Best Kurosawa movie?

Apollo · 20 Apr 2004

Hiya all!

I am afraid I have only seen two Kurosawa-films;
-Seven Samurai (of course!)
-Ikiru
Both very good.
However, I was wondering which are the best Kurosawa films??..it may be a difficult question to answer, as most of you would probably say 'all' or 'Seven samurai'....no? :?
What films do you recommend by him, and which are very popular?
I am a very new viewer of kurosawa-films and don't know much about his films..

blessed · 31 Jul 2004

I have a feeling Kurosawa's work isn't that well known on this site (personal opinion)

but if you ask, all his movies are great, but i would have to go with
seven samurai for best film.
watch all if you can, especially yo-jimbo and Ran.

canadian_kor · 31 Jul 2004

All his samurai movies are great. However, he did direct a flop in the late 80s. I forgot what it was called, but involved different scenes and stories moving from one to another.

Porl · 1 Aug 2004

i have seen seven samurai and its very good! and Yojimbo looks really good! i have Ran but i have only seen a little bit of it. It is supposed to be good!

Porl''

antantrevolution · 1 Aug 2004

I'd say that it was one that was completed after his death, 海は見ていた or, The Sea is Watching as it is said in English.

Kurosawa was always dogged for his portrayal of women in his movies as 2 dimensional set-pieces and decided to write this story about a geisha house in the 19th century. What is interesting about it is that the women are such fully fleshed out characters, you really do care what will happen to them by the end of the film.

Even though Kurosawa didn't direct this film, the director, Kei Kumai did such a wonderful job adapting the script and upholding Kurosawa's vision. Even using reds to the same degree that Kurosawa would.

An excellent film not to be missed.

Ant

Apollo · 10 Aug 2004

Thank you all for your feedback!! I have downloaded Ran and Kagemusha...Looking forward to watching them. :samurai:

antantrevolution · 10 Aug 2004

Miss_apollo7 said:
Thank you all for your feedback!! I have downloaded Ran and Kagemusha...Looking forward to watching them. :samurai:

You DOWNLOADED them? No, you don't download them, you have to buy them. Otherwise, it isn't the same.

Ant

Golgo_13 · 10 Aug 2004

Miss_apollo7 said:
Hiya all!

I am afraid I have only seen two Kurosawa-films;
-Seven Samurai (of course!)
-Ikiru

Don't forget "Sanjuro" and "Yojimbo" starring Toshiro Mifune.

All of his black & white work in the '50s and most from the '60s were good.

I hate his stuff from the '70s and '80s (after he became famous and he let it go to his head) like "Ran". "Dreams" was so ridiculous I walked out before it was over.

Duo · 10 Aug 2004

Did anyone see Stray Dog? What did you think. Yojimbo is great.

Apollo · 10 Aug 2004

antantrevolution said:
You DOWNLOADED them? No, you don't download them, you have to buy them. Otherwise, it isn't the same.

Ant

Yeah, I know, sorry. Normally I always PURCHASE DVDs..but after months of trying to find them, I have copies, from the internet...
The funny thing is that yesterday before closing time, I went to the LOCAL music store and found Ran at special price for about 5 USD...cheap!!! I would never have guessed that the LOCAL store had the film.....I guess I need to believe in small music shops also instead of the large ones...I of course bought this version....much better than internet-copy.

antantrevolution · 10 Aug 2004

Miss_apollo7 said:
Yeah, I know, sorry. Normally I always PURCHASE DVDs..but after months of trying to find them, I have copies, from the internet...
The funny thing is that yesterday before closing time, I went to the LOCAL music store and found Ran at special price for about 5 USD...cheap!!! I would never have guessed that the LOCAL store had the film.....I guess I need to believe in small music shops also instead of the large ones...I of course bought this version....much better than internet-copy.

Understand that I wasn't criticising you, I was just saying that these movies can't be seen in all of their splendour as a 600 meg file, you know? What the hell store was selling RAN for 5 bucks? And did they have more that you can send my way? I want that damned movie, and I will have it if it's the last thing I ever do.

Ah well, now to contemplate my Japan relocation project. I think that I should bridge it to New Jersey, and then I'll have a reason to go back east.

Ant

Oh crap, never mind. You live in Denmark So much for that idea, huh?

