Akira Kurosawa

An Emperor and a Master

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Akira Kurosawa is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in cinema history. It is a testimony to his genius that he was able to break the language barrier and was able to entertain and communicate with millions of cinema lovers all over the world including yours truly. Born in 1910 he made around 30 movies in a career spanning five decades from Sugata Sanshiro (1943) to Madadayo (1993) before he passed away in 1998.

Kurosawa’s father was the director of a junior high school operated by the Japanese military. He was a man who had a western outlook and inculcated in his children the same outlook. He used to take Kurosawa out to see western movies and may have influenced his outlook to movies from an early age itself.

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In 1936 Kurosawa began his career in movies as an apprentice of Kajiro Yamamoto. He made his first movie at the age of 33. His earlier movies were mainly nationalistic and propaganda movies made under the watchful eyes of the government during the world war days. It was not until he directed the ‘Drunken Angel’ in 1948 that he came into his own. Kurosawa himself has said that he discovered himself with this movie. Incidentally this was also the movie which saw the master working with Toshiro Mifune for the first time; in my opinion one of the greatest actor-director collaborations of all time.

From then on through the 50s and 60s Akira Kurosawa achieved the zenith of his craftsmanship. Masterpieces came one after another and with such amazing regularity that he became the undisputed master of Asian cinema. Three of his most acclaimed movies; Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) all came during this period. This was followed by adaptations like Thorne of blood (from Macbeth), Lower Depth (from Maxim Gorky’s play of the same name) and The Bad Sleep Well (from Hamlet). He also made such great entertainers like Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). This was followed by movies which were more or lees a social commentary like High and Low (1963) and Red Beard (1965).

After Red Beard Kurosawa acquired a reputation of being dictatorial in his approach and was called an Emperor by some. He subsequently found it difficult to get work and funding for his pictures. This is reflected by the sad fact that he made just 7 movies in the next 2 decades after Red Beard. Of these his Dodesukaden (1970) was such a failure that he even tried to commit suicide. He had to make the Russian Dersu Uzala (1975) in the meanwhile, his only non-japanese movie, in a bid to do some work. It was only through the help of his famous admirers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola that he was able find the necessary funding for Kagemusha (1980). But even there he was asked to make cuts of about 20 minutes to the movie. In 1985 Kurosawa made Ran (adapted from King Lear) which is widely considered by some as his last masterpiece. He made three more movies before his death; Dreams (1990), Rhapsody in August (1991), Madadayo(1993) though they are all considered to be the master’s lesser works.

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Kurosawa was a master of the narrative. When you see some of his movies the he made at his peak you can see the various styles of narratives that he has used. In Ikiru he tells the story from different timelines. He shifts between the past, the present and the future with such effortless ease that it never confuses the audience. In High and Low the movie is clearly divided into two acts with nothing but a train sequence connecting both parts of the story. But the best of them all is Rashomon. He tells the story from the perspective of four different people giving the audience the desired effect of guessing which the accurate narration of events is.

Kurosawa also showcased many themes and genres that are used in movies even today. He used the classic team building and practice routines in Seven Samurai. His Yojimbo must be one of the greatest Westerns ever although it is set in 16th century Japan. It was later remade as A Fistful of Dollars in Hollywood. The Hidden Fortress is a classic action/adventure movie which was the inspiration for George Lucas’s Star Wars.

He also tried to raise questions about the moral and emotional complexities of man. Rashomon showed that man’s perspective is clouded by his own ego. Red Beard showed the sufferings of the poor and their struggle for survival. High and Low was a dark reminder of the dangers of the inequalities in society. Ran showcased the destructive nature of man’s ambitions. Kagemusha showed the effects of image and the blind belief in it. And Ikiru showcased the shortness of life and the importance of living it fully and meaningfully.

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Kurosawa is a master of the technique of film making too. In Throne of Blood, in the final scene in which Mifune is shot by arrows, Kurosawa used real arrows shot by expert archers from a short range, landing within centimetres of Mifune's body. He was the first to use the telephoto lens to give a flat view of the shot. His sometimes used elaborate and grand shots to give the audience breathtaking visuals in the background. Several of his shots in Ran were almost painterly. He used various natural elements to telling effects like the rain in Rashamon and Seven Samurai, the snow in Ikiru, the wind in Yojimbo and the oppressive heat in High and Low.

