Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take: Akira Kurosawa had been in my mind since the beginning but I never knew what the reaction would be from Freddy or Chris, so I stayed clear. His movies tend to be very long, and being Japanese the films would be very different from what we had previously seen. But I had to choose him due to the fact that he is one of the most important and influential directors of all time. Seven Samurai is a fantastic film that I had seen before so that was an easy choice to add in there. It's a very entertaining movie that moves along at a steady pace and is filled with adventure, humor and action. That was the only Kurosawa film I had seen, so the other two were a difficult choice for me. Seeing as how Seven Samurai was a 3 1/2 hour long film, I knew I had to pick two that would bring that night to a close at a good time. Rashomon and Ikiru were two films of his I had wanted to see most and their runtimes worked in perfectly. I feel like I had never quite seen a film like Rashomon before. It touched on a lot of issues that would have been taboo back then and seeing a lot of the Japanese culture working in that time period was very interesting. Ikiru was a film that a lot of us as Americans could relate to due to it's subject matter. And although I feel the ending tended to drag on a bit, it was a fantastic film none-the-less. I'm glad I had the chance to show Freddy and Chris these films because I feel the chances of them watching them on their own was rare. Kurosawa is a very important director, and anyone who has a respect for film needs to indulge themselves in his movies.

Rashomon

Ikiru

Seven Samurai

The Films Of Akira Kurosawa