Akira Kurosawa
A Viewer's Guide
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- 39,99 €
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- 39,99 €
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Akira Kurosawa's films are examined in detail in this enjoyable overview of the renowned director's career from San Juan (Hitchcock's Villains). Focusing on Kurosawa's themes rather than his techniques, San Juan readily succeeds in his goal of creating an accessible appreciation of Kurosawa's work. Each film receives its own entry, beginning with Kurosawa's 1943 directorial debut, Sanshiro Sugata, about a reckless young man intent on becoming a judo master, through to Kurosawa's 1993 swan song, Madadayo, about an elderly man not yet ready to die. Biographical snippets threaded into the entries trace Kurosawa's working life, from his start in WWII-era Japan to his continuing career in devastated postwar Japan to his rise to fame in and outside Japan in the 1950s, ending with his late '60s fall from grace and early '80s comeback. Many of the tales from Kurosawa's life, particularly regarding his relationships with his actors including his master-pupil relationship with star Toshiro Mifune and long marriage to actress Yoko Yaguchi are so intriguing that readers will wish this were a full biography. San Juan takes care to note Kurosawa's influences upon other directors, including George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, and Martin Scorsese, observing, for example, how the plot of Lucas's 1977 film Star Wars echoes Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. This guide to a master filmmaker's work has appeal for cinephiles and casual movie viewers alike.
