One of Hollywood's most frustrating recent news stories is that Francis Ford Coppola is having trouble finding distribution for his self-funded passion project, "Megalopolis" (via The Hollywood Reporter). In a just world, making "The Godfather" would grant Coppola a lifetime blank check, but that has never been the world we've lived in.
What you may not be aware of is one of Coppola's influences for his magnum opus. Like his friend "Star Wars" director George Lucas, Coppola looked to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. While Lucas took after Kurosawa's Jidaigeki (historical) films, Coppola looked to one of the director's contemporary-set films: "The Bad Sleep Well."
Released in 1960 and starring his go-to leading man Toshiro Mifune, the movie is one of Kurosawa's (comparatively) more obscure ones. It was especially overshadowed by "High and Low," the masterful kidnapping thriller that Kurosawa and Mifune released in 1963. Both movies are set in the world of...
What you may not be aware of is one of Coppola's influences for his magnum opus. Like his friend "Star Wars" director George Lucas, Coppola looked to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. While Lucas took after Kurosawa's Jidaigeki (historical) films, Coppola looked to one of the director's contemporary-set films: "The Bad Sleep Well."
Released in 1960 and starring his go-to leading man Toshiro Mifune, the movie is one of Kurosawa's (comparatively) more obscure ones. It was especially overshadowed by "High and Low," the masterful kidnapping thriller that Kurosawa and Mifune released in 1963. Both movies are set in the world of...
- 4/15/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
It all began with the sound of thundering footsteps and a now-iconic roar before giving way to Akira Ifukube’s equally iconic music. Japanese cinema and monster movies worldwide would never be the same again. In the beginning, Godzilla represented the ultimate in fear and destruction. A creature so colossal, he could lay waste to entire cities just by lumbering through them and swinging his mighty tail before setting them ablaze with a burst of his atomic breath. Over the years he evolved from national terror to national treasure, becoming a protector and kind of mascot to the nation of Japan. He was transplanted and championed all over the world. Eventually he became a joke and a marketing tool used to sell everything from Fiats, to Snickers bars, to Nike shoes in a one-on-one pickup game with Charles Barkley. Within the past year, Godzilla has come full circle with the...
- 1/24/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
Watanabe reaps the benefits of his efforts to build a playground despite all the obstacles bureaucracy puts in his way, in his own distinct fashion. He walks to a playground where he sits on a swing and lingers while singing his favorite song. The thick snow that is falling does not seem to bother him and eventually, the fact that he died during this night is revealed.
“Ikiru” was the first film where Kurosawa decided to do his own editing and the result was magnificent, particularly in this scene, where his entire technical prowess is highlighted. Kurosawa magnificently combines the white snow, the dark night, the cold breath that comes out of Watanabe's mouth as he walks toward the swing, his later swinging, and the song that comes softly out of his mouth, “Gondola No Uta”.
The result is very touching, visually striking and provides a clear message regarding the...
“Ikiru” was the first film where Kurosawa decided to do his own editing and the result was magnificent, particularly in this scene, where his entire technical prowess is highlighted. Kurosawa magnificently combines the white snow, the dark night, the cold breath that comes out of Watanabe's mouth as he walks toward the swing, his later swinging, and the song that comes softly out of his mouth, “Gondola No Uta”.
The result is very touching, visually striking and provides a clear message regarding the...
- 1/7/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan’s most iconic giant monster is set for a big screen return in Takashi Yamazaki’s upcoming film “Godzilla Minus One.” Until that day, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the long-lasting legacy of “Godzilla.” Originally conceived as a metaphor for the horrors of nuclear warfare, the kaiju has seen its fair share of unique variations. Yet, the beauty of why this character remains solidified in cinema history is for the ideas that come with its creation and existence, along with many unique interpretations. Like many movie series, the franchise’s quality frequently fluctuates, yet plenty of these movies are good, some even fantastic. Here is an exploration of the King of the Monsters’ finest hits throughout the years.
Buy This Title
on Amazon 1. Godzilla (1954)
The original film that started it all. “Godzilla” remains a masterpiece all these years later. Ishiro Honda weaves together a simplistic yet...
Buy This Title
on Amazon 1. Godzilla (1954)
The original film that started it all. “Godzilla” remains a masterpiece all these years later. Ishiro Honda weaves together a simplistic yet...
- 10/8/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi."
"I grew up in a small town in northern California," George Lucas once related during a 2001 interview for the Criterion Collection's edition of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." "The movie theatres there didn't show much more than 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'The Blob.' So I didn't really experience foreign films until I found my way into film school. At that point is when I was exposed to Kurosawa. A friend of mine, John Milius, was actually a huge fan of Kurosawa's, so whenever a film was showing, he'd say, 'Oh, you gotta come see this.' The first one I saw was 'Seven Samurai,' and then after that I was completely hooked. I said, 'This is really good.'"
In order to understand the DNA of "Star Wars," one must understand the film DNA of Kurosawa -- specifically,...
"I grew up in a small town in northern California," George Lucas once related during a 2001 interview for the Criterion Collection's edition of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." "The movie theatres there didn't show much more than 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'The Blob.' So I didn't really experience foreign films until I found my way into film school. At that point is when I was exposed to Kurosawa. A friend of mine, John Milius, was actually a huge fan of Kurosawa's, so whenever a film was showing, he'd say, 'Oh, you gotta come see this.' The first one I saw was 'Seven Samurai,' and then after that I was completely hooked. I said, 'This is really good.'"
In order to understand the DNA of "Star Wars," one must understand the film DNA of Kurosawa -- specifically,...
- 9/7/2023
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi."
The fourth installment of "Star Wars: Ahsoka," titled "Fallen Jedi", pulls no punches when it comes to having the situation go from bad to worse. As the forces of evil led by the descendent of the Witches of Dathomir, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) work to extract the information from the map to find Grand Admiral Thrawn (the still unseen Lars Mikkelsen), Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) work to repair their ship. After it got shot down last episode, they need to get it back in the air or retrieve the map personally. While Huyang (David Tennant) attempts repairs, Ahsoka and Sabine take to the forest. They're stopped by Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) and Marrok (Paul Darnell), who engage them in an intense fight in the woods. Though Huyang warned Ahsoka and Sabine to stay together,...
The fourth installment of "Star Wars: Ahsoka," titled "Fallen Jedi", pulls no punches when it comes to having the situation go from bad to worse. As the forces of evil led by the descendent of the Witches of Dathomir, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) work to extract the information from the map to find Grand Admiral Thrawn (the still unseen Lars Mikkelsen), Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) work to repair their ship. After it got shot down last episode, they need to get it back in the air or retrieve the map personally. While Huyang (David Tennant) attempts repairs, Ahsoka and Sabine take to the forest. They're stopped by Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) and Marrok (Paul Darnell), who engage them in an intense fight in the woods. Though Huyang warned Ahsoka and Sabine to stay together,...
