Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan
Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan

Author: David A. Conrad

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2022-04-26

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1476646376

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The samurai films of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa are set in the past, but they tell us much about the present, as do his crime stories, romances, military films, medical dramas and art films. His movies are beloved for their timeless protagonists and haunting vistas of old Japan, but we haven't yet fully grasped everything they can teach us about modern Japan. Kurosawa's films evolved as Japan redefined and reinvented itself, from movies made for the wartime regime to those made amid the trials of American occupation. From the lavish epics of the economic miracle years to searching masterpieces made with international assistance in a globalizing world, Kurosawa's movies responded to changing times. This detailed study of all 30 of Kurosawa's films analyzes the links between the thrilling narratives onscreen and the equally remarkable events that occurred in Japan over his long, productive career. This book explores how Kurosawa's classics depict the political, economic, cultural, sexual and environmental upheavals of a nation at the center of a turbulent century, both directly and through period-piece mythmaking.

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

Author: Eric San Juan

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-12-15

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1538110903

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The career of acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa spanned more than five decades, during which he directed more than thirty movies, many of them indisputable classics: Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo, among others. During the height of his creative output, Kurosawa became one of the most influential and well-known directors in the world, inspiring filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and movies such as The Magnificent Seven; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; and Star Wars. In Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide, Eric San Juan provides a comprehensive yet accessible examination of the artist’s entire cinematic endeavors. From early films of the 1940s such as Sanshiro Sugata and No Regrets for Our Youth to Oscar winner Dersu Uzala—the author helps readers understand what makes Kurosawa’s work so powerful. Each discussion includes a brief synopsis of the film, an engaging analysis, and thoughtful insights into the film’s significance. All of Kurosawa’s works, from 1943 to 1993, are analyzed here, including the overlooked television documentary Song of the Horse, produced in 1970. In addition to more than twenty photos, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide provides rich discussions that will appeal to students of cinema as well as anyone who wants to learn more about Japan’s greatest director.

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

Author: Eric San Juan

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781538110898

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This is an accessible look at the films of Akira Kurosawa, whose movies are works of art and popular culture touchstones, influencing such directors as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The author examines all of the director's works and explains why that film is culturally significant and what makes it an enjoyable viewing experience.

Compound Cinematics
Compound Cinematics

Author: Shinobu Hashimoto

Publisher: Kodansha USA

Published: 2015-03-31

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1939130581

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Any list of Japan's greatest screenplay writers would feature Shinobu Hashimoto at or near the top. This memoir, focusing on his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa, a gifted scenarist in his own right, offers indispensable insider account for fans and students of the director's oeuvre and invaluable insights into the unique process that is writing for the screen. The vast majority of Kurosawa works were filmed from screenplays that the director co-wrote with a stable of stellar writers, many of whom he discovered himself with his sharp eye for all things cinematic. Among these was Hashimoto, who caught the filmmaker's attention with a script that eventually turned into Rashomon. Thus joining Team Kurosawa the debutant immediately went on to play an integral part in developing and writing two of the grandmaster's most impressive achievements, Ikiru and Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa
Kurosawa

Author: Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9780822325192

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This work will become not only the newly definitive study of Kurosawa, but will redefine the field of Japanese cinema studies, particularly as the field exists in the west.

All the Emperor's Men
All the Emperor's Men

Author: Hiroshi Tasogawa

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 155783850X

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(Applause Books). When 20th Century Fox planned its blockbuster portrayal of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, it looked to Akira Kurosawa a man whose mastery of the cinema led to his nickname "the Emperor" to direct the Japanese sequences. Yet a matter of three weeks after he began shooting the film in December 1968, Kurosawa was summarily dismissed and expelled from the studio. The tabloids trumpeted scandal: Kurosawa had himself gone mad; his associates had betrayed him; Hollywood was engaged in a conspiracy. Now, for the first time, the truth behind the downfall and humiliation of one of cinema's greatest perfectionists is revealed in All the Emperor's Men. Journalist Hiroshi Tasogawa probes the most sensitive questions about Kurosawa's thwarted ambition and the demons that drove him. His is a tale of a great clash of personalities, of differences in the ways of making movies, and ultimately of a clash between Japanese and American cultures.

Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan
Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan

Author: David A. Conrad

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2022-04-22

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1476686742

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The samurai films of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa are set in the past, but they tell us much about the present, as do his crime stories, romances, military films, medical dramas and art films. His movies are beloved for their timeless protagonists and haunting vistas of old Japan, but we haven't yet fully grasped everything they can teach us about modern Japan. Kurosawa's films evolved as Japan redefined and reinvented itself, from movies made for the wartime regime to those made amid the trials of American occupation. From the lavish epics of the economic miracle years to searching masterpieces made with international assistance in a globalizing world, Kurosawa's movies responded to changing times. This detailed study of all 30 of Kurosawa's films analyzes the links between the thrilling narratives onscreen and the equally remarkable events that occurred in Japan over his long, productive career. This book explores how Kurosawa's classics depict the political, economic, cultural, sexual and environmental upheavals of a nation at the center of a turbulent century, both directly and through period-piece mythmaking.

Something Like An Autobiography
Something Like An Autobiography

Author: Akira Kurosawa

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-07-27

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 030780321X

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Translated by Audie E. Bock. "A first rate book and a joy to read.... It's doubtful that a complete understanding of the director's artistry can be obtained without reading this book.... Also indispensable for budding directors are the addenda, in which Kurosawa lays out his beliefs on the primacy of a good script, on scriptwriting as an essential tool for directors, on directing actors, on camera placement, and on the value of steeping oneself in literature, from great novels to detective fiction." --Variety "For the lover of Kurosawa's movies...this is nothing short of must reading...a fitting companion piece to his many dynamic and absorbing screen entertainments." --Washington Post Book World

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

Author: Akira Kurosawa

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9781578069972

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This work includes the collected interviews with the first Japanese film director to become widely known in the West when his film "Rashomon" won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951.

From Book to Screen
From Book to Screen

Author: Keiko I. McDonald

Publisher: M.E. Sharpe

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780765603883

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This study explores the connections between Japan's modern literary tradition and its national cinema. The first part offers a historical and cultural overview of the working relationship that developed between pure literature and film. The second analyzes 12 literary works and their adaptions.