WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.279 Welcome back to the deep dive. This is where 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:05.059 we sift through, you know, mountains of information, 00:00:05.219 --> 00:00:07.559 the whole colossal archive of human knowledge. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.099 And we try to distill it down into pure essential 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:15.000 insight for you. And today we are really stepping 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.219 into the realm of the Titans. We really are. 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:19.039 We're not just diving into film history today. 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:21.600 We're talking about an artist whose legacy is 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.679 so profound. It feels like it's shaped. Well, 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:26.760 every blockbuster, every psychological drama, 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:29.239 and every sweeping epic that came after him. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.320 We are indeed. The subject today is Akira Kurosawa. 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:35.939 He lived from 1910 to 1998, a name that just 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:39.219 stands alone in the history of cinema. It's synonymous 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:42.679 with this incredible dramatic intensity, unparalleled 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:44.880 technical mastery. And stories that just resonated 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:48.200 everywhere, universally. Right. He directed 30 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:51.399 feature films across six decades. And if you 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:53.159 look at the source material, the consistent thing 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:56.140 you hear from his peers, Lucas, Corsese, Bergman, 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:58.079 Fellini, is that he influenced almost everyone. 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:00.439 And what really defines Kurosawa, what sets him 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:02.359 apart and earns him that title, the emperor of 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.400 cinema, is his sheer, singular creative control. 00:01:05.739 --> 00:01:07.819 Our sources really highlight that he wasn't just 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:10.659 the director. He was, at the same time, the writer, 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.780 the producer, and the editor on his films. I 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:15.299 mean, he was the master builder on set. That 00:01:15.299 --> 00:01:17.989 holistic approach. you know, what people call 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:20.530 the auteur theory, it applied perfectly to him. 00:01:20.989 --> 00:01:23.290 Exceptionally rare. And it speaks directly to 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:25.510 the command he had over his finished product. 00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:28.030 So when you watch a Kurosawa film, you're not 00:01:28.030 --> 00:01:31.370 just watching a movie. No. You are experiencing 00:01:31.370 --> 00:01:34.629 Kurosawa's vision completely. It's crafted by 00:01:34.629 --> 00:01:37.010 him, layer by layer, from the very foundation 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:39.010 of the script all the way to the rhythm of the 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:41.780 final cut. So our mission today is to cut through 00:01:41.780 --> 00:01:45.400 this massive, influential body of work and really 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:48.319 understand the essential nuggets, the traumatic 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:50.980 childhood influences, the key technical innovations 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:53.159 that are, believe it or not, still used today, 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.000 and the crucial collaborations and, well, the 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.980 collapses that forged his global reputation. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:01.459 So if you want to crash course on why figures 00:02:01.459 --> 00:02:03.900 like George Lucas and Ingmar Bergman just revered 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:06.000 him, you're in the right place. We're going to 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.159 give you the shortcut to appreciation. Okay, 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:10.080 let's unpack this. So let's start at the very 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.939 beginning of this monumental life. Akira Kurosawa 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:16.919 was born on March 23, 1910 in Tokyo. And when 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:18.900 we look at his family background, we immediately 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:21.580 see this fascinating contradiction that seems 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:24.560 to define his whole character. Absolutely. His 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:27.060 father, Isamu, came from a samurai family, which 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.639 is a background that implies, you know, discipline, 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.139 tradition, formality. The old ways. Exactly. 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:36.310 But Isamu was... remarkably progressive. He was, 00:02:36.349 --> 00:02:38.490 in effect, a forward -thinking man in a very 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:40.370 traditional position. This wasn't some rigid 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:43.210 conservative household. Isamu actively believed 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:46.050 in the educational merit of cinema and theater. 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:47.590 It was pretty unusual for the time, right? Oh, 00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:50.229 very unusual. And he encouraged young Akira... 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.580 to watch films from the incredibly early age 00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:55.979 of six. That instilled a love for visual storytelling 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:58.680 and narrative scale right from the get -go. So 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:00.960 he's absorbing narratives, both Eastern and Western, 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:03.360 from the very start. But the truly formative 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:07.159 and, frankly, traumatic influence came from outside 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.360 the home. It did. And it's centered on his older 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:13.139 brother, Heigo, and the Great Khanty Earthquake 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:16.370 of 1923. This sounds pivotal. This is a massive 00:03:16.370 --> 00:03:18.949 psychological pivot point. I'd argue it's the 00:03:18.949 --> 00:03:21.250 single most important moment in shaping his artistic 00:03:21.250 --> 00:03:24.610 temperament. When the earthquake and the firestorms 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:28.090 and the subsequent massacre struck Tokyo, Kurosawa 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:31.349 was only 13. The devastation was just widespread. 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:33.710 Unimaginable. The streets were littered with 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.590 corpses, both human and animal. And when Akira 00:03:36.590 --> 00:03:38.750 tried to turn away from this overwhelming horror, 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:41.560 Hugo, who was working as a silent film narrator, 00:03:41.819 --> 00:03:44.159 he forced him to look. He demanded that his younger 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.139 brother confront it. That's a brutal, defining 00:03:46.139 --> 00:03:49.199 lesson for a kid. Exactly. And the source material 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.479 suggests this profound incident instilled in 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.099 Kurosawa, a willingness, maybe even a responsibility, 00:03:54.539 --> 00:03:57.500 to confront and explore unpleasant truths directly 00:03:57.500 --> 00:03:59.699 in his work. No matter how difficult or graphic 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:01.900 they might be for the audience. Right. And we 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.400 see this unflinching realism later in films like 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.560 Ikiru, which just stares mortality in the face, 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.479 and especially in the savage historical violence 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.219 he depicts in epics like Ran. He learned early 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:13.740 on that turning away from the horror doesn't 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:16.420 make it disappear. That's it. Before film, though, 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:19.540 Kurosawa was an artist. He planned to be a painter, 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:23.100 he exhibited work, and he even briefly joined 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:26.199 the left -wing proletarian Artists League. But 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:28.939 that pursuit didn't last. No, mostly because 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:30.839 of financial struggle. He just couldn't make 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:33.759 a living. And more importantly, he lost his ideological 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.339 enthusiasm for the movement itself. He saw that 00:04:37.339 --> 00:04:40.379 brand of art as just putting unfulfilled political 00:04:40.379 --> 00:04:44.060 ideals directly onto the canvas. So he felt it 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:46.879 lacked genuine depth. Yeah, or cinematic power. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.300 He needed a medium that engaged with the world 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.769 more directly. And then came this immense personal 00:04:51.769 --> 00:04:54.110 loss that really precipitated his final career 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:57.209 pivot. A huge loss. The tragic death of his brother, 00:04:57.290 --> 00:05:00.269 Heigo, in 1933, who committed suicide. Heigo, 00:05:00.370 --> 00:05:02.269 as we mentioned, was a silent film narrator, 00:05:02.509 --> 00:05:05.029 a benshi. Can you explain what a benshi was? 00:05:05.149 --> 00:05:07.490 It was a really unique profession. Oh, totally 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:10.629 unique. The benshi was a performer who would 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:12.750 stand right next to the screen during a silent 00:05:12.750 --> 00:05:16.009 film and provide live narration. All the voices, 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:18.730 all the emotion. They basically created the entire 00:05:18.730 --> 00:05:21.310 auditory experience for the audience. A beautiful 00:05:21.310 --> 00:05:23.670 art form, but one that was professionally doomed. 