Michelle PirkleFilm Theory & CriticismFall 2011

Akira Kurosawa as Auteur

Kurosawas Influence on European and American Filmmakers

Ingmar Bergman called his own film The Virgin Spring "touristic, a lousy imitation of
Kurosawa," and added, "At that time my admiration for the Japanese cinema was at its height. I
was almost a samurai myself!" Federico Fellini in an interview declared the director "the greatest
living example of all that an author of the cinema should be"despite admitting to having seen
only one of his films, Seven Samurai. Roman Polanski in 1965 cited Kurosawa as one of his
three favorite filmmakers (with Fellini and Orson Welles), singling out Seven Samurai, Throne of
Blood and The Hidden Fortress for praise. Bernardo Bertolucci considered the Japanese master's
influence to be seminal: "Kurosawa's movies and La Dolce Vita of Fellini are the things that
pushed me, sucked me into being a film director."

Kurosawa's "New Hollywood" admirers have included Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola,
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and John Milius. Robert Altman, when he
first saw Rashomon (during the period when he worked regularly in television rather than feature
films), was so impressed by its cinematographer's achievement of shooting several shots with the
camera aimed directly at the sunallegedly it was the first film in which this was done
successfullythat he claims he was inspired the very next day to begin incorporating shots of
the sun into his television work. It was Coppola who said of Kurosawa, "One thing that
distinguishes [him] is that he didn't make one masterpiece or two masterpieces. He made, you
know, eight masterpieces." Both Spielberg and Scorsese have praised the older man's role as
teacher and role modelas a sensei, to use the Japanese term. Spielberg has declared, "I have
learned more from him than from almost any other filmmaker on the face of the earth", while
Scorsese remarked, "Let me say it simply: Akira Kurosawa was my master, and... the master of
so many other filmmakers over the years." As already noted above, several of these moviemakers
were also instrumental in helping Kurosawa obtain financing for his late films: Lucas and
Coppola served as co-producers on Kagemusha, while the Spielberg name, lent to the 1990
production, Dreams, helped bring that picture to fruition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa
 Michelle PirkleFilm Theory & CriticismFall 2011

Kurosawas Films (as Director)

1993 Madadayo 1952 Ikiru
1991 Rhapsody in August 1951 The Idiot
1990 Dreams 1950 Rashomon
1985 Ran 1950 Scandal
1980 Kagemusha 1949 Stray Dog
1975 Dersu Uzala 1949 The Quiet Duel
1970 Dodes'ka-den 1948 Drunken Angel
1965 Red Beard 1947 One Wonderful Sunday
1963 High and Low 1946 No Regrets for Our Youth
1962 Sanjuro 1946 Those Who Make Tomorrow
1961 Yojimbo 1945 Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
1960 The Bad Sleep Well 1945 The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
1958 The Hidden Fortress 1944 The Most Beautiful
1957 The Lower Depths 1943 Sanshiro Sugata
1957 Throne of Blood 1941 Uma (some scenes - uncredited)
1955 I Live in Fear
1954 Seven Samurai

1) What are some of the themes (inner meanings) and motifs that you deciphered from your assigned
film? Which of those themes and motifs can you connect to those which Ali and Sean shared from
Rashomon and Seven Samurai (universal)? Which ones seem unique (singular)?

2) Describe the image of Kurosawa (as director and artist) which is constructed in Dreams. How do you
think this image might be marketable in the United States? Overseas? Please explain.

3) What are some of the cultural images and themes which you found difficult to translate? How did
you deal with these difficulties? What have you learned from this translation process?