Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998)
Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) is a person.
- Context:
- He can be credited with pioneering the Rashomon Effect, where multiple perspectives on a single event reveal the subjectivity of human experience.
- He can be considered a central figure in Japanese Cinema, especially during the post-war era, helping bring Japanese film to a global audience.
- He can be known for his collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, with whom he made 16 films, establishing iconic characters and narratives in films like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo.
- He can frequently adapt or draw inspiration from Western literary sources, such as Shakespeare’s plays, seen in Throne of Blood (Macbeth) and Ran (King Lear).
- He can use Dynamic Cinematography and technical innovation, including techniques like the “wipe transition” and bold camera movement that later became hallmarks of action and epic films.
- He can be recognized for exploring themes of Honor, Duty, and Human Morality, especially in historical settings, often in the Jidaigeki genre.
- He can have an influence on many Western filmmakers, including George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola, who have cited Kurosawa as a major influence on their own work.
- He can be known for ... Films, such as:
- Rashomon (1950), a film that brought international acclaim to Kurosawa and introduced Western audiences to Japanese cinema.
- Seven Samurai (1954), a classic epic about a group of samurai defending a village, later adapted into Westerns and other genres.
- Ikiru (1952), a contemplative film exploring the meaning of life through the story of a terminally ill bureaucrat.
- Yojimbo (1961), a film that inspired the “man with no name” archetype in Westerns, notably influencing Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars.
- ...
- Example(s):
- Akira Kurosawa (1910), when he was born in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
- Akira Kurosawa (1943), when he directed his first film, Sanshiro Sugata, marking the beginning of his prolific career.
- .... Seven Samurai (1954), when he directed this iconic film, which has since become one of the most influential films in cinema history.
- .... The Hidden Fortress (1958), a film that inspired George Lucas’s Star Wars and demonstrated Kurosawa’s influence on global cinema.
- Akira Kurosawa (1998), when he died, leaving a lasting legacy in Japanese and world cinema.
- ...
- Counter-Example(s):
- Ingmar Bergman, a Swedish filmmaker known for existential themes and character-focused storytelling, contrasting with Kurosawa’s emphasis on action and societal duty.
- Alfred Hitchcock, an English director whose work often centered around suspense and psychological thrillers, rather than the historical and moral themes prominent in Kurosawa’s films.
- Jean-Luc Godard, a French New Wave filmmaker who embraced avant-garde techniques and social critique, differing from Kurosawa’s narrative-driven epics.
- Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator and filmmaker known for fantastical and family-friendly animated films, in contrast to Kurosawa’s live-action dramas.
- See: Japanese Filmmaker, Filmmaker, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, Setagaya, An'yō-in, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Drunken Angel, Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo.
References
2024
- (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa Retrieved:2024-11-12.
- Akira Kurosawa[note 1] (黒澤 明 or 黒沢 明, Kurosawa Akira, March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production.
Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films.
Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, including (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), High and Low (1963) and Red Beard (1965). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, (1980) and (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim.
In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Posthumously, he was named "Asian of the Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there as being among the five people who most prominently contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th century. His career has been honored by many retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both print and video, and by releases in many consumer media.
- Akira Kurosawa[note 1] (黒澤 明 or 黒沢 明, Kurosawa Akira, March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production.