Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa (?? ? Kurosawa Akira, also ?? ?) (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a prominent Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter of films, many of which are considered highly influential worldwide classics.

Characteristics

Kurosawa is best-known for his period pieces (called jidaigeki ??? "period play" in Japanese) like Seven Samurai and Ran, but several of his films dealt with contemporary Japan: for example Stray Dog, which looks at the criminal underworld just after the end of the war, and Ikiru, which deals with a Japanese bureaucrat who discovers that he is suffering from cancer but eventually steps out of depression and struggles against bureacratic inertia to leave his small contribution to the world in the form of a small community park before he dies.

Related Topics:
Jidaigeki - Seven Samurai - Ran - Stray Dog - Ikiru

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Kurosawa had a distinctive cinematic technique, which he had developed by the 1950's, and which gave his films a unique look. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame and also because he believed that placing cameras further away from his actors produced better performances. He also liked using multiple cameras, which allowed him to shoot an action from different angles. Another Kurosawa trademark was the use of weather elements to heighten mood: for example the heavy rain in the final battle in Seven Samurai and the fog in Throne of Blood. Kurosawa also liked using left-to-right frame wipes as a transition device.

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