03 +0000

You know the story. The terminally ill protagonist is going to spend the final months of his life on a quest for redemption, right? Well, sort of. The thing that distinguishes Ikiru from its countless imitators (I reviewed one of its more distant descendants, the South Korean Short Time, a few months ago) is that the main character, Watanabe, is not such a bad guy to start with. Yes, he is a bureaucrat who has spent his entire life … (read more)

Yojimbo (1961)

James — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:28:27 +0000

Ah, Yojimbo. Forgive me for feeling little nostalgic, but once upon a time I discovered a couple of old black & white VHS tapes in the local library that became my entrance to Akira Kurosawa and then through his movies, eventually, belatedly, to the wondrous dimension of Asian cinema. Yojimbo was shorter than the other tape (Seven Samurai) so I watched it first. Ah, Yojimbo … it’s been a while, but thanks for a rather superb introduction.… (read more)

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Justin — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 05:39:35 +0000

I’ve been a huge fan of Akira Kurosawa’s work for a while now, since devouring his samurai films (The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro and others), then moving on to his later work — in particular, the stunning Ran and Kagemusha. Every one has been an excellent film, on all counts: cinematography, writing, acting and direction. Throne of Blood, as well, has some of the most wonderful black and white cinematography I’ve ever seen. So, I … (read more)

Stray Dog (1949)

Ben Jennings — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:16:56 +0000

Considered by many to be the master’s first great work, Stray Dog is a superb film noir from the Kurosawa/Mifune team. An entry into that subgenre about an eccentric character on a single obsessive quest about something seemingly not so significant, the movie is pregnant with insight into male psychology, right and wrong, and of course the overarching churn of social change in post-war Japan. Just the very adoption of such an American genre as film noir speaks volumes about … (read more)

Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)

Justin — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:16:28 +0000

Akira Kurosawa is one of world cinema’s best-loved directors. Celebrated both in his native Japan and (perhaps especially) overseas, he directed some of cinema’s most enduring and famous stories, and was responsible for bringing Japan’s cinema industry to the world’s attention with 1950’s Rashomon. Fans of action cinema will be (or should be!) familiar with The Seven Samurai, his long but brilliant film tracing the story of a group of samurai hired to protect a village from marauding … (read more)

Dersu Uzala (1974)

Justin — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:16:10 +0000

This is an interesting film. Akira Kurosawa is one of cinema’s most impressive directors, and I’ve a tendency to dribble superlatives when writing about him — my apologies. In any case, you will (or should) know him as the director responsible for The Seven Samurai, Ran, Sanjuro, and many other well-known Japanese films. Most of the films he is famous for are shot in Japan and often set in feudal Japan, telling tales of the samurai and … (read more)

The Seven Samurai (1954)

Jonathan — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:15:53 +0000

Seven Samurai is quite possibly the most overrated film ever. That’s a shame, because it’s a fine film — one of the finest, in fact — but there is a tendency among certain groups of people (who should know better) to refer to it as THE GREATEST ACTION FILM EVER MADE. Now, this really is stupidity, not only because everybody knows that The Killer is the greatest action film ever made, but also because, frankly, Seven Samurai isn’t an action … (read more)

Red Beard (1965)

Ben Jennings — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 05:45:36 +0000

Thank god for Toshirô Mifune. Heretical as it may be, I can’t say I’m a big fan of this one. This loose and only fitfully engaging drama marks a frustrating end to one of the great director/star collaborations in the cinema, and appropriately Mifune is by far the best thing about it.

Mifune plays the title character, one of those doctor types you see quite a lot in fiction who is both grizzly and deeply humane, and is never less … (read more)

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990)

Alison — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 23:59:59 +0000

For starters, I’d have to say that Martin Scorsese doesn’t so much star as appear briefly, but I expect his name had to appear prominently in order for the film to be considered for the Globes (I’m not suggesting any bias, lordy lordy no). And when he does appear, he’s not that impressive.

Okay, sledging aside, I can now review the movie. And a fine movie it is too: Kurosawa uses childhood memories, Japanese traditions, and his own moral views … (read more)