Article: Akira Kurosawa: My Study of His Entire Body of Work | 31 Feature Films and an Autobiography
Hello reader,
Writer/Director Akira Kurosawa made 31 narrative feature films in his lifetime all from his own original screenplays. Kurosawa is easily one of the most respected filmmakers ever to live and one of my top 5 favorite writer/directors ever with some of my others including John Carpenter, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderberg and other directors (only) which include Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg and David Fincher.
The world of cinema has great admiration for Akira Kurosawa's work that have inspired countless filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, George Lucas and films and animations including STAR WARS, THE MAGNIFICENT 7, SAMURAI 7, THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY and MAD MAX just to name a few examples.
I have now finally studied his entire body of work and it has given me a better sense of both the man and his personal choices as a director. The plot information included is all taken from IMDB.com including poster art. I also read Kurosawa's book entitled SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, which will be included at the end as a bonus material to help summarize my entire Kurosawa learning (for this time) as the man always has more to give even beyond his death.
I do not intend to write an essay but instead comment most on those films of Kurosawa that inspired me and more. Thank you to Akira Kurosawa for his life's devotion to making cinema as a writer, director and educator of young people.
Filmmaking was always his first love in both his most trying and blessed times.
Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
Plot: Ugata, a young man, struggles to learn the nuance and meaning of judo, and in doing so comes to learn something of the meaning of life.
An early work discussing both honor and the art of martial arts. Striking visuals come mainly at the film's climax.
The Most Beautiful (1944)
Plot: World War II film about female volunteer workers at an optics plant who do their best to meet production targets.
A propaganda piece with a documentary approach in some moments. This film introduces Kurosawa's language of cinema more fully including interesting framing and drama.
Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)
Plot: Sugata returns to prove his judo mastery in a match against Western opponents.
A beautiful film with a memorable and climactic action scene on the side of a snowy mountain that is quite epic in scale...a first hint at this filmmaker is successfully capable of a capturing that epic scale in both visual approach, choreographed action and stunning location choice.
The Men Who Tread on The Tiger's Tale (1945)
Plot: A Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.
Colorful and defined characters (including his "comic relief" character type) become part of Kurosawa's adventures and that is exactly what this film is...an early adventure film that has some of the building blocks that time and more filmmaking experience help iron his later film "Seven Samurai" into a masterpiece of filmmaking.
Those who Make Tomorrow (1946)
Plot: Two sisters, one a dancer and the other a script supervisor at a big movie studio, become embroiled in union activities when a strike is called in sympathy with striking railroad workers, one of whom boards with the sisters and their parents. The girls' father argues with them about their strike, but finds his views changing when he himself loses his job.
A lost film that is nearly impossible to find and may be lost forever.
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
Plot: The daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.
An interesting work that has a female lead protagonist. The growth of this film from the last film is still one step at a time but it continues Kurosawa's journey into narrative structure and framing.
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Plot: During a Sunday trip into war-ravaged Tokyo, despairing Yuzo and optimistic Masako look for work and lodging, as well as affordable entertainments to pass the time.
This is the film that I think has his first GREAT spark, it is the human condition on screen. One wonderful Sunday is an absolutely beautiful film about the struggles of a couple in absolute poverty. The ending in the out door concert venue is one to be remembered, only in our imaginations can we learn to overcome great personal pain and hardship. The lesson is essential and a theme running in Kurosawa from beginning to end. The drama here is laying the groundwork for his more personal/genre pieces including crime films "Stray Dog" or the hybrid crime/drama "Drunken Angel." Every film he gets stronger in his ability to show 1) the truth and 2) his characters acting it out in their movements onscreen in blocking and his careful 3) framing.
Drunken Angel (1948)
Plot: A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
A sleek and stunning transition for Kurosaw into the crime film. he inches in and by the end - is a master of the crime genre too. "Drunken Angel" introduces us to the unstoppable Toshirô Mifune, this is the first collaboration in the two artists long and incredible collaboration. In this film we see a synthesis of Kurosawa from Drama director to genre director and he masters both. The fight sequence/knife attack murder at the end is something to be seen rather than discussed, here it is below.
The Quiet Duel (1949)
Plot: A surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.
A painful and beautiful film about a man who values duty and ethics over his own "desires" for sex and more.
Stray Dog (1949)
Plot: During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
"Stray Dog" is it. This is the film that is said to have inspired the "buddy-cop" film. Honor is the highest importance as the boiling summer drags on, Mifune has his colt hand - gun stolen. He wanders the streets attempting to reclaim his honor as a man and as a cop...but appears the whole time as almost a lost "stray" dog...becoming one with the underworld he journeys in.
Scene on the bridge deals with the vulnerability of Mifune and his explanation that "he is responsible" for the killings taking place becuase they were done with his stolen colt. Great scene in baseball stadium bringing a man out of a crowd. Climax is (almost a western style stand-off) and knock down drag out fist fight in mud, puddles and more...an innocent group of girls walking by/singing underscores the balance between innocence and corruption. Maybe Mifune's mission is actually a selfish one? Maybe next time he will learn to not take it all personally?
As Shimura lays in bed, injured by a bullet, he tells Mifune...in time he will forget and somewhere out there...a new evil rises that he will need to extinguish once he can forget himself and his stolen honor.
Rashomon (1950)
Plot: The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
This film is one of my favorite by Akira Kurosawa and it is another example of a film you need to see to fully appreciate.
The Idiot (1951)
Plot: A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.
Based on the Russian novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, this is a dramatic piece that finds legs in its central conflict of man versus man and the dangers of a cruel lover.
Ikiru (1952)
Plot: A bureaucrat tries to find a meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
In the pursuit of filmmaking, it is important to study the old masters in the craft. As Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielburg, Coppola and more would agree - Japanese auteur AKIRA KUROSAWA is one of the most important filmmakers ever to live and breathe film.
