Kiyoshi

Lore & Background

Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa started making films about his life in high school. He studied at Rikkyo University under prominent film critic Shigehiko Hasumi, where he began making 8mm films. Though they share a surname, he is not related to filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He began directing commercially in the 1980s, working on pink films and low-budget V-Cinema productions like formula yakuza films.

In 1981, his 8mm film Shigarami Gakuen was nominated for the Oshima Prize at the PFF (Pia Film Festival). After working with Shinji Soumai in 1983, he released his first feature film Kandagawa Pervert Wars (1983). He became popular after The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl (1985) and The Guard from Underground (1992). In the early 1990s, he won a Sundance Institute scholarship by submitting his original screenplay Charisma, allowing him to study filmmaking in the US despite having directed professionally for nearly ten years.

He first achieved international acclaim with his 1997 crime thriller Cure. A year later, he completed two thrillers back-to-back, Serpent's Path and Eyes of the Spider, both sharing the same premise (a father taking revenge for his child's murder) and lead actor (Show Aikawa) but spinning entirely different stories. In March 1999, the Hong Kong International Film Festival presented his first retrospective, a five-title program including The Excitement of the Do-re-mi fa Girls, The Guard from Underground, Serpent's Path, Eyes of the Spider, and License to Live.

Reader's Guide

Kurosawa's filmmaking style has been compared to Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky, though he has never expressly listed them as influences. He claimed Alfred Hitchcock and Yasujirō Ozu shaped his personal vision of the medium. He has expressed admiration for American directors Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah, Robert Aldrich, Richard Fleischer, and Tobe Hooper. In a 2000 Time interview, he noted his appreciation for John Cassavetes, saying, 'When I watch a Cassavetes film, I am awed by the understanding that people can subtly change in the course of a simple conversation.'

Through mentor Shigehiko Hasumi, he was also influenced by Jean-Luc Godard. In a 2009 IFC interview, he explained why he casts Kōji Yakusho often: 'He has similar values and sensitivities. We're from the same generation. That's a big reason why I enjoy working with him on the set.'

According to Tim Palmer, Kurosawa's films occupy a position between mass genre materials and esoteric or intellectual abstraction, engaging with environmental critique through decaying open spaces, abandoned buildings, and places rife with toxins and entropy. In an interview with Tokyo Art University, Kurosawa said he doesn't want his directorial style too fixed, admires versatility (citing Clint Eastwood), and doesn't box himself into one style or theme.

Asked what he wants to try next, he answered: 'The next thing I want to do is something I have never done.' He credits Hasumi Shigehiko as a mentor and early influence, teaching him that film is worth dedicating your entire life to, and states one of his goals is to share Hasumi's teachings. In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, he signed an open letter in Libération demanding a ceasefire and end to killing civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, a humanitarian corridor, and release of hostages.