All-time great directors: Akira Kurosawa

Toshiro Mifune plays a wandering samurai who chances upon a small town in which two rival gangs are squabbling for control and decides to manipulate them into killing each other off. Possibly the greatest director in cinema collaborating once more with one of the greatest actors on a script filled with nuance and timeless photography. Mifune's performance is filled with subtlety and charisma as his initial disdain of these big fish in a small pond turns to brutal retribution after his suffering a vicious beating at their hands when he makes the mistake of becoming personally involved. Kurosawa's sense of period and atmosphere is second to none, and his trademark use of composition is breathtaking. Often copied, never bettered.

A rural village in feudal Japan decides to fight back against the bandits who have been raiding them by hiring samurai from a nearby town. One of the many remarkable things about Akira Kurosawa's astonishing historical epic is the fact that at nearly 3 and a half hours it never drags for a single second of it's length. Not one bit. That fact alone is testament to Kurosawa's incredible skill as both writer and director. The balance of artful visuals and narrative is perfect, and every character is fascinating and perfectly played, especially Toshiro Mifune's gleeful and almost feral glory hound and Takashi Shimura's good hearted but wily Ronin. And if, like me, you still wanted more after it's not inconsiderable running time, it's Hollywood remake, The Magnificent Seven is a damn fine film in it's own right. One of the pinnacles of world cinema.

A pair of bickering escaped slaves stumble upon the mountain hideout of a defeated general and his princess who are being hunted by the occupying army. They decide to join forces (with the added incentive of a horde of royal gold) to reach friendly territory. Widely acknowledged as the inspiration for Star Wars, it has also influenced a huge number of other stories including TV show Monkey, Hero and everything in between. The imagery is as gorgeous as you'd expect from Kurosawa, the characters brilliantly written and the performances all perfect, from Toshiro Mifune's commanding general, to the striking Misa Uehara as the noble but fiery princess. The two greedy and bad tempered slaves provide the comic relief, and it has everything you could possibly want from an adventure; laughs, action, excitement and heroism. Yet another masterpiece from a true genius.

Akira Kurasawa can even do Shakespeare better than we can! Incredible.

Three travelers shelter from the rain at abandoned Rashomon gate and tell the tale of a murder trial they have just witnessed. Akira Kurosawa's stunningly clever script is years ahead of it's time, tackling subjects as diverse and profound as the nature of truth, self image, gender politics, psychology and the "butterfly effect" (four decades before chaos theory became accepted). As the same story is told from four different perspectives, it becomes obvious how a story can never be entirely objective; even the "impartial" witness has a hidden agenda when recounting what actually happened. As such it can be seen as a direct influence on the likes of Jackie Brown, Memento and The Usual Suspects and everything in between. The performances are all great as each retelling of the story gives each character a slightly different personality, especially Toshiro Mifune's melodramatic and heroic "battle" that bears little resemblance to real events. Kurosawa's fantastic sense of composition is also in evidence as each shot resembles a beautifully framed photograph, although at some points (particularly at the beginning) the visuals can seem a little self-consciously "arty" which gets in the way of the narrative a little. I also found the storyteller's opportunity for redemption at the end a little convenient, but these are comparatively minor points. Another classic from arguably the greatest film maker who ever lived.

Akira Kurosawa's eye for wonderful visuals comes to the fore once again in this stunning adaptation of Macbeth, which lends itself toa relocation to feudal Japan perfectly. I particularly liked the way he merged some wonderfully atmospheric camera techniques with it's still highly theatrical feel. Toshiro Mifune gives an incredibly intense performance as the general destroyed by his ambition, the subdued scenes between he and his manipulative wife are particularly memorable. And what an ending. Unfortunately I can't comment on the dialogue, as this was yet another example of a DVD company's insistence on hiring a translator who can't actually speak English. "The hand of the spider bush is moving to the city" indeed...

