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.
hello, drake i think your view of kurosawa is almost limited to samurai films(your thinking of ikiru as most overrated films and the 5 first spot of your top 10 prove that)and that explains why kurosawa has a relatively low rank in your list of the best directors(i said relatively because 12th is not that bad).for me who has kurosawa among his favorite directors films such as ikiru,red beard ,high and low,dodesukaden and dersu uzala are incredible movies.Your view is the same as someone who view John Ford essentially for his western.i agree with you about what you say about the comment post by “ej”(say that you are a fool because kurosawa is not in the top 5 is completely crazy) but I found you a little condescending and pretentious when you say “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)”.to prove your statement you refer often to the site they shoot pictures(who is excellent) but i think that you saw the list made by the bbc in 2018 of the 100 best foreign language films of all time made by 200 critics all over the world kurosawa is the most cited directors above fellini,bergman and well above tarkovski ozu and antonioni.
@beaucamp– thanks for the comment here and for visiting the site. Read EJ’s comment again– ridiculous comment. That comment deserves the condescending response. I don’t talk to people that way unless they come in talking like that.
You, on the other hand, have a very logical and measured response here. I think you make several good points.
I will, myself, be moving Kurosawa up when I update the page. If you search through them or just search “kurosawa’ (sorry they are not hyperlinked yet) you’ll find reviews for almost every Kurosawa film.
The TSPDT consensus directors list, which has Kurosawa 10th, takes the BBC list into effect
thank you for taking the time to read my post and for your very elegant and polite response.when i mentioned the bbc list it is because it is one of the most recent and important lists.i agree that kurosawa is at his very best in samurai films like rashomon and seven samurai the same as john ford is at his best in western like the searchers but these 2 films tend to hide the greatness of the rest of the work of kurosawa.only these two films are mentionned masterpiece in your opinion for a director of the caliber of kurosawa it’s a small number.I think you already figured it out even though I don’t agree with you on certain point I never thought you didn’t like kurosawa or that you didn’t appreciate his work (the simple fact that you put it 12th on your list proves that you attach great importance to his work)
@beaucamp– it sounds like we’re mostly on the same page- if you have time check out my pages on The Bad Sleep Well, High and Low and Ikiru especially– these are all written after my page here on Kurosawa. I hadn’t seen The Bad Sleep Well yet and was flat wrong on both Ikiru and High and Low
Drake has added many more masterpieces for Kurosawa since he wrote this page – Ikiru: http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/06/16/ikiru-1952-kurosawa/, The Bad Sleep Well: http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/07/14/the-bad-sleep-well-1960-kurosawa/, High and Low: http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/08/04/high-and-low-1963-kurosawa/. I would also include Ran (http://thecinemaarchives.com/2017/12/05/ran-1985-kurosawa/) because, although the review calls it an MS/MP border, it is in the masterpiece range of the top 500 list:http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/04/10/the-best-500-films-of-all-time/ . Yojimbo is also listed as an MS/MP: http://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/07/21/yojimbo-1961-kurosawa/. Although I may be missing some, I believe those are all the films Drake has added to the masterpiece or near-masterpiece level.
yes i will.also i forgot to congratulate you for your website he is truly excellent I would consult it and share my opinion frequently
@beaucamp – thank you for the kind words– excited hear from you in the future
Haha I hadn’t read that comment. Drake. Now that you’ve gone through Kurosawa’s studio, what do you think of the criticism for its low location? did it serve as feedback? (removing the vulgar and rude part)
@beaucamp. I must say there is some truth to this, it bothers me when people only think of him because of samurai movies, his other movies are just as good.
It bothers me when they call him “the samurai dude” I’ve even heard people call Ikiru boring as hell
So considering the massive Kurosawa study you embarked upon last year, do you think he might displace Bergman for 3rd, or hell even Kubrick for 2nd or Hitchcock for 1st?
@Zane– You know honestly I haven’t even thought about it. Sorry I don’t have a better answer. I was very impressed with Kurosawa– and clearly my #12 ranking of him here includes me being flat wrong on Ikiru and High and Low and adding The Bad Sleep Well to a pretty elite class of films. So I mean I know Kurosawa will go up– I’m just not sure where he’ll land. I have to wait and sort of do the math and that math will be mostly based on my updated top 500 (which I’m expanding to 1000). And I don’t think I’ll even start on that until next year.
It’s not a problem that you haven’t done the calculations for the directors’ list yet, it doesn’t really matter to me that much.
I’m excited for when you release the top 1000 next year. I also remember you said you’d expand the directors’ list to 500 and then might do a best 100 DP’s, which will be very nice to see. But you should finish updating the yearly pages first.