- 9/6/2023
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
There are great films in the canon that cinema purists consider to be hands-off when it comes to remakes — especially anything in the filmography of the great Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. But when you have a script written by Kazuo Ishiguro, the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day, an English-language adaptation of the filmmaker’s 1952 drama, Ikiru, immediately becomes a prestige project rather than a regurgitation of art house IP.
Members of the Academy clearly think so too, as Sony Pictures Classics’ Living earned first-time Oscar nominations for both Ishiguro and the film’s star, Bill Nighy, for whom Ishiguro wrote his gentlemanly protagonist Mr. Williams. Set a year after Kurosawa’s original film was released, Living follows the humdrum life of a stoic London bureaucrat and widower whose life is upended when he receives a fatal diagnosis. With his time running out, Mr. Williams begins to...
Members of the Academy clearly think so too, as Sony Pictures Classics’ Living earned first-time Oscar nominations for both Ishiguro and the film’s star, Bill Nighy, for whom Ishiguro wrote his gentlemanly protagonist Mr. Williams. Set a year after Kurosawa’s original film was released, Living follows the humdrum life of a stoic London bureaucrat and widower whose life is upended when he receives a fatal diagnosis. With his time running out, Mr. Williams begins to...
- 3/2/2023
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By the end of the 1940s, director Akira Kurosawa had established himself as a dependable worker for several movie studios, including Daei, who had already produced “The Quiet Duel” in 1949 and who would approach him with the proposal of adapting “In a Grove”, a short story by writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa. At the end of the same year, and despite a fire in the studio, Kurosawa and his team managed to finish “Rashomon”, which would be released in Japan to moderate success, but ultimately to some international attention, such as Giuliana Stramigioli, the president of Venice Film Festival. The rest, as they say, is history, with “Rashomon” becoming a major success for its creator and the Japanese film industry as a whole, whose reputation, even today, relies to some extent on Kurosawa’s works. Despite its role for Japanese culture, “Rashomon” regularly attracts many cinephiles and scholars for its approach to storytelling,...
- 1/28/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Bill Nighy gives the performance of his career in Living as a man facing impending death with the knowledge that he’s never truly lived. His work is so good that, on its own, it’s enough to justify remaking a classic. The fact that Oliver Hermanus’ resulting film isn’t too bad itself is its own sort of miracle.
Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952) has long topped many lists of the best films ever made. A moving and perceptive story about a government bureaucrat examining his life during his final days, it has much on its mind about not only the purpose of life, but also Japanese society in the 1950s. That specificity, along with Kurosawa’s masterful direction and Takashi Shimura’s compelling performance, makes it the definitive “rage against the dying of the light” movie. And while it’s inspired many other films about protagonists grappling with their mortality,...
Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952) has long topped many lists of the best films ever made. A moving and perceptive story about a government bureaucrat examining his life during his final days, it has much on its mind about not only the purpose of life, but also Japanese society in the 1950s. That specificity, along with Kurosawa’s masterful direction and Takashi Shimura’s compelling performance, makes it the definitive “rage against the dying of the light” movie. And while it’s inspired many other films about protagonists grappling with their mortality,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Chris Williams
- CinemaNerdz
The novels of Kazuo Ishiguro have, as the Nobel Prize committee asserted in 2017, “Uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.” The beloved Japanese-born British writer, 68, has gained an international reputation for his coiled, emotional works such as “The Remains of the Day,” “Never Let Me Go” and “The Buried Giant,” among others.
Ishiguro has also written a few movie scripts, including for directors Guy Maddin and James Ivory. But his screenplay of 2022’s “Living,” an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” (1952), set in 1950s London, marks Ishiguro’s purest expression of his talent in the film world. The Nobel committee’s “uncovered the abyss” quote could apply to this story of a reserved bureaucrat (played by an incandescent Bill Nighy) facing his own mortality.
Also Read:
Oscar Nominations 2023: Andrea Riseborough, Brian Tyree Henry and Paul Mescal Break Into the Race (Complete List)
On Tuesday,...
Ishiguro has also written a few movie scripts, including for directors Guy Maddin and James Ivory. But his screenplay of 2022’s “Living,” an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” (1952), set in 1950s London, marks Ishiguro’s purest expression of his talent in the film world. The Nobel committee’s “uncovered the abyss” quote could apply to this story of a reserved bureaucrat (played by an incandescent Bill Nighy) facing his own mortality.
Also Read:
Oscar Nominations 2023: Andrea Riseborough, Brian Tyree Henry and Paul Mescal Break Into the Race (Complete List)
On Tuesday,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Joe McGovern
- The Wrap
The ruined gate of Rashōmon in Kyoto, which acts as the central setting in Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's short story "Rashōmon," had an unsavory reputation during the 12th century. A frequent hideout for thieves and hooligans, the Rashōmon gate came to be known as a symbol of moral degradation, which Akutagawa incorporated in his short to great effect. When filmmaker Akira Kurosawa wove together aspects of two Akutagawa shorts — "Rashōmon" and "In A Grove" — in his 1950 Jidaigeki drama "Rashomon," he transformed the ruined gate into a site of subjective retelling, a sort of moral crossroads where despair and hope coexist. Kurosawa opens "Rashomon" with three men seeking shelter from torrential rain under the ruined gate, which leads to the recounting of a murder mystery with no definite ending. Four eyewitnesses recall a singular incident in the forest in wildly different ways, making the truth impossible to arrive at. What does this all mean?...
- 1/6/2023
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
Yakuza tales drenched in revenge and bloody samurai epics are what most people think of when asked about their favorite Japanese action movies. They wouldn't be wrong, either, as both are essential components of the genre. Japan has one of the oldest film industries in the world, with Thomas Edison's kinetoscope first imported in 1896. Between 1909 and 1928, director Makino Shozo began pumping out films, popularizing period pieces known as jidaigeki.
I bring up jidaigeki movies because they reached new heights by the mid-1940s, thanks to Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa is the gateway to Japanese cinema for many Western audiences. This legendary director incorporated action into his period epics that have since influenced filmmakers globally.
Of course, Kurosawa is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Japanese action films. What fascinates me about these movies is the deep saturation of culture throughout. Filmmakers take their time with certain scenes,...
I bring up jidaigeki movies because they reached new heights by the mid-1940s, thanks to Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa is the gateway to Japanese cinema for many Western audiences. This legendary director incorporated action into his period epics that have since influenced filmmakers globally.
Of course, Kurosawa is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Japanese action films. What fascinates me about these movies is the deep saturation of culture throughout. Filmmakers take their time with certain scenes,...