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:26.870 Precisely. The rise of synchronized sound, you 00:05:26.870 --> 00:05:29.089 know, the talkies, it meant the rapid professional 00:05:29.089 --> 00:05:32.529 collapse of the entire benshi class. So Haigo's 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.149 professional tragedy was all wrapped up in his 00:05:35.149 --> 00:05:37.250 personal despair. And that wasn't the only loss. 00:05:37.430 --> 00:05:40.269 No. Just four months later, Kurosawa lost his 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:43.310 eldest brother as well. That left the 23 -year 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:45.790 -old Akira as the sole surviving brother, carrying 00:05:45.790 --> 00:05:48.529 this tremendous unarticulated sense of loss that 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:51.029 must have just pushed him to find a stable, viable, 00:05:51.209 --> 00:05:53.870 and deeply expressive path forward in the medium 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:56.750 that had, in a way, taken his brother's profession 00:05:56.750 --> 00:06:00.019 from him. And that stable path opened up in 1935 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:02.360 when Kurosawa applied for an assistant director 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.980 position at Photochemical Laboratories, PCL. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:07.600 Which later merged into the giant studio Toho. 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:09.740 Right. And the story of his application essay 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:12.019 is, well, it's legendary. It's pure Kurosawa 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:14.620 confidence. It really is. Yeah. He was asked 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:17.379 to discuss the fundamental deficiencies of Japanese 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:20.720 film and proposed fixes. And Kurosawa's response 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:24.310 was just so... blunt, almost mocking. He basically 00:06:24.310 --> 00:06:26.209 said that if the deficiencies were truly fundamental, 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:28.709 there was no way for him to fix them. That's 00:06:28.709 --> 00:06:32.310 audacious. Incredibly. But that audacious honesty 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:35.850 and his confident analysis really impressed the 00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:38.769 director, Kajiri Yamamoto, who immediately insisted 00:06:38.769 --> 00:06:41.579 Curacao be hired. despite the cheekiness. And 00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:45.180 Yamamoto quickly became this huge figure in Kurosawa's 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:47.259 development, his primary professional mentor. 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.300 For five absolutely crucial years, Kurosawa worked 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:53.519 on 17 films under Yamamoto. He was promoted fast 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.160 to chief assistant director, and his duties were 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:58.319 incredibly extensive. This wasn't just, you know, 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:01.019 fetching coffee. Right. He was location scatting, 00:07:01.019 --> 00:07:03.620 polishing scripts, managing lighting and construction, 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:06.300 editing. He was even doing second unit directing 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.240 on films like Horse in 1941. He was getting a 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.529 master... class in every single facet of filmmaking 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:13.509 and the source material is very clear about the 00:07:13.509 --> 00:07:15.870 core lesson Yamamoto drilled into him that a 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:18.310 good director must first master screenwriting 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:21.589 and that advice just defined Kurosawa's entire 00:07:21.589 --> 00:07:25.449 career it did he took it to heart he recognized 00:07:25.449 --> 00:07:27.490 that control starts with the narrative blueprint 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:30.670 not only did he write or co -write all of his 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:33.810 own films but writing screenplays for other directors 00:07:33.810 --> 00:07:36.470 became a lucrative sideline that continued long 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:39.600 after he was famous He understood that mastering 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.420 the words gave him command over the eventual 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:45.100 image. All of this practical experience finally 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:47.459 culminates in his directorial debut, which arrives 00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:50.139 right at the height of the Pacific War. Sanchiro 00:07:50.139 --> 00:07:54.720 Sugata, 1943. Kurosawa secured the project after 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.100 just devouring the source novel and insisted 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.579 that Toho buy the rights for him. It was a critical 00:07:59.579 --> 00:08:01.560 and commercial success right out of the gate. 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:03.579 But even that success came with the heavy hand 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:06.230 of wartime censorship. Oh, yeah. The Japanese 00:08:06.230 --> 00:08:08.990 authorities cut 18 minutes of what they decided 00:08:08.990 --> 00:08:12.029 was British American content. His next film, 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:15.170 The Most Beautiful, from 1944, reveals his dedication 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:17.649 to realism and his, well, his unconventional 00:08:17.649 --> 00:08:19.430 methods, even when making what was essentially 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:21.850 a propaganda film about female factory workers. 00:08:22.189 --> 00:08:25.029 He shot it in a semi -documentary style, but 00:08:25.029 --> 00:08:27.069 his directing technique was totally immersive. 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:30.540 To get genuine performances, he had the actresses 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:33.240 live in a real factory for weeks during the shoot. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.720 He had them eat the factory food, call each other 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:38.039 by their character names. Exactly. He was demanding 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:40.879 a method approach, a truly lived -in performance. 00:08:41.379 --> 00:08:44.019 And that deep immersion became a hallmark of 00:08:44.019 --> 00:08:46.799 his career. It also had a lasting personal effect. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:50.019 Right. He married the film's lead actress, Yuko 00:08:50.019 --> 00:08:53.059 Yaguchi, in May of 45. And they stayed together 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:56.350 until her death 40 years later. So his professional 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.070 methods literally cemented his personal life. 00:08:59.210 --> 00:09:01.110 But then we have The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's 00:09:01.110 --> 00:09:03.950 Tail from 1945, which was completed just as Japan 00:09:03.950 --> 00:09:06.509 surrendered. And this one has a truly farcical 00:09:06.509 --> 00:09:08.669 censorship history. It's the ultimate example 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:11.509 of being caught between two rigid worlds. The 00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:14.190 film was based on a famous kabuki play, and it 00:09:14.190 --> 00:09:17.870 starred the popular comedian Inokin. During production, 00:09:18.049 --> 00:09:20.429 the Japanese wartime censors just savaged it. 00:09:20.490 --> 00:09:22.710 Right. They called it too Western and democratic. 00:09:23.429 --> 00:09:25.870 They specifically hated Enochin's comic porter 00:09:25.870 --> 00:09:28.509 character, who brought this kind of irreverence 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:31.289 to a serious historical tale. But then the war 00:09:31.289 --> 00:09:33.990 ends, the U .S. occupation begins, and the American 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:36.919 censors step in. only to ban it for the exact 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:39.820 opposite reason. Exactly. The American occupation 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:42.639 censors found it too futile. They disliked the 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.080 traditional historical setting and its reverence 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:47.679 for certain samurai codes. So it was simultaneously 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.360 too progressive for the wartime Japanese regime 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.080 and too traditional for the American occupiers. 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.440 It was stuck, stuck in this bureaucratic and 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.080 political limbo, and it was only finally released 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.259 seven years later in 1952. It's such a powerful 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:04.139 metaphor for Kurosawa's entire career, constantly 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:06.460 having to bridge... or fall between the divides 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:09.200 of East and West. Moving into the post -war era, 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:11.980 Japan was fundamentally changing, and Kurosawa 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:13.919 sought to realign his work with the democratic 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.779 ideals of the occupation, focusing his narrative 00:10:16.779 --> 00:10:19.419 squarely on the individual. This is the era of 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:22.539 No Regrets for Our Youth from 1946, which is 00:10:22.539 --> 00:10:25.039 a film that directly criticized Japan's pre -war 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:27.519 political regime and its oppressive conformity. 