Kurosawa NOT Samurai

If you have heard of the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) before, it might be from the film Seven Samurai. The American filmmaker George Lucas said another samurai film by Kurosawa, Hidden Fortress, was a primary influence on Star Wars. While Kurosawa created a lot of famous samurai films, he also made a lot of other great films set in the present time such as Ikiru. However, those movies are often unknown and tend to be under-appreciated. As the title of this website indicates, I will introduce Kurosawa's biography along with what I call "Kurosawa NOT Samurai" films.

Bio

Born in Tokyo in 1910, Akira Kurosawa begin his career as an assistant director in the years leading up to World War II. In 1950, he gained international acclaim for the samurai film Rashomon (1950), which he followed with such influential films as Ikiru (1952) and Seven Samurai (1954). After a difficult period during which he failed to find backing for his projects and also attempted suicide, his influence on a younger generation of directors led to the resurrection of his career with the films Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985). Kurosawa died in 1998, leaving behind an impressive body of work that has earned him a place as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.

1910

Born March 23, 1910, Tokyo, Japan
1930

Started his career as an assistant director
1943

Sanshiro Sugata
1949

Stray Dog

Set in and around the muddy swamps and back alleys of postwar Tokyo
1950

Rashomon

Kurosawa made his international breakthrough film
1952

Ikiru

Released the internationally acclaimed film Ikiru
1954

Seven Samurai

Homage to Westerns that would later come full circle when it was remade as The Magnificent Seven (1960)
1957

Throne of Blood

A reimagining of Macbeth, it is widely considered to be one of the finest interpretations of Shakespeare’s works
1958

Hidden Fortress

George Lucas names Hidden Fortress as a primary influence for Star Wars.
1960

Kurosawa started his own production company
1960

The Bad Sleep Well
1961

Yojimbo
1963

High and Low

A diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society
1970

Dodes’ka-den

Kurosawa's gloriously shot first color film set in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo
1980

Kagemusha
1985

Ran
1985

Maadadayo

Final film to be completed by Akira Kurosawa

Integration of Weather

Full of mud, dirt, rain, fog and the effects of heat, which help to define the mood, heighten the action or reflect the emotional and psychological states of his protagonists.
Hard Won Life Lessons

Driven characters who frequently end up failing to achieve goals but ultimately learn hard won life lessons.
Precise Compositions

Precise composition within the frame, often using staging to create multiple planes of interest within a deep focus shot.

High and Low

High and Low (1963)

This film is about a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low, the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural. Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society.

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

A young executive hunts down his father’s killer in director Akira Kurosawa’s scathing The Bad Sleep Well. Continuing his legendary collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa combines elements of Hamlet and American film noir to chilling effect in exposing the corrupt boardrooms of postwar corporate Japan.

Bad Sleep Well

Ikiru

Ikiru (1952)

One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived twopart structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.

Filmography

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
The Most Beautiful (1944)
Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945)
The Men Who Step on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Drunken Angel (1948)
The Quiet Duel (1949)
Stray Dog (1949)
Scandal (1950)
Rashomon (1950)
The Idiot (1951)
Ikiru (1952)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Record of a Living Being (1955)
Throne of Blood (1957)
The Lower Depths (1957)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Yojimbo (1961)
Sanjuro (1962)
High and Low (1963)
Red Beard (1965)
Dodesukaden (1970)
Song of the Horse (1971)
Dersu Uzala (1975)
Kagemusha (1980)
Ran (1985)
Dreams (1990)
Rhapsody in August (1991)
Madadayo (1993)

Bio

1910

1930

1943

Sanshiro Sugata

1949

Stray Dog

1950

Rashomon

1952

Ikiru

1954

Seven Samurai

1957

Throne of Blood

1958

Hidden Fortress

1960

1960

The Bad Sleep Well

1961

Yojimbo

1963

High and Low

1970

Dodes’ka-den

1980

Kagemusha

1985

Ran

1985

Maadadayo

Integration of Weather

Hard Won Life Lessons

Precise Compositions

High and Low

High and Low (1963)

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

Bad Sleep Well

Ikiru

Ikiru (1952)

Filmography