- 12/27/2022
- by Marta Djordjevic
- Slash Film
From the moment the opening credits start rolling over an overhead view of London’s Piccadilly Square, in all of its mid-20th century glory, Oliver Hermanus’ Living whisks you into a bygone era of Britain. Or, to be more specific, a lost heyday of British cinema, when names like Powell and Pressburger were synonymous with vibrancy and verve, Ealing comedies sold a vision of postwar England that prized both stiff upper lips and smirks, and movies like Brief Encounter pitted emotional repression against raging passion. The vintage font, the...
- 12/24/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Svengoolie, a.k.a. Rich Koz, has been working as a horror host since 1979, and over the decades his show has grown from airing in select areas – Chicago, Milwaukee, and South Bend, for example – to being broadcast nationwide on the MeTV network. And in 2023, Svengoolie’s show is going to be growing in a different way. It’s going to be 30 minutes longer!
Fangoria broke the news that, staring in January, Svengoolie will now air from 8pm to 10:30 pm (Eastern) on Saturday nights. The show’s timeslot had previously been from 8 to 10. Here are the first batch of movies that will benefit from the show’s extended running time:
The Raven: Saturday, January 7 – 8pm-10:30pm Et
Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson (1963) – Horror
Inspired by the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem, a magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.
Fangoria broke the news that, staring in January, Svengoolie will now air from 8pm to 10:30 pm (Eastern) on Saturday nights. The show’s timeslot had previously been from 8 to 10. Here are the first batch of movies that will benefit from the show’s extended running time:
The Raven: Saturday, January 7 – 8pm-10:30pm Et
Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson (1963) – Horror
Inspired by the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem, a magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help.
- 12/15/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
The BFI has announced full details of its major celebration of one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), taking place across the UK during January and February 2023. Kurosawa, a two-month complete retrospective of 30 feature films at BFI Southbank, in partnership with the Japan Foundation, co-curated by film director Asif Kapadia and film author Ian Haydn Smith, launches on 1 January continuing until 28 February. On 6 January, BFI Distribution re-releases Kurosawa’s ground-breaking Rashomon (1950) in cinemas UK-wide; the film will also be available to watch on BFI Player. There will be a rare and one-off opportunity on 28 January to see masterpiece Seven Samurai (1954) on the biggest screen in the UK (65 feet high) at the newly refurbished BFI IMAX. A collection of 15 of the director’s films will be available on BFI Player subscription to enable UK-wide audiences to fully immerse themselves in Kurosawa’s world.
Kagemusha
Kurosawa curators...
Kagemusha
Kurosawa curators...
- 11/29/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Living review: Bill Nighy delivers an almost startling transformation in this beautiful period drama
Dir: Oliver Hermanus. Starring: Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Burke. 12A, 102 minutes.
Ikiru, in its plaintive modernity, may not be the most widely recognisable of Akira Kurosawa’s films. It can’t be slotted so neatly beside the savage violence and heroic ideals of his historical films, Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957) or Ran (1985). But the 1952 drama’s message, that a worthy legacy can be built from the tiniest and most fleeting of things, has endured. It’s encapsulated in the single image of a dying bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) singing to himself as he sits on the swingset of the playground he helped build. Decades later, it’s an image that’s been reframed but barely rethought by South African director Oliver Hermanus, Nobel Prize-winning screenwriter Ishiguro Kazuo and actor Bill Nighy with Living. But, like the bureaucrat’s cherished swingset, that vague feeling of...
Ikiru, in its plaintive modernity, may not be the most widely recognisable of Akira Kurosawa’s films. It can’t be slotted so neatly beside the savage violence and heroic ideals of his historical films, Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957) or Ran (1985). But the 1952 drama’s message, that a worthy legacy can be built from the tiniest and most fleeting of things, has endured. It’s encapsulated in the single image of a dying bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) singing to himself as he sits on the swingset of the playground he helped build. Decades later, it’s an image that’s been reframed but barely rethought by South African director Oliver Hermanus, Nobel Prize-winning screenwriter Ishiguro Kazuo and actor Bill Nighy with Living. But, like the bureaucrat’s cherished swingset, that vague feeling of...
- 11/2/2022
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
"Andor" is a completely different sort of "Star Wars" show on Disney+. Where other shows feel like they are, first and foremost, a "Star Wars" property with the influences of a filmmaker laid on top of it, "Andor" feels a bit like it's the other way around. Tony Gilroy is the first and foremost influence on the show and it feels like "Star Wars" is secondary to that. For those that love the show, it's not a bad thing, it's definitely a different energy to "Star Wars" and there are some different film touchstones that might help aid in your enjoyment of the series. If nothing else, watching these will create enjoyment for you independent of "Andor," as every single one is a masterpiece worth checking out for its own merits.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
A great place to start getting ready for "Andor" is the film that...
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
A great place to start getting ready for "Andor" is the film that...
- 9/20/2022
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
“Ikiru” is something of an anomaly within Akira Kurosawa’s filmography, trading samurai and Shakespearean power struggles for a more intimate style of human drama. But the story of an ailing bureaucrat confronting his mortality by spending his last few months on Earth building a children’s playground is nevertheless one of the director’s most impactful films. So much so that many cinephiles were bound to see any remake as trespassing on sacred grounds. Still, Kurosawa’s work has inspired many of the most popular films of the past half-century, so “Ikiru” was bound to be remade eventually.
That’s precisely what “Living” attempts to do, reimagining Kurosawa’s beloved story in 1950s London. Bill Nighy takes on the role first played by Takashi Shimura, portraying a man whose stomach cancer causes him to question his long-held cynicism. And while Shimura’s performance in “Ikiru” left him with an...
That’s precisely what “Living” attempts to do, reimagining Kurosawa’s beloved story in 1950s London. Bill Nighy takes on the role first played by Takashi Shimura, portraying a man whose stomach cancer causes him to question his long-held cynicism. And while Shimura’s performance in “Ikiru” left him with an...
- 8/19/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
After the huge commercial success of its predecessor, it was only a matter of months for production company Toho to come up with a follow-up to Ishiro Honda’s original “Godzilla”. However, with Honda working on several other features at the time, directing duties were handed over to Motoyoshi Oda, who had worked with Honda on other features as his assistant and who also had experience working with movies relying on special effects, as his 1954 science-fiction venture “The Invisible Avenger” had proven. With the second feature possibly signaling the beginning of a franchise, Oda and his team went on to develop the story, but also the special effects in order to show Godzilla more often on screen, as well as have him fight against another monster, something which would become even more important in the years to come, as the infamous kaiju would be challenged by several other creatures like him.
