Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa

7/28/2019 Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa

1/7

Jeffery Osvold

Global Cinema

Dr. Carlson3/31/12

Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa

Before 1950 Japanese cinema was virtually unknown to Western audiences and

held very little prominence in the market, only releasing one to five substantial works per

year. However, the early 1950s marked a turning point for Japanese cinema with the rise

of The Big Three, which consisted of Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Akira

Kurosawa. Concurrently with the rise of Japanese cinema was the concept of the auteur,

which stated that a director had complete creative control over his works, as well as a

distinctive style. Akira Kurosawa is one such director who obtained the title of auteur and

garnered a significant number of followers and admirers. However, Kurosawa was not

without criticism. Throughout his career he was constantly berated by critics with

accusations of being too Western and pandering to Western values and politics

(Mellen, 60). However, despite criticisms that Kurosawas work is too Western, he

remains an icon of Japanese cinema based on the components that define his as one of the

earliest auteurs in the history of film.

Before understanding the specific details for Kurosawas status as an auteur it is

important to first the major influences of his films. Kurosawas childhood held numerous

influences of his work. As a boy Kurosawa grew up watching films and simply enjoyed

the varied and pleasant stimulation [films] added to ordinary life (Kurosawa 6).

However, it wasnt until later that Kurosawa realized that going to the movies [had] an

educational value as well (6). This concept was passed down to young Akira from his


2/7

father, Isamu, who instilled a love of film in his son. Isamu, being a former member of a

samurai family, also influenced Kurosawas interest in Japanese culture. His earliest

films,Drunken AngelandRashomon, fit within the genre jidai-geki, which are period

films, taking place in feudal Japan that incorporate authentic samurai costumes. Later

still, Kurosawa developed the ambition to become a painter. However, after attending

school for a brief period of time he lost interest in it and turned his attention to film.

However, his past experience as a painter is evident in his film style and can be seen in

the clear and interesting composition of his shots, which are set up using wide shots of

scenery that resemble landscape paintings.

Leaving his childhood, Kurosawas success began with his 1948 film,Drunken

Angel. However, he did not gain global recognition until 1950 withRashomon, which

won the Golden Lion in the 1951 Venice Film Festival. This success launched Kurosawa

into a period of his life where he released a new film nearly every year for the next 15

years. In addition,Rashomon was the beginning of Kurosawas partnership with the

Kurosawa-gumi, a group of crew and cast members that included the actors Takashi

Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, composer Fumio Hayasaka, cinematographer Asakazu

Nakai, and art director Yoshiro Muraki. This group would frequently take part in

Kurosawas films and had a significant influence on the success of Kurosawas work.

With his reputation as a filmmaker blossoming, Kurosawa began to gain admirers

including many New Hollywood directors, such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and

Martin Scorsese. However, he also began to take criticisms for the Western nature of his

work. Unlike many of Japans traditional filmmakers, Kurosawa created narrative films

that featured an individual who fights against his circumstances, which was a very


3/7

common plot element of Hollywood cinema at the time (Prince 20). Furthermore, the

narrative mode followed Hollywood standards, which emphasize[d] chronological,

causal, linear, and historical thinking (20). One such film that supports this argument is

Yojimbo, a 1961 film that features a samurai protagonist played by Mifune who enters a

town in the midst of a war between two rival crime lords. Although it sounds uniquely

Japanese, Yojimbo holds many characteristics of Western cinema, which support the

criticism of Kurosawas desire to please Western audiences. The biggest piece of

evidence is Kurosawas reputation for borrow[ing] from Western literary sources,

which, in the case ofYojimbo, included Dashiell Hammetts The Glass Key and Red

Harvest (Johnston 40). This can be seen in Mifunes character, Sanjuro, whose overall

demeanor is very reminiscent of film noirs classic hard-boiled detective. Numerous

points throughout the film Sanjuro tells the sake brewer, Tokuemon, that he is entirely

indifferent to the plight of the crime lords and only cares about who is willing to pay

more for his services. Yojimbo also resembles Western films in that it was intended to

look like a classic Western. Kurosawa accomplished this by incorporating large gales of

wind, which picked up enormous dust clouds that swept around the town. This imagery

was incredibly effective in creating the Western feel as Sanjuro walked through the

town, which Kurosawa filmed as a wide shot, depicting the lone hero facing his enemies.

In the beginning of the film, Sanjuro even walks through the town with a toothpick in his

mouth, while glowering at the various gang members scattered upon the street.

Another example of Kurosawas use of Western literature is his 1957 film,

Throne of Blood, which was based off of the Shakespearean play,Macbeth. However,

Throne of Blood, despite being based off of a Western piece of literature does not have


4/7

the same Western look and feel ofYojimbo. Filmed between sets on Mt. Fuji and the

studio, Throne of Bloodcreates a setting of Japanese landscapes and forests, which differ

greatly from the dusty roads ofYojimbo. In addition to the scenery, Throne of Bloods

characters, Generals Miki and Washizu, portray very different characteristics than that of

Sanjuro. The Generals show fealty to their Lord Tsuzuki, whereas Sanjuro shows no

respect for the crime lords who hire his services. This relationship between a master and

his followers is one theme that crops up numerous times in Kurosawas films and is very

reminiscent of Japanese culture, in which villages were commanded by masters, who

were then governed themselves by an emperor.

