Akira Kurosawa: Acclaim, Criticism, & Depictions
Scheherazade Humphrey
ARTH 334: Understanding Movies
Instructor Robert Lewis
September 22, 2013

Akira Kurosawa: Acclaim, Collaborations, & Criticisms
Director Akira Kurosawa is arguably one of the most creative, influential, and innovative filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa’s career spanned nearly sixty years and has received much critical acclaim by many of his peers, filmmakers, and generations of film students. Additionally, he has received an array of international recognition for his successes in and contributions to film. Kurosawa’s career started in the mid-1930s. However, his initial success started with the 1948 film Drunken Angel. This was followed by another successful film named “Rashomon” which Kurosawa directed in 1950 and starred Toshiro Mifune whom he collaborated with on numerous films. The film Rashomon introduced western audiences to Kurosawa’s work. Kurosawa’s acclaim and influence started to fade later in life. However his influence on film, critical acclaim, international recognition, successes, and collaborations are topics which are often discussed and debated.
Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa is arguably the most influential and innovate filmmaker in the history of cinema with a career that spanned nearly six decades. His contributions to the Japanese film industry and film in general are more than apparent. Not the only Japanese cinematic giant, but undoubtedly the most famous and revered in the West, Kurosawa has made exemplary films of various genres: historical, Samurai, and contemporary (Cohen-Shalev, 2008). Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in the 1930s with the film Sanshiro Sugata. Kurosawa's maiden directorial effort, Sanshiro Sugata, was panned for being too "British-American"(Maxfield, 1993) and he did not see his first real success until 1948. This success came in the film “Drunken Angel”. “Drunken Angel”, a film about a sleazy drunken doctor trying to cure a gangster and a Japanese mafia member known as a Yakuza stars Takashi Shimura. The film also starred a then unknown actor by the name of Toshiro Mifune. This film was a critical success and Mifune was lauded for his performance in the film. However, it was a 1950 film directed by Kurosawa that brought his initial critical acclaim and international fame. The 1950 film “Rashomon” starring Toshiro Mifune used a non-linear story line with an engaging plot. It told a story from many different perspectives regarding the alleged rape of a woman and murder of her samurai husband. This film did not only receive high praise but it introduced western audiences to Kurosawa’s unique style of storytelling and camera work. The film won numerous awards throughout Japan, Europe, and the United States. Kurosawa won the Golden Lion Award at the 1951 Venice Film Festival and “Rashomon” won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 24th Academy Awards in March of 1952.
With the success of “Rashomon”, Kurosawa moved on to a drama which is co-wrote and directed name Ikiru and like “Rashomon” the film received outstanding reviews. In late 1952 he started work on a period samurai film called “Seven Samurai”. “Seven Samurai” has often been coined as Kurosawa’s greatest work and the greatest samurai film of all time. Released in Japan in 1954, and in the U.S. (in a cut version) in 1956, "Seven Samurai," a near universal favorite among critics and filmmakers, is a film of stunning technique and astonishing impact. Its battle scenes have been compared to Goya's paintings and the Russian film classics of Eisenstein and Dovzhenko (Michael Wilminton, 2002). The film consisted of a veteran cast many of whom Kurosawa collaborated with before in previous films to include Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune whom he collaborated with in ‘Drunken Angel” and “Rashomon”. For his efforts Kurosawa was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the 1954 Venice Film Festival and Toshiro Mifune won the Silver Lion Award. The film was also nominated for numerous Awards at the 1956 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and the 1957 Academy Awards. This was also Kurosawa’s third collaboration with Toshiro Mifune whom was lauded for his performance as a Yakuza with tuberculosis in the film “Drunken Angel” and as the bandit on trial for rape and murder in the film “Rashomon’. The two would go on to collaborate with each other for thirteen other films after the “Seven Samurai” film.