- 7/7/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
When looking at the landscape of Japanese cinema, it is hard to imagine it without the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Yasujiro Ozu, which, much due to their re-discovery and evaluation by European critics and film festivals, have gained a reputation of being part of the quintessential cinematic canon. However, when the boutique label Criterion announced their release of an edition of the first “Godzilla”-features, the event was met with both excitement from cinephiles, but also criticism, since many though there were many other titles more deserving of a treatment such as this. Among many other features, what this discussion highlighted was the narrow scope of many filmfans and so-called connoisseurs of the medium, but also the fact that Ishiro Honda, despite being highly regarded among his peers, most notable Kurosawa himself, never truly received the kind of acceptance his colleagues did. If there is any feature...
- 7/4/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
By the end of the 1940s, director Akira Kurosawa had established himself as a dependable worker for several movie studios, including Daei, who had already produced “The Quiet Duel” in 1949 and who would approach him with the proposal of adapting “In a Grove”, a short story by writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa. At the end of the same year, and despite a fire in the studio, Kurosawa and his team managed to finish “Rashomon”, which would be released in Japan to moderate success, but ultimately to some international attention, such as Giuliana Stramigioli, the president of Venice Film Festival. The rest, as they say, is history, with “Rashomon” becoming a major success for its creator and the Japanese film industry as a whole, whose reputation, even today, relies to some extent on Kurosawa’s works. Despite its role for Japanese culture, “Rashomon” regularly attracts many cinephiles and scholars for its approach to storytelling,...
- 6/29/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Dr. Marcus Stiglegger is an Austrian film scholar, publicist, musician and occasional director. Over the years, he has made a name for himself with countless publications in the fields of film and media theory in German, but also in English. He has been part of commentaries and other extras for editions of movies published by Arrow Video, Capelight and many other publishers. Stiglegger is the author of books like “Terrorkino. Angst/Lust im Körperhorror” (Terror cinema. Fear and lust in body horror), “SadicoNazista. Geschichte, Film und Mythos” and “Grenzüberschreitungen. Exkursionen ins Abseits der Filmgeschichte” (Transgressions. Excursions into the marginalized areas of film history) among many others. Additionally, he has written many essays on directors such as Abel Ferrara, David Cronenberg, William Friedkin and the western genre. His latest work includes the essay collection “Berlin Visionen. Filmische Stadtbilder seit 1980” (Berlin Visions. Cinematic images of urbanity since 1980) with co-publisher Stefan Jung and “Schwarz.
- 2/18/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“I am a person rarely impressed by actors… but in the case of Mifune I was completely overwhelmed. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression. Toshirō Mifune needed only three feet,” said Akira Kurosawa.
One of the greatest talents in cinema history, Toshirō Mifune left behind a staggering body of work amassing over 150 starring roles. Born on April 1, 1920, a retrospective was planned for 2020 timed to his centennial and now, after a delay due to the pandemic, it will kick off next week at NYC’s Film Forum. Featuring 35mm rarities and rediscoveries imported from the libraries of The Japan Foundation and The National Film Archive of Japan, the series will run for a whopping four weeks, from February 11 through March 10, and feature 33 films.
Ahead of the retrospective, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer, edited by John Zhao, highlighting what is...
One of the greatest talents in cinema history, Toshirō Mifune left behind a staggering body of work amassing over 150 starring roles. Born on April 1, 1920, a retrospective was planned for 2020 timed to his centennial and now, after a delay due to the pandemic, it will kick off next week at NYC’s Film Forum. Featuring 35mm rarities and rediscoveries imported from the libraries of The Japan Foundation and The National Film Archive of Japan, the series will run for a whopping four weeks, from February 11 through March 10, and feature 33 films.
Ahead of the retrospective, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer, edited by John Zhao, highlighting what is...
- 2/4/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Let us then use this space to celebrate Bill Nighy. The Surrey-born performer made a name for himself in the National Theater in the ’80s & ’90s before exploding on the worldwide film stage in the early 2000s with scene-stealing turns in Love Actually, Underworld, and the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. In the decades since he’s only widened his scope of performance and general recognition. Which makes Living, written by the great Kazuo Ishiguro and directed by Oliver Hermanus, a quite lovely inflection point for the lifelong thespian. It’s quite possible he’s never been better.
Working from Akira Kurosawa’s eternal Ikiru, all involved give themselves a steep hill to climb. The film concerns Mr. Williams (Nighy), a living (ahem) personification of clogged bureaucracy who is told he only has months to live. Regarded as boring and old-fashioned by all who surround him, Williams is forced to...
Working from Akira Kurosawa’s eternal Ikiru, all involved give themselves a steep hill to climb. The film concerns Mr. Williams (Nighy), a living (ahem) personification of clogged bureaucracy who is told he only has months to live. Regarded as boring and old-fashioned by all who surround him, Williams is forced to...
- 1/25/2022
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
In Akira Kurosawa’s 1982 autobiography (Something Like an Autobiography) his film Ikiru only gets a passing mention in a chapter dealing with the filming of his cinematic masterpiece, Rashomon. Ikiru, which roughly translates as “To Live”, is one of the director’s most loved masterpieces. Roger Ebert himself claimed that he loved the film so much that he would revisit it every five years; each time, becoming more and more empathetic to the plight of Ikiru’s male protagonist (originally played by Takashi Shimura). However, as good as this 1952 classic may be, it is also a film that is more beloved by extreme cinephiles and graduate level film professors than anyone else. After all, who wants to sit through a two hour plus tale dealing with existential musings on the nature of morality and human decency?
It seems that Hollywood would much rather sit through violent re-renderings of films like Yojimbo or Seven Samurai.
It seems that Hollywood would much rather sit through violent re-renderings of films like Yojimbo or Seven Samurai.
- 1/24/2022
- by Ty Cooper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I have always had a philosophy that if you are going to do a remake, remake a movie that didn’t work the first time like Howard the Duck, not a classic by a great filmmaker. Well, the latter is exactly what director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) and Nobel Prize-winning screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro have had the audacity to do in “reimagining” (the popular term for remakes today) iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s highly praised 1952 drama Ikiru. And they haven’t even bothered to change the early ’50s era in which it takes place, only the location and language, moving from Japan to England. Despite my reservations I am happy to say Living, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, works very well and that is solely thanks to the loving care these filmmakers have put into...
- 1/21/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Akira Kurosawa’s tale of ascetic mercenaries brought together for a single job inspired endless imitations, but the original has lost none of its magic
While researching samurai history for an Akira Kurosawa film project in the early 1950s, producer Sojiro Motoki discovered references to masterless warriors, or ronin, defending villages from marauders in 16th-century Japan. Movie history was made. Kurosawa and his co-writers Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni created an epic primal myth which has pulsated in cinema ever since, through the genres of westerns, war movies and crime dramas: the crew of ascetic, unsentimental but uncynical freelance mercenaries, brought together for a single job, taking pity on the desperate civilians who have nothing to offer but gratitude. They also see that there is a nobility and purity in this all-but-lost cause, which will refine their martial vocation as nothing else would.
Having been inspired by Hollywood westerns, Kurosawa...