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:30.159 It centers on this heroic female protagonist, 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:32.870 Yuki. And she's questioning her own comfortable 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:35.789 upper middle class values. Right. During a political 00:10:35.789 --> 00:10:38.710 crisis. It was a controversial but popular hit. 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:41.549 Variations of the title actually became a post 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:44.350 -war catchphrase signaling this new spirit of 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:47.610 inquiry in Japan. And then in 1947, a pivotal 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:49.889 moment happens that would define the next two 00:10:49.889 --> 00:10:53.230 decades of his filmmaking. The discovery of Toshiro 00:10:53.230 --> 00:10:55.809 Mifune. Mifune's initial audition story is just 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.350 fantastic. He showed up and was described as 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:02.899 polarizing. I mean, he was raw, intense, aggressive. 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:05.620 He had a physical vitality that casting agents 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:08.419 just didn't know what to do with. Exactly. Kurosawa 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:11.399 and his mentor, Yamamoto, had to directly intervene 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:14.139 and persuade Toho to sign this intense young 00:11:14.139 --> 00:11:16.460 actor because they recognized immediately that 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:18.519 this wasn't just talent, this was volcanic energy 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:21.179 waiting to be unleashed. And that volcanic energy 00:11:21.179 --> 00:11:24.809 quickly erupted in Drunken Angel in 1948. Many 00:11:24.809 --> 00:11:27.169 critics consider this his first major work where 00:11:27.169 --> 00:11:29.490 he truly found his voice. And Kurosawa himself 00:11:29.490 --> 00:11:31.649 felt this was the first film where he could truly 00:11:31.649 --> 00:11:34.230 express himself freely despite the constant pressure 00:11:34.230 --> 00:11:36.970 of American censorship rewrites. It was a gritty 00:11:36.970 --> 00:11:39.190 story set in the post -war black market. About 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:41.470 a doctor trying to save a volatile young gangster. 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:43.990 Right. The doctor was played by the marvelous 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:46.789 Takeshi Shimura, who was in over 20 Kurosawa 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:51.580 films. But the gangster... And Shimura was the 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:54.460 title character, the doctor, but our sources 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:57.179 stress that it was Mifune's explosive performance 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:00.220 that just overshadowed the entire film. It electrified 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:04.139 audiences immediately. Mifune was defiant, rebellious, 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:06.820 fiercely physical, and critics quickly compared 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:09.500 his impact to that of Marlon Brando arriving 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:11.720 on the American scene just a few years later. 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.899 This was the start of a unique professional symbiosis. 00:12:15.370 --> 00:12:17.389 And they would go on to make 16 films together. 00:12:17.509 --> 00:12:20.850 A partnership built on mutual respect and often 00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:23.470 very intense conflict. Following that was Stray 00:12:23.470 --> 00:12:26.750 Dog in 1949, which used a police procedural framework 00:12:26.750 --> 00:12:29.029 to explore the mood of Japan's painful recovery. 00:12:29.350 --> 00:12:32.129 It's a key post -war film, co -written with Ryozo 00:12:32.129 --> 00:12:35.179 Kikushima. It follows Mifune as a detective searching 00:12:35.179 --> 00:12:37.600 for his stolen pistol. But what is so technically 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:40.720 audacious about it is this stunning, virtually 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.159 wordless eight -minute sequence. Where the detective 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.220 is searching the war -ravaged streets of Tokyo 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:47.980 disguised as a veteran? Right. And that sequence 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:50.899 used actual documentary footage, shot by none 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.200 other than Ishiro Honda, the future director 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.480 of Godzilla, creating this raw, visceral look 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.779 at the psychological landscape of defeat. It 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:02.519 proved Kurosawa could turn genre fiction into 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.779 profound social commentary. So if Drunken Angel 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:08.980 was his major Japanese breakthrough, then Rashomon 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:12.279 from 1950 was the seismic, defining event that 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:14.360 launched Kurosawa and Japanese cinema itself 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:17.120 onto the global stage. Rashomon is the ultimate 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.340 game changer. It was co -written with Shinobu 00:13:19.340 --> 00:13:22.059 Hashimoto, and it's based on a story that recounts 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:24.860 a murder and a rape from these dramatically different, 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:27.259 conflicting points of view. But when it premiered 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:30.610 in Tokyo, the reception was... Lukewarm. Puzzled. 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:32.789 Yeah, even indifferent. Yeah. Critics didn't 00:13:32.789 --> 00:13:34.389 know what to make of its unique structure, its 00:13:34.389 --> 00:13:37.190 thematic ambiguity. Japanese audiences who are 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:39.309 accustomed to more linear narratives, they just 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:41.730 found the fractured subjective viewpoint confusing. 00:13:41.909 --> 00:13:43.929 They were asking, so what's the truth? But then 00:13:43.929 --> 00:13:46.629 it gets entered into the 1951 Venice Film Festival. 00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:48.629 Without Kurosawa's knowledge initially. And it 00:13:48.629 --> 00:13:50.710 wins the Golden Lion. Which shocked the entire 00:13:50.710 --> 00:13:53.870 international film world. Absolutely. The West 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:56.870 was largely unaware of Japan's deep, sophisticated 00:13:56.870 --> 00:13:59.690 cinematic tradition. And its subsequent commercial 00:13:59.690 --> 00:14:02.490 success in the U .S. RKO bought the distribution 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:05.490 rights. And it earned an almost unheard of $35 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:08.529 ,000 in its first three weeks at a single New 00:14:08.529 --> 00:14:11.409 York theater. That created a global vogue for 00:14:11.409 --> 00:14:13.769 Japanese cinema throughout the 1950s. It did. 00:14:13.929 --> 00:14:16.029 Kurosawa didn't just achieve fame for himself. 00:14:16.250 --> 00:14:18.889 He smashed the cultural barrier for other masters 00:14:18.889 --> 00:14:22.669 like Kenji Mizuguchi and Yasujiro Ozu. They finally 00:14:22.669 --> 00:14:25.129 gained international recognition because Kurosawa 00:14:25.129 --> 00:14:27.789 proved Japanese films were viable export material. 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:31.090 That is a colossal legacy, opening up an entire 00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:33.350 national cinema to the world. And immediately 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:35.889 after that, he returns to Toho and delivers a 00:14:35.889 --> 00:14:38.909 modern day masterpiece, Ikiru. Ikiru, which means 00:14:38.909 --> 00:14:41.950 to live, is profoundly moving. It starred Takashi 00:14:41.950 --> 00:14:45.600 Shimura as Kanji Watanabe. a monotonous, cancer 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:47.580 -ridden bureaucrat who's seeking meaning in his 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:49.740 final months. And he adapted it from Tolstoy's 00:14:49.740 --> 00:14:51.960 The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Right, which cemented 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.399 his ability to synthesize Western literary tragedy 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.179 with a modern Japanese setting. The subject matter 00:14:57.179 --> 00:14:59.299 is grim, but the film is often discussed for 00:14:59.299 --> 00:15:02.080 its sharp satirical style. It is. He co -wrote 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.500 this with Hashimoto and Hideo Guni, who would 00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:07.539 become another longtime collaborator. And despite 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:10.100 the, you know, imminent death theme, they use 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:13.440 satire, which was compared favorably to Bertolt 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.500 Brecht, aimed squarely at the hero's stifling 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:19.279 bureaucracy and the rising tide of American cultural 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:21.620 colonization. You see that with the ubiquitous 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:23.559 presence of American pop songs on the soundtrack. 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:26.340 And it was wildly successful. It earned Kurosawa 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:30.059 his second Kinema Jempo Best Film Award and became 00:15:30.250 --> 00:15:32.549 the most acclaimed of all his films set in the 00:15:32.549 --> 00:15:34.929 modern era. So after addressing post -war mortality 00:15:34.929 --> 00:15:37.830 and bureaucracy, Kurosawa returns to the period 00:15:37.830 --> 00:15:40.509 epic, culminating in what many consider the definitive 00:15:40.509 --> 00:15:43.879 action film in history. Seven Samurai. 1954. 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:47.200 This project was just monumental. It was. Kurosawa 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:49.620 took a simple premise. A poor farming village 00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:51.820 hires masterless samurai to defend them against 00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:54.279 40 bandits. And he gave it a three and a half 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:56.220 hour epic treatment. The investment required 00:15:56.220 --> 00:16:00.120 was staggering. 