Japanese Directors - Akira Kurosawa

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Japanese Directors - Akira Kurosawa

Eclipse Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa During the Occupation and the early postwar period when Akira Kurosawa rose to international prominence with Rashomon and Seven Samurai, he directed a number of pensive dramas that were overshadowed by these masterpieces. Five are collected here. No Regrets for Our Youth (1946, 110 mins.) is arguably his first great film, featuring a commanding performance by Setsuko Hara as a woman whose life unfolds against the backdrop of Japanese militarist society. The beautifully realized, stylistically adventurous One Wonderful Sunday (1947, 108 mins.) tells the simultaneously sentimental and ironic story of a young, poor couple whose Sunday afternoon in bustling Tokyo is threatened by weather and money. The director's eleventh film, Scandal (1950, 105 mins.), targets moral corruption by way of a courtroom drama. Drawing from Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot (1951, 166 mins.) finds Kurosawa transposing this bitter story to postwar Japan, where a war criminal sentenced to death is pardoned, only to turn into an idiot prone to epileptic fits. Lastly, in I Live in Fear (1955, 105 mins.), Toshiro Mifune is the aging head of a Tokyo family, terrified by the prospect of a nuclear war. Eclipse from The Criterion Collection. 5-DVD set. In Japanese with optional English subtitles. Japan, 1946-1955, 594 mins. DVD $89

The Bad Sleep Well Akira Kurosawa One of Kurosawa's best films, in some ways a prophetic work set in the circles of corporate government and corporations. The film is a black, twisted story of revenge in which a grieving son takes on powerful business and political figures, marrying the daughter of his superior as part of his plan to avenge the death of his father. Set up as a tantalizing thriller, Kurosawa's melodrama is laced with irony and bitter, grotesque humor. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1960, 151 mins. DVD $44.95

Dersu Uzala Akira Kurosawa Kurosawa's remarkable personal tale of the friendship between a wise old man and a young, Soviet explorer. Filmed in the beautiful expanse of Siberia, it is a unique story of man's unity with nature, and a powerful testament to faith. "...Dersu Uzala brings moments of real majesty. It is the clear resonance of genius; Kurosawa can find grandeur in the intimate as well as the infinite" (Jay Cocks, Time). Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Language Film. In Russian with English subtitles. Japan/USSR, 1975, 140 mins. DVD $44.95

Dreams Akira Kurosawa From master director Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Kagemusha, Ran) comes perhaps his most personal film. Dreams is an omnibus of eight fascinating episodes dealing with war, childhood fears, the nuclear power question and man's never-ending need to harmonize with nature. Featuring breathtaking visual sequences and Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh. "A magnificent, immensely absorbing experience" (The Washington Post). In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1990, 120 mins. DVD $37.95

Drunken Angel Akira Kurosawa Takashi Shimura plays a doctor who tries to bring about the spiritual and physical recovery of the human debris who live in the ashes of a poor quarter of Tokyo immediately after the war. Toshiro Mifune is an uprooted petty gambler and black-marketeer committed to life outside the law. "Akira Kurosawa's first critical success is an odd blend of American film noir and Italian neorealism" (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader). The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition with a newly restored hi-def digital transfer, and includes audio commentary featuring Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie, a 30-minute documentary on the making of Drunken Angel created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, Kurosawa and the Censors, a new video piece that looks at the challenges Kurosawa faced in making the film, new and improved English subtitle translation, plus an essay by cultural historian Ian Buruma and a reprint from Kurosawa's Something Like An Autobiography. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1948, 98 mins. DVD $59

The Hidden Fortress Akira Kurosawa Set during Japan's feudal wars, this restored version of Akira Kurosawa's drama concerns a gilded princess and her loyal general who undertake a dangerous journey to their homeland, assisted only by a pair of misfits and pursued by warriors and bandits attempting to loot their gold and valuable possessions. Beautifully photographed in widescreen by Ichio Yamazaki, this classic was the main inspiration for George Lucas' Star Wars. With Toshiro Mifune, Misa Uehara and Minoru Chiaki. Thirteen minutes cut from the original Japanese release in the U.S. have been restored for this edition. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1958, 139 mins. DVD $44.95

High and Low Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of an Ed McBain mystery stars two of Japan's greats, Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai, in a riveting American-style thriller set in modern-day Yokohama. Mifune stars as a self-made tycoon targeted by kidnappers. When he realizes they have taken his chauffeur's son and not his own, the millionaire faces a moral dilemma: to save the boy or save his empire from financial ruin. "One of the best detective thrillers ever filmed" (The New York Times). Japanese with new English subtitles, letterboxed. Japan, 1963, 142 mins. DVD $59

