Akira Kurosawa. He has made some of the best movies the world has seen. A big fave of mine.
The Seven Samurai (1954). Excellent movie. about 3.20 hours long but it seems like 90 minutes. It was remade as the The Magnificent Seven. A good remake with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn.... But the original has that extra dimension.
Then we have Yojimbo(1960) - The Lifeguard. The lone samurai enters a village. Remade by Leone as For a Handfull Dollar. Also excellent.
Then there is his grander in scale movies like Ran (1985) or The Throne of Blood (1957). Both are built on Plays from Shakespeare. The first King Lear, the second MacBeth.
Then there are his excellent dramas like Rashomon (1950) where the same story is told from four different persons view. A now old trick but was rather new then. Or the xcellent Ikiru - Too live (1952) thats about an unimportant man in service for his cities that gets to know that his got cancer and is gonna die soon. Suddenly he realizes that he doesn't anymore have to bow and slide away in the background all the time. He actually tries to accomplish something. Great movie.
Or his noir crwations like Stray Dog (1949) about a cop thats lost his gun and goes looking for it in Tokyos criminal world. Or Drunken Angel (1948) about an alcoholic doctor thats treats a smalltime hoodlom for a wound and discovers that he has tubercolusis.
In the 70-ties he made dramas in a slower tempo but no less good. Dodeskaden (1970) about a mixed bunch of characters living on a dump outside Tokyo. And Derzu Uzala (1975) about a a kind of trapper in Siberia that forms a kind of friendship with a russian explorer. Extremely moving movie.
Not to forget The Hidden Fortress (1958), the movie that inspired Starwars or Redbeard (1965) which is very much a social commentary but a good movie about social unjustices. Or one of his masterpieces, Kagemusha - The Shadow Warrior((1980). It is a historical drama about the time when Togugawa Iyesau lived (The historical person standing model for James Clavells Toronaga in his Shogun). And his way to power.
His last three movies i see as a kind of testament to his work. They are not as strong as his best but interesting Dreams (1990), Madadayo (1993) and Rhapsody in August (1991).
All in all a body of work that leaves most directors behind.
The Seven Samurai (1954). Excellent movie. about 3.20 hours long but it seems like 90 minutes. It was remade as the The Magnificent Seven. A good remake with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn.... But the original has that extra dimension.
Then we have Yojimbo(1960) - The Lifeguard. The lone samurai enters a village. Remade by Leone as For a Handfull Dollar. Also excellent.
Then there is his grander in scale movies like Ran (1985) or The Throne of Blood (1957). Both are built on Plays from Shakespeare. The first King Lear, the second MacBeth.
Then there are his excellent dramas like Rashomon (1950) where the same story is told from four different persons view. A now old trick but was rather new then. Or the xcellent Ikiru - Too live (1952) thats about an unimportant man in service for his cities that gets to know that his got cancer and is gonna die soon. Suddenly he realizes that he doesn't anymore have to bow and slide away in the background all the time. He actually tries to accomplish something. Great movie.
Or his noir crwations like Stray Dog (1949) about a cop thats lost his gun and goes looking for it in Tokyos criminal world. Or Drunken Angel (1948) about an alcoholic doctor thats treats a smalltime hoodlom for a wound and discovers that he has tubercolusis.
In the 70-ties he made dramas in a slower tempo but no less good. Dodeskaden (1970) about a mixed bunch of characters living on a dump outside Tokyo. And Derzu Uzala (1975) about a a kind of trapper in Siberia that forms a kind of friendship with a russian explorer. Extremely moving movie.
Not to forget The Hidden Fortress (1958), the movie that inspired Starwars or Redbeard (1965) which is very much a social commentary but a good movie about social unjustices. Or one of his masterpieces, Kagemusha - The Shadow Warrior((1980). It is a historical drama about the time when Togugawa Iyesau lived (The historical person standing model for James Clavells Toronaga in his Shogun). And his way to power.
His last three movies i see as a kind of testament to his work. They are not as strong as his best but interesting Dreams (1990), Madadayo (1993) and Rhapsody in August (1991).
All in all a body of work that leaves most directors behind.