He was a perfectionist who spent enormous amounts of time and effort to achieve the desired visual effects. Some of his techniques were innovative and expensive, sometimes even time consuming. He dyed the raid water black with ink to get the desired effect of heavy rain in Rashomon. He built an entire castle set in Mt. Fuji which was later destroyed in the climax. He demanded that the entire cast live in the sets of Red Beard to give it the proper lived in feel. He would give his actors their costumes 2 weeks in advance so that they would look properly worn out. He would wait for weeks to get the right cloud formation. Production for Red Beard took 2 years to complete which ultimately fractured his relationship with Toshiro Mifune.

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Despite all this there is no denying his genius. And like most other geniuses people forgets their eccentricities because their work more than makes up for it. His work will be remembered for generations to come. His works have influenced many. Direct influences can be found in The Magnificent Seven, A fistful of Dollars, Star Wars, Outrage, even in India’s biggest hit of all time Sholay and many more. Kurosawa was a master of his craft and will be remembered as one of the true Emperors of cinema.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Rashomon (1950)	Ikiru (1952)	Seven Samurai (1954)
Hidden Fortress (1958)	Yojimbo (1961)	High And Low (1963)
Red Beard (1965)	Kagemusha (1980)	Ran (1985)
Rhapsody In August (1991)

Rhapsody in August (Hachigatsu no kyōshikyoku)

Remembrance of a horror

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Akira Kurosawa’s movies in the later stages of his careers were starkly darker than his earlier ones. In Rhapsody in August he tires to tackle the Nagasaki atom bomb dropping and its impact on three different generations. It shows us how three different Japanese generations and an American views the bombing and its effect on human life.

The movie is mainly said from the viewpoint of four children who come to visit their grandmother. Their parents had gone to visit a long lost brother of the grandmother. The grandmother’s lost sibling is in his death bed now and wants to meet his last surviving blood relative before he dies. However the grandmother’s memory has become increasingly selective with age and she does not even remember the name of such a brother. So she sends her son and daughter (the children’s parents) to visit them instead. She does this so that the grandchildren are left in her care and she could spend time with them during their summer vacations.

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The children, to begin with, are thoroughly modern and westernized. They walk around in their jeans and t-shirts with American logos. They are in awe of their rich American cousins and wishes to spend their vacation at Hawaii. But a trip to the nearby Nagasaki changes their attitude to America. They realize that their grandfather had died in the bombing while working at a local school. They also realize how tough it must have been for their grandmother to lead life from then on as a single mother of two. The children grow increasingly resentful of America. They begin to feel and understand an event which they had known only through text books and as numbers.

The grandmother relives her past by way telling stories of it to her grandchildren. Through her stories, which are sometimes factual and sometimes mythical, she introduces the children to the beauty of the land and the sufferings of people in the aftermath of the bombing. She says that she was resentful towards America for a long time but has now taken the attitude that the real blame should go to War and not to the country. She is of the opinion that countries will do anything to win wars.

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The grandmother’s children harbor no ill wills whatsoever to the Americans. They are in fact happy to have found a rich relative back in Hawaii. They scheme and plan to get the grandmother to go to the US so that they can take up jobs at their cousin’s pineapple factory. They seem to neither care nor have any great feeling for the tragedy and have almost forgotten it.

The grandmother ultimately relents to visiting Hawaii when her brother and his son Clark (half Japanese and half Caucasian) request her repeatedly to visit them. She however says that she will visit only after the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, her husband’s death anniversary as well. This takes the American family by surprise as they had not known that the grandmother’s husband had died in the bombing. The grandmother’s own children feel that their mother had squandered a golden opportunity for them. They felt that the American do not like to reminded of the event.

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Clark however turns out to be polite and apologetic about the bombing. He manages to strike a bond with the grandmother and even participates in the memorial service on the day of the anniversary. His stay is cut short when the news of his father’s death reaches. The grandmother too remembers her brother at that time and is devastated that she did not visit him earlier. This has an effect on her mental stability and a thunderstorm soon afterwards have her reliving the horrors of that fateful day when the atom bomb was dropped in Nagasaki.

Kurosawa tries to show the impact of the bomb on the lives of the people who survived it. Some of the scenes are poignant and moving. The sequences were the children learn more about the bombing, where the survivors pay tribute to their classmates, the utter destruction symbolized by the twisted metal of a jungle gym in the school yard all stay with you even after you have watched the movie.

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But that is not to say that the movie is a masterpiece. I found the movie really tough to watch as the drama was a bit too low key and the pace a bit too slow for my liking. There is a definite bias in Kurosawa’s interpretation of the event. There is a definite finger pointing towards the Americans as being responsible for dropping the bomb while conveniently forgetting the events leading up to it. One can argue that the old lady does not harbor any resentment towards the Americans. But even those moments are made to be less profound than the accusatory moments.