Ikiru Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa moved outside his usual stylistic preoccupations to make this poetic and emotionally powerful work about a gravely ill, quiet and dignified civil servant who vows to find grace and purpose in his final months, through the building of a public park. It's a thoughtful, contemplative, lyrical work centered by Takashi Shimura's virtuoso performance. With Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki and Miki Odagiri. The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition, with restored image and sound, and includes a commentary by author Stephen Prince; the documentary, A Message from Akira Kurosawa (2000, 90 mins.); a 41-minute documentary on Ikiru from the series, Akira Kurosawa: To Create is Beautiful; the original theatrical trailer; and more. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1952, 143 mins. DVD $59

Kagemusha Akira Kurosawa A masterpiece. Set in 1531 Japan torn by civil strife, Kagemusha deals with a mighty Japanese warlord and his commoner look-alike who, after the warlord's death, is used to keep his clan together. Tatsuya Nakadai is superb in the dual role of the war lord and his double, both caught up in the swirl of history as the mighty powers clash in fierce battles and political intrigue. Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes. This is a letterboxed 2-DVD Criterion Collection Edition, and includes audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince, a 40-minute making-of documentary created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create; Helping a Master: Coppola, Lucas, and Kagemusha: new video interviews with executive producers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, Image: Kurosawa's Continuity: a new featurette that reconstructs Kagemusha through Kurosawa's paintings and sketches, new essays by Darrell Davis and Peter Grilli, biographical sketches by Japanese film historian Donald Richie, new English subtitles, and more. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1980, 180 mins. DVD $59

The Lower Depths Akira Kurosawa/Jean Renoir The Criterion Collection presents two dramatically different interpretations of Maxim Gorky's classic play by two cinematic visionaries. Akira Kurosawa's masterful reworking of The Lower Depths, Donzoko (1957, Japan, 125 mins.), uses foundations of Japanese Noh theatre and is set in Edo during the last Tokugawa period. A rare ensemble effect is achieved from the actors in this moving story of a group of destitute people living in a rooming house. "A fascinating work" (Time). In Japanese with English subtitles. Jean Renoir's adaptation of The Lower Depths, Les Bas-fonds (1936, France, 85 mins.), is a feast for the eyes and intellect. Made amidst the rise of Nazism in Germany and the Popular Front in France, Renoir transforms the play to fit the times, offering the possibility of hope to the derelicts. This two-DVD set is a Criterion Collection Edition; Kurosawa's film includes a commentary by Donald Ritchie, a behind-the-scenes documentary, the original theatrical trailer, cast bios, an essay by authors Keiko McDonald and Thomas Rimer, and more; Renoir's film includes an essay by film scholar Alexander Sesonske. Both films include optional English subtitles. Japan/France, 1957/1936, 210 mins. DVD $59

Quiet Duel Akira Kurosawa Based on a play by Kazuo Kikuta, this early Kurosawa film concerns an army surgeon who, during a life-saving operation, contaminates himself with syphilis which, at the time, was virtually incurable. Now suffering with the dreaded disease, he is forced to abandon his fiancee but finds the faith to redouble his work to restore people to health, including the man from whom he contracted the disease. With Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Miki Sanjko. Includes interview with cinematographer Setsuo Kobayashi, actress Miki Sanjo, and composer Akira Ifukube, news reports from the set of the movie, trailer, and liner notes by critic Stuart Galbraith. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1949, 95 mins. DVD $44.95

Ran Akira Kurosawa Kurosawa's masterpiece is a decade-in-the-making version of King Lear that brilliantly blends Japanese history with Shakespeare's themes. A triumphant film about ruthless ambition, evil plots and "Chaos"--the meaning of the title in Japanese. 2-DVD Criterion Collection Edition. Letterboxed. Includes appreciation featurette with Sidney Lumet, A.K. making-of documentary (Chris Marker, 1985, 74 mins.), Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create making-of featurette, Image: Kurosawa's Continuity reconstruction featurette, interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai, trailer, essays by film critic Michael Wilmington and Shakespeare scholar Anthony Davis, and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1985, 160 mins. DVD $59

Rashomon Akira Kurosawa A cinematic landmark, a brilliant study of the nature of truth. Set in the 12th century, as a samurai and his wife are traveling through the woods near Kyoto. They are attacked by a bandit, the wife raped and the husband killed. Four different versions of the incident are told by the participants and a woodcutter who was a witness. Toshiro Mifune stars in Kurosawa's undisputed masterpiece, a film that revolutionized the very language of film. Japanese with English subtitles. The DVD is a Criterion Collection edition. and includes commentary by film historian Donald Richie; introduction by Robert Altman; excerpts from The World of Kazuo Miyagawa, a documentary about the film's cinematographer; reprints of Rashomon source stories; excerpt from Kurosawa's autobiography; theatrical trailer; and optional English dubbing. Japan, 1950, 89 mins. DVD $59