148 days of shooting spread over 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:03.480 almost an entire year. They endured a freezing 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:06.200 winter shoot. And it was, at the time, the most 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.919 expensive Japanese film ever made. It blew past 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:10.940 its budget and schedule significantly. But the 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:12.899 reputation of the film today speaks for itself. 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:15.460 It was a huge hit internationally, even with 00:16:15.460 --> 00:16:18.000 the heavy edits made by U .S. distributors. Its 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.460 critical standing has only grown, culminating 00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:22.799 in it being voted the best Japanese film ever 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.940 made by critics in 1999. And in the 2022 BFI 00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:29.039 site and sound poll, it placed 20th among critics 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.480 and tied for 14th among directors globally. It 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.519 just confirms its status as this timeless template 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.080 for action and character study. Incredible to 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:40.519 think about the pressure following that. Shifting 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:42.620 back to contemporary issues, he followed it up 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:46.080 with I Live in Fear in 1955, conceived during 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.019 a time of intense nuclear anxiety in Japan. That 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:52.139 anxiety was very real. In 1954, you had radioactive 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:54.799 rainstorms in Japan and the disastrous Fukui 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.360 Maru fishing boat incident. This fear of annihilation 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:59.799 was palpable. And the film focuses on an elderly 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:02.480 factory owner, played by Ms. Hune. Right, who 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.269 is so convinced a nuclear attack is coming. That 00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:07.849 he becomes obsessed with moving his entire extended 00:17:07.849 --> 00:17:10.910 family to Brazil for safety. It sounds incredibly 00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:13.250 topical, yet it was his first film to actually 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:15.869 lose money during its original theatrical run. 00:17:16.049 --> 00:17:18.210 It was. It was just out of step with the mood. 00:17:18.369 --> 00:17:20.970 Japan was focused on high -speed economic growth 00:17:20.970 --> 00:17:23.369 and recovery. They didn't want to contemplate 00:17:23.369 --> 00:17:26.210 nuclear dread. Today, though, it's rightfully 00:17:26.210 --> 00:17:29.130 regarded as one of the finest psychological explorations 00:17:29.130 --> 00:17:31.670 of the global nuclear stalemate. It also marked 00:17:31.670 --> 00:17:35.109 a sad professional transition. It did. Kurosawa's 00:17:35.109 --> 00:17:38.049 longtime composer Fumio Hayasaka died during 00:17:38.049 --> 00:17:40.190 the shoot, and the score had to be finished by 00:17:40.190 --> 00:17:43.269 his student, Masaru Sato, who then became Kurosawa's 00:17:43.269 --> 00:17:46.250 primary composer for the next eight films. Kurosawa's 00:17:46.250 --> 00:17:48.769 ability to merge global literary classics with 00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:51.329 Japanese history yielded some of his most famous 00:17:51.329 --> 00:17:53.950 period pieces, particularly his Shakespeare adaptations. 00:17:54.549 --> 00:17:57.349 Throne of Blood, from 1957, is an ambitious, 00:17:57.589 --> 00:18:00.490 masterful adaptation of Macbeth, set in the Sengoku 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:03.509 era. and Kurosawa specifically directed his cast 00:18:03.509 --> 00:18:06.349 to strip away any residual Western theatricality. 00:18:06.430 --> 00:18:09.269 The acting style, particularly Isuzu Yamada's 00:18:09.269 --> 00:18:12.529 chilling performance as Lady Macbeth, drew heavily 00:18:12.529 --> 00:18:15.069 on the stylized, highly controlled movements 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:17.329 of traditional Japanese no -theater techniques. 00:18:17.849 --> 00:18:20.109 It remains highly celebrated among Shakespeare 00:18:20.109 --> 00:18:23.049 adaptations globally, precisely because it finds 00:18:23.049 --> 00:18:25.609 a new, authentic visual language for the old 00:18:25.609 --> 00:18:29.039 story. After tackling two huge epics, he needed 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.980 a commercial hit. And that arrived with The Hidden 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:35.680 Fortress in 1958. A very conscious choice to 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.160 make a lighter, more purely entertaining action 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.240 -adventure comedy -drama to counter the pessimism 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:44.319 of his preceding films. and it became an enormous 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:47.599 box office success. It was also his first film 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.559 using the new Toascope widescreen format, which 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.779 really enhanced the epic visual sweep. But the 00:18:52.779 --> 00:18:55.559 real nugget here is its massive direct influence 00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:58.119 on American cinema. Absolutely. The Hidden Fortress, 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:00.269 which chronicles a princess. for General Mifune, 00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:02.950 of course, and two bumbling peasants traversing 00:19:02.950 --> 00:19:05.269 enemy lines. It became the main structural and 00:19:05.269 --> 00:19:07.869 thematic blueprint for George Lucas' Star Wars. 00:19:08.190 --> 00:19:11.089 It did. Lucas famously borrowed the entire concept 00:19:11.089 --> 00:19:13.670 of telling a high -stakes adventure story primarily 00:19:13.670 --> 00:19:16.549 through the eyes of two low -status, bumbling 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:19.170 characters, which, of course, became C -3PO and 00:19:19.170 --> 00:19:21.650 R2 -D2. Okay, so here's where the Mifune era 00:19:21.650 --> 00:19:25.450 hits its absolute peak. The 1960s, starting with 00:19:25.450 --> 00:19:28.950 Yojimbo in 1961, featuring the masterless samurai 00:19:28.950 --> 00:19:32.869 Senjuro. Yojimbo is a monumental film. It basically 00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:35.349 wrote the rules for the spaghetti Western genre 00:19:35.349 --> 00:19:38.369 a full three years before Sergio Leone hit the 00:19:38.369 --> 00:19:40.549 scene. He played explicitly with Western genre 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:44.170 conventions, the nameless, wandering, morally 00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:47.279 ambiguous hero. And it offered an unprecedentedly 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:49.279 graphic portrayal of violence for the Japanese 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:51.579 screen at the time. It was a massive commercial 00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:53.799 and critical success. It earned more than any 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.440 previous Kurosawa film. And its success led directly 00:19:56.440 --> 00:19:59.279 to an international scandal and a lawsuit. Precisely. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.880 Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars from 1964 00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:05.039 was an unauthorized virtual scene -by -scene 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:07.440 remake. He'd just transposed the action to the 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:09.779 American West. So Toho, Kurosawa's producer, 00:20:10.019 --> 00:20:12.759 filed a lawsuit. And won a significant out -of 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.250 -court settlement. This financial and legal victory 00:20:15.250 --> 00:20:17.849 was a defining moment. It illustrated just how 00:20:17.849 --> 00:20:20.170 powerful Kurosawa's intellectual property had 00:20:20.170 --> 00:20:22.710 become on the global stage. He then broke his 00:20:22.710 --> 00:20:25.769 own box office record again in 1963 with the 00:20:25.769 --> 00:20:29.089 intense modern suspense film High and Low. Based 00:20:29.089 --> 00:20:31.630 on the American novel King's Ransom by Ed McBain, 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:34.990 Kurosawa intended it as a scathing condemnation 00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:37.630 of kidnapping, focusing on the moral cost of 00:20:37.630 --> 00:20:40.069 wealth. It was hugely successful, breaking his 00:20:40.069 --> 00:20:42.309 box office record for the third time in a row. 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:44.829 But there's a deeply unsettling irony here. Oh 00:20:44.829 --> 00:20:47.930 yeah. The film was widely blamed for a wave of 00:20:47.930 --> 00:20:50.609 real -life kidnappings in Japan, and Kurosawa 00:20:50.609 --> 00:20:52.809 himself received threats targeting his young 00:20:52.809 --> 00:20:55.890 daughter, Kazuko. The success he sought was having 00:20:55.890 --> 00:20:58.970 these real -world, terrifying consequences. Finally, 00:20:58.970 --> 00:21:00.849 we reach the end of this epoch with Red Beard 00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:04.259 in 1965. This film, set in a mid -19th century 00:21:04.259 --> 00:21:06.599 clinic for the poor, exploring humanist themes 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:09.200 of service and humility, is an exhausting process. 00:21:09.579 --> 00:21:11.640 It was Kurosawa's longest shoot, taking well 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:13.980 over a year. And it focuses on the conflict between 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:17.619 a cynical young doctor and the stern, wise Dr. 00:21:17.779 --> 00:21:20.660 Nide Redbeard, played by Mifune. Right. And it 00:21:20.660 --> 00:21:22.779 was a huge financial success, the highest grossing 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:25.400 Japanese production of the year. But critically, 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:28.220 it marked the end of the legendary Kurosawa -Mifune 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:31.069 partnership. A profound and lasting professional 00:21:31.069 --> 00:21:34.450 split. It was. Kurosawa himself noted at the 00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:36.430 time that filming felt like a cycle had ended, 00:21:36.569 --> 00:21:39.049 suggesting his relationship with Mifune was creatively 00:21:39.049 --> 00:21:42.210 exhausted. For reasons never publicly explained, 00:21:42.529 --> 00:21:44.589 Red Beard was the last film they made together. 