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Today is Akira Kurosawa's birthday!

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T

TheFlow

Banned
Born March 23rd 1910
image-original.jpg


Currently doing a marathon of his movies and just finished the Classic Seven Samurai. Still one hell of an epic.

Year Title Japanese Romanization
1943 Sanshiro Sugata (Judo Saga) 姿三四郎 Sugata Sanshirō
1944 The Most Beautiful 一番美しく Ichiban utsukushiku
1945 Sanshiro Sugata Part II (Judo Saga 2) 續姿三四郎 Zoku Sugata Sanshirō
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail 虎の尾を踏む男達 Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi
1946 No Regrets for Our Youth わが青春に悔なし Waga seishun ni kuinashi
Those Who Make Tomorrow 明日を作る人々 Asu o tsukuru hitobito
1947 One Wonderful Sunday 素晴らしき日曜日 Subarashiki nichiyōbi
1948 Drunken Angel 酔いどれ天使 Yoidore tenshi
1949 The Quiet Duel 静かなる決闘 Shizukanaru kettō
Stray Dog 野良犬 Nora inu
1950 Scandal 醜聞 Sukyandaru (Shūbun)
Rashomon 羅生門 Rashōmon
1951 The Idiot 白痴 Hakuchi
1952 Ikiru (To Live) 生きる Ikiru
1954 Seven Samurai 七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai
1955 I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being) 生きものの記録 Ikimono no kiroku
1957 Throne of Blood (Spider Web Castle) 蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō
The Lower Depths どん底 Donzoko
1958 The Hidden Fortress 隠し砦の三悪人 Kakushi toride no san akunin
1960 The Bad Sleep Well 悪い奴ほどよく眠る Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru
1961 Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) 用心棒 Yōjinbō
1962 Sanjurō 椿三十郎 Tsubaki Sanjūrō
1963 High and Low (Heaven and Hell) 天国と地獄 Tengoku to jigoku
1965 Red Beard 赤ひげ Akahige
1970 Dodesukaden どですかでん Dodesukaden
1975 Dersu Uzala デルス・ウザーラ Derusu Uzāra
1980 Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) 影武者 Kagemusha
1985 Ran 乱 Ran
1990 Dreams (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams) 夢 Yume
1991 Rhapsody in August 八月の狂詩曲 Hachigatsu no rapusodī (Hachigatsu no kyōshikyoku)
1993 Madadayo (Not Yet) まあだだよ Mādadayo


So let's talk about one of the GOATS of Cinema.
 
P

Poppy

Member
omedetou

i really like rashomon. i really need to watch more of his filmography, but that one stuck with me, especially the depiction of swordfighting as something terrifying. also toshiro mifune is great

thats all i have to add!
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
I have watched Seven Samurai, Record of a Living Being and Ikiru as part of my university degree (a module on Japanese film), for some reason I'm quite ambivalent about Kurosawa. I much prefer Ozu as far as classic directors go, and modern directors I'm a fan of Koreeda.
 
S

SeanC

Member
Still my favorite filmmaker. One of those directors that I went out of my way to watch every single film of his. Even the kinda-shit ones but even a kinda-shit Kurosawa film has something worth watching in it.
 
P

Poppy

Member
BlazingDarkness said:
I have watched Seven Samurai, Record of a Living Being and Ikiru as part of my university degree (a module on Japanese film), for some reason I'm quite ambivalent about Kurosawa. I much prefer Ozu as far as classic directors go, and modern directors I'm a fan of Koreeda.
Click to expand...

the only Ozu i have watched is Ohayo, and i think the cinematography is really impressive. also the movie was super boring but in kind of a comforting way. i assume that was the intent since it seems like a tribute to Showa(?) era families
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
Poppy said:
the only Ozu i have watched is Ohayo, and i think the cinematography is really impressive. also the movie was super boring but in kind of a comforting way. i assume that was the intent since it seems like a tribute to Showa(?) era families
Click to expand...
Yeah, all of his films are family focussed and very slow paced, definitely not for everyone. But I can say they are expertly crafted.

They are also great if you're interested in Japanese society (in a historical sense).
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
I've only seen Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress and Rashomon. While I didn't necessarily love the experience of watching them, it was truly shocking to finally discover how much these films have clearly influenced cinematic storytelling in so many ways.
I think I'll try Yojimbo next.
 
B

BTails

Member
Throne of Blood and Ran are two of the best Shakespeare movies ever made.

Rashomon is still my favourite movie of his, and I admit I've only seen maybe 5 or 6... I still have a lot of Kurosawa to catch up on.
 