Will you be updating your decade pages before then too?
@Declan- yes, I did the decade pages at the same time as the top 500- or within a month or so
@Drake Have you seen Kurosawa’s Rhapsody in August (1951)? I couldn’t find a page on it here
@Anderson- I have not
1. Sanshiro Sugata (1943) – R/HR
2. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) – R
3. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) – R
4. No Regrets For Our Youth (1946) – R
5. One Wonderful Sunday (1947) – R/HR
6. Drunken Angel (1948) – HR/MS
7. Stray Dog (1949) – MS
8. Scandal (1950) – R
9. Rashomon (1950) – MP
10. The Idiot (1951) – R
11. Ikiru (1952) – MP
12. Seven Samurai (1954) – MP
13. Ikimono no Kiroku (1955) – R
14. Throne of Blood (1957) – HR/MS (possibly MS)
15. The Lower Depths (1957) – R/HR
16. The Hidden Fortress (1958) – R/HR
17. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) – MP
18. Yojimbo (1961) – MS/MP
19. Sanjuro (1962) – MS
20. High and Low (1963) – MP
21. Red Beard (1965) – HR
22. Dodes’ka-den (1970) – R
23. Dersu Uzala (1975) – R/HR
24. Kagemusha (1980) – R/HR
25. Ran (1985) – MP
26. Dreams (1990) – R/HR
27. Madadayo (1993) – R
Slight reformatting:
1940s:
1. Sanshiro Sugata (1943) – R/HR
2. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945) – R
3. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) – R
4. No Regrets For Our Youth (1946) – R
5. One Wonderful Sunday (1947) – R/HR
6. Drunken Angel (1948) – HR/MS
7. Stray Dog (1949) – MS
1950s:
8. Scandal (1950) – R
9. Rashomon (1950) – MP
10. The Idiot (1951) – R
11. Ikiru (1952) – MP
12. Seven Samurai (1954) – MP
13. Ikimono no Kiroku (1955) – R
14. Throne of Blood (1957) – HR/MS (possibly MS)
15. The Lower Depths (1957) – R/HR
16. The Hidden Fortress (1958) – R/HR
1960s:
17. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) – MP
18. Yojimbo (1961) – MS/MP
19. Sanjuro (1962) – MS
20. High and Low (1963) – MP
21. Red Beard (1965) – HR
1970s:
22. Dodes’ka-den (1970) – R
23. Dersu Uzala (1975) – R/HR
1980s:
24. Kagemusha (1980) – R/HR
25. Ran (1985) – MP
1990s:
26. Dreams (1990) – R/HR
27. Madadayo (1993) – R
Are these your grades or Drake’s? At first glance, they seem to align with his.
They’re Drake’s. I haven’t seen nearly as much of Kurosawa’s work as he has. I just decided to put them all together on this page.
@Zane-thank you for compiling that!
Sanjuro(1962) really has to be one of his most underrated films. A movie that should be in the TSPDT top 1000 is all the way down at 3313. That’s astonishingly low.
@Anderson- yep, for sure. Probably some sequel bias there.
I just watched it 10 minutes ago, It’s much superior to Yojimbo imo, which I found disappointing and almost one of my favourite Kurosawa so far. Not even the top 1000 is ridiculous.
Hey! Great, great site, really.
A little question: No Ettore Scola? It´s a GREAT director/writer to me.
@Nahu- thanks for the note and for visiting the site. As for Ettore Scola-I’ve seen a few films here and there- but not enough to warrant a spot on the list. Do you have any of his single films deserving of a top 10 spot of their given year-or top 100 of their respective decade?
In my opinion: absolutely yes. “The Family”, “La terrazza”, “Splendor”, “We All Loved Each Other So Much”, “Ugly, Dirty And Bad” or “Maccaroni” are really great movies. And Ettore was very regular: “The Dinner”, “What time is it” and “A Special Day” are very good, even if they are not the best of him.
I was also surprised by the absence of Giuseppe Tornatore, Alex de la Iglesia and Damián Szifrón, great directors with many great movies.
Great site! I read it very often 🙂
Hi!! I don’t know who will respond to this, but I’ve recently started to see a few films from Kurosawa and I wanted to know what should I look for? Like, what are his traits or stylistic things I should be noticing and noting? (Like the Ozu pillow shots and mise en scene). Thanks!
@Jane- Hi and thanks for the comment- appreciate you visiting the site. There is so much there with Kurosawa. Enjoy your study. I watched just about everything he made at some point in 2020 and wrote 25+ pages with notes on them (after this page) but pay attention to the deep focus photography and character blocking.