00:21:44.849 --> 00:21:47.190 And that break, coupled with the collapse of 00:21:47.190 --> 00:21:49.190 the Japanese studio system due to television, 00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:51.529 it set the stage for the enormous professional 00:21:51.529 --> 00:21:54.619 turbulence of the late 1960s. Before we jump 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:57.059 into those turbulent, almost devastating years, 00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:59.740 we absolutely have to pause and examine how Kurosawa 00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:02.279 worked, because his singular style is what makes 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:04.480 his films so timeless. We talked about his multiple 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:07.900 roles, director, writer, editor, producer, all 00:22:07.900 --> 00:22:10.720 wrapped up in the famous Kurosawa Gumi. The Kurosawa 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:14.220 Gumi, or Kurosawa Group, was his dedicated, loyal 00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:17.359 team of frequent collaborators. This was essential 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.940 for maintaining his quality control and his hands 00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:22.400 -on approach. It included key technical people 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.180 like cinematographer Asakazu Nakai. Actors like 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:27.599 Takashi Shimura and invaluable support staff 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.099 like production assistant Teruyo Nogami. What 00:22:30.099 --> 00:22:32.420 specifically did this group enable him to do 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:34.769 that other directors just couldn't? They allowed 00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:37.690 him to achieve total command. For instance, he 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:39.829 considered a high -quality script the firm foundation 00:22:39.829 --> 00:22:42.750 of a good film. So he worked incredibly closely 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:45.130 with his co -writers, like Shinobu Hashimoto 00:22:45.130 --> 00:22:47.470 and Hideo Guni, right from the film's initial 00:22:47.470 --> 00:22:50.069 development. And he meticulously pre -visualized 00:22:50.069 --> 00:22:53.190 everything. His famous, detailed concept drawings, 00:22:53.450 --> 00:22:56.250 his storyboards, were often works of art themselves. 00:22:56.630 --> 00:22:58.789 They effectively served as the finished film's 00:22:58.789 --> 00:23:00.869 blueprint before a single camera even rolled. 00:23:01.560 --> 00:23:04.579 This level of consistency and high standard was 00:23:04.579 --> 00:23:06.880 only achievable through the deep trust inherent 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:09.220 to the Kurosawa Gumi. Let's get granular on his 00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:12.079 technical style. When you watch his mature work, 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:15.000 certain editing choices just leap out immediately, 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.339 especially the optical effect known as the wipe. 00:23:17.539 --> 00:23:20.440 The wipe became his signature transitional device. 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:23.829 It's a form of cinematic punctuation. It's an 00:23:23.829 --> 00:23:26.450 optical printer effect where a line or a bar 00:23:26.450 --> 00:23:29.190 appears to sweep across the screen, cleanly wiping 00:23:29.190 --> 00:23:31.509 away one scene and instantly revealing the next. 00:23:31.750 --> 00:23:35.490 It's sharp, decisive, dynamic. Why did he favor 00:23:35.490 --> 00:23:38.130 this over, say, a smooth dissolve or a simple 00:23:38.130 --> 00:23:40.569 straight cut? Well, it creates this forceful 00:23:40.569 --> 00:23:42.650 narrative stop. It's almost like closing one 00:23:42.650 --> 00:23:44.650 chapter and opening another with a crisp motion. 00:23:45.130 --> 00:23:47.750 It's been suggested that Kurosawa may have been, 00:23:47.829 --> 00:23:50.450 consciously or unconsciously, nodding to the 00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:52.910 traditions of silent film and even kabuki theater, 00:23:53.049 --> 00:23:55.789 where clear physical and dramatic transitions 00:23:55.789 --> 00:23:58.329 are essential. So he was making the act of transition 00:23:58.329 --> 00:24:01.049 part of the drama rather than hiding it. Exactly. 00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:04.569 He also utilized the axial cut frequently, particularly 00:24:04.569 --> 00:24:07.569 in his 1940s and 1950s films. This is a highly 00:24:07.569 --> 00:24:10.440 effective, if sometimes jarring, technique. It 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:13.259 is. It's a series of matched jump cuts where 00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:15.640 the camera suddenly shifts dramatically, moving 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:18.519 either much closer to or farther away from the 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:20.799 subject, but without using a smooth tracking 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.480 shot. It creates an almost dizzying sense of 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:25.960 immediacy and focus. Pulling the viewer right 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:27.660 into the character's emotional space. Right. 00:24:27.859 --> 00:24:30.240 Often used when revealing an intense reaction 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.920 or a moment of crisis. It breaks convention. 00:24:33.660 --> 00:24:35.660 to heightened dramatic effect. And the simple 00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:37.720 concept of cut on motion became foundational 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:40.359 to how he directed and edited action. Absolutely. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.859 This is the technique that defines the kinetic 00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:45.759 energy of his battle scenes. Instead of capturing 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:48.319 a complex motion, like a man drawing a sword, 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:51.140 in one uninterrupted shot. He breaks it down 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:53.579 across two or more shots. Right. The audience 00:24:53.579 --> 00:24:56.720 sees the start of the draw in one shot and the 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:58.990 finish action in the next. This creates a highly 00:24:58.990 --> 00:25:02.230 dynamic, energetic flow, accelerating the movement 00:25:02.230 --> 00:25:04.650 and amplifying the visceral impact of the action 00:25:04.650 --> 00:25:08.009 sequence. Modern action choreography owes a massive 00:25:08.009 --> 00:25:10.730 debt to Kurosawa's use of the cut on motion. 00:25:10.970 --> 00:25:13.029 We also need to talk about sound, which he used 00:25:13.029 --> 00:25:15.609 with profound intelligence. He was a master of 00:25:15.609 --> 00:25:17.869 the soundtrack, often favoring what's sown as 00:25:17.869 --> 00:25:20.630 sound -image counterpoint. Most directors use 00:25:20.630 --> 00:25:23.750 music to emphasize the emotion of the image -sad 00:25:23.750 --> 00:25:27.700 music for a sad scene. Kurosawa, however, frequently 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:30.099 used music or sound effects that would comment 00:25:30.099 --> 00:25:32.380 ironically on the image. Or introduce a subtle 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:35.859 tension. Yes. For example, playing cheerful American 00:25:35.859 --> 00:25:38.720 pop music during a scene of deep social decay 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:41.519 in Ikiru. This forces the audience to process 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:43.980 two slightly conflicting messages simultaneously, 00:25:44.299 --> 00:25:47.220 adding immense nuance and depth to the emotional 00:25:47.220 --> 00:25:50.049 landscape of the film. Looking across his entire 00:25:50.049 --> 00:25:53.069 filmography, distinct philosophical and structural 00:25:53.069 --> 00:25:55.710 themes emerge again and again. One of the most 00:25:55.710 --> 00:25:57.769 important is the mentor -decycle relationship. 00:25:58.390 --> 00:26:00.549 This is a consistent narrative framework, isn't 00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:02.829 it? Often featuring an older master and one or 00:26:02.829 --> 00:26:05.049 more novices, think of the relationship between 00:26:05.049 --> 00:26:07.430 Mifune's wild samurai and the village recruits 00:26:07.430 --> 00:26:10.190 and seven samurai, or Shimura's red -beard doctor 00:26:10.190 --> 00:26:12.769 training the young Dr. Yasumoto. And it's not 00:26:12.769 --> 00:26:15.130 just about passing on technical skills? No, it's 00:26:15.130 --> 00:26:17.150 always centered on achieving spiritual mastery 00:26:17.150 --> 00:26:19.660 and self -control. It speaks to Kurosawa's own 00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:22.960 lifelong pursuit of craft and inner perfection. 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:25.940 And tied into that idea of mastery is the notion 00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:29.400 of the heroic champion, the exceptional individual. 00:26:29.779 --> 00:26:32.140 He was fascinated by the person who rises above 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:34.319 the crowd, whether it's a doctor, a detective, 00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:36.839 or a masterless samurai, to right a wrong or 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:39.440 produce something significant. This links directly 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.000 back to that strong sense of individual responsibility 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.019 that defined his post -war filmmaking. He also 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:47.640 famously used extremes of weather as a dramatic 00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:50.119 device. Oh, constantly. Think about the final 00:26:50.119 --> 00:26:53.279 muddy battle in Seven Samurai or the harsh Siberian 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:56.609 winter in Dersu Uzala. He used rain, wind, snow, 00:26:56.789 --> 00:26:59.910 and fog as both a potent visual dramatic device 00:26:59.910 --> 00:27:02.789 and a deep symbolic expression of human passion 00:27:02.789 --> 00:27:05.190 or internal turmoil. It heightens the stakes 00:27:05.190 --> 00:27:07.670 while mirroring the emotional chaos of the situation. 