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Who is Akira Kurosawa?

Garry Crystal
Garry Crystal

Akira Kurosawa was one of the world’s most influential film directors. Many great film directors, from Martin Scorsese to George Lucas, have named Akira Kurosawa as an influence. He not only directed his films in a passionate and meticulous manner, but he also edited, wrote or co-wrote most of his films.

Akira Kurosawa was born in Tokyo on 23 March 1910. The youngest of eight children, his education in art and films came early. As a talented painter, Kurosawa gained entrance to an art school, as well as to a small art group. One of the biggest influences in the young Kurosawa's life was his elder brother Heigo, a film narrator for foreign films. Heigo's suicide had a profound effect on Kurosawa.

Akira Kurosawa won a Best Foreign Film Oscar and an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.
Akira Kurosawa won a Best Foreign Film Oscar and an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.

At the age of 20, Akira Kurosawa became a film director’s assistant, and he was directing and writing sequences for films within five years. At the age of 33, he directed his first film, Judo Saga (Sanshiro Sugata), a martial arts film with some brilliantly creative set pieces. From his first film, people were beginning to talk about Akira Kurosawa as a brilliant young film director.

Filmmaker Akira Kurasawa was born in Tokyo in 1910.
Filmmaker Akira Kurasawa was born in Tokyo in 1910.

Kurosawa’s first work to capture the attention of the Western world was Rashomon. The film won top prizes at the 1951 Venice Film Festival, as well as a prize for best foreign film. The West welcomed Kurosawa with open arms. His films had a stylistic approach with passionate characters and a depth of emotion.

One of Kurosawa's most famous films, Seven Samurai, was remade as The Magnificent Seven, starring Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner. The lone lead character of Kurosawa's film Yojimbo was the inspiration behind Clint Eastwood's man with no name character in the Italian western films. George Lucas based the film Star Wars on the plotline of Kurosawa's film Hidden Fortress.

From 1965 onwards, Akira Kurosawa entered a period that saw much of his work unfinished or aborted. In 1970, the lack of success of his film Dodeska-den led to an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Had the attempt been successful, Kurosawa would not have gone on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1975 for Dersu Uzala. Not only did this film help Kurosawa recover in the four years it took to make, but it also won him a gold medal at the Moscow film festival.

Akira Kurosawa was to win many more awards for his films. At the age of 79, he won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. In 1982, he published his memoirs, called Something Like an Autobiography. Akira Kurosawa died at the age of 88 in 1998.

Discussion Comments

rjh

As much as I'm a fan of Kurosawa's conteptual films, I think his samurai movies are equally as good like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Seven Samurai is probably a good starting point if you're looking to start watching his movies and you have the three hours of running time to spare. You won't regret it. It basically influenced every action movie that came after it.

lapsed

@hidingplace - You'll find homages to Kurosawa in many well known films like Army Of Darkness, The Fountain and A Fistful Of Dollars, just to name a few off the top of my head. I haven't seen any of the remakes, though. Can anyone comment on whether they compare to the originals?

hidingplace

Ran by Akira Kurosawa is probably my favorite of Kurosawa's epic conceptual films, along with Ikiru. Don't be put off by the long running times of his films, they're very much worth the effort. I think he might be one of the greatest directors of all time but I didn't realize how far his influence spread; I was surprised to read that George Lucas based Star Wars on one of his movies.

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    • Akira Kurosawa won a Best Foreign Film Oscar and an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.
      By: FrameAngel
      Akira Kurosawa won a Best Foreign Film Oscar and an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.
    • Filmmaker Akira Kurasawa was born in Tokyo in 1910.
      By: bogdanserban
      Filmmaker Akira Kurasawa was born in Tokyo in 1910.