With the exception of Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune is one of the most frequent and most prolific actors whom Kurosawa collaborated with for eighteen years of his fifty-seven year career. Kurosawa and Mifune would collaborate with one another in sixteen films, the first being Drunken Angel. Many of the films that two collaborated together on are highly regarded and are considered classics. Like Kurosawa, Mifune’s breakout came in the film “Drunken Angel” and he received his international fame through the film “Rashomon”. Many of the films that Mifune performed in that were directed by Kurosawa were applauded. Gary Arnold of the Washington Times stated that their frequent collaboration was an extraordinary blend of filmmaking and performing prowess made familiar in such historically evocative classics as "Rashomon," "Seven Samurai," "Throne of Blood," "Yojimbo," "Sanjuro" and "The Hidden Fortress." The partnership began in 1947 and endured through 1965 (Arnold, 2002). It was the film “Red Beard” that would ultimately divide the two men and due to differences during that film the two men would never collaborate again. Both would go on to make other films with Kurosawa becoming less productive and Mifune becoming more prolific as time passed. Mifune went on to other project and even enhancing his popularity amongst western audiences through his portrayal in “Shogun” Mifune has received many awards and honors in his own right. Along with his numerous film awards and nominations Mifune went on to receive the Order of the Sacred Treasure 3rd Class in 1993 and the Medal of Honor with purple ribbon in 1986 for his contributions in film. Even though Kurosawa continued to make films he never received the acclaim he did early in his career.
Kurosawa was undoubtedly a master of cinema. Ironically, however, appreciation of his filmmaking seems to have frozen when he was in his early 50s (Cohen-Shalev, 2008). Many of Kurosawa’s works after the split with Mifune on “Red Beard” were panned and harshly criticized. Paradoxically, Kurosawa remained Japan's best-known director, but his insistence on artistic control and a free budgetary hand dried up the financing for his films, and the newer generation of Japanese filmmakers tended to reject him as too Western. In 1971 discouragement and ill health led to a suicide attempt. However, Kurosawa was able to recover from the suicide attempt and was able to direct a film called “Dersu Uzala” in 1975. The film was Kurosawa’s first non-Japanese spoken film and won a 1975 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Even with this success of “Dersu Uzala” time between productions of Kurosawa began to widen and he was not putting out as much work has he had earlier in his career. In 1990 Kurosawa received the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his contributions in cinema. His work has gone on to influence countless filmmakers and this can be seen throughout many of the films across the globe.
Kurosawa’s influence has spanned the Hollywood greats – giants such as Martin Scorsese, Spielberg and George Lucas have acknowledged a debt to him (Mason, 2004). Many actors and filmmakers have been influenced by Kurosawa’s works. Many of his films have influenced and set the guidelines for many of the films we see today. Additionally, numerous films that he has done have been remade by different filmmakers such as John Sturges, Walter Hill, and Sergio Leone. The film “Magnificent Seven” directed by John Sturges and starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson was a western take on Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”. The 1964 film “A Fistful of Dollars” directed by Sergio Leone was another western take on a film the Kurosawa and Mifune collaborated on called Yojimbo. Kurosawa’s work was even remade into a more contemporary setting such as in the 1996 film “Last Man Standing” which starred Bruce Willis and was directed by Walter Hill. Even after his death in 1998 Kurosawa work was still being copied His work had been reworked, revamped, and recently remade as recent as 2012 with the film “Masquerade” directed by Korean director Chang-min Choo. DreamWorks is planning to remake “Ikiru” (To Live), a Kurosawa film admired by Steven Spielberg (Mason, 2004). The influences of Kurosawa’s works can be seen in many films and it’s obvious that he has influenced generations of filmmakers.
Director Akira Kurosawa was highly revered. He is the most prolific director in Japanese cinema and is arguably one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers in the history of cinema. His career that spanned nearly sixty years and has received much critical acclaim and even though that acclaim started to fade later in life he is still highly regarded. His successes and unique style of storytelling in such films such as Drunken Angel, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo are staples in cinematic history. Additionally, his many collaborations with the great Toshiro Mifune whom he collaborated with on sixteen of his films only supports the argument that Kurosawa is the most influential and innovative filmmaker in history. It is almost impossible to mention Mifune without mentioning Kurosawa and vice-versa. There is no debating that these two were a dynamic-duo and that Kurosawa was an extremely talented filmmaker. I can see why Akira Kurosawa was nicknamed and regarded as “The Emperor” of cinema.

References
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