00:27:07.670 --> 00:27:10.740 Exactly. And speaking of chaos, his later epics 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:13.519 depict truly savage cyclical violence. Film scholar 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:15.859 Stephen Prince notes that this theme, which often 00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:18.799 shows the futility of human conflict, began prominently 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:21.259 with Throne of Blood and returned with immense 00:27:21.259 --> 00:27:24.599 bloody force in his 1980s epics like Kajimusha 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:27.240 and Ran. Now, this focus on the heroic champion, 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:30.259 often a samurai, led to a persistent charge of 00:27:30.259 --> 00:27:33.460 elitism from within Japan. It did. Some Japanese 00:27:33.460 --> 00:27:35.519 critics and filmmakers, including the influential 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:39.079 Nagisa Shima, argued that Kurosawa was catering 00:27:39.079 --> 00:27:41.900 to Western tastes by focusing too heavily on 00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:44.559 these exceptional warrior figures, rather than 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.779 depicting the masses, the peasantry. They saw 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:49.859 his focus as too westernized. And insufficiently 00:27:49.859 --> 00:27:52.420 reflective of Japanese common life. But Kurosawa 00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:55.180 himself offered a powerful rebuttal to this charge, 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:57.599 didn't he? He did, specifically in defense of 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:00.319 Seven Samurai. He said, I wanted to say that 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.440 after everything, the peasants were the stronger, 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.690 closely clinging to the earth. It was the samurai 00:28:05.690 --> 00:28:08.049 who were weak because they were being blown by 00:28:08.049 --> 00:28:10.109 the winds of time. That's a powerful statement. 00:28:10.410 --> 00:28:13.089 It explains his philosophy. The samurai's weakness 00:28:13.089 --> 00:28:14.950 ultimately served to highlight the enduring, 00:28:15.130 --> 00:28:17.490 silent strength and persistence of the common 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:20.309 people. It was a sophisticated defense against 00:28:20.309 --> 00:28:23.450 a simplistic critique. So by the mid -1960s, 00:28:23.450 --> 00:28:26.369 Kurosawa is 56. The Japanese film industry is 00:28:26.369 --> 00:28:29.089 troubled. Costs are high. His collaboration with 00:28:29.089 --> 00:28:31.890 Mishun is over. He begins looking abroad for 00:28:31.890 --> 00:28:34.089 funding, leading to one of the darkest and most 00:28:34.089 --> 00:28:36.150 professionally devastating periods of his life. 00:28:36.349 --> 00:28:39.329 The shift was almost immediately difficult. After 00:28:39.329 --> 00:28:43.029 his contract with Toho ended in 1966, his first 00:28:43.029 --> 00:28:45.289 foreign project, the action thriller Runaway 00:28:45.289 --> 00:28:48.130 Train for Embassy Pictures, it just fell apart. 00:28:48.329 --> 00:28:51.230 Completely. due to logistical nightmares. It 00:28:51.230 --> 00:28:52.809 was supposed to be his first film in color and 00:28:52.809 --> 00:28:55.470 his first in English, but it was plagued by language 00:28:55.470 --> 00:28:57.849 barriers, repeated delays due to needing snow 00:28:57.849 --> 00:29:00.690 that never arrived. It was a mess. And the film 00:29:00.690 --> 00:29:02.650 eventually got made two decades later, but his 00:29:02.650 --> 00:29:05.589 original vision just collapsed. Frustrating, 00:29:05.589 --> 00:29:08.170 yes, but nothing compared to the disaster that 00:29:08.170 --> 00:29:11.869 followed. The Tora Tora Tora debacle in 1968 00:29:11.869 --> 00:29:15.569 was an almost unmitigated tragedy, as Kurosawa's 00:29:15.569 --> 00:29:18.170 biographer called it. This was a massive co -production 00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:21.069 with 20th Century Fox intended to show the Pearl 00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:23.349 Harbor attack from both the U .S. and Japanese 00:29:23.349 --> 00:29:26.190 viewpoints. Kurosawa was set to helm the Japanese 00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:28.630 segment. It sounds like a clash of two cinematic 00:29:28.630 --> 00:29:31.349 planets. It was immediate and intense. Kurosawa 00:29:31.349 --> 00:29:33.450 struggled significantly with the unfamiliar committee 00:29:33.450 --> 00:29:36.480 -driven Hollywood crew and system. He was a singular 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:39.380 artist, used to commanding every detail. Hollywood 00:29:39.380 --> 00:29:41.660 was a bureaucracy. And his script for the Japanese 00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:44.220 segment was over four hours long. But he was 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:47.319 only allocated 90 minutes of screen time. This 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:49.599 led to numerous forced revisions that frustrated 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:51.660 him immensely. The outcome was a professional 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:54.099 betrayal that almost ended his career. After 00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:56.339 only three weeks of shooting, the American producers 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:58.900 concluded that Kurosawa must be mentally ill. 00:29:59.259 --> 00:30:01.720 He was medically examined and diagnosed with 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:04.640 neurasthenia, a 20th century catch -all term 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.140 for chronic fatigue, severe anxiety, and manic 00:30:08.140 --> 00:30:10.839 excitement. So basically a profound case of burnout 00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:13.559 and nervous exhaustion. Right. So rather than 00:30:13.559 --> 00:30:15.660 addressing the creative or logistical conflict, 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.559 the studio used a medical diagnosis to dismiss 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:21.299 him. On Christmas Eve 1968, he was effectively 00:30:21.299 --> 00:30:24.809 fired due to fatigue. And he had his name removed 00:30:24.809 --> 00:30:27.109 from the credits, even though the final Japanese 00:30:27.109 --> 00:30:30.170 script retained elements of his work. It was 00:30:30.170 --> 00:30:32.809 a humiliating public failure orchestrated by 00:30:32.809 --> 00:30:34.670 the very system he had hoped would sustain him. 00:30:34.710 --> 00:30:37.529 The fallout was just devastating. He became estranged 00:30:37.529 --> 00:30:39.930 from his longtime collaborator, Ryuzo Kikushima. 00:30:40.190 --> 00:30:42.390 It had exposed corruption in his own company, 00:30:42.509 --> 00:30:45.369 and it led the entire industry, both foreign 00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:48.470 and domestic, to severely doubt his viability. 00:30:49.089 --> 00:30:51.829 He had spent years preparing for this grand return 00:30:51.829 --> 00:30:54.869 that just ended in failure and public disgrace. 00:30:55.190 --> 00:30:57.650 To prove he wasn't finished, Kurosawa forms the 00:30:57.650 --> 00:31:00.509 Club of the Four Knights in 1969 with fellow 00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:03.589 directors Kisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, 00:31:03.670 --> 00:31:06.369 and Kon Ichikawa. This collective was a deliberate 00:31:06.369 --> 00:31:08.670 effort to prove Kurosawa could still complete 00:31:08.670 --> 00:31:12.190 a film. And the result was Dota Sakaden, in 1970, 00:31:12.589 --> 00:31:15.250 his first work in color, shot quickly in nine 00:31:15.250 --> 00:31:18.099 weeks on a limited budget. It was a defiant act 00:31:18.099 --> 00:31:20.200 of artistic expression. And the visual style 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:22.559 was a massive, almost surreal departure from 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:25.079 his previous work. Incredibly bold. The film 00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:27.019 used an almost psychedelic palette of primary 00:31:27.019 --> 00:31:29.839 colors, vivid blues, shocking reds and oranges, 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:31.839 to highlight the toxic environment where the 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.000 poor and destitute characters lived. But it lost 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.480 money. It lost money, was met with audience indifference, 00:31:36.619 --> 00:31:38.660 and the club of the four nights dissolved almost 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:41.039 immediately. And this professional and financial 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.799 despair culminated in the darkest moment of his 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:47.089 personal life. Yes. Unable to secure further 00:31:47.089 --> 00:31:50.089 funding, publicly humiliated, and struggling 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:52.809 profoundly with his health, Kurosawa attempted 00:31:52.809 --> 00:31:57.670 suicide on December 22, 1971. He survived. He 00:31:57.670 --> 00:32:00.349 survived and retreated into domestic life, unsure 00:32:00.349 --> 00:32:02.990 if he would ever direct again. This was his professional 00:32:02.990 --> 00:32:05.569 and personal nadir, a crisis brought on by a 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:08.109 complete artistic collapse. But his international 00:32:08.109 --> 00:32:11.450 reputation held strong, and in 1973, a lifeline 00:32:11.450 --> 00:32:14.460 came from the Soviet Union. Soviet studio Mosfilm 00:32:14.460 --> 00:32:16.220 approached him with an offer he couldn't refuse. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:19.660 Kurosawa accepted immediately, proposing an adaptation 00:32:19.660 --> 00:32:22.259 of an explorer's autobiographical work, Dursu 00:32:22.259 --> 00:32:24.980 Uzala, a story of a goldie hunter living in harmony 00:32:24.980 --> 00:32:27.259 with nature, which Kurosawa had wanted to film 00:32:27.259 --> 00:32:30.059 since the 1930s. Directing for a major foreign 00:32:30.059 --> 00:32:32.539 power involved a grueling two -year stay in the 00:32:32.539 --> 00:32:34.960 Soviet Union. The Siberian shoot was extremely 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:37.980 difficult, forcing Kurosawa and his crew to work 00:32:37.980 --> 00:32:40.519 in exceedingly harsh, remote natural conditions. 00:32:40.700 --> 00:32:43.430 But the film was completed. premiered in 1975 00:32:43.430 --> 00:32:46.569 and achieved international success. It won the 00:32:46.569 --> 00:32:48.509 Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film 00:32:48.509 --> 00:32:50.869 Festival. And an Academy Award for Best Foreign 00:32:50.869 --> 00:32:53.950 Language Film? Crucially, yes. It was external 00:32:53.950 --> 00:32:56.569 validation that proved, against all the doubts 00:32:56.569 --> 00:32:59.349 of the Japanese and Hollywood studios, that Kurosawa 00:32:59.349 --> 00:33:02.369 was still a creative force. And this brings us 00:33:02.369 --> 00:33:04.289 to one of the most heartwarming and dramatically 00:33:04.289 --> 00:33:07.769 ironic stories in film history, the Lucas Intervention. 