Akira Kurosawa

The director of thirty-two films, Akira Kurosawa has a body of work that ranges across many genres and reflects his knowledge of art and literature. An aspiring painter before he began his film career, he employed that talent to paint his storyboards, which translated into a deep sensitivity for nature, focus, color (in his later films) and framing in his cinematography, best exemplified in Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Ran and Dreams. Utilizing his training in literature, Kurosawa did adaptations of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Idiot), Dashiel Hammett (Red Harvest), Maxim Gorky (Lower Depths) and Evan Hunter/Ed McBain (High and Low). He also filmed three classic adaptations of Shakespeare: Throne of Blood (Macbeth), Bad Sleep Well (Hamlet) and Ran (King Lear). Unfortunately, Kurosawa's fascination with foreign (non-Japanese) literature made him unpopular in Japan, causing him personal and financial crises. The so-called "Movie Brats" (particularly Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese and Spielberg), however, felt indepted to Kurosawa as a source of inspiration and their subsequent success in the Hollywood industry allowed them to finance many of Kurosawa's later projects. more...