Wednesday was the 100th birthday of revered Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1998). The Daily Mirror has a collection of tributes from Kurosawa's fellow filmmakers -- one for each decade. Here they are:
1. Jaws and E.T. director Steven Spielberg once called Kurosawa "the pictorial Shakespeare of our time".
2. Despite only seeing one of Kurosawa's films, Seven Samurai, Italian director Federico Fellini described him as "the greatest living example of what an author of the cinema should be."
3. Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci said of the Japanese film-maker: "Kurosawa's movies and La Dolce Vita, Fellini, are the things that pushed me, sucked into being a film director."
4. American director Sidney Lumet said: "Kurosawa never affected me directly in terms of my own movie-making because I never would have presumed that I was capable of that perception and that vision."
5. American film-maker Sam Peckinpah said: "I'd like to be able to make a Western like Kurosawa makes Westerns."
6. Swedish director Ingmar Bergman said of Kurosawa: "Now I want to make it plain that The Virgin Spring must be regarded as an aberration. It's touristic, a lousy imitation of Kurosawa."
7. Martin Scorsese said of Kurasawa: "His influence on filmmakers throughout the entire world is so profound as to be almost incomparable."
8. Francis Ford Coppola paid his own tribute, saying: "One thing that distinguishes Akira Kurosawa that he didn't make a masterpiece or two masterpieces, he made, you know, eight masterpieces."
9. Chinese director John Woo said: "I love Kurosawa's movies, and I got so much inspiration from him. He is one of my idols and one of the great masters."
10. German director Werner Herzog said: "Of the film-makers with whom I feel some kinship Griffith, Murnau, Pudovkin, Bunuel and Kurosawa come to mind. Everything these men did has the touch of greatness."
I've watched many if not most of Kurosawa's films. My best friend, a film maker, introduced me to them. It's interesting how Kurosawa changed over time, especially in how he portrayed women. I've been to Japan and walked the sets at the Kyoto museum of film in which some of his samurai films were shot. The relationship between Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune is also interesting. I believe no assessment of Kurosawa is complete without taking Mifune's influence into account.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese mind is still a mystery to me, one that I want to penetrate, and watching Kurosawa's films has helped me to make at least a modest beginning.
I've only scratched the surface of Kurosawa, but I agree with your comments. Ikiru has been a revelation to me. Thanks for stopping by. It's always good to hear from other film lovers.
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