00:33:07.869 --> 00:33:11.930 George Lucas. His 1977 film Star Wars was heavily 00:33:11.930 --> 00:33:14.089 influenced by Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, 00:33:14.130 --> 00:33:16.990 and he discovered that his hero, this foundational 00:33:16.990 --> 00:33:19.910 genius, was still struggling desperately to fund 00:33:19.910 --> 00:33:22.829 a new project, despite the success of Dersu Zala. 00:33:22.970 --> 00:33:25.450 So Lucas leveraged his immense new influence 00:33:25.450 --> 00:33:27.609 in Hollywood. He used that power to secure funding 00:33:27.609 --> 00:33:31.079 for Kurosawa's next epic, Kajimusha. And imagine 00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:33.359 the dramatic irony of this moment. He essentially 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:36.799 coerced 20th Century Fox. The very same studio 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:39.059 that had fired Kurosawa a decade earlier and 00:33:39.059 --> 00:33:41.259 labeled him mentally ill. To produce his new 00:33:41.259 --> 00:33:44.359 film. And to ensure stability, Lucas then recruited 00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:47.019 Francis Ford Coppola as co -producer, providing 00:33:47.019 --> 00:33:48.920 the institutional backing and creative support 00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:52.099 Kurosawa absolutely needed to avoid another catastrophic 00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:54.460 Hollywood interference. Kaijamusha the Shadow 00:33:54.460 --> 00:33:57.220 Warrior was the story of a thief hired as the 00:33:57.220 --> 00:33:59.970 double of a medieval lord. It was a beautiful, 00:34:00.109 --> 00:34:02.609 monumental film. And despite production issues, 00:34:02.829 --> 00:34:05.750 Kurosawa fired his original lead actor, Shintaro 00:34:05.750 --> 00:34:08.750 Katsu. After Katsu insisted on videotaping his 00:34:08.750 --> 00:34:11.269 own performance, the film was a massive hit in 00:34:11.269 --> 00:34:14.190 Japan and abroad. It won the prestigious Palme 00:34:14.190 --> 00:34:17.489 d 'Or at Cannes in 1980. This film also highlighted 00:34:17.489 --> 00:34:20.590 Kurosawa's famous process of intense visual preparation. 00:34:20.989 --> 00:34:23.750 He was celebrated for his detailed, highly chromatic 00:34:23.750 --> 00:34:27.010 concept drawings, his storyboards. He exhibited 00:34:27.010 --> 00:34:29.769 these drawings as art while promoting Kajimusha, 00:34:29.789 --> 00:34:31.949 effectively showing the public the meticulous 00:34:31.949 --> 00:34:34.550 blueprint he had used to visualize every single 00:34:34.550 --> 00:34:36.610 frame of the film long before shooting began. 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:39.059 It showed his command was fully restored. The 00:34:39.059 --> 00:34:41.239 success of Kajimusha set the stage for perhaps 00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:44.860 his final undisputed masterpiece, Ran. 1985. 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:48.760 Ran, meaning chaos, is monumental cinema. It's 00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:50.920 another epic, loosely based on Shakespeare's 00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:53.320 King Lear, depicting a ruthless, bloodthirsty 00:34:53.320 --> 00:34:55.760 warlord betrayed by his three sons. It required 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:58.300 massive international financing. Primarily from 00:34:58.300 --> 00:35:00.760 the French producer Serge Soberman, because Japanese 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:02.820 studios remained too wary of the immense cost. 00:35:03.099 --> 00:35:05.039 And the production was halted and marked by deep 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:08.090 personal tragedy. Yes, filming was temporarily 00:35:08.090 --> 00:35:12.309 halted when his beloved wife Yuko fell ill and 00:35:12.309 --> 00:35:16.710 then died in February 1985. Kurosawa, grief -stricken, 00:35:16.789 --> 00:35:19.329 returned to finish the film, and it premiered 00:35:19.329 --> 00:35:22.409 to huge critical acclaim. A visual and narrative 00:35:22.409 --> 00:35:24.769 triumph. And despite its reception, it was involved 00:35:24.769 --> 00:35:26.989 in a major controversy surrounding the Academy 00:35:26.989 --> 00:35:30.349 Awards. Japan controversially passed over Ran 00:35:30.349 --> 00:35:32.570 as its official entry for the Best Foreign Film 00:35:32.570 --> 00:35:35.389 Oscar due to confusing classification rules. 00:35:35.650 --> 00:35:37.949 Was it a Japanese or a French film, given the 00:35:37.949 --> 00:35:41.190 financing? So director Sidney Lumet, a huge admirer, 00:35:41.250 --> 00:35:43.690 successfully campaigned for Kurosawa to receive 00:35:43.690 --> 00:35:46.440 a Best Director nomination instead. A tremendous 00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:48.539 show of international respect in the face of 00:35:48.539 --> 00:35:51.699 the snub by his home country. It was. Crucially, 00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:54.960 after Ran, Kurosawa finally changed his typical 00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:56.880 answer about which of his films was his best. 00:35:57.019 --> 00:35:58.880 For decades, whenever he was asked which of his 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:00.860 films was his greatest, he always replied, my 00:36:00.860 --> 00:36:03.199 next one. Right. It reflected his constant ambition, 00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:05.400 the belief that he hadn't yet achieved perfection. 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:08.980 But after Ran, he quietly cited it as his best 00:36:08.980 --> 00:36:11.519 film. It was the culmination of a lifetime of 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:14.170 artistic and thematic vision. Kurosawa continued 00:36:14.170 --> 00:36:17.110 working well into his 80s, focusing on films 00:36:17.110 --> 00:36:19.469 that were incredibly personal and reflective. 00:36:20.449 --> 00:36:24.110 Dreams from 1990 was unique because it was entirely 00:36:24.110 --> 00:36:27.210 based on the director's own literal dreams. It 00:36:27.210 --> 00:36:29.469 was his first deeply personal project and the 00:36:29.469 --> 00:36:32.050 first time in over 40 years that he wrote the 00:36:32.050 --> 00:36:34.750 screenplay completely alone without his usual 00:36:34.750 --> 00:36:38.769 co -writing team. And once again, external American 00:36:38.769 --> 00:36:41.489 support was key. Steven Spielberg. Spielberg 00:36:41.489 --> 00:36:44.059 convinced Warner Bros. to buy the international 00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:46.719 rights, ensuring the film should be produced 00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:49.739 despite its non -commercial episodic structure. 00:36:50.059 --> 00:36:52.539 1990 was also the year he received the ultimate 00:36:52.539 --> 00:36:55.119 validation from Hollywood, the Academy Award 00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:57.159 for Lifetime Achievement. And this is where we 00:36:57.159 --> 00:36:59.360 get that famously humbling quote that has inspired 00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:02.079 generations of filmmakers. Accepting the award, 00:37:02.340 --> 00:37:04.639 the man who defined modern cinema said, I'm a 00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.539 little worried because I don't feel that I understand 00:37:06.539 --> 00:37:09.119 cinema yet. The greatest living master at age 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:11.940 80 expressing profound humility about his craft. 00:37:12.300 --> 00:37:14.960 Amazing. His next film, Rhapsody in August from 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:17.820 91, was his first film fully produced in Japan 00:37:17.820 --> 00:37:20.960 in two decades and was perhaps his most politically 00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:24.159 contentious, exploring the scars of the Nagasaki 00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:26.969 nuclear bombing. His intentions were to depict 00:37:26.969 --> 00:37:29.690 the human cost and the generational gap in dealing 00:37:29.690 --> 00:37:31.690 with that trauma. But it received unexpected 00:37:31.690 --> 00:37:34.769 negative reaction, especially in the U .S., where 00:37:34.769 --> 00:37:37.429 Curacao was accused of promulgating anti -American 00:37:37.429 --> 00:37:40.489 sentiments, an accusation he publicly and vigorously 00:37:40.489 --> 00:37:42.909 rejected. He was just trying to document a national 00:37:42.909 --> 00:37:45.400 wound. His final completed film was Matadayo 00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:49.539 in 1993, which translates to Not Yet. Based on 00:37:49.539 --> 00:37:51.860 the life of a beloved Japanese professor of German, 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:54.099 the narrative centers on his yearly birthday 00:37:54.099 --> 00:37:56.480 celebration with his former students, during 00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:59.840 which he declares, in a defiant toast, his unwillingness 00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:03.510 to die yet. For the 81 -year -old Kurosawa, who 00:38:03.510 --> 00:38:05.789 still had screenplays waiting, this was a poignant 00:38:05.789 --> 00:38:08.050 and profoundly relevant theme about the creative 00:38:08.050 --> 00:38:10.750 will to survive and continue working. And though 00:38:10.750 --> 00:38:13.090 he continued to write, his hopes of directing 00:38:13.090 --> 00:38:15.869 again were tragically cut short. He wrote The 00:38:15.869 --> 00:38:17.929 Sea is Watching and After the Rain in the mid 00:38:17.929 --> 00:38:20.530 -1990s, but while working on the latter in 1995, 00:38:21.210 --> 00:38:23.610 he suffered a slip that broke the base of his 00:38:23.610 --> 00:38:26.789 spine. This forced him into a wheelchair for 00:38:26.789 --> 00:38:29.150 the rest of his life, ending his directing career 00:38:29.150 --> 00:38:32.369 and, tragically, ending his long -held wish to 00:38:32.369 --> 00:38:34.929 die on set while shooting a film. He died of 00:38:34.929 --> 00:38:38.400 a stroke on September 6, 1998. at the age of 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:41.619 88 in tokyo the mark kurosawa left on global 00:38:41.619 --> 00:38:45.300 cinema is just it's hard to calculate he's consistently 00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:47.199 cited as one of the greatest directors of all 00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:50.079 time and in 1999 he was named asian of the century 00:38:50.079 --> 00:38:52.900 in the arts literature and culture category by 00:38:52.900 --> 00:38:55.969 asian week magazine and cnn His reputation among 00:38:55.969 --> 00:38:57.989 fellow filmmakers is the ultimate testament to 00:38:57.989 --> 00:39:00.710 his influence. It's a phenomena almost unmatched 00:39:00.710 --> 00:39:03.070 in cinema. The admiration he garnered from his 00:39:03.070 --> 00:39:05.690 peers across generations and continents is staggering. 