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Profile - Akira Kurosawa

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Akira Kurosawa was a very special director. He was an excellent writer, a virtuoso visual stylist, and a perfectionist when it came to directing. He was the first director from Japan to really break through to western audiences and the reason he did was because he was the most accessible Japanese director for western audiences to approach. His influences were John Ford, Jean-Pierre Melville, Ed McBain - in short western influences. So we have the perfect symbiosis of Japanese subject matter and western technique plus good writing and a humanistic approach to his subject matter all of which makes for a great cinematic experience. Add Toshiro Mifune in to the mix and you've got some wonderful movies on your hands. From the ground-breaking structure of Rashomon to the epic battle scenes of Ran there's something for everyone in the films of Akira Kurosawa.
   
Rashomon
This is the film that started it all. It rightly won the Venice film festival and the critics all went wild about this simple story of a rape alledgedly committed in the woods. The thing about the film that made it original was the fact that the crime is shown many times, each from the viewpoint of the different witnesses or participants as they each testify at a court to get to the bottom of it all. This is the first time I saw Toshiro Mifune and it's an interesting performance.
Ikiru
If someone asks me who my favourite Japanese actor is I automatically say Toshiro Mifune, but if I stop and think about it it's actually Takeshi Shimura; I think he has a wider range than Mifune when push comes to shove. His performance in Ikiru is just stunning. He plays a city clerk who is told he's going to die soon and he sets about authorising the plans for a children's playground as a final act of kindness. The sorrow and regret in Shimura's face is heartbreaking to watch. A lovely film.
Seven Samurai
This is the film that most critics and many movie buffs cite as being the best that Akira Kurosawa has to offer, but it's never been one of my favourites. Once again, Toshiro Mifune is cited as being the actor to watch in the film, but I would say that the best performance is again given by Takeshi Shimura. Everyone knows the story as it was remade in Hollywood as The Magnificent Seven. It's a good story and the battle scene in the rain is a cinematic marvel for the time. Quite an achievement.
Throne of Blood
A remake of Macbeth set in fuedal Japan and also known as Cobweb Castle, this features a great performance by Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune and is saturated by an eerie, moody, forebearing quality. There's much fog and darkness and closed-in sounds. The set design and costumes are top-notch and the whole film exudes a creepy quiet calm before the storm kind of feeling. Kurosawa uses music sparingly to add to the authenticity. The film is slow but effective, and the end is startling.
The Hidden Fortress
George Lucas is continually citing this film as a big influence on him when he was making Star Wars and you can see why: Two of the main characters - one tall and skinny, the other short and dumpy could easily be transposed into the Star Wars films as C3PO and R2D2. They're involved in rescuing a beautiful princess aswell, so you can see where Lucas is coming from. Mifune is excellent as always and there are some impressive set-pieces. Hidden Fortress is a good yarn.
Yojimbo
My favourite Kurosawa film. Toshiro Mifune is sublime as the irrascible wandering samurai who plays two corrupt families off each other and walks off at the end of the film a lot better off while leaving a trail of devastation between the two families. Sound familiar? Yes, it's been remade twice now - first as A Fistful of Dollars, which is very good, and then again as Last Man Standing which is very bad. It goes without saying that this - the original - is far and away the best of the three.
Sanjuro
A light-hearted sequel to Yojimbo, with the same samurai played by Toshiro Mifune and it's the same kind of story too. Mifune looks to be having a lot of fun in his reprised role as the wandering samurai but there's a lot more violence than in Yojimbo and a lot less subtlety. The story is more convoluted aswell, and a little hard to follow at times. But it's Toshiro Mifune playing Yojimbo that makes it all worth while and that, after all, is why we're watching the film, isn't it?
High and Low
High and Low features one of Toshiro Mifune's best performances. He plays a businessman whose son's friend is kidnapped by mistake instead of his son. The kidnappers want a lot of money from Mifune who is having difficulty in raising the cash, and is faced with the added dilemma of the fact that it isn't his son that has been kidnapped. It's an interesting idea and it's one of my favourite Kurosawa films that's set in the modern age. This was an adaptation of an Ed McBain novel called King's Ransom.
Kagemusha
Set at the end of the fuedal period in Japan, this is the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to act as the double of a powerful warlord when he is mortally wounded in a battle with a rival clan. For three years this 'Shadow Warrior' has to act as the now dead warlord to prevent clan disruption and enemy takeover. But it's a tall order for the thief and events take a turn for the worse resulting in battlefield mayhem Kurosawa style. A true return to form after a disappointing period in Kurosawa's life.
Ran
This would be a fitting film to cap off a wonderful carreer. It's an epic Shakespearean tragedy based on King Lear. An old warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons who just can't seem to get along and all hell breaks loose as the film nears it's climax (the title means 'chaos'). This is my favourite Kurosawa film when I'm in the mood for epic battle scenes. The cinematography in this film is absolutely stunning and the framing is spot on. Very highly recommended.

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