Akira Kurosawa is known as one of the greatest filmmakers in history. His impressive catalogue includes ground-breaking hits such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood; these are just a few of his films that completely shook up cinema. Kurosawa’s work is highlighly regarded, but there is one film that is rightly seen as his worst – I Live in Fear. The movie follows … Continue reading 65 Years: I Live In Fear Review
Celebrating over 100 years of Japanese cinema, the BFI are launching an event starting on 11 May until October 2020. Originally scheduled to run across the UK from May to September, they’ve decided to launch the collection on the BFI player for fans of cinema to honour these Japanese treasures. From the golden age of Japanese cinema to the J-horror craze, here are our top … Continue reading Top Five Picks from the BFI Japan 2020
Released in Japan on the 24th of August 1950, Rashomon is a film that changed the world. The film went on to be entered at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, and it became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion. After that moment, the film industry we knew had changed. Akira Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, and his debut film, Sanshiro … Continue reading Celebrating 70 years since the release of Kurosawa’s Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa’s style arguably developed during Drunken Angel (1948), as it starred one of his muses Toshiro Mifune and was scored by his friend Fumio Hayasaka. That’s why it is hardly a surprise to find out that his films prior to this are often forgotten or written off as his experimental period. Kurosawa’s first film was in fact Sanshiro Sugata (1943), and based off the … Continue reading Master in Training: Kurosawa’s first film!
Seven Samurai (1954), which is one of Kurosawa’s most recognisable films, and was a success in Japan and the West too as Seven Samurai made more money than any other film that year and won a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Kurosawa could finally make jidaigeki films with no barriers, and he began to have more freedom to make a variety of genre … Continue reading Seven Samurai
Drunken Angel, aka 酔いどれ天使 Yoidore tenshi, is a drama film directed by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The film stars his two favourite actors Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune. Drunken Angel is the first film collaboration between Mifune and Kurosawa, but most definitely not the last. The films Kurosawa made prior to this were often not reflecting his style of filmmaking. Despite being an Occupation … Continue reading Drunken Angel
Chelichan Blog 