There is few filmmakers who have almost their entire feature film body of work (wrote and directed over 22 feature films mind you) as carefully studied by cinephiles around the world. Kurosawa films are beautifully choreographed, varied in subject matter/genre and passionately written to teach those who watch a new perspective on life. To Kurosawa, characters speak their truth and reflect on life and the human condition with conviction and vigor.
IKIRU is the story of Kanji Watanabe, a man who works as part of a failing system of government that repeatedly ignores its people and their well being. Kanji is diagnosed and suddenly realizes his work is for nothing because he has never truly lived and enjoyed his life.
The film uses low angle shots of a bridge while multiple characters reflect on the world below. The bridge may symbolize a path to a new life, one renewed by the ability to stop and see the world in a fresh perspective. The sky is 70 percent of some of these shots, possibly connecting characters to their higher calling, their destiny, God...the stars above. The interplay of nature (sky) with it's uncontrollable temperment may also be indication of a life of unknown outcomes. We must consider the snow, the rain, the sunset as parts of an ever changing universe that does not stop for us or we for it. As Watanabe says something to the effect that he has not stopped to look at the sunset for 30 years and even now...he has no time to as a dying man. Kurosawa, as in STRAY DOG, RASHOMON and others often uses weather and nature as ways of indicating that we as men and women are creatures of nature and our human condition is just as fragile and unpredictable.
IKIRU is full of many lessons, one of which is that life can put us in a cruel hammering rain or sometimes a beautiful snow fall. In all the chaos, we must make positive choices and find the things that mean something to us. We must LIVE the best we know how to given the circumstances!
Seven Samurai (1954)
Plot: A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.
His most famous film which is probably a thesis on all the work of Akira Kurosawa.
I live In Fear (1955)
Plot: An aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
A unique film about nuclear war starring Mifune as an older man in heavy makeup.
Throne of Blood (1957)
Plot: A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Based on "Macbeth" by Shakesphere, this is a great film that is about paranoia and weakness of character. The film opens on a great sequence of the warriors meeting a spirit in the forrest and the effect is a great moment of fantasy.
The Lower Depths (1957)
Plot: In a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.
Based on the Russian novel of the same name by Maxim Gorky, this is a very simple and profound film on poverty and desperation.
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Plot: Lured by gold, two greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines. However, they do not realize that their companions are actually a princess and her general.
The inspiration behind "Star Wars: A New Hope" this Kurosawa classic is part of the blue print of the "Star Wars" franchise including the signature use of the "wipe" fade transition seen in both Kurosawa and Lucas' work. The two peasants (C-3PO and R2D2) a general (Luke Skywalker mixed with Han Solo) work to move a princess (Princess Leia) across enemy lines.
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Plot: A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide
Incredible visuals that feel like a noir film. This film is another incredible example of Kurosawa's knack for telling crime stories with top notch writing, directing, lighting/cinematography and acting.
Yojimbo (1961)
Plot: A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Yojimbo is the film that inspired Sergio Leone's A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS. The INCREDIBLE visuals in this film are to be admired, discussed and studied. The climactic fight scene falls into the category Alfred Hitchock would call PURE CINEMA - moments when just IMAGES & MUSIC can tell the story in a film.
Sanjuro (1962)
Plot: A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
An excellent samurai film with Mifune in top form.
High and Low (1962)
Plot: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
An extraordinary crime thriller that mostly takes place in one location shows the morality of a wealthy man and his obligation to the people who rely on him. The film is one of Kurosawa's finest films in my opinion as it does a tremendous amount with as little as possible, as it is with his other low-budget outing "Rashomon" which the studio only agreed to do if it can be shot for cheap in the woods and with limited resources - it was.
Red Beard (1965)
Plot: In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
An interesting character study that is the FINAL collaboration of mega-star Toshiro Mifune and director Akira Kurosawa.
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Plot: Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.
A film that again plays with Kurosawa's of using imagination to provide hope in dark and difficult times, especially to those in poverty. This is one of Kurosawa's most carefully crafted films that makes tremendous use of color and admittedly left me in tears at the end.
Dersu Uzala (1975)
Plot: The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
An interesting film about a journey that is slow moving and has beautiful visual moments.
Kagemusha (1980)
Plot: A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Unbelievable visuals and a
Ran (1985)
Plot: In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Visually epic in a way even beyond "Seven Samurai," a film that is colors, weather, violence and unforgettable images.
Dreams (1980)
Plot: A collection of tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.
A loose collection of ideas that are interesting but not my favorite.
Rhapsody in August (1991)
Plot: Three generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
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Mâdadayo (1993)
Plot: Following World War II, a retired professor approaching his autumn years finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war-torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.
A fitting end to Akira Kurosawa's career, the film discusses a professor who is deeply appreciated by his students, who are devoted to giving back to him. A scene where he talks to a group of children is one of his last and deepest lessons...
"Find something you love to do and work as hard at it as you can!"
A theme in the film is people asking the professor "are you ready?" to which his response is...
"not yet." Death and aging to him is something to come another day, not yet.
This is the final words in Akira Kurosawa's filmmaking, a man who utilized every minute he could to create, write, direct, shoot and inspire countless filmmakers.
Are we done studying Akira Kurosawa?
Not yet. Not ever.
BONUS AKIRA KUROSAWA MATERIALS
Something Like an Autobiography (1981) By Akira Kurosawa
An incredible book that points to the importance of Kurosawa's own memories and childhood in his work, his most successful days as a filmmaker, his least successful days and some of the best advice in print available to filmmakers today.
Kurosawa Interview - Filmmakers Should Routinely Write and Read to Make It A Daily Routine