The evidence supporting Kurosawas disposition as a maker of Westernized films

seems daunting, however, Kurosawa shows that he anchored his movies in the Japanese

culture and spirit (Johnston 40) and earned his title as an icon of Japanese cinema based

on the components that make him an early auteur. The more obvious components are his

departures from traditional Hollywood cinema in terms of technique. Kurosawa is known

for employing bold and creative elements in his films that create an interest unlike any

seen in Hollywood at the time.

The first technique is his employment of symbols within his films. The 1950 film,

Rashomon, created symbols for the characters by using creative lighting, which also

served the film by making scenes look compositionally stimulating. The film, which

revolves around the rape of a woman and murder of her husband, tells the story from the

viewpoints of the guilty bandit, wife, her dead husband via a medium, and later a

woodcutter who witnessed the events. Yet, the majority of the story is told by unreliable

narrators, who alter the story to place themselves in a more flattering light. During the


5/7

first telling of the story, given by the bandit, the woman is sitting near a creek and she is

bathed in light. Kurosawa intentionally did this to indicate her purity before she gives in

to the bandit, where the light actually dims as her honor leaves her. Additionally, the

bandit is submersed in light during the sword fight, making him appear more attractive

and heroic. Later, during the husbands retelling, when he is tied to a tree while his wife

is raped, he is cast in shadow. Further into his retelling, when his wife tells the bandit to

kill her husband to hide her shame, he is further obscured by darkness, which creates the

impression that he is being forgotten and should be pitied for his misfortune. Lastly,

when the woodcutter, who witnessed everything, tells the story, all three of the previous

storytellers are placed in shadow when they are debating who should take the woman as

she cried on the forest floor. Another popular element of symbolism in Kurosawas films

is the weather.Rashomon uses rain as a symbol of despair as the woodcutter and priest

comment on the stories with a local man who stops by the gate. After their conclusion of

the story, the three discover an abandoned baby at the gate and the local man takes the

kimono and amulet that were left to the baby. When the woodcutter comments on his

thievery, the man accuses the woodcutter of stealing a valuable dagger from the crime

scene he had witnessed. After these events, the priest utters his loss of faith in humanity.

However, when the woodcutter offers to care for the baby, the rain stops and he walks off

under the sun with the baby in hand. Another example of weathers symbolism is the

wind in Yojimbo. The wind, blowing up large clouds of dust, does more than create a

Western feel for the film. Kurosawa also used the wind as a symbol for the atrocities of

the West blowing into Japan. The character Unosuke, who turns up partway through the

film, wielding a pistol, and accompanied by the dust clouds, further implies this.


6/7

The second technique of Kurosawas that makes him an iconic Japanese

filmmaker is his camera work. Very often, Kurosawa films scenes containing lots of

nature. This includes many landscape shots, as well as shots that are often done through

shrubbery so the actors can be seen between branches and leaves. This happens many

times in Throne of Bloodwhen the two generals are riding through the spiders web

forest towards the castle. Kurosawa does this to create a feeling of density in the forest,

which also disorients the viewer, furthering the sensation that the audience is lost within

the forest as well. Another camera technique employed by Kurosawa is the axial cut, in

which the camera cuts between multiple shots while maintaining a feeling of continuity.

Rashomon contains an axial cut during the womans telling of the story when she is

moving towards her husband with the dagger as he glares at her with loathing. The axial

cut occurs by jumping between her face and his and slowly she gets closer to him without

the audience actually seeing her whole body in motion.

The last key components of Kurosawas title as an auteur are his distinctive

themes that form the educational infrastructure of his films and give them depth beyond

entertainment. The first theme of Kurosawas is existentialism, which is the emphasis of

an individuals existence as a free and responsible agent who determines his or her own

development through acts of will. The films that best represent this are Yojimbo and

Throne of Blood, which both contain characters eager to further their own wellbeing by

committing acts of will towards crime lords (Sanjuro) and emperors (Washizu). While

Washizu kills Lord Tsuzuki in an act of betrayal and greed to gain the throne, Sanjuro

commits acts of trickery on the crime lords to further his own profits. However, the

difference between these two characters is Sanjuros honor, which he upholds when he


7/7

frees a peasants wife and provides her, her husband, and their son with enough money to

run away. This act of character is very representative of Japanese culture and Kurosawa

incorporated it into his film, knowing that he was paying homage to his samurai ancestry.

The othertheme of Kurosawas is humanism, which stresses the potential goodness of

human beings.Rashomon embodies this theme very well with the trio of characters

discussing the stories at the gate. Specifically, the priest is Kurosawas voice in this film

and is constantly remarking on his faith in humanity and the disbelief that any man could

be so evil as to lie about such a serious event just to protect their self-image. However,

the local man plays the devils advocate and taunts the priest throughout the stories,

saying that everyone is greedy and only looking for ways to survive in this world.

Thankfully, the priests faith is restored when the woodcutter accepts responsibility for

the baby and takes it home to care for it. With these two themes Kurosawa expresses a

faith in the human condition and tries to depict protagonists with inner goodness and care

for their fellow man. This attempt sets Kurosawa further apart from Western filmmakers

whose films are often made with entertainment and money in mind.

Despite the clear evidence that the West influenced Kurosawa, he should not be

criticized for this element of his films because he still expresses important elements of

Japanese culture with the components that make him one of the earliest auteurs in the

history of film. By maintaining distinctly Japanese subject matter and ideals of

individuality and honor Kurosawa creates films that deserve recognition as important

pieces of Japanese cinema because of their masterful creation and ability to make an

audience think critically about film.

Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa

Documents

Transcript of Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa