Akira Kurosawa
Rashomon
(1950),
The Seven Samurai
(1954), and
Ran
(1985), set in feudal Japan of director Akira Kurosawa, greatly influenced American and European filmmaking.
This producer, screenwriter, and editor, regarded of the most important and influential in the history of cinema, directed thirty in a career, spanning 57 years.
Following a brief stint as a painter, Kurosawa entered the industry in 1936. After years of working as an assistant and scriptwriter, he made his debut in 1943 during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata, also known as Judo Saga. After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast then-unknown actor Toshirō Mifune in a starring role, cemented the reputation of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men went to collaborate on another 15 films.
Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo in August 1950, and which also starred Mifune, on 10 September 1951 surprisingly won the golden lion at the Venice film festival and was subsequently released in Europe and North America. The commercial and critical success opened up western markets for the first time to the products of the industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other artists. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa included a number of highly regarded films, such as Ikiru (1952) and Yojimbo (1961). After the mid-1960s, his much less prolific later work, including his penultimate epic, Kagemusha (1980), continued to win awards, including the Palme d'Or, more often abroad.
In 1990, he accepted the academy award for lifetime achievement. Posthumously, AsianWeek magazine and Cable News Network named him "Asian of the century" in the "arts, literature, and culture" category and cited him as "one of the [five] people who contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years."
“There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself. [Pg.189]”
“No matter where I go in the world, although I can't speak any foreign language, I don't feel out of place. I think of earth as my home. If everyone thought this way, people might notice just how foolish international friction is and they would put an end to it.”
“I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can’t people be happier together?”
“Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.”
“ربما كان علىّ أن أرجل إلى جزيرة نائية، حيث لا توجد أية معلومات، فلربما تمكنت مخيلتى من العمل هناك بحرية أكبر،واستطعت أن أحافظ على عقلى من التلوث، إذ ما من قصة واحدة أسمعها اليوم تشعرنى بالسعادة”
“The role of the artist is to not look away.”
“I can’t afford to hate anyone. I don’t have that kind of time.”
“IT IS QUITE ENOUGH IF A HUMAN BEING HAS BUT ONE FIELD WHERE HE OR SHE IS STRONG. IF A HUMAN BEING WERE STRONG IN EVERY FIELD, IT WOULDN'T BE NICE FOR OTHER PEOPLE, WOULD IT?”
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”
“but ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal. People who delight in torturing defenseless children or tiny creatures are in reality insane. The terrible thing is that people who are madmen in private may wear a totally bland and innocent expression in public.”
“People today have forgotten they're really just a part of nature. Yet, they destroy the nature on which our lives depend. They always think they can make something better. Especially scientists. They may be smart, but most don't understand the heart of nature. They only invent things that, in the end, make people unhappy. Yet they're so proud of their inventions. What's worse, most people are, too. They view them as if they were miracles. They worship them. They don't know it, but they're losing nature. They don't see that they're going to perish. The most important things for human beings are clean air and clean water.”
“To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes.”
“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”