S

Sanjuro

Member
I also can't stress enough how much enjoyment I've had rewatching many of his films in the HD era. My first exposure to many of the films were on replicated VHS copies and the quality and dubs were atrocious in comparison.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
BTails said:
Throne of Blood and Ran are two of the best Shakespeare movies ever made.

Rashomon is still my favourite movie of his, and I admit I've only seen maybe 5 or 6... I still have a lot of Kurosawa to catch up on.
Click to expand...

If you love Rashomon, you really should see The Handmaiden. Follows a similar structure dealing with three characters, full of twists, and is deliciously dark.
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
Fox's Wedding is amazing and under appreciated. In general Dreams is great.

Hidden Fortress is cool
Kagemusha too

Also his crime dramas from early on are great too
 
Y

Yen

Member
Saw the remaster of RAN last year in the cinema and it was pretty incredible.

Other favourite would have to be High and Low
 
M

MoosiferX

Member
Nice! I recently picked up the Ikiru and Dreams criterions and haven't watched them yet. This seems like as good a reason as any to check 'em out tonight!

Loved High & Low, Rashomon, Hidden Fortress, and Seven Samurai.
 
S

SoldierIce64

Member
Easily one of my favorite directors, I haven't seen all of his works but the ones that I did see I enjoyed a lot. Seven Samurai and Ikiru are my favorites from him.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
The finale duel in Sanjuro is one of the all time greatest stand offs in the history of cinema.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
DoctorFling said:
Throne of Blood is easily my favourite Shakespeare adaptation in film despite changing the ending dramatically. Pure cinema.
Click to expand...

Even disregarding the amazing arrow scenes, the ending is notable for just how creepy it makes the "forest coming to Dunsinane" scene. Every other adaptation makes it look like dudes carrying twigs and shit, but Throne of Blood makes you believe that they would actually think the forest is out to get them.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Watched High and Low two weeks ago, and The Hidden Fortress last night for the first time. Both awesome. He is one of my favourite directors for sure. This is what i've seen of his, not as many as i'd like..

Rashomon
Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood
The Hidden Fortress
Sanjurō
High and Low
Kagemusha
Ran
Dreams
Rhapsody in August
Madadayo


RAN being my favourite of his so far. The ONLY thing I have negative to say is some of the scripts in his films are a little... on the nose. Like characters over-explaining obvious stuff aside from that, total mastery.

This book is a great read too

Cover_of_Akira_Kurosawa's_Something_Like_an_Autobiography.jpg
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
If you're interested in more "arty" and surreal films, I strongly recommend Dreams. It's an alternatingly weird, funny, illuminating and poignant series of short vignettes. "The Tunnel" is still one of my favorite films; it tells a more devastating story of the horrors of war in 15 minutes than most films manage in 2 hours.

Also, Martin Scorcese plays Vincent Van Gogh. Like I said, it's weird.

dreams-martin-scorsese.jpg
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
One of my favorite filmmakers. Most of his films are just amazing.

My top five would probably be,

Seven Samurai
Ran
Rashomon
High & Low
Kagemusha
 
F

Fugu

Member
Somewhere in my top five favorite directors. I generally prefer Ozu but Seven Samurai is my favorite film. The whole world is in those three and a half hours.
 
Geno Breaker

Geno Breaker

Banned
Fun fact: this dude was best friends with director Ishiro Honda, who directed plenty of the original Godzilla movies and co directed some of Kurosawa's 80's-90's movies (it's especially noticeable in Dreams).
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
I've been trying to remember the name of Ran for like weeks now. Thanks for this. Also American all white cast remake when?
It already exists. It's called King Lear
 
T

TheFlow

Banned
yep Akira has said Godzilla is one of his favorite films of alltime.


Kurosawa's early stuff is worth watching just because of the time period.
 
E

Eccocid

Member
RAN & Seven Samurai....

Him, Mamoru Oshii and Kawase Hasui (printmaker) are my fav Japanese artists.
Edit: Fuck i forgot Katsuhiro Otomo and Amano Yoshitaka :/
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
My personal movie god.

The way he composed his shots, the way he edited together shots on the fly, the way he used nature and light. His stable of actors who he worked with constantly.

I'm never bored watching his films.
 
H

Hexxen-Panda

Member
My favourite director, right beside Scorsese.

The visual power and the humanity of his films is timeless.
Ikiru, Seven Samurai, High and Low, Kagemusha, and The Bad Sleep Well are some of my favourites.

I wish the blurays were more affordable because there's so many great gems in his filmography.
 
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