Japanese Cinema Pt. 1
My interest in movies really gained momentum after watching Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. I knew nothing about the film when I bought it, except that it was highly reccomended and directed by a man who has influenced so many other people. Most of us have hopefully heard the name Akira Kurosawa before, but I don't know if you know the extent to which he has influenced the film industry. He himself was influenced by American westerns when making Seven Samurai and others, so it's a bit ironic to have Seven Samurai remade into a western called The Magnificent Seven. The same with two other of his films Yojimbo and Sanjuro which was the basis for Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars, and For a Few Dollars More.Kurosawas' Hidden Fortress influenced George Lucas to make Star Wars and specifically the characters R2-D2 and C3P0. There is also a touching scene in Saving Private Ryan where a man is looking for his arm which was cut off, and picks it up. This is an exact replica of a scene from the masterpiece Ran.
So why am I mentioning any of this? It's because Kurosawa has had major influences on my life and my future. I have such a strong interest in making movies and I owe this all to watching Seven Samurai. From there, I continued to watch other Japanese films and learned how great they were in comparison to those of Hollywood. I find the Japanese style is less focused on action and more on the overall aesthethics of our enviornment. Most Japanese directors take advantage of their surroundings, filling the screen with the most beautiful and sometimes surreal images. Here are just a handful of images that I want to show you. Many of them are what I thought were memorable from each movie, and others are to portray Akira's influence.
Here is a shot from the movie Dreams, which is based on Akira's dreams. It's a beautiful shot of young Kurosawa in the middle of a field of flowers looking up at the rainbow appearing after the bountiful rain.
This is just to show the characters that were the model for those in Star Wars and a fistful of dollars.
Ran (1985)
What a visual treat this movie was. It is based on Shakespeare's King Lear and transferred over to Feudal Japan. I love this movie more and more with every view.
Floating Weeds (1959) Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
This is the only Japanese movie mentioned that wasn't directed by Kurosawa. This movie has helped me (with Ebert's commentary) to realize how important composition and cinematography is. These two shots stand out just because of that red umbrella. I love it so much and would hang either on my wall.
As the title says this is just the first part on Japanese films. I intend to write much more about it in the future and the specific things that are influencing me as I write my own scripts. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope that it at least motivates you to watch one of these classic films.
Floating Weeds (1959) Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
As the title says this is just the first part on Japanese films. I intend to write much more about it in the future and the specific things that are influencing me as I write my own scripts. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope that it at least motivates you to watch one of these classic films.
