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Who played Masako in Kurosawa Akira?
(From left) Mifune Toshirō as Tajōmaru and Kyō Machiko as Kanazawa Masako in Kurosawa Akira's 1950 film version of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's Rashōmon.
What was Kurosawa's influence on the Japanese film industry?
Kurosawa’s pictures contributed a strong sense of style to the artistic Japanese film, which had been pursuing a naturalistic trend. The violent action of his more commercial works also exerted a powerful influence.
What was Kurosawa's father's role in World War II?
Kurosawa’s father, who had once been an army officer, was a teacher who contributed to the development of athletics instruction in Japan. After leaving secondary school, Kurosawa attended an art school and began painting in the Western style. Although he was awarded important art prizes, he gave up his ambition to become a painter and in 1936 became an assistant director in the PCL cinema studio. Until 1943 he worked there mainly as an assistant to Yamamoto Kajirō, one of Japan’s major directors of World War II films. During this period Kurosawa became known as an excellent scenarist. Some of his best scenarios were never filmed but only published in journals; yet they were noticed by specialists for their freshness of representation and were awarded prizes.
What is the meaning of "Ikiru"?
Ikiru (“To Live ”) is regarded by many critics as one of the finest works in the history of the cinema. It concerns a petty governmental official who learns he has only half a year until he will die from cancer. He searches for solace in the affection of his family but is betrayed, then seeks enjoyment but becomes disillusioned, and, in the end, is redeemed by using his position to work for the poor. In this film, which abounds in strong moral messages, Kurosawa depicts in an extremely realistic manner the collapse of the family system, as well as the hypocritical aspects of officials in postwar Japanese society. The picture was an outstanding document of the life and the spiritual situation of Japanese people, who were then beginning to recover from the desperation caused by defeat in the war.
What is the movie Ikimono no Kiroku about?
Ikimono no kiroku (1955; I Live in Fear, or Record of a Living Being) is a deeply honest film portraying a Japanese foundry owner’s terror of the atomic tests conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union. Its pessimistic conclusion, however, made it a commercial failure.
What is the most entertaining Kurosawa movie?
The epic Shichinin no samurai ( Seven Samurai) is considered the most entertaining of Kurosawa’s films and also his greatest commercial success. It depicts a village of peasants and a few leaderless samurai who fight for the village against a gang of marauding bandits.
What was Kurosawa's father's role in the development of athletics?
Early life. Kurosawa’s father, who had once been an army officer, was a teacher who contributed to the development of athletics instruction in Japan. After leaving secondary school, Kurosawa attended an art school and began painting in the Western style.
Who is Akira Kurosawa?
Akira Kurosawa, who personified Japanese movies to most of the world and who grew into one of the handful of truly important directors that the cinema has produced, died yesterday at his home in Tokyo. He was 88.
Where was Akira Kurosawa born?
Akira Kurosawa was born in Tokyo on March 23, 1910. His father was a former military officer who had become an athletic instructor at the Imperial Army's Toyama Academy. His mother had come from a well-to-do merchant family. ''My mother was a very gentle woman,'' Mr. Kurosawa said, ''But my father was quite severe.''.
Why did Kurosawa throw tantrums?
Mr. Kurosawa was said to have thrown tantrums on the set and demanded levels of perfection that caused a mutiny among the crew. His supporters said that he was angry when he discovered that the American sequences would be filmed by Richard Fleischer, not David Lean, as he had been told, and that he had staged the tantrums to force Fox to fire him.
What did Kurosawa say about Japanese glassware?
Mr. Kurosawa chafed when Japanese critics described his work as too Western. ''I collect old Japanese lacquerware as well as antique French and Dutch glassware,'' he said. ''In short, the Western and the Japanese live side by side in my mind naturally, without the least bit of conflict.''
How did Kurosawa describe his approach to acting?
Kurosawa described his approach this way: ''Unless you can see, as an actor, what the director is trying to express simply by how he looks and acts himself, you are going to miss the finer points. When my cast and I are on location, we always eat together, sleep in the same rooms, are constantly talking together. As you might say, here is where I direct.''
What was Kurosawa's blend of Japanese folklore and Western acting styles?
Kurosawa's calculated blend of Japanese folklore with Western acting styles and storytelling techniques provided a link between the two worlds, reintroducing Japanese culture to a postwar global audience and leading to an amazingly fertile decade that saw him produce several films that have widely been acclaimed as among the finest ever made, including ''Seven Samurai,'' ''Ikiru'' and ''Yojimbo.''