An ambitious and arrogant young intern finds himself in a rural clinic for the poor against his wishes, but soon finds there is more to life than wealth and status under the tutelage of a severe but kind-hearted doctor. Red Beard is almost Dickensian. in it's melding of period drama and social commentary, all told with a decidedly left wing slant. The Siu clinic is a fledgling "welfare state", where treatment is free to the needy, and Kurosawa takes great pains to illustrate that a man's worth is not the sum of his material possessions. The film is structured into a series of short stories centering around different patients, each with a tragic event in their past. The finest example is the final story of Ting, a young girl suffering abuse at the hands of a brothel's madam who slowly learns that there are good people in the world, after being rescued in a great scene in which Red Beard ably hands out the injuries he later heals! It's VERY long and rather short on action compared to his samurai films, but it's also a genuinely touching, heartwarming and good natured tale that is Kurosawa at his most human.

Ikiru is Akira Kurosawa in full social commentary mode. It is the story of a civil servant who hasn't missed a day of work in 30 years, and when faced with the news that he is going to die, he realises that it was 30 years wasted. The engaging first half of the film is spent in the company of Takashi Shimura as he deals with the prospect of death, and tries to figure out exactly what it is that will make his last 6 months on Earth worthwhile. It's a touching portrait of a man so entrenched in the mundane he has no idea what's important anymore; a kind of anti-Lester Burnham. When he finally realises what he must do, we are introduced to his funeral, where the various factions within his life bicker and relive his last weeks, trying to dissect it to discover what had brought about such a profound change. This rather dry and less emotionally involving section is Kurosawa's attack on the petty bureaucracy of Japanese government, too involved with it's own selfish ends and politics to care about ordinary people. Ikiru is a film that examines what it SHOULD be that drives us to live our lives, and compares it to what actually does. Although quite Capra-esque in it's representation of a man suddenly fighting for what is right, the rose tinted glasses definitely come off for the climax when Watanabe's example is quickly forgotten in the busy hum-drum of everyday life. That is not to say the film is downbeat though; after all, it's down to each of us to decide which example we decide to follow...

This is the first of Kurosawa's contemporary stories I have seen, and once again the visual style and composition is remarkable, melding his unique style with the shadowy world of Film Noir. The plot is a variation on the themes of Hamlet set in the corrupt underbelly of corporate Japan. Toshiro Mifune proves there is more to his repertoire than the lone warrior, and is just as much of a bad ass without a katana in his hand. Unfortunately I was struggling with some more dubious subtitling and so probably missed some of the nuances of the script, and the unrelentingly grey morality combined with a (deliberately) unsatisfying ending left me feeling a little disorientated. But there are some wonderful moments, particularly in the middle of the film when Mifune's motives become apparent and his plans come into effect. A beautifully made and unusual morality tale that could be described as "corporate noir"!

A very young looking Toshiro Mifune plays a fresh young police officer who becomes increasingly obsessive when tracking down his stolen gun when it is used in a series of violent crimes. Kurosawa's low key detective thriller borrows heavily from contemporary noir, and uses that influence to contrast the hardship and poverty of post war Japan with the urban glamour and decadence of it's American counterpart. It's an interesting snapshot of the Japan of the period, often shot in a documentary style although I did feel a lot of the somewhat unnecessary background detail did interfere with the narrative pacing, slowing things down considerably. His usual strong moral message is also in evidence, as he shows the criminal and detective as both sides of the same coin, a theme that has recurred again and again in Asian crime drama ever since. Yet another hugely influential and brilliantly made film that despite it's ponderous pace never fails to fascinate.

Although I am a big Kurasawa fan, I found this one a little slow-moving and confused. But there is still much to enjoy in the lavish battle sequences and artful direction.

