
Rashomon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), and Ran (1985), set in feudal Japan of director Akira Kurosawa, greatly influenced American and European filmmaking. This producer, screenwriter, and editor, regarded of the most important and influential in the history of cinema, directed thirty in a career, spanning 57 years. Following a brief stint as a painter, Kurosawa entered the industry in 1936. After years of working as an assistant and scriptwriter, he made his debut in 1943 during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata, also known as Judo Saga. After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast then-unknown actor Toshirō Mifune in a starring role, cemented the reputation of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men went to collaborate on another 15 films. Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo in August 1950, and which also starred Mifune, on 10 September 1951 surprisingly won the golden lion at the Venice film festival and was subsequently released in Europe and North America. The commercial and critical success opened up western markets for the first time to the products of the industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other artists. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa included a number of highly regarded films, such as Ikiru (1952) and Yojimbo (1961). After the mid-1960s, his much less prolific later work, including his penultimate epic, Kagemusha (1980), continued to win awards, including the Palme d'Or, more often abroad. In 1990, he accepted the academy award for lifetime achievement. Posthumously, AsianWeek magazine and Cable News Network named him "Asian of the century" in the "arts, literature, and culture" category and cited him as "one of the [five] people who contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years."
The distinguished filmmaker chronicles his life from his birth in 1910 to the worldwide success in 1950 of his film Rashomon and provides a provocative account of the Japanese film industry.
Rashomon is one of the greatest of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's films, the winner of the 1951 Venice Festival prize and the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1952. It features Toshiru Mifune, the best-known Japanese actor in the West, as the bandit, an accused rapist and murderer. At the beginning of the film, a woodcutter, priest, and commoner happen to meet at the ruined gate--Rashomon--outside the city of Kyoto. This tale of rape and murder is first seen through the eyes of the woodcutter and the priest, both of whom have been touched by the events. The cynical, detached commoner, "everyman," listens to and comments upon their stories. The central section of the film, a series of flashbacks and tales within tales, consists of the same events retold by the husband (speaking through a medium, from the grave), the wife, the bandit, and the woodcutter. Each tells what happened--or possibly, what should have happened. The film deals with multiple truths; Richie summarizes the director's point of view in the "the world is illusion, you yourself make reality, but this reality undoes you if you submit to being limited by what you have made."The sixth title in the Rutgers Film in Print Series and the first Japanese film, this volume brings together for the first time the full continuity script of Rashomon ; an introductory essay by Donald Richie; the Akutagawa stories upon which the film is based; critical reviews and commentaries on the film; a filmography; and a bibliography.
These three screenplays are based on Kurosawa's shooting scripts. "Ikiru "(1952) tells the painful and intimate story of a Japanese civil servant coming to terms with old age and death. In "Seven Samurai "(1954) the inhabitants of a small Janpanese village employ a roaming band of samurai to defend them. In "Throne of Blood" (1957), based on "Macbeth," a samurai is encouraged by his wife to kill his lord.This edition also includes a critical introduction to each screenplay.
This book has soft covers.Ex-library,With usual stamps and markings,In fair condition, suitable as a study copy.
by Akira Kurosawa
Rating: 4.3 ⭐
Book by Kurosawa, Akira
"Would you be willing to do what is right, regardless of the consequences? To see good triumph over evil and use your strength and heroism to protect the lives of others? Maybe you have what it takes to be a Samurai." "Enjoyed the film? Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with the ultimate film guides and get the bigger picture." "Discover how Akira Kurosawa's movie career began with a competition win and developed into one of the most highly respected Japanese directors." "Understand how the sheer range of cinematography helped endorse the status of the film into an all time classic." "Consider the importance of the film at the time of its release and the changes it instigated within film making. Understand the influence the film and director had on other movie makers and what relationship Seven Samurai has with the classic western, The Magnificant Seven." What is the final image of the film and what is its symbolic significance? How did Toshiro Mifune and Kurosawa meet and what influence did they have on each others work? Satisfy your curiosity with the ultimate film guides. Read biographies of key players, critics reviews and finally see the film the director wanted you to see.
Son tres entrevistas. En la primera, de los años 60, Kurosawa repasa una a una todas sus películas hasta ese momento con el mayor experto occidental de cine japonés. La segunda es un concienzudo cuestionario sobre cómo se puede hacer cine en Japón, sus comienzos en la profesión, su vida y sus pensamientos, de la mano de Nagisa Oshima, el director de ‘El imperio de los sentidos’. Cierra el volumen la entrevista que Gabriel García Márquez le hizo a Kurosawa en 1991, encuentro de dos maestros, en la que García Márquez se desvela como un rendido admirador del cineasta japonés.
Un regista-culto per milioni di amanti del cinema d'autore si racconta in un libro sulla sua vita, le sue opere, i suoi ricordi. Da "Rashomon" a "Kagemusha", da "I sette Samurai" a "Sogni": i suoi film hanno fatto la storia del cinema e sono stati fonte di ispirazione più o meno scoperta per tanti autori in tutto il mondo, da Sergio Leone, accusato addirittura di plagio con "Per un pugno di dollari", a Francis Ford Coppola e George Lucas. Il volume contiene anche un inserto di foto del regista e di fotogrammi di alcuni suoi film, nonché una filmografia completa.
A multifaceted portrait of the great Japanese director For years, Akira Kurosawa resisted writing about himself. “It would turn out to be nothing but talk about movies,” he said. “In other words, take myself, subtract movies, and the result is zero.” The memoir he finally started serializing in 1978, Something like an Autobiography, ended with Rashomon, the film that launched him on the world’s stage in 1950. Long Take, first published in Japan shortly after Kurosawa’s death in 1998, at last tells the story of the rest of his life. By turns intimate, provocative, and revealing, Long Take creates a dynamic portrait of Kurosawa from his own writings; his conversations with writer Inoue Hisashi and director Yamada Yōji; and essays by his daughter and colleague Kurosawa Kazuko, who details the collaborative history of the “Kurosawa crew.” It features a wealth of industry lore, cultural reference points, inside jokes with other filmmakers and writers, and backstories for his own productions, from the earliest to the last. Of particular interest to all cinephiles is an annotated list of Kurosawa’s 100 favorite films. A survey of Kurosawa’s prodigious career, this book situates the visionary in the media milieu of his youth, in the literature and performing arts of twentieth-century Japan and Hollywood, and among the myriad films he loved, admired, and referenced, including Japanese silent film and comedy as well as productions from India, Iran, and Soviet-era Russia. Now available to English readers for the first time, Long Take offers a lasting picture of the peerless filmmaker in his element.
Un hombre camina y se acerca a un túnel oscuro, de pronto del interior sale un perro que ladra con desesperación en torno a él. Dicen que los perros anuncian la muerte y que ven las almas, así manifiestan los entendidos. El tipo mira al perro, no se asusta, sigue adelante, entra al túnel. Lo cruza tranquilamente. Cuando llega al final del túnel escucha un ruido detrás suyo, como que alguien lo siguiera, son unos pasos
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa
by Akira Kurosawa