When did Akira go to school?
Akira enrolled in the Doshusha School of Western Painting in 1927 and tried to supplement the family's income with his work, but was never able to make much money. Finally, he postponed his hopes of becoming a serious artist and took piecework for magazines and cookbook publishers.
how did akira kurosawa die?
Director Akira Kurosawa was so impressed with The Magnificent Seven, the American adaptation of his own film, Seven Samurai, that he presented director John Sturges with a sword
what is akira kurosawa famous for?
Film director Akira Kurosawa hired expert archers to shoot real arrows at Toshiro Mifune while he dodged them in choreographed movements. Mifune’s visible terror is quite real.
Why is akira kurosawa famous?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
Who is Kurosawa's biographer?
Note: Data for the remainder of this filmography is derived primarily from the complete filmography created by Kurosawa's biographer, Stuart Galbraith IV, supplemented by IMDb 's Kurosawa page. For the following films that Kurosawa directed, he also received a production credit: Stray Dog (associate producer)
When did Kurosawa start acting?
During the mid-to-late 1940s, for the first and apparently the only time in his career, Akira Kurosawa involved himself in a number of theater-related projects.
What is the name of the book that Kurosawa wrote?
In 1999, his book, Yume wa tensai de aru ( A Dream Is a Genius) was published posthumously. It has not been translated into English, except for Chapter 3. This chapter consists of a selection of 100 of the director's favorite films, listed in chronological order, with detailed commentaries on each film, all given at the request of Kurosawa's daughter, Kazuko. (Since he deliberately limits himself to one film per director, however, the list emerges as more of a "favorite directors" list than a "greatest films" list.) This chapter, but not the remainder of the book, can be found in English on the Internet. ( ISBN 4163555706)
What is the book Gama no Abura about?
The book deals with the period from the director's birth to his winning the Golden Lion for Rashomon from the Venice Film Festival in 1951; the period from 1951 through 1980 is not covered. The title of the book is a reference to a legend according to which, if one places a deformed toad in a box full of mirrors, it will become so afraid of its own reflection that it will begin to sweat, and this sweat allegedly had medicinal properties. Kurosawa compared himself to the toad, nervous about having to contemplate, through the process of writing his life story, his own multiple "reflections." It was published as a book in Japan in 1981, and in English translation the following year under the title Something Like an Autobiography. The book's appearance coincided with the revival of interest in Kurosawa's work following the international release of Kagemusha. ( ISBN 0394509382)
Which film did Kurosawa not direct?
In addition, Kurosawa received a production credit on one film that he himself did not direct: Haru no tawamure (1949) ( Spring Flirtation ), written and directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, on which he served as an associate producer.
When did Kurosawa write his scripts?
In addition, Kurosawa wrote the following unproduced scripts, composed during the pre-war period in the 1930s and also the wartime period in the 1940s, either when he was still an assistant director or had just graduated to full director. Some of these won prizes in screenwriting contests, establishing his reputation as a promising talent even though they were never filmed.
Who translated Kurosawa's autobiography?
Kurosawa, Akira (1982). Something Like an Autobiography. Translated by Audie E. Bock. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-50938-2.
What was Kurosawa's third encounter with Shakespeare?
Ran was Kurosawa's third encounter with Shakespeare during his career. In 1957, Kurosawa directed Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城, Kumonosu-jō, "Spider Web Castle") based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. In 1960 he directed the film The Bad Sleep Well (悪い奴ほどよく眠る, Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) that is based on Hamlet. Despite the changes in setting and language, all three films have received critical acclaim.
Who was the stand in for Kurosawa in Kagemusha?
Kurosawa once said "Hidetora is me", and there is evidence in the film that Hidetora serves as a stand-in for Kurosawa.
Who played Hidetora in the first movie?
The description of Hidetora in the first script was originally based on Toshiro Mifune. However, the role was cast to Tatsuya Nakadai, an actor who had played several supporting and major characters in previous Kurosawa films, such as Shingen and his double in Kagemusha. Other Kurosawa veterans in Ran were Masayuki Yui (Tango), Jinpachi Nezu (Jiro) and Daisuke Ryu (Saburo), all of whom were in Kagemusha. Other veteran Kurosawa actors did not appear in Ran, but would go on to work with Kurosawa again, such as Akira Terao (Taro) and Mieko Harada (Lady Kaede) in Dreams, and Hisashi Igawa (Kurogane) in both Dreams and Rhapsody in August. Kurosawa also hired two entertainers for lighter roles: transvestite singer-dancer Shinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata as Hidetora's fool Kyoami and comedian-musician Hitoshi Ueki as rival warlord Nobuhiro Fujimaki. About 1,400 extras were employed.
