I often envy those who are yet to watch the great films cinema has produced in the last 100 years. There s plainly nothing comparable to the magic of watching classics like “Singin in the Rain, “La Dolce Vita or “À bout de soufflé for the first time.
Rarely a really great filmmaker would provide his viewers with extra gratifications through repeated viewings that not only enhance his acknowledged works but expand their dimensions, emotional scope and artistic outreach to create something that can be defined in cinematic terms as almost divine.
The late great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa – the retrospective of his works have been screening at the American University in Cairo since February and resume on Sunday until the end of May – is one of the few filmmakers whose works have endured the test of time and have transcended far beyond the geographical settings of his films.
Born in 1910, Kurosawa started his career as a painter before instantly turning to film in 1943 with his debut Judo Saga. His early films were modern martial arts affairs that functioned as a vehicle through which he refined his skills and established a broad set of themes his next movies would be based upon.
A few more post-war melodramas followed before he produced his first notable work with the crime capers “Drunken Angel in 1948 and “Stray Dogs in 1949.
Up until that point, Kurosawa s name was only recognized in his home country. However in 1950 “Rashomon, Kurosawa s first masterpiece, burst onto the world stage to win the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival and turned him into a sensation in the United States where Kurosawa bagged the best director award from the American National Board of Review and received an honorary Oscar for the most outstanding foreign film of 1951.
For the next 15 years Kurosawa went on to direct some of the greatest and most commercially successful films of all time. “Seven Samurai, “Ikiru, Throne of Blood, “The Hidden Fortress, “Yojimbo are other landmark films of the legendary storyteller that propelled Japan to the top of the list of the world s most popular and fascinating cultures.
However, Kurosawa was always regarded by Japanese critics as an inferior filmmaker when compared to his compatriots Yasujiro Ozu (“Tokyo Story ), Kenji Mizoguchi (“Ugetsu Monogatari ) or Mikio Naruse (“When a Woman Ascends the Stairs ) whose celebrated body of work is composed primarily of homegrown dramas, unlike the western-influenced entertainment he directed.
What these critics failed to comprehend back then is that each film Kurosawa directed was a risky step with no commercial guarantees. In fact, it s still astonishing that a difficult film like a “Rashomon, which chronicles a rape incident told from four different perspectives, managed to be a major success at the time.
After the critical and commercial failure that hampered his first color movie “Dodesukaden in 1970, Kurosawa was deemed to be unfashionable by Japanese production companies before he rebounded back with “Kagemusha in 1980 and his final masterpiece Ran in 1985.
Kurosawa s cinematic oeuvre is diverse in its visual style, themes and narrative structure. Great director Ingmar Bergman said that Kurosawa never made a Kurosawa film; that even his famous Samurai flicks were so dissimilar they could ve easily been made by another director.
This diversity of works produced is tremendously enjoyable on the surface yet filled with deep and complex ideas at their core suggesting many different interpretations. One thread connects all Kurosawa s films though: his humanity and his evolving outlook for the human condition charted in his last movies.
Even the most cynical and pessimistic Kurosawa films though failed to conceal the director s empathy and love for man.
It s difficult, and perhaps even unfair, to recommend a selection of the 11 Kurosawa films that will be screened during the course of the next two months because every single Kurosawa film is essential viewing. The following four films though are the main highlights of the second part of the series that should definitely not be missed.
“High and Low (1963), screening on April 23, is based on the pulp fiction novel “King s Ransom by the American novelist Ed McBain (“The Maltese Falcon ). The film tells the story of the rich executive of a shoe manufacturing company Gondo (Kurosawa s long-time collaborator Toshirô Mifune) whose son is kidnapped in exchange for a ransom so large it might end his business career. When Gondo discovers that the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted his chauffeur s son, he finds himself facing the moral dilemma of saving a soul or protecting his own life.
The film is divided into two parts; Gondo s extravagant apartment where the visual tempo is slow, calculated and nearly static with mainly wide shots, and the grimy inferno of Tokyo s slums that are shot with a breathless, dynamic style with various-sized shots that feature many close-ups.
