YOJIMBO (1961) Kurosawa had wanted to do a film like Yojimbo for a long time. A story not of good vs. evil, but of evil vs. evil with a hero stepping in and wiping out both sides. He finally settled on a story clearly inspired by Dashiell Hammet’s Red Harvest and The Glass Key. Since […]
Kurosawa, In Order #20 – Yojimbo Read More »
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958) Kurosawa had signed a three picture deal with Toho Studios and Throne of Blood and The Lower Depths were box office disappointments, so for his third movie Kurosawa turned to more commercial grounds, a big, sweeping samurai film. But The Hidden Fortress bears little similarity to Seven Samurai, and even less
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SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) After the international successes of Rashomon and Ikiru, Kurosawa had an enormous amount of clout and turned to a historical epic for his next work. In a line that was characterized as arrogant, Kurosawa said “jidai-geki (the samurai genre) faces a dead-end, there are no talented jidai-geki producers”. Well, it’s not arrogance
Kurosawa, In Order #14 – Seven Samurai Read More »
IKIRU (1952) The Idiot didn’t do well, but after the international success of Rashomon it didn’t matter. Kurosawa had an unprecedented amount of clout for a Japanese director. However, he wasn’t quite satisfied that he had made his name with a period piece and explicitly said in his acceptance of the Venice Film Festival Prize
Kurosawa, In Order #13 – Ikiru Read More »
RASHOMON (1950) Writing about Rashomon at this late stage is a challenge to a reviewer. What possibly can be added to the conversation? The orthodox view is that it’s one of the greatest movies ever made. One can even proclaim it as the greatest movie ever without it being considered a particularly controversial opinion. So
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SCANDAL (1950) By 1950, the post-war occupation of Japan was running its course, and restrictions and censorship by the occupying authorities slackened. That was a good thing for the people of Japan as they moved towards a modern democracy. However, the rise of yellow journalism and the scandal sheet were not necessarily good things. Kurosawa
Kurosawa, In Order #10 – Scandal Read More »