When was Dersu Uzala filmed?
Following these preparations, Kurosawa filmed Dersu Uzala in 1975 followed by Kagemusha in the early 1980s before securing financial backing to film Ran .
Was Kurosawa a stand in for Hidetora?
Kurosawa once said "Hidetora is me", and there is evidence in the film that Hidetora serves as a stand-in for Kurosawa. Roger Ebert agrees, arguing that Ran "may be as much about Kurosawa's life as Shakespeare's play". Ran was the final film of Kurosawa's "third period" (1965–1985), a time where he had difficulty securing support for his pictures, and was frequently forced to seek foreign financial backing. While he had directed over twenty films in the first two decades of his career, he directed just four in these two decades. After directing Red Beard (1965), Kurosawa discovered that he was considered old-fashioned and did not work again for almost five years. He also found himself competing against television, which had reduced Japanese film audiences from a high of 1.1 billion in 1958 to under 200 million by 1975. In 1968 he was fired from the 20th Century Fox epic Tora! Tora! Tora! over what he described as creative differences, but others said was a perfectionism that bordered on insanity. Kurosawa tried to start an independent production group with three other directors, but his 1970 film Dodes'ka-den was a box-office flop and bankrupted the company. Many of his younger rivals boasted that he was finished. A year later, unable to secure any domestic funding and plagued by ill health, Kurosawa attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. Though he survived, his misfortune continued to plague him until the late 1980s.
Who is Kurosawa's admirer?
Kurosawa was an admirer of Noh, which he preferred over Kabuki. In particular, he wished to incorporate Noh-style body movements and set design. Noh also makes use of masks, and the evil spirit is seen, in different parts of the film, wearing faces reminiscent of these masks, starting with yaseonna (old lady).
What was Washizu's death scene?
Washizu's death scene, in which his own archers turn upon him and shoot him with arrows, was in fact performed with real arrows, shot by knowledgeable and skilled archers. During filming, Mifune waved his arms, which was how the actor indicated his intended bodily direction.
Why is Washizu agitated?
During the banquet, Washizu is agitated because Miki and his son have not shown up. Washizu drinks sake copiously. He loses his self-control when Miki's ghost suddenly appears. In a delusional panic, he reveals what has happened to Miki by exclaiming that he is willing to slay Miki a second time, going so far as unsheathing his sword and striking the air over Miki's mat. Asaji, attempting to pick up the pieces of Washizu's blunder, tells the guests that he is only drunk and that they must retire for the evening. One of Washizu's men arrives carrying a bundle (presumably the severed head of Miki) and tells Washizu and Asaji that Miki's son escaped. Washizu kills the assassin.
What is Washizu awakened by?
The next morning, Washizu is awakened by the screams of Asaji's attendants. Striding into his wife's quarters, he finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean an imaginary stain and stench of blood from her hands. Distracted by the sound of his troops, Washizu leaves to investigate.
What did Kurosawa believe about Macbeth?
Kurosawa believed that Scotland and Japan in the Middle Ages shared social problems and that these had lessons for the present day. Moreover, Macbeth could serve as a cautionary tale complementing his 1952 film Ikiru. The film combines Shakespeare's play with the Noh style of drama.
What does the evil spirit tell Washizu?
The spirit tells him that he will not be defeated in battle until "the trees of the Spider's Web Forest rise against the castle". Washizu believes this is impossible and becomes confident of his victory. Washizu tells his troops of the evil spirit's prophecy , and they share his confidence of victory. The next morning, Washizu is awakened by the screams of Asaji's attendants. Striding into his wife's quarters, he finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean an imaginary stain and stench of blood from her hands. Distracted by the sound of his troops, Washizu leaves to investigate. Washizu is told by a panicked soldier that the trees of Spider's Web Forest "have risen to attack us".
Who are Miki and Washizu?
Plot. Generals Miki and Washizu are samurai commanders and friends under Lord Tsuzuki, a local lord, who reigns in the castle of the Spider's Web Forest. After defeating the lord's enemies in battle, they return to Tsuzuki's castle.
