Akira Kurosawa - Film Maker Project RTVF 272

Akira Kurosawa is a name well known by most anyone who is a fan of film. And rightfully so, since many regard him to be one of the most influential directors on modern cinema. After a grueling 30 films, over the span of 57 years, one has to wonder where he started and what he offered/added to the field of film. Surprisingly, Kurosawa original passion was that of painting. Akira was initially introduced to films and cinema through his older brother, Heigo. After not being able to support himself with his painting, Akira would apply to be an assistant director at a small film studio known as P.C.L. This studio would later be know as ToHo, and would be where Kurosawa would get his start and much of his acclaim. After 5 years as an assistant director, under the tutelage of Kajiro Yamamoto, and spending much of his time honing his craft as a screenwriter; Kurosawa was finally able to begin directing his own films with studio ToHo.

After his stint as an assistant director Kurosawa would begin filming his first films. His initial three films were all during World War 2 and met with varying degrees of success. After the war, Kurosawa's works incorporated a young actor by the name Toshiro Mifune. Mifune would be critiqued as a Japanese Marlon Brando and would help Kurosawa achieve his initial bit of recognition. This was done primarily with films like; The Quiet Duel, Stray Dogs, and most of all Drunken Angel. After this set of films he would direct a film called Rashomon that would be the first part of Kurosawa's major offerings to the film industry. Rashomon would at first seem not that major of a point in Kurosawa's career, but would actually end up being submitted to the Venice Film Festival. At the festival, the film would receive the highest prize, a Golden Lion. After receiving this illustrious award the film's right would be purchased be the American studio R.K.O., ushering in an era prosperity for Japanese films overseas. And overall, this would open up the Western market to Japanese films for years to come and led to the commercial success of several other Japanese directors.

Kurosawa would continue to direct many more films that would be wildly popular in both Japan and overseas; specifically Europe and America. Some examples of his later work would be; Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Ran, and the Palme d'Or winning film Kagemusha. Additionally, many of Kurosawa's screenplays/films would heavily influence other directors. Some examples of this would be George Lucas and his initial Star Wars film being heavily adopted from the Kurosawa film, “The Hidden Fortress”. Along with Lucas, was Sergio Leone and his film “Fistful of Dollars”, which was essentially a shot by shot copy of Kurosawa's film Yojimbo.

While the film director did fall out of favor with both audiences and the industry much later in his life, he offered many masterfully woven stories through out his career. Additionally, his unique style is still inspiring young and old directors to this day and will likely do so for years to come.