While researching samurai history for an Akira Kurosawa film project in the early 1950s, producer Sojiro Motoki discovered references to masterless warriors, or ronin, defending villages from marauders in 16th-century Japan. Movie history was made. Kurosawa and his co-writers Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni created an epic primal myth which has pulsated in cinema ever since, through the genres of westerns, war movies and crime dramas: the crew of ascetic, unsentimental but uncynical freelance mercenaries, brought together for a single job, taking pity on the desperate civilians who have nothing to offer but gratitude. They also see that there is a nobility and purity in this all-but-lost cause, which will refine their martial vocation as nothing else would.
Having been inspired by Hollywood westerns, Kurosawa...
- 10/27/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
One year after the last entry to the series, “Zatoichi Challenged”, once again Kimiyoshi Yasuda took over directing duties for the overall eighteenth film in the franchise, “Zatoichi and the Fugitives”. Having helmed three quite interesting films surrounding the blind masseur/ swordmaster played by Shintaro Katsu, Yasuda would once again focus on the foundations of the character, questioning the ways of the hero and whether bloodshed always finds its way towards him or if he actually seeks it. While “Zatoichi’s Cane Sword”, Yasuda’s last feature within the franchise, saw Zatoichi losing his most priced possession, thus showing if he was able to live without this side of his character, “Zatoichi and the Fugitives” gives the blind swordsman yet another opportunity to change his ways.
Once again, Zatoichi (Katsu) is on the road and makes his way into a village, where a yakuza boss by the...
Once again, Zatoichi (Katsu) is on the road and makes his way into a village, where a yakuza boss by the...
- 8/7/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
It’s another CineSavant review of a movie largely unavailable, especially the original Japanese version. This third Ishirô Honda / Eiji Tsuburaya outer space action epic is probably the best Toho science fiction feature ever, an Astral Collision tale in which the drama and characters are as compelling as the special effects. Nothing can stop a colossal planetoid heading toward Earth, but science comes to the rescue with the biggest construction job ever undertaken by mankind. The fine screenplay generates thrills, suspense and human warmth. It also takes place in the far, far future: 1980.
Gorath
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
Not On Region A Home Video
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88 83 min. / Yôsei Gorasu
Starring: Ryô Ikebe, Yumi Shirakawa, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazaki, Ken Uehara, Takashi Shimura, Seizaburô Kawazu, Takamaru Sasaki, Kô Nishimura, Eitarô Ozawa, Hideyo Amamoto, George Furness, Ross Benette, Nadao Kirino, Fumio Sakashita, Ikio Sawamura, Haruo Nakajima.
Gorath
CineSavant Revival Screening Review
Not On Region A Home Video
1962 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88 83 min. / Yôsei Gorasu
Starring: Ryô Ikebe, Yumi Shirakawa, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazaki, Ken Uehara, Takashi Shimura, Seizaburô Kawazu, Takamaru Sasaki, Kô Nishimura, Eitarô Ozawa, Hideyo Amamoto, George Furness, Ross Benette, Nadao Kirino, Fumio Sakashita, Ikio Sawamura, Haruo Nakajima.
- 3/30/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 classic Ikiru––which we recently highlighted in our feature exploring the best films about mortality––is getting an English-language adaptation. The original film, partially inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, follows Takashi Shimura’s character, who receives a terminal diagnosis of stomach cancer and attempts to come to terms with his impending death.
THR reports that acclaimed writer Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day and Never Let Me Go) has now scripted a new take on the story, which will be directed by Oliver Hermanus and set to star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood. The English-language version will be titled Living, which takes from the original’s translation of To Live, and will move the story to 1952 in London. Check out the synopsis below.
Nighy will play William, a veteran civil servant who has become a small cog in the bureaucracy...
THR reports that acclaimed writer Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day and Never Let Me Go) has now scripted a new take on the story, which will be directed by Oliver Hermanus and set to star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood. The English-language version will be titled Living, which takes from the original’s translation of To Live, and will move the story to 1952 in London. Check out the synopsis below.
Nighy will play William, a veteran civil servant who has become a small cog in the bureaucracy...
- 10/15/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Bill Nighy (Love Actually ) and rising UK actress Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education) are set to star in feature Living for director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie).
The screenplay by Nobel and Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day) is an English-language adaptation of the 1952 classic Ikiru, written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni.
Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen’s Number 9 Films (Carol) will produce. The plan is to shoot on location in the UK next spring and Rocket Science is handling sales and will be selling ahead of and at next month’s virtual AFM.
The film has been developed with and will be funded by Film4 and Ingenious Media, in association with Kurosawa Productions, with executive producer Ko Kurosawa. Oscar-nominated Fiona Crombie (The Favourite) has come on board as production designer.
Set in 1952 London, the film will follow Williams, a veteran civil servant, who has...
The screenplay by Nobel and Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of The Day) is an English-language adaptation of the 1952 classic Ikiru, written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni.
Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen’s Number 9 Films (Carol) will produce. The plan is to shoot on location in the UK next spring and Rocket Science is handling sales and will be selling ahead of and at next month’s virtual AFM.
The film has been developed with and will be funded by Film4 and Ingenious Media, in association with Kurosawa Productions, with executive producer Ko Kurosawa. Oscar-nominated Fiona Crombie (The Favourite) has come on board as production designer.
Set in 1952 London, the film will follow Williams, a veteran civil servant, who has...
- 10/15/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Back when the project that eventually became “Tora-san: Our Lovable Tramp” was conceptualised, most of the people involved would have probably never guessed the pop-culture phenomenon it would go on to become or the effect it would have on their lives and careers. Kiyoshi Atsumi, the lead actor, probably had no idea that the character would end up being his biggest legacy and that he’d be playing it until his death in ’96. Director Yoji Yamada would have also never imagined that he would be returning to direct a Tora-san film until the age of 88, writing every of the 50 screenplays and directing most of them. Shochiku, the studio that was Tora-san’s home, would have never thought that this character would effectively keep the studio afloat single-handedly for a number of years. Yet here we are, 50 years later, with none of the character’s and series’s prominence diminished. On...
- 7/22/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Most epic movies make you ponder the money involved. How many bootstraps and belt buckles were crafted for The Lord of the Rings (2001-3)? How many computers were used to design the final battle in Avengers: Endgame (2019)? How much napalm blew up the jungle in the opening shot of Apocalypse Now (1979)? Seven Samurai (1954) doesn’t inspire such analyses; at least, not while you’re watching it. Watching this immersive medieval parable from Akira Kurosawa is like embracing a long-lost legend, dug up after hundreds of years like an ancient text on celluloid. Kurosawa was so seamless as a filmmaker that the sets and costumes and details all melt into his story.