Red Beard Akira Kurosawa This offbeat work from the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, mixing the styles of soap opera and the action flick, stands apart from all his other films in terms of its unusual shifts in tone. It concerns the legendary doctor called Red Beard who attempts to influence his disciples to turn away from private practice to use their skills on the poor and sick. "The film bowls along magnificently in a weird mixture of genuine emotion, absurdity and poetic fantasy" (Tom Milne, Time Out). With Toshiro Mifune as Dr. Gillespie, Yuzo Kayama, and Yoshio Tsuchiya. The DVD is a Criterion Collection edition, letterboxed, 16x9 widescreen, and includes audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince, notes by film historian Donald Richie, and original theatrical trailer.In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1965, 185 mins. DVD $59

Rhapsody in August Akira Kurosawa This moving drama, set in Nagasaki, explores the trauma of World War II and the aftereffects of the atomic bomb. Four children on a visit to their grandmother in this historic town are invited to Hawaii by their American relations. This sets off a chain of painful memories that are finally confronted when an American cousin (Richard Gere) arrives. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1991, 98 mins. DVD $37.95

The Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa Set in medieval Japan, Kurosawa's epic centers on a group of impoverished peasants who enlist the protection of seven unemployed samurai to defend their property and harvest from the brutal bandits who terrorize their village. The film is groundbreaking for its visual intensity, stylistic command of movement, space and action, and its expressive emotional range and social criticism. The battle sequences are frightening, devastating and eerie. Cinematography by Asaichi Nakai. With Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba and Toshiro Mifune. 3-DVD Criterion Collection Edition. Includes commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie, commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck, making-of featurette from the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create (50 mins.), video conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima (120 mins.), Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences documentary, trailer and teaser, gallery of posters and behind-the-scenes and production stills, essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Kenneth Turan, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sidney Lumet, interview with Toshiro Mifune, and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1954, 208 mins. DVD $69

Stray Dog Akira Kurosawa A first-rate thriller in which Kurosawa has acknowledged his debt to Georges Simenon. Toshiro Mifune plays rookie Detective Murakami, who loses his gun only to discover that it has fallen into the hands of a killer. Terrified of losing his job, his search takes him into the Tokyo underworld, full of postwar shortages, "divinely hellish under Kurosawa's odd-angled lensing and staccato editing...Stray Dog is a Dostoevskian saga of guilt, and expiation, by association" (Pacific Film Archive). The DVD is a Criterion Collection edition, and includes a commentary by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa; Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, a 32-min. documentary on the making of Stray Dog; a booklet featuring Kurosawa on Stray Dog, an excerpt from his autobiography, and essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Chris Fujiwara; optional English subtitles; and more. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1949, 122 mins. DVD $59

Throne of Blood Akira Kurosawa Kurosawa's brilliant interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth shifts the action to 16th century feudal Japan, where a samurai is motivated by his ambitious wife and a spirit to kill his friend. The movie balances stylized action and movement of the Noh theater with the intensity of the American western. Kurosawa and cinematographer Asaichi Nakai create a foreboding atmosphere in the castles and landscape. With Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada and Minoru Chiaki. In Japanese with English subtitles. DVD is a Criterion Collection edition and includes audio commentary by Japanese-film expert Michael Jack, the original theatrical trailer, optional English subtitles, two alternative subtitle translations & notes on subtitling, an essay by Stephen Prince, and more. Japan, 1957, 110 mins. DVD $59

Yojimbo / Sanjuro: Two Films by Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa This set combines two timeless, borderless masterpieces by Akira Kurosawa and his trusty thespian, Toshiro Mifune. The director's first full-length comedy, Yojimbo stars Mifune as the unemployed samurai warrior who comes to a small village torn apart by two warring factions. "Explosively comic and exhilarating," said Pauline Kael. Mifune returns to help a group of very earnest, very green, very young samurai rid their clan of corruption in Sanjuro. As in Yojimbo, much of the comic effect comes from imaginative composition and incongruous movement. Criterion Collection edition. Newly restored high-definition digital transfers, commentaries, making of docs, photo galleries, scholarly essays, and much more. In Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1961/1962, 206 mins. DVD $89

Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa Kurosawa's first full-length comedy. Toshiro Mifune is the unemployed samurai warrior who comes to a small village torn apart by two warring factions where he is hired first by one side, then by the other. "Explosively comic and exhilarating," said Pauline Kael. Criterion Collection edition. Letterboxed. Newly restored high-definition digital transfer, optional Dolby Digital 3.0 soundtrack, audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, a documentary on the making of Yojimbo, trailer, stills gallery, and improved English subtitles. Japanese with English subtitles. Japan, 1961, 110 mins. DVD $59