I am one of those who strongly believe that the master’s later works pales in comparison with his earlier ones. Rhapsody in August however still shows glimpses of Kurosawa’s mastery over the medium. Nobody can capture beauty or take a shot that is imprinted in your mind for the rest of your life as Kurosawa can. It just proves that a genius and his work will always be remembered just like major events. No matter how good or bad they are.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Hidden Fortress (1958)

Yojimbo (1961)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Rhapsody In August (1991)

The Hidden Fortress

A Simple Entertainer by Akira Kurosawa

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Akira Kurosawa’s movies always carried some meaning in them. Most of the times he was using his movies as a medium to convey some meaningful message. This is why if you look down the list of movies that he had made ‘Hidden Fortress’ is sure to stand out. This is because for once Kurosawa wanted to have fun with it all and wanted everyone who watched it to have fun too. So you get ‘The Hidden Fortress’ (The Japanese title is Kakushi toride no san akunin meaning the three villains of the hidden fortress) which is an action/adventure/comedy.

The story is narrated almost entirely from the point of view of two peasants Tahei and Matakishi. They had set out to join a three way war between rival clans: Akizuki, Hayakawa and Yamana. But unfortunately they reached the war too late and to top their misery they are mistaken to be members of the defeated Akizuki by the victorious Yamana and are made to dig graves all day for the dead. They somehow manage to escape from there and that is when we meet them.

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During their travels they discover that a reward has been set for the head of the Akizuki Princess Yuki. They also discover by chance some gold hidden within firewood which they understand to be the Royal Property of Akizuki. During their efforts to discover more gold they meet a man who acts as a bully. They tell him that they are trying to get to Hayakawa by passing right through Yamana as they believe that it would be easier to cross the borders of Akizuki-Yamana and Yamana-Hayakawa than crossing the borders of Akizuki-Hayakawa.

The bully is impressed with this idea and reveals himself to be General Rokurota Makabe, a great samurai general of Akizuki. The peasants however do not believe him. They also encounter a beautiful 16 year old girl whom the General claims as his woman and also informs them that she is mute. In reality she is Princess Yuki and the General had instructed her not to speak because her imperious manner of speech would give her away.

The general gets the peasants to work for him and carry the load of firewood and gold by inciting their greed. He promises them an equal share of the gold and that’s what drives them to go through the arduous journey ahead. His real intention is to rebuild the Akizuki clan using the gold as seed money. Thus the small group sets off on their journey through enemy lines and the rest of the movie is about their adventures during the same.

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Unlike in his earlier movies Kurosawa does not spend too much time in developing the characters. He therefore tells the movie from the point of view of the two peasants. This frees him from the necessity of developing the characters and just concentrating on their adventures. There is no great character shift either. The General is all heroic, the princess is all regal and brash, and the peasants are bumbling fools right through to the very end. Maybe one can argue that the peasants become better friends and have gotten a hold on their greed by the end of the movie. But even that is not emphasized because we see that these two guys were always good friends and the reward that they get in the end is too insignificant to be fighting over.

The movie also has elements of ‘The prince and the Pauper’. The princess, by donning the disguise of a commoner is able to see the life of normal people in a better light. In the princess’s own words, “I was able to see the beauty and the ugliness of man”. She is also able to realize the importance of kindness to others. The slave girl that she rescues later protects her and is even ready to sacrifice herself for her. She is even able to change the mind of General Hyoe Tadokoro, whose life General Makabe had spared after a duel in which Makabe had defeated Tadokoro. Tadokoro later on helps them escape and even joins their ranks.

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Toshiro Mifune in this movie is majestic. After Seven Samurai he now gets a chance to play an over the top character. The difference here is that he is the hero who is all brave and valor instead of being the foolish, hooting farmer in Seven Samurai. His presence electrifies the screen and you just can’t take your eyes off him.

This is an out and out fun movie. George Lucas has said many times that his Star Wars was inspired by this movie. A direct reference can be found in the similarities of the characters of Tahei and Matakishi with R2D2 and C3P0. The movie has everything in it; action, adventure, comedy and drama. Even the way the group deals their troubles along the way has everything in it. They have to rely on their cunning, valor and sometimes even on plain dumb luck to get through. The cinematography of this movie is absolutely stunning for its era. Overall the master lets his hair down and wants us to do the same while watching this movie.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Hidden Fortress (1958)

Yojimbo (1961)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Rhapsody In August (1991)

Ikiru (to live) – Movie Review

Poignant!!!

