Kurosawa. Kurosawa has two films that many cinephiles triumph as the best, or one of the 5 or so best, of all-time. He has a consistent narrative worldview, is a dynamic editor- specifically in action sequences, and boasts a filmography of great depth. From Scorsese: “The term ‘giant’ is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits.”
Best film: Seven Samurai. This is actually fairly close with Rashomon. They are both magnificent films- one a tightly-wound narrative atom-bomb—the other a powerful epic saga. Both are clearly very influential which I’ll get to more in stylistic traits.
total archiveable films: 16
top 100 films: 2 (Seven Samurai, Rashomon)
top 500 films: 6 (Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ran, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, Ikiru)
top 100 films of the decade: 7 (Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ran, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, Ikiru, High and Low)
most overrated: Ikiru is the choice. It’s #112 on TSPDT and that’s #3 for Kurosawa. I have it at #453 of all-time and #6 when ranked amongst his oeuvre. I love the film (simply overrated because of the lofty consensus ranking) but I find the unending wailing by the bureaucracy in the last 30 minutes or so tough to get through. I just wish it wasn’t there or it wasn’t emphasized so much.
most underrated : Yojimbo. TSPDT has it as #399 and I have it at #273. I have no idea how to explain how TSPDT underrates this film and its remake (Leone’s Fistful of Dollars) so much. It’s probably Kurosawa’s most accessible and enjoyable film and it’s still packed with directorial flair and one of Mifune’s best performances. The sequel, Sanjuro, isn’t nearly as good, but is still entertaining (simple Recommend/archiveable for me). A runner up for underrated here is Hidden Fortress probably best remembered now as the film that launched or most heavily influenced Star Wars. It isn’t in the TSPDT top 1000 or Kurosawa top 12 and that’s wrong.
gem I want to spotlight: Ran. The compositional visual beauty of the long shots and mise-en-scene detail are masterpiece worthy—Kurosawa makes great use of every extra, color flourish in the frame, and set piece (whether it’s the mountains in the final climax battle, the valley in the opening, or the castle on fire (picture above) in the film’s best scene/segment. Second to the pictorial composition I have to praise the formal elements Kurosawa goes back to again and again with the shot of the clouds and meditating on dreams and fate. Based on Shakespeare’s King Lear but set in Feudal Japan. Gorgeous bright primary colors—a reminder of the work when Kurosawa first went to color along with some of the early color experimentations like Godard with contempt, Antonioni with Red Desert and Fellini with Juliet of the Spirits. There are really only two types of shots here in the film—there is the long shot (battle sequences mainly and establishing/landscape shots) and the medium shots where most of the dialogue is delivered. The long shots are stunning and I frankly wish it was more of running time— Kurosawa stages the battles so beautifully—and he uses the frame almost like a Tati film—the dialogue-laden (though always sharp, engaging and a fantastic narrative) does get a little visually monotonous. Costume design best Oscar win. The continual self-interest in every character as an ongoing theme is nothing new to Kurosawa- he’s been doing it brilliantly since Rashomon. The entire cast is superb but Tatsuya Nakadai as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji is amongst the best performance of 1985 as is Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede as the Machiavellian wife of Lord Hidetora’s eldest son. The battles sequences with no audio except the non-diegetic music score is sublime—color guards. It’s almost ballet like. I may be reaching here but I think the long shot battle sequences with the extras is also a bit of a statement on the sheep-like or ant-like order-taking sacrifice for essentially nothing. It’s not as apparent a criticism as say Chaplin with the sheep in the factor cutaway in modern times but still. The film has gravitas like the godfather. The shot of Nakadai’s character leaving the burning castle, down the stairs with the red and yellow color guards on both sides is a jaw-dropper. “it’s a mad world. Only the mad are sane”—dog-eat-dog nihilism as per always with Kurosawa. Meditation on the downfall of pride as well. End is a fitting long shot.
