There is an interesting documentary I watched recently:

Kurosawa: A Documentary on the Acclaimed Director

It probably benefitted from having just read his autobiography, but it still had some good insights into the man and the people surrounding him. If you have access to both, I'd definitely read the book first. The autobiography was surprising and compelling. I found myself reacting to portions of the book the way I have to many if not all of his films (Dodes'ka-den bothered me in a big way, but there were extenuating circumstances, including the collaboration of 3 other directors). Kurosawa was a Marxist, for a time, even joined the Proletarian Artists' League, then fell severely ill and lost track of the group, then decided it was a good excuse to leave. In his autobio. at least, he states that he was basically an impressionable kid looking for a cause to join. I imagine that watching his movies is the best way to suss out his philosophies. For what it's worth, I highly recommend reading the book, because it does give further clues, and gives an incredible first-hand perceptions of the turn of Japanese society and thought from the ending of the Edo perod (his father's family came from a Samurai line) into the post-war confusion of modern-day Japan.

As far as the relationship between him and Mifune, I gathered that AK was something of a taskmaster and a bit megalomaniacal when it came to Mifune. He knew how important Mifune's talent was to his work at the time -the screenplays AK wrote were basically tailored to Mifune's style. AK also had major troubles with drink through his later life, but no idea if that was the chicken or the egg in that context.

Sorry for the long-windedness, but he is my favorite director, closely followed by Werner Herzog.

Another great one (I haven't noticed if it was mentioned yet) is Madadayo (transl. "Not Yet"?).

Gramsci wrote:Kagemusha and Ran are my favourites...

Those are my favorited as well. I think I just like the disenchanted, old, obsessed with cultural order era Kurosawa as well.

Then again, saying that is like saying I'd rather find a hundred dollars on the ground over finding 98 dollars.

But I just watched Kagemusha again a couple weeks ago, and it broke my heart in the best way possible. I love that movie.

Ben Adrian

Rashomon

apl4eris wrote:There is an interesting documentary I watched recently:

Kurosawa: A Documentary on the Acclaimed Director

Chris Marker also did a documentary on Akira Kurusawa during the makinf of Ran. It's called A.K.

One of my favorite filmmakers doing a documentary on one of my favorite filmmakers. Excellent.

i think i've seen all but two kirosawa films. one being the WWII movie he shot half of, the other half from a russian director. didn't look that good, actually. the other i don't know what it is. i just have a feeling that i haven't seen it. probably a gangster film with mifune.

i don't have a favorite film of his because most of them are too good to equate like that. but i really am partial to any film he made with Toshirô Mifune or Tatsuya Nakadai or both!

He was attached to direct the Japanese scenes in Tora! Tora! Tora! but the American studio (20th Century Fox, I believe), worried over his legendary bourbon consumption, wrote a clause into the contract that required him to keep an itemized budget of any alcohol consumed on the set. Kurosawa was deeply insulted by this, so he dropped off the project.

Colonel Panic wrote:He was attached to direct the Japanese scenes in Tora! Tora! Tora! but the American studio (20th Century Fox, I believe), worried over his legendary bourbon consumption, wrote a clause into the contract that required him to keep an itemized budget of any alcohol consumed on the set. Kurosawa was deeply insulted by this, so he dropped off the project.

Also, he was (as are a number of non-Hollywood directors) notorious for stepping all over the toes of cinematographers. I can't imagine he'd be fun to work with if you were a unionized Hollywood crewmember. Especially if he was sober. It was probably best for everybody that he dropped out.

He was a bipolar egomaniac, like many great directors have been.

Colonel Panic wrote:He was a bipolar egomaniac, like many great directors have been.

As well as many great forum members.

Ben Adrian

benadrian wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:He was a bipolar egomaniac, like many great directors have been.

As well as many great forum members.

Ben Adrian

and just about everyone else you don't have to know personally.