From the American cowboy remake The Magnificent Seven (1960) to Pixar’s insect adventure A Bug’s Life (1998), the premise of Seven Samurai simmers in the cinematic consciousness. Set in 16th century Japan, ravaged by civil wars, a group of armoured...
From the American cowboy remake The Magnificent Seven (1960) to Pixar’s insect adventure A Bug’s Life (1998), the premise of Seven Samurai simmers in the cinematic consciousness. Set in 16th century Japan, ravaged by civil wars, a group of armoured...
- 5/15/2020
- by Euan Franklin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
While Akira Kurosawa did not always have the highest opinion of his 1949 effort “Stray Angel”, as he thought it was “too technical”, there is no doubt that his first collaboration with screenwriter Ryuzo Kikushima has its rightful place among the great films made by the director (he would also change his opinion on the film later on in his life). Loosely based on an unpublished novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, it can be seen as a precursor for his later detective dramas such as “High and Low”. As with many of his features of that time, “Stray Dog” is also a portrayal of post-war Japan, of the deep wounds left by the war and the structure of its society which is revealed to a police officer after the loss of his gun.
After some practice on the shooting range with his colleagues, rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro...
After some practice on the shooting range with his colleagues, rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro...
- 5/10/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The saga continues, featuring Adam Rifkin, Robert D. Krzykowski, John Sayles, Maggie Renzi, Mick Garris and Larry Wilmore with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Key Largo (1948)
I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)
Camila (1984)
I, the Worst of All (1990)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le Corbeau (1943)
Diabolique (1955)
Red Beard (1965)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Ikiru (1952)
General Della Rovere (1959)
The Gold of Naples (1959)
Bitter Rice (1949)
Pickup On South Street (1953)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Ace In The Hole (1951)
Wall Street (1987)
Women’s Prison (1955)
True Love (1989)
Mean Streets (1973)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Abyss (1989)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Big (1988)
Splash (1984)
The ’Burbs (1989)
Long Strange Trip (2017)
Little Women (2019)
Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)
The Guns of Navarone...
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Key Largo (1948)
I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)
Camila (1984)
I, the Worst of All (1990)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Le Corbeau (1943)
Diabolique (1955)
Red Beard (1965)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Ikiru (1952)
General Della Rovere (1959)
The Gold of Naples (1959)
Bitter Rice (1949)
Pickup On South Street (1953)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Ace In The Hole (1951)
Wall Street (1987)
Women’s Prison (1955)
True Love (1989)
Mean Streets (1973)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Abyss (1989)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Big (1988)
Splash (1984)
The ’Burbs (1989)
Long Strange Trip (2017)
Little Women (2019)
Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)
The Guns of Navarone...
- 4/17/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
by Vikram Zutshi
When Akira Kurosawa passed away in 1998, the tributes poured in endlessly. He had been a major influence on some of the most important directors in the history of cinema. It is not enough to say that Kurosawa was a legend. At the time of his demise, he was a colossus whose myth had inspired a number of artists considered legends in their own right. Roman Polanski, Werner Herzog, Andrei Tarkovsky, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Coppola and George Lucas have all cited Kurosawa as one of their greatest influences.
“Let me say it simply” declared Martin Scorsese, “Akira Kurosawa was my master, and … the master of so many other filmmakers over the years.” Federico Fellini called him “the greatest example of all that an author of cinema should be” and Steven Spielberg declared “I have learned more from him than from almost any other filmmaker on the face of the earth.
When Akira Kurosawa passed away in 1998, the tributes poured in endlessly. He had been a major influence on some of the most important directors in the history of cinema. It is not enough to say that Kurosawa was a legend. At the time of his demise, he was a colossus whose myth had inspired a number of artists considered legends in their own right. Roman Polanski, Werner Herzog, Andrei Tarkovsky, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Coppola and George Lucas have all cited Kurosawa as one of their greatest influences.
“Let me say it simply” declared Martin Scorsese, “Akira Kurosawa was my master, and … the master of so many other filmmakers over the years.” Federico Fellini called him “the greatest example of all that an author of cinema should be” and Steven Spielberg declared “I have learned more from him than from almost any other filmmaker on the face of the earth.
- 3/23/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Toho’s fabulous, kid-safe Kaiju spectacle about the super-moth from Infant Island might be a stealth Cold War fairy tale. Kids respond to the fanciful Shobijin fairy princesses, while adults (watching the Japanese version) might catch the authors’ message about national belligerence and the abuse of Third Worlders. Greedy ‘Rolisican’ opportunists pay the price of an ancient curse. For its expression of Nature’s justice, vigilante-style, Ishiro Honda’s music-filled show stands right up there with Gorgo — and the giant Moth is also the only Japanese Kaiju monster identified as female.
Mothra
Steelbook Edition
Blu-ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88, 101 min. / Mosura / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 24.98
Starring: Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Ken Uehara, Emi Ito, Yumi Ito, Jerry Ito, Takashi Shimura, Tetsu Nakamura, Akihiro Tayama.
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi
Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Original Music: Yuji Koseki
Written by Yoshie Hotta, Shinichiro Nakamura, Shinichi Sekizawa from a...
Mothra
Steelbook Edition
Blu-ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 88, 101 min. / Mosura / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 24.98
Starring: Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Ken Uehara, Emi Ito, Yumi Ito, Jerry Ito, Takashi Shimura, Tetsu Nakamura, Akihiro Tayama.
Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi
Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Original Music: Yuji Koseki
Written by Yoshie Hotta, Shinichiro Nakamura, Shinichi Sekizawa from a...
- 7/13/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Japan Society will be celebrating the English translation of Yukio Mishima’s novella “Star”, based directly on his experience starring in Yasuzo Masumara’s film “Afraid to Die” with a 35mm screening of the film on Friday, May 10th, 2019 at 7pm.
Clad in a black leather jacket, renowned Japanese writer Yukio Mishima struts and preens as a small-time yakuza underboss in this oddity of postwar Japanese cinema directed by Yasuzo Masumura. Fresh out of jail and hiding out above a rundown Tokyo movie theater, the unsympathetic tough is hounded by a rival gang and an asthmatic killer-for-hire as he struggles to reconcile his criminal life with a newfound love interest (Ayako Wakao). “Afraid to Die” screens in celebration of a brand new English translation of Mishima’s 1961 novella Star (New Directions Publishing, 2019), a fictionalized account of his experience working on Masumura’s film.
The screening will be introduced by Star...
Clad in a black leather jacket, renowned Japanese writer Yukio Mishima struts and preens as a small-time yakuza underboss in this oddity of postwar Japanese cinema directed by Yasuzo Masumura. Fresh out of jail and hiding out above a rundown Tokyo movie theater, the unsympathetic tough is hounded by a rival gang and an asthmatic killer-for-hire as he struggles to reconcile his criminal life with a newfound love interest (Ayako Wakao). “Afraid to Die” screens in celebration of a brand new English translation of Mishima’s 1961 novella Star (New Directions Publishing, 2019), a fictionalized account of his experience working on Masumura’s film.
