Drunken Angel is a 1948 Kurosawa movie starring Takashi Shimura as an alcoholic doctor in postwar Japan who treats a young, small-time hood named Matsunaga (ToshirÅ Mifune), after a gunfight with a rival syndicate. The doctor diagnoses the young gangster with tuberculosis, and convinces him to begin treatment for it. The two enjoy an uneasy friendship until the gangster’s former boss is released from prison and seeks to take his gang over once again. The sick young man then stops following the doctor’s advice, slips back into old habits and threatens to kill him, while his life is further endangered by his gangster lifestyle. Read more…
The Quiet Duel is an early (1949) Kurosawa film in which ToshirÅ Mifune plays a young idealistic doctor, still a virgin, who works at his father’s clinic in a small and seedy district. During a life-saving operation he cuts himself contaminates himself and contracts syphilis, which at the time was virtually incurable. Read more…
The samurai were the noble military class of ancient Japan. The samurai are believed to have existed from 10th century up until the Meiji reforms of the 19th century.
Although capable of brutal violence the samurai were also subject to a strict code of honour (Bushido), to the point of choosing ritual suicide by disembowelment in preference to disgrace. Bushido continues to influence modern Japanese society. Perhaps this explains why the samurai continue to inspire such fascination both within Japan and beyond. The samurai legend forms the basis of much great cinema. Read more…
Rhapsody in August is a 1991 movie by Akira Kurosawa. The story centers on an elderly atomic bomb victim, who lost her husband in the 1945 attack on Nagasaki, caring for her four grandchildren over the summer. She learns of a long-lost brother, Suzujiro, living in Hawaii who wants her to visit him before he dies. Read more…
The Hidden Fortress is a 1958 movie directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring ToshirÅ Mifune as General Rokurota Makabe and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki. A literal translation of the Japanese title is The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress. Read more…
Stray Dog is a 1949 film noir directed by Akira Kurosawa. Rookie homicide detective Murakami (ToshirÅ Mifune) frantically seeks his stolen Colt pistol which, to his shame, has been pickpocketed on a bus. A manhunt begins when the stolen gun is used in a murder. The older and wiser detective, Sato (Takashi Shimura), takes Murakami under his wing. Read more…
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (also known as Dreams, I Saw a Dream Like This, or Such Dreams I Have Dreamed) is a 1990 magical realism film based on actual dreams of the film’s director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. The film is based more on imagery than on dialogue.
One of the most visionary, deeply personal works in the 60-year career of the master behind Rashomon, The Seven Samurai and Ran. Featuring eight episodes rich in imagery and insight, it explores the costs of war, the perils of nuclear power and especially humankind’s need to harmonize with nature. Read more…
Ran is a 1985 movie written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It is a jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai), an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. The story is based on legends of the daimyo MÅri Motonari, as well as on the Shakespearean tragedy King Lear. Read more…
Kagemusha is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa starring Tatsuya Nakadai and Tsutomu Yamazaki. The title (“Shadow Warrior” in Japanese) is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. Read more…
Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The film stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe.
Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years. Furthermore, his relationship with his son has become strained, as his son and daughter-in-law seem to care mainly about his pension and their future inheritance. Read more…