Drunken Angel was the first film Kurosawa was allowed to make without studio interference, and features an alcoholic doctor who forms an unlikely bond with a gangster who he diagnoses with tuberculosis. This film is all about the characters; Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune were regular collaborators with Kurosawa and for good reason. Their performances were a little more melodramatic than in their later works, but they still have great chemistry and charisma as the two similarly stubborn men butt heads almost to comic effect in places. I found the visual metaphor a little heavy handed and it lacks some of the emotional involvement of Kurosawa's best, so it doesn't seem as sophisticated as his finest films. It still has style in spades, and it's great for every moment Shimura and Mifune are on the screen together.

Sugata Sanshiro is the story of a man who, through lessons taught to him by a wise martial arts master, learns important lessons in life. I found this film something of an oddity where it comes to Kurosawa; it was his first film, and I couldn't help but think he had limited creative control over the project. The characters are not particularly well fleshed out, Chee's miraculous catharsis from rabble rousing brawler to enlightened martial artist meant little as you never really got to know him in the first place. His later relationships are cursory at best, only the warmth and mutual respect between he and defeated opponent Takashi Shimura really held any resonance. The villain of the piece is also virtually a cartoon character (Dick Dastardly to be precise!) who may as well have twirled his moustache and gone "Muah-hah-hah-haaaaah!!" every time he appeared, and it all ends very abruptly. The visuals however are pure Kurosawa with some beautifully framed shots of great locations and lovely costumes. The fight scenes are also very well done, preferring to stick to a very realist approach rather than the usual over the top chop socky action of the like of Jackie Chan plus the tournament based format is hugely influential, the obvious starting point for everything from The Karate Kid to Fearless. Hardly the best example of his work, but worth it for the visuals alone.

A fugitive lord and his bodyguards pose as a troupe of monks in an attempt to traverse a hostile border outpost. This is really a short rather than a full-blown film as it does not really have a conventional plot and weighs in at just under an hour. It's more an exercise in style and mood and you can see Kurosawa developing his trademark themes and techniques. It stars long term collaborator Takashi Shimura, has a similar concept to Hidden Fortress and features seven warriors, all of which will be familiar to those who know his work. There are many musical interludes and an obviously studio bound set that gives it a very traditional and theatrical feel and once again there is some lovely shot composition, but really it's only one for Kurosawa completists because of it's lack of a fully developed plot line. Interesting stuff though.

Another of Kurosawa's early films, it features his usual morality message this time aimed at the media. A free-spirited artist and a famous singer are photographed together by the paparazzi who fabricate a scandalous affair to sell their paper. It's basically an attack on the gutter press and it's insistence on invading the privacy of the famous to pander to the public's base fascination with celebrity gossip. Being an early example of his work, he hasn't quite honed his skills and a little too often the story veers into sentimentality and melodrama, particularly towards the end. It does have a nice light touch early on in the film though, tempering the more saccharine soaked moments with gentle humour and Toshiro Mifune and Yoshiko Yamaguchi make a couple to rival the glamour of their Hollywood counterparts. Not a major work, but still eminently watchable with a theme that's clearly as relevant today as it was then.

Akira Kurosawa's spin on Dostoyevsky sees a man traumatised by his war time experiences resulting in a new appreciation for life. His openness and honesty acts as a reflection of the hypocrisy and selfishness of those around him, some deriding him as an idiot and others hating him for exposing the faults in themselves. These qualities inspire romantic feelings in two women however and the resulting love triangles lead to tragedy. Kurosawa's eye for beautiful cinematography is in evidence as always, particularly during the scenes by candlelight during Toshiro Mifune's descent into madness. There is also some great social commentary; the female characters for me were the most interesting and characterful, playing off Kameda's naivety really well. Unfortunately the idea of Masayaki Mori's stiff, awkward and wide-eyed idealist inspiring such devotion in two beautiful and worldly women didn't really ring true for me, and as a whole it too often reminded me of period romantic melodrama, not exactly my favourite of genres. This combined with it's near 3 hour length left me struggling to stay awake. Some great moments, but I felt the story didn't flow very well so it left me a little cold.