The screening will be introduced by Star...
- 4/27/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Akira Kurosawa’s directorial debut is based on the homonymous novel by Tsuneo Tomita, the son of prominent judoka Tsunejiro Tomita, with the main character drawing from Shiro Saigo, one of the earliest disciples of Judo, a martial art that was originally created by Jigoro Kano. The film revolves around the challenges Sanshiro Sugata faces, both from himself and from opponents, in his effort to prove judo’s superiority over traditional jujitsu techniques. Gennosuke Higaki, the “villain” in the story, is also based on a real-life fighter, Mataemon Tanabe, who is considered one of the greatest modern jujutsuka.
As usually in my reviews of the classics, I will focus on presenting a contemporary look on the film, as I feel that the writings about such films by people with much more knowledge than me in the particular era have analyzed the film as thoroughly as possible.
On a second note,...
As usually in my reviews of the classics, I will focus on presenting a contemporary look on the film, as I feel that the writings about such films by people with much more knowledge than me in the particular era have analyzed the film as thoroughly as possible.
On a second note,...
- 3/28/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Joseph Baxter Dec 18, 2018
Amblin Television is developing a TV series based on Akira Kurosawa’s bellwether samurai classic, Rashomon.
The Rashomon effect is about to hit the medium of television. – At least, that’s the way it seems from our perspective.
Indeed, Rashomon, director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 breakthrough samurai-age film – a crucial step in the evolution of stylistic film narration – is getting a serial treatment from Amblin Television, which has just optioned the rights. The film, centered on a crime that saw the death of a samurai and the rape of his wife, famously unfolded its story as told from the differing perspectives of multiple characters, notably buttressing the trope of the unreliable narrator. Indeed, the term "Rashomon effect" became popularized from the subjective narration style of the film.
Amblin’s plan is to adapt Rashomon as a series released in 10-episode intervals, with the (somewhat grandiose) design of using...
Amblin Television is developing a TV series based on Akira Kurosawa’s bellwether samurai classic, Rashomon.
The Rashomon effect is about to hit the medium of television. – At least, that’s the way it seems from our perspective.
Indeed, Rashomon, director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 breakthrough samurai-age film – a crucial step in the evolution of stylistic film narration – is getting a serial treatment from Amblin Television, which has just optioned the rights. The film, centered on a crime that saw the death of a samurai and the rape of his wife, famously unfolded its story as told from the differing perspectives of multiple characters, notably buttressing the trope of the unreliable narrator. Indeed, the term "Rashomon effect" became popularized from the subjective narration style of the film.
Amblin’s plan is to adapt Rashomon as a series released in 10-episode intervals, with the (somewhat grandiose) design of using...
- 12/18/2018
- Den of Geek
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This July will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
- 6/26/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with FilmStruck. Developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in collaboration with the Criterion Collection, FilmStruck features the largest streaming library of contemporary and classic arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films as well as extensive bonus content, filmmaker interviews and rare footage. Learn more here.
Last week, IndieWire asked our readers to name their favorite movies in the Criterion Collection, which resulted in hundreds of responses that pretty much covered every nook and cranny of Criterion’s massive library. It was great to see many readers listing dramas as diverse and polarizing as Robert Altman’s “3 Women,” George Sluizer’s “The Vanishing” and Fritz Lang’s “M,” but at the end of the day, our survey revealed which 10 titles our Criterion subscribers can’t get enough of.
An intriguing mix of reliable film landmarks and a few surprises, below is...
Last week, IndieWire asked our readers to name their favorite movies in the Criterion Collection, which resulted in hundreds of responses that pretty much covered every nook and cranny of Criterion’s massive library. It was great to see many readers listing dramas as diverse and polarizing as Robert Altman’s “3 Women,” George Sluizer’s “The Vanishing” and Fritz Lang’s “M,” but at the end of the day, our survey revealed which 10 titles our Criterion subscribers can’t get enough of.
An intriguing mix of reliable film landmarks and a few surprises, below is...
- 11/23/2016
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:
Zatoichi and the Fugitives, the 18th installment in the series, is pretty solid overall, a well-made and swiftly paced action-adventure that adheres pretty closely to the standard Zatoichi formula. Once again, the ever-wandering blind swordsman gets drawn into a cruelly unbalanced conflict between merciless criminals and honest village folk who are just trying to trudge a path through life that keeps their suffering to a minimum. If allowed to pursue their brutal agenda without interference, the bosses will grind their subordinates into the dust and inflict a lot of personal anguish upon them through various acts of robbery and exploitation. Zatoichi recognizes the bestial nature of the men in charge and reluctantly takes it upon himself to defend the weak and vulnerable. I like these stories because of their relatively pure and straightforward approach to the heroic formula. That’s...
Zatoichi and the Fugitives, the 18th installment in the series, is pretty solid overall, a well-made and swiftly paced action-adventure that adheres pretty closely to the standard Zatoichi formula. Once again, the ever-wandering blind swordsman gets drawn into a cruelly unbalanced conflict between merciless criminals and honest village folk who are just trying to trudge a path through life that keeps their suffering to a minimum. If allowed to pursue their brutal agenda without interference, the bosses will grind their subordinates into the dust and inflict a lot of personal anguish upon them through various acts of robbery and exploitation. Zatoichi recognizes the bestial nature of the men in charge and reluctantly takes it upon himself to defend the weak and vulnerable. I like these stories because of their relatively pure and straightforward approach to the heroic formula. That’s...
- 7/17/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
The Asian Cinema 100 list was released last year at the Biff (Busan International Film Festival), which marked its 20th anniversary with a poll of prominent Asian filmmakers and international critics of Asian film, who were all asked for their top ten of all time.
Japan accounted for 26 films on the list, followed by Iran (19) and Korea (15).
The oldest film chosen was Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But (1932), ranked 48th of all time. And the top animated film to make the cut was Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001), joint 18th.
The top 5 Japanese films are listed below in rank order.
1. Tokyo Story (1953), #1
Routinely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Tokyo Story is Yasujiro Ozu‘s restrained masterpiece of an ordinary family life, chronicling human behavior in ordinary situations.
It opens with the putt-putt sound of a boat and the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys of...
Japan accounted for 26 films on the list, followed by Iran (19) and Korea (15).
The oldest film chosen was Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But (1932), ranked 48th of all time. And the top animated film to make the cut was Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001), joint 18th.
The top 5 Japanese films are listed below in rank order.
1. Tokyo Story (1953), #1
Routinely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Tokyo Story is Yasujiro Ozu‘s restrained masterpiece of an ordinary family life, chronicling human behavior in ordinary situations.
It opens with the putt-putt sound of a boat and the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys of...