00:39:05.929 --> 00:39:08.269 It demonstrates that his cinematic power truly 00:39:08.269 --> 00:39:10.710 crossed all cultural boundaries. Let's run through 00:39:10.710 --> 00:39:12.630 some of these admirers, starting with Ingmar 00:39:12.630 --> 00:39:16.639 Bergman. another titan of world cinema who dealt 00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:19.500 heavily in psychological drama, openly called 00:39:19.500 --> 00:39:22.699 his own film The Virgin Spring a lousy imitation 00:39:22.699 --> 00:39:25.960 of Kurosawa, admitting he was trying to channel 00:39:25.960 --> 00:39:28.539 the Japanese master's style. That's a remarkable 00:39:28.539 --> 00:39:31.119 admission of awe from one genius to another. 00:39:31.380 --> 00:39:34.659 It is. Meanwhile, Federico Fellini offered perhaps 00:39:34.659 --> 00:39:36.940 the ultimate compliment to Kurosawa's holistic 00:39:36.940 --> 00:39:40.179 approach. He considered him the greatest living 00:39:40.179 --> 00:39:42.820 example of all that an author of the cinema should 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:45.630 be. Recognizing his complete mastery over every 00:39:45.630 --> 00:39:48.710 single aspect of production. Exactly. And Satyajit 00:39:48.710 --> 00:39:50.929 Ray described the effect of seeing Rashomon as 00:39:50.929 --> 00:39:54.869 electric, praising its sustained and dazzling 00:39:54.869 --> 00:39:56.969 proof of a director's command. And of course, 00:39:56.969 --> 00:39:58.849 the Hollywood contingent, which eventually saved 00:39:58.849 --> 00:40:01.230 his career in the 80s. George Lucas didn't just 00:40:01.230 --> 00:40:03.469 cite The Hidden Fortress as inspiration for Star 00:40:03.469 --> 00:40:05.909 Wars. He said that Kurosawa's films were one 00:40:05.909 --> 00:40:08.030 of his strongest sources of creative inspiration 00:40:08.030 --> 00:40:11.010 because the emotions they conveyed were so potent 00:40:11.010 --> 00:40:13.610 that cultural barriers just... ceased to exist. 00:40:13.929 --> 00:40:17.150 Steven Spielberg cited Kurosawa's vision as shaping 00:40:17.150 --> 00:40:19.969 his own, and Sidney Lumet elevated him to another 00:40:19.969 --> 00:40:22.829 level, calling Kurosawa the Beethoven of movie 00:40:22.829 --> 00:40:26.190 directors. Even Stanley Kubrick, known for his 00:40:26.190 --> 00:40:28.969 relentless pursuit of technical perfection, consistently 00:40:28.969 --> 00:40:32.469 spoke of Kurosawa admiringly, viewing him as 00:40:32.469 --> 00:40:35.090 one of the very few directors worthy of the title 00:40:35.090 --> 00:40:38.309 great. The consistency of praise across such 00:40:38.309 --> 00:40:41.650 diverse, stylistic voices just confirms his universal 00:40:41.650 --> 00:40:43.639 mastery. We should circle back to some of the 00:40:43.639 --> 00:40:46.019 critiques, particularly the charge from some 00:40:46.019 --> 00:40:49.300 circles that Kurosawa was too westernized. Yes. 00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:52.079 Critics of the French New Wave, notably Jacques 00:40:52.079 --> 00:40:55.480 Rivette, often favored Kenji Mizuguchi over Kurosawa. 00:40:55.880 --> 00:40:58.500 Viewing Kurosawa as too heavily influenced by 00:40:58.500 --> 00:41:01.320 Western literary classics, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, 00:41:01.420 --> 00:41:03.719 Tolstoy, and European genre films. So the very 00:41:03.719 --> 00:41:06.320 thing that made him globally accessible and revolutionary. 00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:08.360 He was sometimes held against him by purists 00:41:08.360 --> 00:41:10.619 seeking a more authentically Japanese cinema. 00:41:10.969 --> 00:41:13.889 And domestically, that charge of elitism persisted, 00:41:13.889 --> 00:41:16.489 the idea that he catered to Western tastes by 00:41:16.489 --> 00:41:18.909 focusing on heroic samurai figures. However, 00:41:19.070 --> 00:41:21.190 as we discussed, Kurosawa's films consistently 00:41:21.190 --> 00:41:23.889 showed the failure of the samurai class and the 00:41:23.889 --> 00:41:26.190 enduring strength of the peasants, suggesting 00:41:26.190 --> 00:41:28.750 this critique often missed the political subtlety 00:41:28.750 --> 00:41:31.670 beneath the spectacle. Absolutely. And although 00:41:31.670 --> 00:41:34.409 he couldn't achieve his wish to die on set, his 00:41:34.409 --> 00:41:36.750 creative life continued posthumously through 00:41:36.750 --> 00:41:39.340 his unfilmed screenplays. Following his death, 00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:41.420 several were brought to the screen by protégés. 00:41:41.739 --> 00:41:44.519 After the Rain in 99 and The Sea is Watching 00:41:44.519 --> 00:41:47.179 in 2002 were both produced. Furthermore, the 00:41:47.179 --> 00:41:49.039 script he originally wrote for the doomed Club 00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:52.079 of the Four Knights, Doroheda, was finally filmed 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:55.300 and released in 2000 by the only surviving member 00:41:55.300 --> 00:41:58.440 of the club, Kanichikawa. His narratives kept 00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:01.380 going, even when his body could not. His legacy 00:42:01.380 --> 00:42:03.820 isn't just cinematic, it's an entire institution. 00:42:04.590 --> 00:42:06.429 The Kurosawa Production Company, established 00:42:06.429 --> 00:42:09.650 way back in 1959, is still running today, now 00:42:09.650 --> 00:42:12.329 headed by his son, Hisao. And that company works 00:42:12.329 --> 00:42:15.630 closely with the Akira Kurosawa Foundation, organizing 00:42:15.630 --> 00:42:18.150 projects that maintain his legacy and protect 00:42:18.150 --> 00:42:20.829 his intellectual property. This institutional 00:42:20.829 --> 00:42:22.989 structure is crucial for maintaining control 00:42:22.989 --> 00:42:25.570 over his artistic heritage. The demand for his 00:42:25.570 --> 00:42:28.630 stories is so high that in 2011, the remake rights 00:42:28.630 --> 00:42:30.909 to most of his films and unproduced screenplays 00:42:30.909 --> 00:42:33.590 were assigned to an L .A.-based company called 00:42:33.590 --> 00:42:36.389 Splendent. Which is a huge confirmation of the 00:42:36.389 --> 00:42:39.090 power of his narrative scaffolding. The stated 00:42:39.090 --> 00:42:41.849 aim is explicitly to help contemporary filmmakers 00:42:41.849 --> 00:42:44.590 introduce a new generation of moviegoers to these 00:42:44.590 --> 00:42:47.170 unforgettable stories. This acknowledges that 00:42:47.170 --> 00:42:49.369 his foundational stories are so robust and universal 00:42:49.369 --> 00:42:52.650 that they can be continually retold and recontextualized. 00:42:53.050 --> 00:42:55.710 And finally, Kurosawa was a massive figure in 00:42:55.710 --> 00:42:58.130 Japan. He was the first filmmaker to receive 00:42:58.130 --> 00:43:01.369 Japan's Order of Culture in 1985, confirming 00:43:01.369 --> 00:43:04.010 his status as a cultural giant both at home and 00:43:04.010 --> 00:43:06.869 abroad. Two film awards are named in his honor, 00:43:06.989 --> 00:43:08.809 ensuring that future generations of filmmakers 00:43:08.809 --> 00:43:11.010 striving for excellence will always have his 00:43:11.010 --> 00:43:13.389 name attached to their highest aspirations. To 00:43:13.389 --> 00:43:16.010 synthesize Kurosawa's six decades, we've seen 00:43:16.010 --> 00:43:18.469 him navigate an incredible, almost impossible 00:43:18.469 --> 00:43:21.480 arc. He moved from being a frustrated painter 00:43:21.480 --> 00:43:24.360 surviving profound personal tragedy and loss 00:43:24.360 --> 00:43:27.420 to becoming a defining figure of post -war cinema. 00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:30.739 He navigated intense censorship, weathered the 00:43:30.739 --> 00:43:33.000 devastating collapse of his Hollywood detours, 00:43:33.159 --> 00:43:35.980 enduring professional betrayal and personal collapse. 00:43:36.260 --> 00:43:38.519 Only to return triumphantly to cinema through 00:43:38.519 --> 00:43:41.199 the unwavering faith of a new generation of American 00:43:41.199 --> 00:43:43.679 patrons. And what ultimately makes him an emperor 00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:46.920 is his ability to create a truly global cinematic 00:43:46.920 --> 00:43:50.179 language, a mastery of synthesis. Absolutely. 00:43:50.179 --> 00:43:52.760 He brilliantly blended Western literary classics, 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:56.219 Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and popular genre tropes 00:43:56.219 --> 00:43:57.920 like the Western. and the police procedural, 00:43:58.139 --> 00:44:00.400 integrating them seamlessly with traditional 00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:03.360 Japanese staging like no theater and deep philosophical 00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:06.280 exploration into universal human themes. The 00:44:06.280 --> 00:44:08.460 result is work that transcends national boundaries, 00:44:08.639 --> 00:44:11.360 giving us foundational cinematic texts like Rashomon 00:44:11.360 --> 00:44:13.800 and Seven Samurai. And the power of persistence 00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:16.670 is the overwhelming takeaway from his life. That 00:44:16.670 --> 00:44:19.050 ability to return from professional and personal 00:44:19.050 --> 00:44:22.610 collapse, that period between his firing in 1968 00:44:22.610 --> 00:44:26.369 and his suicide attempt in 1971, and then deliver 00:44:26.369 --> 00:44:29.250 two monumental internationally produced epics, 00:44:29.289 --> 00:44:32.409 Kajimusha and Ran, in his 70s. It's a profound 00:44:32.409 --> 00:44:35.210 case study in artistic resilience. It shows that 00:44:35.210 --> 00:44:37.409 even when the world rejects you, an artist's 00:44:37.409 --> 00:44:39.829 vision can still find patronage. Which brings 00:44:39.829 --> 00:44:42.469 us back full circle to the quote he gave in 1990 00:44:42.469 --> 00:44:44.610 while accepting his Lifetime Achievement Oscar. 00:44:45.329 --> 00:44:47.429 Kurosawa, who possessed the technical mastery 00:44:47.429 --> 00:44:50.389 to design, write, direct and edit every element 00:44:50.389 --> 00:44:52.989 of his films, famously said, I'm a little worried 00:44:52.989 --> 00:44:54.710 because I don't feel that I understand cinema 00:44:54.710 --> 00:44:57.289 yet. That phrase, spoken by the man we call the 00:44:57.289 --> 00:44:59.610 emperor of cinema, is the perfect closing thought. 00:44:59.980 --> 00:45:02.500 If a director of Kurosawa's technical mastery 00:45:02.500 --> 00:45:04.940 and vast influence, who mastered everything from 00:45:04.940 --> 00:45:07.079 the axial cut to the emotional texture of his 00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:09.639 sound design, still didn't feel he fully understood 00:45:09.639 --> 00:45:13.019 cinema at the age of 80, what deeper, more elusive 00:45:13.019 --> 00:45:15.340 element of the craft was he still striving for? 00:45:15.639 --> 00:45:17.800 Was he seeking a narrative truth that always 00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:20.260 remained just out of reach, or does true mastery 00:45:20.260 --> 00:45:22.800 in any art form simply lead to a profound realization 00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:25.820 of how much more there is left to learn? We'll 00:45:25.820 --> 00:45:26.659 leave you to mull on that.