Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty 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. He 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, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and High and Low (1963). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (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.
Known For | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 22.011 |
Birthday | 1910-03-23 |
Place of Birth | Shinagawa, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan |
Also Known As | أكيرا كوروساوا, อะกิระ คุโระซะวะ, 黑澤明, Kurosawa Akira, 아키라 구로사와, 쿠로사와 아키라, 아키라 쿠로사와, |
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ran'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on “Ran” (1985).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ran'
2000
Kurosawa
6.7/3
Documentary on film maker Akira Kurosawa
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Kurosawa
2000
A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies
7.1/7
A Documentary in 10 parts covering the film making of Kurosawa around the theme of making the perfect movie or as he says: A Beautiful Movie.
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A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies
2002
Chris on Chris
0/0
A short film on Chris Marker
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Chris on Chris
2020
Dersu Uzala. Russian Dreams of Kurosawa
0/0
In 1971, the frustrated Akira Kurosawa made an unsuccessful attempt to cut his veins. His life was restored by the opportunity offered by Mosfilm: to...
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Dersu Uzala. Russian Dreams of Kurosawa
2022
Life Work of Akira Kurosawa
8/1
Acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa has been misunderstood. Despite his public perception an a perfectionist who would clash with anyone in his way, th...
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Life Work of Akira Kurosawa
1985
Making of Ran
0/0
Behind the scenes of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, produced by Kurosawa Productions.
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Making of Ran
1985
A. K.
6.3/35
An intimate chronicle of the shooting of Ran (1985), a film directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
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A. K.
1990
Making of 'Dreams'
8/1
This 150-minute documentary, directed by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi on the set of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews wi...
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Making of 'Dreams'
1993
Akira Kurosawa: My Life in Cinema
6.5/2
Nagisa Oshima interviews Akira Kurosawa, leading him to share his thoughts about filmmaking, his life and works, and numerous anecdotes relating to hi...
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Akira Kurosawa: My Life in Cinema
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Throne of Blood'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Throne of Blood" (1957).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Throne of Blood'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Hidden Fortress'
8/1
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "The Hidden Fortress" (1958).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Hidden Fortress'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Kagemusha'
7/1
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Kagemusha" (1980).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Kagemusha'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Lower Depths'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "The Lower Depths" (1957).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Lower Depths'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Yojimbo'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Yojimbo" (1961).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Yojimbo'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'High and Low'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "High and Low" (1963).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'High and Low'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Seven Samurai'
10/1
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Seven Samurai" (1954).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Seven Samurai'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Sanjuro'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Sanjuro" (1962).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Sanjuro'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Dodes'ka-den'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Dodes'ka-den" (1970).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Dodes'ka-den'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Bad Sleep Well'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "The Bad Sleep Well" (1960).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Bad Sleep Well'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Stray Dog'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Stray Dog" (1949).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Stray Dog'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Drunken Angel'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Drunken Angel" (1948).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Drunken Angel'
2012
The World of Kazuo Miyagawa
0/0
Renowned cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa collaborated with a number of great Japanese filmmakers, including Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichika...
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The World of Kazuo Miyagawa
2014
And the Oscar Goes To...
6.971/52
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy...
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And the Oscar Goes To...
2013
What Is Cinema?
6.4/21
Using the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bresson to new interviews with Mike Leigh, Da...
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What Is Cinema?
1993
In Love With and Living Within Movies - Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki
10/1
An hour-long conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki which took place in Kurosawa's home near Mt. Fuji.
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In Love With and Living Within Movies - Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki
2020
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die
7/15
Besieged by cancer and nearing the end, the genius Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Héctor Babenco (1946-2016) asks Bárbara Paz, his wife, for one last w...
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Babenco: Tell Me When I Die
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ikiru'
0/0
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all of its Kurosawa films. This one focuses on "Ikiru" (1952).
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Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ikiru'
2002
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
0/0
An in depth look at the making of Kurosawa's films.
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