- 4/25/2016
- by Lady Jane
- AsianMoviePulse
Ikiru
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1952
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru is the type of movie that can change a life, or at least change a person’s way of looking at life. It is an extremely moving work, standing as a superb example of the emotional and inspirational power of cinema.
Ikiru is also an exceptional vehicle for Takashi Shimura, an actor known for his astonishing range over the course of 200-plus films. In Ikiru, while Kurosawa makes great use of faces in close-up throughout, there is none more expressive than that of Shimura as the cancer-ridden Public Affairs Section Chief Kanji Watanabe. Every emotion and every thought is transparently written on his aged and weary face—it’s hard to believe the actor would embody the vigorous leader of the rag-tag samurai team two years later in Seven Samurai. Here,...
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1952
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru is the type of movie that can change a life, or at least change a person’s way of looking at life. It is an extremely moving work, standing as a superb example of the emotional and inspirational power of cinema.
Ikiru is also an exceptional vehicle for Takashi Shimura, an actor known for his astonishing range over the course of 200-plus films. In Ikiru, while Kurosawa makes great use of faces in close-up throughout, there is none more expressive than that of Shimura as the cancer-ridden Public Affairs Section Chief Kanji Watanabe. Every emotion and every thought is transparently written on his aged and weary face—it’s hard to believe the actor would embody the vigorous leader of the rag-tag samurai team two years later in Seven Samurai. Here,...
- 12/10/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Ikiru
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1952
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru is the type of movie that can change a life, or at least change a person’s way of looking at life. It is an extremely moving work, standing as a superb example of the emotional and inspirational power of cinema.
Ikiru is also an exceptional vehicle for Takashi Shimura, an actor known for his astonishing range over the course of 200-plus films. In Ikiru, while Kurosawa makes great use of faces in close-up throughout, there is none more expressive than that of Shimura as the cancer-ridden Public Affairs Section Chief Kanji Watanabe. Every emotion and every thought is transparently written on his aged and weary face—it’s hard to believe the actor would embody the vigorous leader of the rag-tag samurai team two years later in Seven Samurai. Here,...
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Japan, 1952
Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru is the type of movie that can change a life, or at least change a person’s way of looking at life. It is an extremely moving work, standing as a superb example of the emotional and inspirational power of cinema.
Ikiru is also an exceptional vehicle for Takashi Shimura, an actor known for his astonishing range over the course of 200-plus films. In Ikiru, while Kurosawa makes great use of faces in close-up throughout, there is none more expressive than that of Shimura as the cancer-ridden Public Affairs Section Chief Kanji Watanabe. Every emotion and every thought is transparently written on his aged and weary face—it’s hard to believe the actor would embody the vigorous leader of the rag-tag samurai team two years later in Seven Samurai. Here,...
- 12/10/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
“Japan’S Unsung Acting Genius”
By Raymond Benson
The works of famed director Akira Kurosawa are mostly associated with the samurai film—pictures set in the time of feudal Japan, and usually starring the brilliant actor Toshiro Mifune (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, among others). However, Kurosawa made other kinds of movies that are probably not as well known in the West except to film historians and true cinephiles—and fans of the excellent DVD and Blu-ray label, The Criterion Collection. Some of Kurosawa’s early work was made up of film noir gangster and crime pictures (e.g., Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, The Bad Sleep Well), but also, surprisingly, heartfelt social dramas set in contemporary Japan—about ordinary people. Ikiru is one of the latter, and it’s a movie that Roger Ebert once called Kurosawa’s “greatest film.”
Ikiru is set in Tokyo in the early fifties.
By Raymond Benson
The works of famed director Akira Kurosawa are mostly associated with the samurai film—pictures set in the time of feudal Japan, and usually starring the brilliant actor Toshiro Mifune (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, among others). However, Kurosawa made other kinds of movies that are probably not as well known in the West except to film historians and true cinephiles—and fans of the excellent DVD and Blu-ray label, The Criterion Collection. Some of Kurosawa’s early work was made up of film noir gangster and crime pictures (e.g., Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, The Bad Sleep Well), but also, surprisingly, heartfelt social dramas set in contemporary Japan—about ordinary people. Ikiru is one of the latter, and it’s a movie that Roger Ebert once called Kurosawa’s “greatest film.”
Ikiru is set in Tokyo in the early fifties.
- 12/2/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
In six decades of filmmaking and thirty plus titles in his filmography, it’s nearly impossible to determine the weighted importance concerning a number of the influential works from Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, considered by many to be among the most notable directors from Japan, alongside peers such as Mizoguchi and Ozu. Instead, it’s easier to discuss his work in strategic measures regarding theme or motif, such as his famed Shakespearean adaptations or epic Samurai classics, pillaged endlessly by Western filmmakers in proceeding generations. But certainly a definite standout is his 1952 title, Ikiru, which roughly translates as “to live.” A powerfully humanistic title examining the significance of life as something only to be rightly cherished when seen through the lens of death, it stands at the slender end of a filmography generally examining human tendency for apathy, revenge, and other plateaus of self-destructive forces. Moving without being sentimental, Kurosawa...
- 12/1/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Akira Kurosawa goes full tilt humanist with this emotionally wrenching, vastly insightful look at human nature. A faceless bureaucrat, alone and empty, is diagnosed with stomach cancer. He rebels and breaks down, but then finds a way to give meaning to his life even as he's losing it. Kurosawa one-ups the Italian Neorealists by seeing hope and value even in the oblivion of the human condition. Ikiru Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 221 1952 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 143 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / To Live / Street Date November 24, 2015 / 39.95 Starring Takashi Shimura, Shinichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka, Minoru Chiaki, Miki Odagiri, Bokuzen Hidari Cinematography Asakazu Nakai Production Designer So Matsuyama Original Music Fumio Hayasaka Written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa and Hideo Oguni Produced by Sojiro Motoki Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Criterion has made slow but steady progress upgrading its impressive Akira Kurosawa library from DVD to Blu-ray. The newest...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Criterion has made slow but steady progress upgrading its impressive Akira Kurosawa library from DVD to Blu-ray. The newest...
- 12/1/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Welcome back to This Week In Discs! If you see something you like, click on the title to buy it from Amazon. Ikiru (Criterion) Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) has worked at city hall for three decades, and he has the plaque to prove it. What he doesn’t have is happiness or real satisfaction, and that doesn’t look to be changing after he’s diagnosed with stomach cancer. Bereft at the realization of a wasted life, Kanji searches aimlessly for a purpose, and finds it in part in a young co-worker named Toyo. Her zest for life and ability to remain joyous in the face of adversity ignites a newfound passion in him, but finding a way and a place to make a difference seems out of reach in his final days. Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film is an incredibly affecting look at one man’s life against the backdrop of what it means to truly live...
- 11/25/2015
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
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