Ant

Apollo · 11 Aug 2004

Yeah, the dvd was a bargain....normally dvds aren't that cheap in Denmark....believe me!!
It was a special price and I was surprised that I even found it as it is very difficult to get hold of Japanese films here, and I normally purchase them over the internet from US, UK, Germany and Asia. (or download...hush hush...it happens rarely though).

canadian_kor · 11 Aug 2004

Golgo_13 said:
"Dreams" was so ridiculous I walked out before it was over.

Oh yeah, that's the one (the flop).

Miss_apollo7 said:
Thank you all for your feedback!! I have downloaded Ran and Kagemusha...Looking forward to watching them. :samurai:

I have the DVD of Ran and I regret purchasing it. It's the Japanese version of Shakespeare's King Lear. I recommend just renting it. I don't know about you guys who watched it but I found the ending a bit weird. :?

Apollo · 22 Oct 2004

canadian_kor said:
I have the DVD of Ran and I regret purchasing it. It's the Japanese version of Shakespeare's King Lear. I recommend just renting it. I don't know about you guys who watched it but I found the ending a bit weird. :?

Oh really? I really liked Ran actually. The film was beautifully made, the scenes/pictures were beautiful - especially of the scenery and the battles...anyway, in my taste, it was very bloody, but the story was good and I liked Kurosawa's version of King Lear... The ending I didn't have any problem with though, I just thought it sad, but there was a morale....

Sometimes I really laughed, as the old man, Hidetora, looked funny....

Nothingness · 22 Oct 2004

Throne of Blood was a great film.

(and mostly what everyone else said)

rhymester* · 23 Oct 2004

Ran would be my all time favourite ^^

Reiku · 24 Oct 2004

I'm still quite partial to Sanjuro and the other one in the series--can't remember the name, but it has ">insert plant name here< Sanjuro" as the main character...

...in fact I'm not sure which one was Sanjuro and which was the one who's name I've forgotten.

But I think my all time favorite Kurosawa movie would have to be "Hidden Fortress". (I'd kill to have the japanese lyrics to the fire festaval chant in romanji...)

There's another b&W Japanese film that I absolutely love, I don't think it's a Kurosawa piece--but i'm not sure...

...I believe the name was Enja or something like that. (It's been several years, but it was supposed to mean "conflagration", according to the translators) It was about a young man who is training to be a Bhuddist monk in post WWII Japan--but he becomes so dissolusioned with the corruption of the other monks that he ends up setting the shrine on fire and throwing himself from a train.

BTW: Have any of you seen "Sword of Doom?" I know it had Mifune in it, though I'm not sure if it was a Kurosawa or not. It was pretty good, although not on par with most of the others...

TuskCracker · 1 Nov 2004

Best Kurosawa movies....................

.

Of course Seven Samurai and such always get
brought up. But I think films like Ikiru, show how
talented he was.

666Arigato · 14 Jun 2005

Ran
Yojimbo
Throne of Blood
Sanjuro
The Hidden Fortress
Madadayo

The list goes on and on.
You really cant go wrong with Kurosawa

Mycernius · 15 Jun 2005

An oldish thread.
My favourite so far is 'Hidden Fortress'. I love the two farmers. According to what I have read George Lucas based R2-D2 and C3-PO on them.

Defleshed · 26 Jun 2005

Unfortunately I have only seen Seven Samurai. I like it very much. I have Ran at home and will watch it soon.

Mycernius · 26 Jun 2005

I have just finished watching Throne of Blood. A very good adaption of Macbeth. Recommended viewing, especailly if you know Macbeth, which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, so maybe I'm slighty biased towards the film.

Defleshed · 29 Jun 2005

I saw Ran last night.. I must say I thought it was the worst movie Kurosawa ever made.. Although I thought it was pretty funny in the beginning, when the father and the sons yelled at each other.. All this japanese formality and gentleness against each other. I lost interest after a while..

bonepile · 29 Jun 2005

Best Kurosawa was RAN

Ran caught the chaos of that family, and it's destruction from within very well. Meiko Harada who played Lady Kaede was marvelous in that role. She never let anything stand in her way of destroying the family that had
destroyed hers. Simply marvelous film beautifully photographed great sound ... The seige of the castle, the violence, the bloodshed set to mournful classical music was sheer genius ... one of his best!

Sensuikan San · 29 Jun 2005

I've only seen "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon" and enjoyed both very much. IMO outstanding work.

Can't think why I've never seen "Ran".

(I confess to being more familiar with European cinema.)

Regards,

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