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| The Magnum Opus Of Japanese Cinema : Seven Samurai |
Cinema in Japan has lot in common to Indian Cinema. Like India they have big industry producing third highest number of films annually after India and USA. But like India best work is mostly outside that factory type Studios turning out products each year, as a result true Cinema and great directors and actors you can count on fingers. My focus is on artistic beauty so i will cover later Category of heavy weights.
once again like India, Japan also had it's golden age of cinema in 50's. In india it was time of greats directors like
Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Satyajeet ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Chetan Anand and Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Similarly Japan also had it's most influential Directors working together in 50's
Akira Kurosawa (Greatest)
, Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Ishirō Honda, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Hiroshi Inagaki, Masaki Kobayashi
Since movies are like poetry Which requires efforts at three stages for final accomplishment. these are
having an idea about what to show putting together the ideas into rough narrative finding the best expressions for narrative. Thus without doubt director is central figure to movie like a poet to poem
but here actors are to movie, what language is to poem and just like best of poets are incomplete without language, it is not possible to have masterpieces with efforts of directors alone. so indeed 50's were also the time of greatest japanese actors
Legendry Toshirō Mifune, Great Takashi Shimura, Other notable additions - Yoshio Tsuchiya,
Tatsuya Nakadai, ken watanbe (later period)
Place of Akira Kurosawa in Japanese Cinema
Akira Kurosawa has been seen as one of the three components of a kind of Holy Trinity of golden-age Japanese auteurs, with Ozu reckoned as the contemplative Father; Mizoguchi as transcendent Holy Spirit; and Kurosawa; nicknamed “the Emperor,” in the role of Son. Such comparisons, of course, are more convenient than sensible, since the similarities between these men, particularly in their scathing critiques of the rigid norms of postwar Japanese society and their existentialist bent, are as great as their differences.
However if anybody even vaguely attempts to write an essay on Japanese directors, half of it will automatically be devoted to great Akira Kurosawa. so is his influence on Japanese cinema and cinema in general that even writing an entire book on him and his films is not enough to comprehend all.
In a career that spanned 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential film-makers in film history. In 1989, he was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement "for cinematic accomplishments that have inspired, delighted, enriched and entertained worldwide audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world". Of Akira Kurosawa, Mifune said, "I am proud of nothing I have done other than with him".
Place of Toshiro Mifune in Japanese cinemaHaving being fortunate to watch him in 6-7 movies, i can just say he is most versatile actor not only in japanese cinema but cinema in general. With Akira Kurosawa he has done work of such quality that you immediately recollect the partnership between Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese and this collaboration believe me is not of any less quality than of De Niro and Scorsese.
Remembering their earliest work together, Kurosawa later wrote of Mifune in his autobiography:
Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three. The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all his quickness, he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities.Beginning with 'Yoidore tenshi' (1948), Mifune appeared in sixteen of Kurosawa's films, most of which have become world-renowned classics. In Kurosawa's pictures, especially 'Rashomon' (1950), Mifune would become most famous Japanese actor in the world. A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but had as well the depth to plumb intricate and subtle dramatic parts. A personal rift during the filming of 'Akahige' (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries. He was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (for 'Yojimbo' (1961) and 'Akahige' (1965)). In 1963, he formed his own production company and directed one film and produced several others. In his later years, he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries "Shogun" (1980), and appeared infrequently in cameo roles after that. His last years were plagued with Alzheimer's Syndrome and he died of organ failure in 1997, a few months before the death of the director with whose name he will forever be linked, Akira Kurosawa.
once again like India, Japan also had it's golden age of cinema in 50's. In india it was time of greats directors like
Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Satyajeet ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Chetan Anand and Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Similarly Japan also had it's most influential Directors working together in 50's
Akira Kurosawa (Greatest)
, Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Ishirō Honda, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Hiroshi Inagaki, Masaki Kobayashi
Since movies are like poetry Which requires efforts at three stages for final accomplishment. these are
having an idea about what to show putting together the ideas into rough narrative finding the best expressions for narrative. Thus without doubt director is central figure to movie like a poet to poem
but here actors are to movie, what language is to poem and just like best of poets are incomplete without language, it is not possible to have masterpieces with efforts of directors alone. so indeed 50's were also the time of greatest japanese actors
Legendry Toshirō Mifune, Great Takashi Shimura, Other notable additions - Yoshio Tsuchiya,
Tatsuya Nakadai, ken watanbe (later period)
Place of Akira Kurosawa in Japanese Cinema
Akira Kurosawa has been seen as one of the three components of a kind of Holy Trinity of golden-age Japanese auteurs, with Ozu reckoned as the contemplative Father; Mizoguchi as transcendent Holy Spirit; and Kurosawa; nicknamed “the Emperor,” in the role of Son. Such comparisons, of course, are more convenient than sensible, since the similarities between these men, particularly in their scathing critiques of the rigid norms of postwar Japanese society and their existentialist bent, are as great as their differences.
However if anybody even vaguely attempts to write an essay on Japanese directors, half of it will automatically be devoted to great Akira Kurosawa. so is his influence on Japanese cinema and cinema in general that even writing an entire book on him and his films is not enough to comprehend all.
In a career that spanned 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential film-makers in film history. In 1989, he was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement "for cinematic accomplishments that have inspired, delighted, enriched and entertained worldwide audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world". Of Akira Kurosawa, Mifune said, "I am proud of nothing I have done other than with him".
Place of Toshiro Mifune in Japanese cinemaHaving being fortunate to watch him in 6-7 movies, i can just say he is most versatile actor not only in japanese cinema but cinema in general. With Akira Kurosawa he has done work of such quality that you immediately recollect the partnership between Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese and this collaboration believe me is not of any less quality than of De Niro and Scorsese.
Remembering their earliest work together, Kurosawa later wrote of Mifune in his autobiography:
Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three. The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all his quickness, he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities.Beginning with 'Yoidore tenshi' (1948), Mifune appeared in sixteen of Kurosawa's films, most of which have become world-renowned classics. In Kurosawa's pictures, especially 'Rashomon' (1950), Mifune would become most famous Japanese actor in the world. A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but had as well the depth to plumb intricate and subtle dramatic parts. A personal rift during the filming of 'Akahige' (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries. He was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (for 'Yojimbo' (1961) and 'Akahige' (1965)). In 1963, he formed his own production company and directed one film and produced several others. In his later years, he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries "Shogun" (1980), and appeared infrequently in cameo roles after that. His last years were plagued with Alzheimer's Syndrome and he died of organ failure in 1997, a few months before the death of the director with whose name he will forever be linked, Akira Kurosawa.
A general list and brief introduction to japanese films i will cover in second part of this post.
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| Akira Kurosawa |
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| Toshiro Mifune |
