Kurosawa Akira, born in Tokyo, was a distinguished film director. After a period of initial struggle, his originality and vividness took him to the peak of his career. He is credited with reviving cinema and for making the entire world look up to and critically appreciate Japanese cinema, which was, till then, always scorned at, by the West. He is renowned for his adaptation of the techniques of the Noh theater to film making. He made classic movies like Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Ran and several others. He was deeply inclined to western literature and adopted it in his work. Apart from directing, he also wrote scripts and produced movies. He wrote a few books as well, including an autobiography. The admiration for his work was to the extent that his movies were remade in several languages, and he was invited by many great producers of the world, to direct their movies. He won several awards from all parts of the world; including the Oscar, which he won thrice in his lifetime. On one side, his life was full of rewards, honors, success and fame and on the other side there was disdain, failure, and suicidal depression. His dauntless pursuit for perfection saw him on the peak of world cinema.
Akira Kurosawa, born on March 23, 1910 in Tokyo, was the youngest of four brothers and four sisters. His father, Isamu, was a director of a junior high school and his mother; Shima came from a merchant family in Osaka. His pre-primary education was done in Shingawa, Tokyo. As a child, he aspired to be a painter. He graduated at the age of 18 on March 1928 and decided to join an art school but did not manage to clear the the entrance exams. However, he was skilled enough to have his work selected for inclusion in the Nika Society Exhibition.
Vocation
He was exposed to movies early in life. His brother worked as a film narrator and commentator who helped translate foreign films into Japanese. As a result, Akira often went to theaters and was greatly inspired by the cinematic world. Although his dreams of being a painter were shattered when he failed in the entrance exams to the arts school, he would later realize that it was to be a big boon as he would eventually pave his way into the film world, where he would rise to fame and fortune.
He applied in response to a recruitment advertisement for an assistant director of PCL (a reputed film making company), and was selected. His talent surfaced right from the start. Though he worked under Yamamoto, a well-established director then, Akira was not afraid to take decisions even while his mentor hesitated, and thus gained respect and admiration from everyone. He worked as an assistant director under some well-known directors and picked up the nuances of movie making while simultaneously retaining his originality. Thereafter, Toho combined PCL and three other companies, forming another film making company. Due to his endowment and the innate quality, he soon rose to the post of chief assistant director. He industriously worked for almost three and a half years, before moving on to become a director.
As a director, his first movie was Sugata Sanshiro, which was released in 1943. This movie was packed with entertainment and was youth oriented. His second movie, The Most Beautiful, was released in 1944. It depicted the way the Japanese lived during the ongoing World War II at that time. The beauty of the movie lay in the fact that though it had the war as the backdrop, it portrayed no hostile scenes.
Soon after the release of Sanshiro Sugata Part II, he married Yoko Yaguchi, the leading actress of this movie, on May 21, 1945. Later, in the same year they were blessed with a son. After the release of several movies like No Regrets For Our Youth, One Wonderful Sunday, Drunken Angel, The Quiet Duel, Stray Dog, Scandal; the movie that changed Akira and the future of Japanese cinema, Rashomon, was released in Japan. The movie was based on the theme of murder and rape. The protagonist in this movie rapes the victim in front of her husband; and later kills the husband ruthlessly. This movie differed a great deal from ordinary cinema. The viewers were startled to see the visual artistry and the lewder aspects of the film. The following year, the movie went on to pickup the Grand Prix at Venice Film Festival for its high artistic excellence. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. On release of this movie in New York, a noticeable change in the attitude and manner in the West prevailed over perception of Japanese cinema. It was a milestone in Kurosawa’s career.
In 1952, Kurosawa was blessed with a daughter and the same year two more of his movies; The Men Who Tread On The Tiger’s Tail and Ikiru were released.
In Ikiru, the director dealt with the personal dilemmas of a common man. The central character of this movie, Kankji Watanabe, discovers that he has terminal stomach cancer and just one year to live. He had been living the life of a low level bureaucrat till then, but is forced to ponder on his life and the ways of spending his last year. Estranged by his family and swallowed up by the fear and anxiety that the situation has thrown, he decides to live the life of desire that he had denied himself till then. The movie forced the viewers to consider the grim side of reality and the efforts of Kurosawa were again highly appreciated. The movie was honored with the Silver Bear Prize at Berlin. Another trophy amongh his magnum opus, Shichinin no Samurai (The Seven Samurai) was released. The movie took more than a year to be completed. The story underlined both the encounters, the thrill for the common audience and the humanitarian side for the class audience; and was played marvelously by his characters and touching the tender hearts of audience’s. It was staged in the 16th century, on the farming community. After getting to know about a raid that is planned on them, the villagers, who are lacking self-defense, seek help from the wandering Samurai warriors.