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Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru is one of the most heart rendering movies I have ever seen. It’s a wonderful movie where you see the master at the zenith of his craft. This is well illustrated by the fact that this movie is released in 1952 between Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954). In my book these three are the greatest of the master’s works. What is even more endearing about this movie is that this is not as dark and hopeless as the master’s subsequent works near the end of his life.

The first shot of the movie is that of an X-Ray showing of a patient suffering from gastric cancer. The patient’s name is Mr.Watanabe, a government bureaucrat. He is infact the public relations section chief whose actual job is to address the complaints of the common man. But in reality what he does is just glance through piles of paper work and stamp his seal on them to show that he has handled the case. He is someone who has been busy all his life without having done anything fruitful.

When he discovers that he has gastric cancer, he begins to have a new perspective on his life so far. He realizes that he actually wants to live now that his days are numbered. He also begins to see his relationship with his son in a new light. He had spend his whole life living for his son whereas his son has become too self centered to care about his father.

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Watanabe who has never missed a day in office for the last thirty years begins to skip office for days. During one of these days he meets a novelist who takes him on a trip to all the bars, strip clubs and other places of revelry to show Watanabe how to live life to the fullest. Watanabe then meets a young female co-worker who is just fed up with the drudgery and boring work back at the office and wants his seal on her resignation. Watanabe tries to cling on to her and spends as much time as possible with her. He wants to live off her youthfulness and energy.

However she as well as everyone else in his family mistakes his feelings for the girl as an old age infatuation. But when she tells him about her work at a local toy factory and the joy of her work there Watanabe realizes that in order for him to be truly happy he will have to find joy at his workplace itself and do something useful. He takes up the issue of building a park for children over a waste yard.

From then on the story takes place after 5 months where we see how Watanabe, who is dead now, lived the last few days of his life as well as how he managed to get the park built. We get an idea of this through the accounts of his colleagues and friends who had gathered at his house to pay their last respects.

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What I liked the most about this movie is its narrative style. It’s absolutely amazing. In the beginning, the director gives us a sense of the bureaucracy’s inefficiency where a group of women seeking a park to be build over a wasteland (the same park Watanabe helps get built later on) are send to various departments with nobody willing to take the responsibility to help them. All the departments pass the job on to another which is shown by the director shows this with a sequence of fading shots.

Another memorable sequence is when Watanabe looks back at his relationship with his son. Again through a series of fading shots the director shows us how Watanabe comforted his son after his mother’s death, how Watanabe decides not to marry again, how felt while watching his son play a baseball game and how he felt when his son left to join the military.

But they all fade in comparison to the master’s brilliant narrative of how Watanabe triumphed in his ordeal to build the park in the end. Normally in a movie we would have seen the protagonist after undergoing a similar transformation, heroically and sometimes over dramatically going about achieving his goal. But Kurosawa wouldn’t be regarded as a genius today if he had done that. Instead he introduces a revolutionary narrative where he shows to us through other’s perspective of Watanabe how he manages to build the park in the end.

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Till the point of his starting off to build the park, the audience is very much intertwined with Watanabe’s feelings and his desperation for life. We feel every pain, desperation and loneliness of the man who knows that he has only a short while more to live. But after he starts off with his mission, the next thing that is shown to us is a group of people talking about him while paying their last respects to him.

We, the audience, are made to feel detached from the conversation that is going on and are forced to look upon the conversation from Watanabe’s point of view. Since we know more about Watanabe than any of the people assembled there we sometimes feel compelled to correct or contradict the men’s speculation about Watanabe. It’s almost as if the master wants us to feel like Watanabe is looking down on their conversation from the havens.

The acting by Takashi Shimura is top notch. I have seen him in Seven Samurai and his acting in this movie is completely opposite to the vibrant and energetic character that he played in Seven Samurai.

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Kurosawa is a master at making thought provoking movies. In this one he asks us the value of the rat race that we are involved in even today. We are so immersed in our daily routines that we forget to enjoy our precious gift called life. We forget to live while immersed in mundane pursuits. The master does this and at the same time is realistic about it all. This he shows when the Watanabe’s colleagues, even after vowing at his funeral to change their way of working, goes back to their old ineffective ways the very next day. That is the touch of a genius.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Hidden Fortress (1958)

Yojimbo (1961)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Rhapsody In August (1991)