Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa is undoubtedly the good Japanese film director ever and one ofthe most influential filmmakersin the history of movie theatre . His works are known all around the world and his unmistakable trend can be recognized well thanks to his visual esthetic and the relationship between the figure and the sound .
It ’s a commiseration Kurosawa never directed anylive - action anime remaking , because he could have been the one to make them really cracking . But even Kurosawa hadsome regretful movies(though they would still normally get a impertinent grade on Rotten Tomatoes ) . Without further ado , here are Akira Kurosawa ’s 5 Best Films ( & 5 Worst ) .
Worst: The Idiot (1951)
The Idiotis an adaptation of a Russian novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky . The moving-picture show was released in Japan in 1951 , but in the United States only in 1963 . The fib follows a former soldier affected by war who was labeled as " the idiot " because of his epileptic seizure that started after he get a war trauma .
The odd thing about the movie is that the initial edition of the film was 265 arcminute long , but around 100 minutes were abridge by the studio after it was ill received at the test screenings . Kurosawa did not desire this to happen as it was the variation most precise to the playscript , but he could n’t do anything about it . The 265 - minute cut remains lost to this Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
Best: The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
This 1960 film was the first one raise by Kurosawa ’s independent plastic film troupe . The Bad Sleep Wellwas get in into the Berlin International Film Festival , but another film succeed that yr . Nevertheless , The Bad Sleep Wellis regarded as one of Kurosawa ’s best work and one of the three of his noir moving-picture show .
The tale at the sum of the film has its roots in Shakespeare ’s Hamlet and tells us about a vernal man , played by Toshiro Mifune , who commence a high-pitched position in a tainted postwar Nipponese company hope to expose the men responsible for his male parent ’s demise .
Worst: Dodesukaden (1970)
Dodesukaden has two differentiate feature . First , it is Akira Kurosawa ’s first picture show in coloring material . secondly , it is an adaptation of a ledger by Shugoro Yamamoto . It was a critical and commercial-grade unsuccessful person in Japan but earned a nomination for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards .
The rationality why this film was so poorly received in its origin country was probably because it was a departure from Kurosawa ’s common style and the cast consisted mainly of unknown actors rather than the ones Kurosawa was used to work with . In fact , the film ’s failure even led to the director attempting felo-de-se in 1971 . gratefully , he live .
Best: Seven Samurai (1954)
Perhaps the most well - known of Kurosawa ’s plant is his 1954 classicSeven Samurai . release in the United States in 1956 , the film was co - write , directed , and edit by Kurosawa and has consistently been referenced in other plastic film along with rank gamey on all the crowing top lists .
The report is set in 1586 during the Sengoku full stop . It is about a village that hires seven ronin ( also known as the samurai without captain ) to protect the farmers from the bandits that will return to steal the harvesting once it has been gathered .
Worst: Dreams (1990)
Dreamsis yet another singular project in Kurosawa ’s filmography . It was his first picture in 45 years where he was the only one influence on the script , and he claimed to have repeatedly had the dream that the moving-picture show is base on . Dreamswas screened at the Cannes Film Festival out of the competition .
An interesting behind - the - scenes detail is also the fact that Warner Bros. provided partial financing for the film while Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wait on in the making . The film research such themes as prowess , death , spirituality , childhood , human mistakes , and world disaster .
Best: Sanjuro (1962)
Sanjurois a jidaigeki moving-picture show mean that it is a geological period dramatic event set presumptively during the Edo period sometime between 1603 and 1868 . in the beginning , this was supposed to be an adaption of one of Yamamoto ’s novel , but then the script was castrate with the success of Kurosawa’sYojimboandSanjurobecame a sequel to that movie .
The main reason forSanjuro ’s succeeder is the fact that the master hero ( who first appeared inYojimbo ) was resurrected for the picture show and got a satisfying amount of development that made him endure out and complete the story absolutely .
Worst: Rhapsody in August (1991)
There seems to be a trend in the quality of flick Akira Kurosawa made with the old labor at the ending of his career ordinarily lacking certain constituent that would make them better . Rhapsody in Augustis one such movie that received mixed reviews and was accused of anti - American docket .
The story is set in 1945 and follow an elderly woman who lose her husband in the Nagasaki bombings and cares for her grandchildren over the summer . She hear that she has a brother know in Hawaii who want her to visit him before he dies .
Best: No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
No Regrets for Our Youthis a 1946 picture show base on the 1933 Takigawa incident . The moving picture is sometimes referred to as Akira Kurosawa ’s " feminist dramatic event film " because , unlike other film by the director , it focuses on a unmarried unassailable distaff lead play by Setsuko Hara .
Yukie is a housewife whose leftist lover is accused of espionage during World War II which directly correlate with the story of Hotsumi Ozaki . He was the only Japanese citizen who suffered the mortal punishment for betrayal during World War II because he assisted the Soviet undercover agent Richard Sorge .
Worst: The Sea Is Watching (2002)
The Sea Is Watchingis the only movie in Akira Kurosawa ’s filmography that has a rotted score on Rotten Tomatoes . Actually , the film was released already after Kurosawa ’s destruction and he was only a film writer on the task .
The cinema was receive by the hearing much well than by the critics . The story tells us about a geisha who falls in love life with a samurai that appears in her small town while on the run after having kill a man .
Best: Ikiru (1952)
Partially inspired by Leo Tolstoy ’s 1886 novellaThe Death of Ivan Ilyich , Ikirutells the account of a terminally - ominous Tokyo bureaucrat as he searches for a new import of life . The motion-picture show research such paper as the inefficiency of bureaucracy , learning how to live , and the menage life in Japan that had been decaying for a while .
The film clear widespread critical plaudit and was nominated and won various prize , including a BAFTA nomination for the lead actor and an award for Kurosawa at the Berlin International Film Festival .
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