They come to meet the Samurai leader, Kambei, who has shaved off his head to pose as a monk and also rescues a child from kidnappers. This noble act attracts the villagers to the seven samurai.
Kambei forms his own army of seven men and trains them rigorously. Together they plan and build up defenses. In return for their help, the villagers house and feed the samurais, but there is an air of mistrust on both sides.
In the final battle, all the bandits and four of the samurai are killed. Once the enemy is defeated, the villagers return to their conventional life style and though being grateful to the samurais for their help, the villagers are unable to overcome their abhorrence for them. The samurais realize this and decide to move on.
Apart from winning the Silver Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival, The Seven Samurai, is also acclaimed for commencing a new technique, to provide a feeling of intimacy in the movies. Kurosawa used the technique of cutting together individual shots of different running samurai using a super-powered telephoto lens. The movie was also nominated for the Oscar and Bafta awards.
Kurosawa was influenced to a great extent by western literature; and this is evident in his adaptation of western work in his movies. His Throne of Blood was interpreted from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Ran was his version of King Lear. After the release of several films like The Hidden Fortress, The Lower Depths and Throne of Blood, he established Kurosawa Productions. He was the President of this institution and began producing his own works.
He took his work in all earnestness. When he was to direct a movie on Olympics, he toured Europe and visited Rome Olympics. By this time he had directed several movies, which were popular. Kurosawa worked with several other Productions. He joined hands with 20th Century Fox to co-produce and direct Tora Tora Tora.
The director’s temper came in the way of the smooth preparations of the movie and the deal was called off. The incident had adverse effect not just on his career but also on his personal life. In 1970, he released his first full color movie, Dodes’Ka-den. Afterwards he headed to the Soviet Union to direct Dersu Uzala. The movie was based upon a true story from Russia’s Czarist past : a local tribesman saved a group of Russians exploring around Siberia. The director was given a free hand to treat the subject according to his taste. Upon its release in Soviet Union, the movie got the Gold Prize at Moscow.
By now he was a well established and an internationally renowned director. For few of his subsequent productions, the funds came from other countries like France and United States.
His autobiography, Gama no Abura (something like an autobiography), an informal book on his reminiscences was published. Later his book Kagemusha was released. Soon a film of the same title, Kagemusha was released and won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
He won a Special Oscar "for accomplishments that have inspired, delighted, enriched and entertained audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world."
He died on September 6, 1998, in Tokyo at the age of 88.
The eminence of Japanese cinema
As mentioned earlier, Rashomon changed not just the attitude of the West towards Japanese or the entire Asian cinema but also transformed the world’s movie business. With this, Kurosawa leapt to international acclaim. Prior to this, Europe and the entire West looked down upon the Asian cinema, alleging that the Asians were inept in making quality cinema. Earlier when only American and European movies were appreciated and viewed widely, this movie heralded Asia’s entry into the exquisite club. Although, prior to Kurosawa’s efforts, there were other directors who had produced quality cinema but their works never reached outside Japan and the majority of Japanese considered that their home productions could never match the international quality. With Rashomon, people’s faith was restored in Japanese cinema and studios began pouring funds into artistic productions. It revived the entire film industry in Japan. Hats off to Kurosawa, for creating a masterpiece, which proclaimed the commencement of the golden era for Japanese movies.
Young Kurosawa aspired to be a painter. He was caught up in the Proletarian art movement, a driving force among the intellectuals and young artists. Here, he also got himself into trouble by publicizing the illegal political activities. The police began trailing him and he spent his time dodging the police. This exhausted him both physically and mentally and by the time he was through, he had lost all his desire for painting. This change in his passion was responsible in making him respond to the advertisement of PCL and eventually succeeding in getting selected as assistant director.
Rashomon brought a sea of change in the life of Kurosawa. He was at his best in moviemaking at that stage. This consequently brought many offers from other countries as well. One such offer was from 20th Century Fox to jointly work on a movie Tora Tora Tora. Kurosawa spent three years working on it, but by now was used to having his own way; and when he started losing his temper often on the sets, the American studio released him from the project. This was very embarrassing as well as disappointing for him. It even affected his next creation, Dodesukaden, where his qualitative work had gone astray. In 1971 he attempted suicide, slashing his wrists and neck and though the exact reason for his attempted suicide is still unknown; it is largely believed that he was dissatisfied with life to a great extent. He perhaps was not able to bear failure and frustration may have put him in dire straits.
Kurosawa had been creating masterpieces after Rashomon. His work became an inspiration for the West also; and the Europeans and the Americans alike adapted his movies. His 1961 release Yojinbo was an all time great movie. Sergio Leone made a ‘remake’ of this movie titled A Fistful Of Dollars without the explicit permission of Kurosawa. On strong protests against this, Kurosawa was compensated with $ 1,00,000 and also got the production rights for Japan, Taiwan and Korea.
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