Arqueología

Akira Kurosawa (黒澤明 Kurosawa Akira , March 23rd 1910 - September 6th 1998) is a producing Réalisateur, and Scénariste Japan board.

He is certainly the Japanese realizer most famous and deeply influenced several generations of realizers.

Biography

Cinematographic education

Kurosawa is born in 1910 in the district from Omori with Tōkyō, youngest child of a family of seven children. It kills from a famous family of Samurai S. His father, a former serviceman, gives to his children a strict education. The childhood of Kurosawa is marked by several dramas, the death of his/her sister, the Earthquake of the Kantō of 1923 then the suicide of his/her brother whom it idolâtrait.

It is impassioned for painting under the influence of one of its professors. It acquires a cinematographic solid culture thanks to his father film enthusiast and especially his Heigo big brother who is Benshi, silent film commentator.

He refuses to be registered at the School of the Art schools and engages in militant actions gauchists of which he wearies himself.

Career

Whereas it earns its living as illustrator of books, it enters cinema industry like assistant-realizer for the studio Photo Chemical Laboratory . He learns the trade on the ground at the sides from the realizer Kajiro Yamamoto from which he separates in 1941. He sells some scenarios, but the producers refuse that he carries them out.

In a climate of Censure, it carries out in 1943 its first adapted film of a biography of Sugata Sanshiro by Tsuneo Tomita, the Legend of the great judo , which is a very important success in Japan.

In its works, Akira Kurosawa attempted to describe or make a parabola of the human society. It thus depicted with the length of its films poverty ( the Hollows , Dodes' kaden ), urban violence ( mad Chien ), the disease and the immobility of the civils servant ( Vivre ), the destruction of the environment ( Rêves ), old age ( Madadayo )… It also made frescos over the medieval time ( the Seven Samurais , Kagemusha , Ran ). In its films, it frequently represents oneiric scenes by using painted silk decorations ( Dodes' kaden , Kagemusha , Madadayo ).

Rashōmon was the film of the dedication for Akira Kurosawa, and through him that of the recognition of the Japanese Cinéma in Europe (Lion of gold to the Mostra of Venice 1951) and in America (Oscar of the best foreign film).

It connects successes with the Idiot , the Seven Samurais , the Castle of the spider , Barberousse . He knows one difficult period between his attempt failed to turn to the American cinema and the failure of its first color film, Dodes' kaden . He makes an attempt at Suicide in 1971.

As it has from now on difficulties in produce its films in Japan, Dersou Ouzala is financed by the Soviet company Mosfilm, this film enables him to join again with success thanks to the Oscar of the best foreign film received in 1975. It is helped for its last films by the Westerners Serge Silberman, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas which enables him to carry out imposing films which reconstitute the Japan Shogun S and which are true masterpieces with the images visionaries and the style epic and shakespearien, like Kagemusha (Palme of Gold to Cannes in 1980, and César of the best foreign film in 1981), Ran or Madadayo .

Kurosawa is prize winner of the Prix of Kyōto in 1994.

Akira Kurosawa dies the September 6th 1998 with Tōkyō.

Characteristics

Kurosawa is especially known for its films of Jidaigeki like the Seven Samurais and Ran but its films also has as a subject contemporary Japan like mad Chien and Vivre .

It is characterized in particular by a cinematographic technique which it developed in the Années 1950. It uses teleobjectives for made particular of the image which enable him to film the actors by far without disturbing them.

Kurosawa also turns with several cameras, which enables him to film the same scene of several angles. Finally it uses the natural events remarkably to reinforce environments, as the rain in the final battle of the Seven Samurais or the fog in the Castle of the spider .

It was known under the name of Tenno , literally “the Emperor”, for his dictatorial manner to realize. It was indeed a perfectionist who spent enormously of energy and time to reach the visual effect that he sought.

Inspirations

Kurosawa took as a starting point stories of William Shakespeare with the Castle of the spider adapted Macbeth , Ran according to the King Lear , the bastards sleep in peace inspired of Hamlet. It also adapted Russian novels like the Idiot of Dostoievski and the Hollows of Maxime Gorki. Impassioned reader of the news of Georges Simenon, the Satô police chief of the film mad Chien (Nora inu 野良犬) would share his perspicacity with that of the Maigret inspector.

Between the sky and the hell takes again part of the intrigue of the novel Rançon on a minor topic ( King' S Ransom ) written by ED McBain.

The realizer John Ford also inspired it. Finally Sanjuro is the continuation of the film Yojimbo .

In spite of some critical Japanese regarding Kurosawa as too occidentalized, it was deeply inspired by the Japanese culture and in particular the Kabuki, the Théâtre No and the kind of cinema Jidaigeki.

Influences

Akira Kurosawa inspired by many scenario writers.
  • the Seven Samurais will inspire to the film the Seven Mercenaries ( The magnificent seven ) of John Sturges in 1960.
  • Yojimbo inspired the film For a handle of dollars ( Per a pugno di dollari ) of Sergio Leone in 1964.
  • the hidden Fortress inspired George Lucas for the writing of the Star Wars ( Star Wars ).
  • Tora! will tora! will tora! : Akira Kurosawa carried out the first grinding of the Japanese sequences of the Tora! will tora! will tora! The Attack One Pearl Harbor (トラ! トラ! トラ!) of Richard Fleischer. Following an argument with the American realizer and the studios of the Century Fox, Kurosawa was finally replaced by Toshio Masuda and the sulfurous Kinji Fukasaku for the final version of this historical reconstitution of the attack of Pearl Harbor, seen for the first time by the two camps.

Collaboration

During its period more ostentation, end of the Years 1940 until the medium of the Years 1960, Kurosawa often worked with same the people. Fumio Hayasaka composed the seven music of its films. It has coécrit its scenarios with Hideo Oguni and Yoshiro Muraki was its executive producer and artistic for the majority of its films as from 1949. Asakazu Nakai was the Director of the photography of eleven of its films.

He worked finally much with the actors Takashi Shimura and Toshirō Mifune.

Anecdotes

  • Kurosawa was a fine recognized gourmet, and spent of important sums in the budget of the production for the food of the team.

  • It is following an accident that Kurosawa was obsessed by the Sang. Whereas it crossed a street with its dog, this one passed under a tram and was cut into two. This image marked it durably so much so that it could not eat any more meat red and bleeding.

Quotation

There is something which can be called kinematic beauty. That can be expressed only in one film, and that must be present so that this film is a work of movement. When that is well expressed, the experiment of a particularly major emotion will be present at projection. I believe that it is this quality which makes that people come to see a film, and it is the hope to reach this quality which inspires the realizer to carry out film.

Catalog of films

The first title is the title more known, in general that in French, but that can be the Japanese title (for example Dersu Uzala and Kagemusha ).

April 2nd, 2007 the Tôhô deposited a complaint against the company Cosmo Contents concerning the distribution with works with Kurosawa. The judgment will make it possible to establish if the films of Akira Kurosawa former to 1953 are in the Public domain or not. The court of the district of Tokyo gave its judgment on September 14th, 2007, establishing that works of Akira Kurosawa will be in the public domain only at the end of the 38e year after the death of the author, i.e. on December 31st, 2036.

posthumous Work:

  • 1998 : After the Rain (雨あがる, Heart agaru ): posthumous work carried out by Takashi Koizumi. The setting in scene, the scenarios and dialogs are signed of Akira Kurosawa.

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