Despite being based on an American novel, “High and Low is essentially a criticism of capitalism and the western influence Kurosawa critics accused him of approving. Gondo s initial exhibited moral decadence is a direct result of the competitive nature of the capitalistic economic and social system Japan embraced after the war and his redemption is attained only when he sacrifices his comfortable domestic life. In addition, the film is also about choices and how our decisions define who we are and the route of our entire lives.
“Red Beard (1965), screening on April 23, is set in the late 19th century. “Red Beard revolves around the arrogant and self-centered Dr Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) who s forced to work at a poor, nonprofit clinic run by the strict and demanding Dr Kyojio Niide (Mifune, in his last film with Kurosawa) who s also known as “Red Beard. Gradually, the young physician is exposed to the hell patients of the district inhabit, learns the true meaning of being a doctor and values the human connection everyone strives to create in his/her lifetime.
Red Beard is one of Kurosawa s most life-affirming and beautiful films. There are some bleak moments in the film that involve bereavement and morbidity, but they re overshadowed by an embracing wave of tenderness and warmth that ensues the moment Niide realizes how the mere act of caring for another individual can be the only justification for man s existence on earth.
The film is dialogue-based, containing little of the visual flare of “Seven Samurai or Ran. Nevertheless, the nature of the film allows Kurosawa – who developed his most famous works on panoramic detailed wide shots – to be intimate and personal.
Mifune s performance in “Red Beard is nothing short of astonishing. Dubbed as the greatest Japanese actor ever; Mifune appears, for almost the first time, to be subdued yet totally commanding. Niide is the old, wise and loving mentor that inspires you to change your life and, consequently, change the world as well.
“Kagemusha (1980), screening on May 6, when the powerful warlord Shingen Takeda is shot in 1572 Japan, a petty thief is recruited to hide the lord s death from his enemies. Reluctant and reckless at first, the thief is soon taken over by Shingen s spirit and character while temporarily fending off an imminent civil war.
After the failure of both “Dodesukaden and “Dersu Uzala, Kurosawa fell into a fatal state of depression that cumulated with a suicide attempt the director miraculously survived. Unable to obtain the $6 million budget for his latest film, American filmmakers George Lucas (“Star Wars ) and Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather ) provided Kurosawa with half of the budget and helped “Kagemusha become a huge hit.
“Kagemusha is a film about the futility of war and the false heroism that infused the Japanese culture. It s also a film about identities and the roles we re forced to adopt in life. Above all though, “Kagemusha is about the never-ending human endeavor of searching for an absolute or a God to believe in.
Shingen represents a God-fig
ure to his troops. They believe they can conquer any adversaries as long as he s alive and supporting them. As the thief proves, the actual role of Shingen translates to nothing and his presence, in reality, is meaningless. Yet his people need him to bring a sense of significance and coveted certainty in their lives.
“Ran (1985), screening on May 13, took Kurosawa five more years to direct and was the most expensive Japanese film at that time. Based on Shakespeare s “King Lear, Kurosawa s last great epic sees the old Lord Hidetora handing his power to his oldest son, retire and oblige his sons and kingdom to follow the reign of the new leader. When his youngest son calls him a fool for his actions that would eventually lead to chaos, Hidetora banishes him.
Shortly afterwards, the elder sons wage war against one another while their father slips into madness.
Despite its popularity, “Ran is one of Kurosawa s darkest and most difficult films to watch. Death is present in almost every scene of the film and the aging Kurosawa, who was losing his eyesight at that time, seemed to have lost the faith in humanity he had before.
On one level, “Ran is mournful, violent meditation on a dying man s life, his accomplishments and the fear of the possible futility of everything he has achieved through the years. On another, the film is about Kurosawa himself, about a powerful man who s left immobilized and hanging onto false glories of the past.
Visually, the film is utterly stunning and ranks with “Seven Samurai as Kurosawa s most cinematically ambitious works. The highly stylized bloody battle scenes have inspired every subsequent epic movie that followed it. Like “Kagemusha, Kurosawa conjures a series of breathtakingly beautiful images of different color schemes that resemble something akin to the cruel beauty of Edvard Munch s paintings.
The Akira Kurosawa film series has already started and ends on May 27. All films are screened at the Jameel Center Auditorium at 7 pm every Sunday and Monday. For more information, please call 797 6373. Make sure to check The Daily Star Egypt agenda for the films schedule.
