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Akira Kurosawa is without question, one of the all-time great film directors. His work is taught in every film school and his style and substance is the thing of which books are written, documentaries made, and film historians and critics to debate over the next millennia. His work, influenced by western cinema, then turned around and influenced western cinema itself. If nothing else, Seven Samurai remains one of the most important films ever made, and has spawned countless imitations and derivations.
High and Low
Japanese Cinema DVD Review
The great Akira Kurosawa was a master an transforming works from other cultures —from westerns to Russian novels —into authentically Japanese dramas, and there's no better example than this taut 1963 adaptation of the Ed McBain novel about a kidnapping gone wrong, King's Ransom.
Set indoors in one space for most of the first hour, High and Low is a veritable lesson in widescreen filmmaking that looks as crisp and compelling as ever in this Criterion restoration. Supplements that add a purchase incentive for those that already own the title's 1998 release include a 37-minute Toho featurette on the film, which includes incisive comments from Kurosawa and an informative interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki, who gives a powerful performance as the kidnapper.
Movie buffs and filmmaking students take note: This film is a must-see lesson in how to do Hitchcock-like tension within a small space, and High and Low is a must-have for Kurosawa fans. Samurai-flick addicts can geek out over a 30-minute supplement in which the characteristically gruff Toshiro Mifune guests on an extremely genteel 1981 afternoon TV talk show.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, November 2008
Akira Kurosawa - 4 Samurai Classics - Criterion Collection
Japanese Cinema DVD Review
All other Samurai classics bow down at the feet of this boxed set. Containing 4 of the most revered classics (Seven Samurai / The Hidden Fortress / Yojimbo / Sanjuro), nothing else even comes close. With a western flair that has influenced other westerns,
Kurosawa has built some of the finest movies ever made. Seven Samurai, one of the most powerful films of all time, voted in the 1979 Kinema Jumpo critics' poll as the Best Japanese Film ever, has Kurosawa's unbeaten blend of swords, spears, arrows, men, horse, rain, wind, mud, blazing tracking shots, giant close-ups, chiaroscuro lighting, telephoto lenses that put us underfoot as horses clash amid struggling men, and more, that bring life and three-dimensionality to the characters as the saga unfolds.
Kurosawa is often copied but never topped. These four films cover the Kurosawa/Mifune collaborations at their best. Don't even talk about film or Japanese Cinema without knowing, in detail, every frame of these magnificent classics.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, April 2003
Hidden Fortress
Japanese Cinema DVD Review
Akira Kurosawa isn't just the master of Japanese Cinema, he's one of the great masters of all cinema, worldwide. His work is up there with Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, John Ford, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and the other all-time great directors. His work has so influenced other filmmakers that many classic films we know and love pay homage to his work in every other shot.
This film, The Hidden Fortress, starring that Kurosawa staple Toshiro Mifune, was a big influence on a budding young director named George Lucas when he sat down and started writing a little film called Star Wars. But please, don't hold that against this film, this is so much more than that. Kurosawa's genius in composing a shot makes every scene an epic in itself.
While the VHS version is also available, the Criterion Collection DVD is an excellent transfer, with plenty of extras, restored sound, and best of all, the correct aspect ratio for what is Kurosawa's first cinemascope (widescreen) films. Film fans rejoice - Akira Kurosawa's films get the treatment they deserve. Even George Lucas thinks this is worth having.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, May 2002
Film Music of Akira Kurosawa
Japanese Cinema Soundtrack Review
A must-have for fans of the god of Japanese cinema and one of the most influential film-makers of all time. Covering the themes of some of his most well-known and most-loved films, it features such obvious entries as "Seven Samurai", but also some you may not have heard of such as "Sanjuro". The only glaring omission is no track from Rashomon, but we are willing to forgive.
Nevertheless, the collection is a good one, with a range that will impress as well as give you insight into the mind of the master. We are particularly keen to the traditional flute as heard in "Throne of Blood".
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, January 2006
The Films of Akira Kurosawa
Japanese Cinema Book Review
Akira Kurosawa isn't just the master of Japanese cinema, he's one of the great masters of filmmaking, worldwide. His work is up there with Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, John Ford, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and other all-time-great directors. His work has so influenced other filmmakers that many classic films we know and love pay homage to his work in every other shot.
Here is a chance to read a terrific study of Kurosawa's films by the foremost critic of Japanese cinema and a man who had a personal acquaintance with the filmmaker. Newly revised and updated, this classic study now covers all of Kurosawa's films, surveying an extraordinary 50 year career. If you have any interest in Japanese cinema or in the art of movies in general, you can't go wrong viewing Kurosawa's films. Ritchie's book will guide you through them, teaching you about the man and his genius.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, November 2002
The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune
Japanese Cinema Book Review
At first you love Anime, but then you take the next step exploring everything related to Japanese culture. It doesnt take one long to stumble upon the powerful samurai films of Akira Kurosawa which feature the actor Toshiro Mifune. The Emperor and the Wolf is a great book about these two cornerstones of Japanese cinema. Kurosawa and Mifune made sixteen feature films together, including Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, and High and Low — all undisputed masterworks of world cinema.
This book is long overdue: a well-researched study of how a great director and a great actor fired each other up; an informative history of how high profile Japanese films were received at home and abroad; a surprising genealogy of the modern action hero; and a fresh look at sixteen Kurosawa movies-at least six of them all-time classics. Kurosawa has been the subject of numerous critical works, but no English-language biography predates this book. Furthermore, most of Mifune's 126 features remain unseen in the U.S. As one of world cinema's leading figures, Kurosawa is the more important subject here, but the information on Mifune is most welcome, too.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, Summer 2002
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