stylistic innovations/traits: It’s impossible to talk about action sequence direction without talking about Kurosawa. The use of slow-motion photography, crisp editing, combined with his dog eat dog worldview and cynicism (which is a great match for the adaptations of the bard as we’ve seen) are all traits of the great master. You can see it readily in Sam Peckinpah for sure. While Kurosawa was influenced by John Ford (his Samurai film is the Western) he influenced many more in the West in turn. We have George Lucas of course, Leone and then back to the east with John Woo. Kurosawa is one of the great editors taking Eisenstein’s montage model for energy and the rush of the action scene but intermixing longer shot for compositional beauty and formal structure. Kurosawa’s nihilism fits the Shakespeare adaptations (and Peckinpah again). I have to confirm this but I believe the shot from the ground up to the heavens or sun through trees is actually from Kurosawa and I think I’ve been attributing it to Malick all these years. Lastly, since I didn’t get a chance to mention it above Rashomon and its manipulation of the narrative structure—going to non-linear– is something I mention all the time—whether it’s Jarmusch’s Mystery Train or the work of Tarantino—genius and influential.
top 10
- Seven Samurai
- Rashomon
- Ran
- Yojimbo
- Throne of Blood
- Ikiru
- High and Low
- Hidden Fortress
- Kagemusha
- The Lower Depths
By year and grades
| 1948- Drunken Angel | R |
| 1949- Stray Dog | R |
| 1950- Rashomon | MP |
| 1952- Ikiru | MS |
| 1954- Seven Samurai | MP |
| 1957- The Lower Depths | R |
| 1957- Throne of Blood | MS |
| 1958- Hidden Fortress | |
| 1961- Yojimbo | MS/MP |
| 1962- Sanjuro | R |
| 1963- High and Low | |
| 1965- Red Beard | R |
| 1974- Dersu Uzula | |
| 1980- Kagemusha | |
| 1985- Ran | MS/MP |
| 1990- Dreams |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
This list is a joke. You want to put 1-4 above Akira then fine but 12 is absurd. The inspiration he gave and the amount of times he was copied shows you that. Any list that has this man below 5 is created by a fool
@ EJ–certainly entitled to your opinion. I have a dear friend who is a sharp critic and cinema-lover and indeed I believe he’d have Kurosawa #1 but to say i’m a fool for having him outside of the top 5 is incorrect… this consensus list here has him at #10 and that is the average of many critics’ lists http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_top250directors.htm . I’m going to guess your knowledge of the auteurs from 1-11 on my list isn’t what it should be (or where mine is)– and that’s taking nothing from Kurosawa- who is a genius.
The fifth picture, where you say “another highlight of mise-en-scene in Kurosawa’s work”, is not from Kurosawa. Its Kinachi Okamoto, Sword of Doom, 1966. It is, in my opinion, second or third best Samurai Movie of all time, after Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran”, and maybe Harakiri or Seven Samurai.
@Aleksandar — thank you– removed it and added Sword of Doom on my list to see. I was searching for pictures of Yojimbo and this came up and I swore it was from that. Appreciate your assistance here.
Are you undergoing a new Kurosawa study currently? Anyways. All the shots you picked, were EXACTLY the same ones I screenshoted too. The pink flame in high and low, the cage, singing shot/scene in Ikiru (one of the greatest scene in cinema history), the shot if 7 samurai etc.
My ranking is similar with the exception of High And Low. I’m eager to know your thoughts about it when(or if) you revisit it on your new Kurosawa study. Same with Ikiru.
I do however agree with your placement of Kurosawa(very near top 10) and I also do think he is the 2nd best Japanese director after Ozu.
@Azman– yep- I’m a few films into the study- trying to catch them all and trying to do them in order.
My ranking:
1. Rashomon
2. Seven Samurai
3. Ikiru
4. Throne of Blood
5. Ran
6. High and Low
7. Yojimbo
8. Red Beard
9. Dersu Uzala
10. The Hidden Fortress
11. Kagemusha
12. Sanjuro
13. The Bad Sleep Well
14. Drunken Angel
15. Dreams
Are you sure The Quiet Duel (1949)is not good enough to be in the archives?I thought it was very good.