Akira Kurosawa
One of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in cinema history.
At age 25, in February 1936, he started working at the P.C.L. studio.[1]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 23 March 1910
- Birthplace
- Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
- Died
- 6 September 1998
- Place of death
- Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
- Resting place
- An'yō-in, Kamakura, Japan
- Occupation
- Film director
- screenwriter
- producer
- editor
- painter
- Years active
- 1936–1993
- Children
- 2, including Kazuko
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Kurosawa's father Isamu was a director of the Army's Physical Education Institute's lower secondary school and encouraged his children to watch films.[2][3] His older brother Heigo, a silent film narrator, took him to view devastation after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and forbade him to look away from corpses.[4] Kurosawa initially planned to become a painter and worked for the left-wing Proletarian Artists' League.[1][5] He submitted an essay to P.C.L. in 1935 that earned him a job as an assistant director, with director Kajirō Yamamoto insisting the studio hire him.[1]
The film placed 20th in the 2022 British Film Institute _Sight & Sound_ critics' poll of greatest films.[6] _Sanshiro Sugata_, Kurosawa's first film as director, was released on March 25, 1943, after censorship delays.[7]
What the cited sources add
The BFI Film Forever account describes _Seven Samurai_ as "a touchstone for action movies ever since" and notes its strong influence from John Ford's westerns.[8] The same source states that Kurosawa "expertly sustains the suspense over a lengthy duration, instilling the story with an almost Shakespearian grandeur"[8] Richard Warren's review mentions that audience members chose to see Kurosawa's _Seven Samurai_ featuring Toshiro Mifune.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; ; ; ; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; ;; "Seven Samurai (1954)", BFI Film Forever (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Akira Kurosawa" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galbraith 2002, p. 14-15; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Seven Samurai (1954)", BFI Film Forever. facts only, no text reused. bfi.org.uk
- Warren, "Brando and Eliot in shadows", Richard Warren Review, February 2, 2015. facts only, no text reused. richardawarren.wordpress.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Akira Kurosawa (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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