A Month of Kurosawa | Ranked
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ธ.ค. 2023
- Here are the 13 Kurosawas I watched last month (in order of when I did so):
1. Throne of Blood
2. Seven Samurai
3. Ikiru
4. Yojimbo
5. High and Low
6. Sanjuro
7. The Hidden Fortress
8. Kagemusha
9. Red Beard
10. Ran
11. Rashomon
12. Drunken Angel
13. Stray Dog
Notes: I think Rashomon, Yojimbo, and High and Low are the most worth it to start watching Kurosawa with (in terms of time to value ratio). Still, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Ran, and Red Beard are all essential viewing. Kurosawa has definitely jumped up to one of my favorite directors with this.
Update: Rashomon has switched places with Ran since making this video. I have a soft spot for that film.
"The Bad Sleep Well (1960)" also amazing !
High and low❤ my fav. Kurosawa work
Same🤝
My favorites are Ran, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai.
Ran has this nightmarish, fever dream quality to it (not to say that the story is incoherent), which fills you with constant dread. At the same time its visuals are so striking and beautiful, especially that one scene of the samurai killing the fox wife after she led them to ruin.
I love Yojimbo mainly because of Toshiro Mifune's excellent character. (In general everything about that movie is excellent, but that umph you said was missing, for me, at least, is the main character.)
Seven Samurai has a very playful quality to it. It's a bit hard to explain as it's a serious movie, but I love all the tricks and strategies, and the dynamics between the characters, amd all the characters. It's a bit of a comfort movie for me, strangely enough. It sort of feels like I'm reading an epic fantasy series, with all the different character arcs happening simultaneously and intertwining with an overarching plot.
So, yeah :)
Red beard is my favorite as well. What an experience! It's somewhat similar in the way it made me feel to the experience I had while watching "It's a Wonderful Life". I was a teenager who had never watched It's a Wonderful Life when on a hot summer day I popped in the video cassette. My outlook on life was thereby forever changed as was my attempt to be compassionate towards others. I naturally had always known that Wonderful Life was a "Christmas movie" however I think watching it on a summer day helped me to better identify the true message and themes. That our lives affect one another more than we could ever imagine! Red Beard is very similar in all regards. Any human being should love these films.
Don't deprive yourself of Dreams and Madadayo (his last film). Though vastly different from each other, they are both insightfully penetrating into the artist's opus. That sounds pretentious, but I stand by it. Great video.
Thank you! I've heard of Dreams, and I would love to see it. I'm interested in Madadayo now, especially because most of what I watched was earlier on/middle of his career.
@@Cinematographs_ Madadayo is a little slow, but much like Ikiru, it's an insight into his ken of life (and career). Underrated for sure.
@@Cinematographs_Dreams is on YT and it's visually beautiful
His last three films Dreams, Rhapsody in August, and Madadayo may be lesser Kurosawa but peaceful and have more simplicity
Will be adding to the watchlist!
I recommend Kurosawa’s autobiography, it’s a fairly quick read and mostly covers his life up through making Rashomon
I’ll definitely be getting that some time soon! The only autobiographical film book I’ve read so far is Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew, and I really enjoyed his perspective and explanations of the production process and interactions with others in the film industry. So if it’s anything like that, it’s an immediate winner in my book.
That is an amazing book. It does a great job a showing a very personal side to his work. It also goes into a lot of his struggles as a human. I think his relationship with his brother is one of the best parts of it.
My 3 favorite of his are Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Ikiru. Kurosawa is definitely one of my favorite directors out there.
Very respectable and classic choices (but probably some of the most distinguishable/unique of his filmography)!
Excellent reviews! I’ve always liked his later film, Dreams. It too is a collection of short stories told in vivid color.
When you said mid 1900s I almost died laughing haha. Great List/Great commentary. I'm gonna rewatch all these again.
Would recommend Terry Gilliam (Brazil/ 12 Monkeys) (BRUHHH, BRAZIL) or Verhoeven Month. (Robocop/ Total Recall/ Basic Instinct/Starship Troopers)
Will definitely look into those and see! Having a Brazil Month is guaranteed to happen eventually!
Good list. Have you watched Dersu Uzala yet?
I haven’t! I just checked, and it’s free on TH-cam, so I will likely watch next month.
Your review was you dont like MacBeth? Have a thumbs up for your honesty.
4:23 .. Dodeskaden was actually Kurosawa's first color film and it's failure made Akira attempt suicide.
My bad, I remember seeing somewhere that Kagemusha was his first so I didn’t really think to double check, but thanks for letting me know.
I only recently got into Kurosawa (and Japanese cinema as a whole) starting this past October. My first was Throne of Blood (which is surprisingly effective when views as horror). Seven Samurai is probably my favorite of the ones I've seen, but High and Low and Ran are up there.
Like the other guy, my favorite director is Hitchcock. However, keeping with the theme of Japanese cinema, I would recommend taking a look at the films of Masaki Kobayashi. His only made 22 movies, but his best easily rival and might even surpass the best of Kurosawa. The best entry point is probably his samurai films Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967) because they are some of the best of the genre and they, unlike most of Kobayashi's major works, are under 3 hours in length. Then, I would suggest Kwaidan (1964), a beautifully shot horror anthology which may be light on substance but is strong on entertainment. However, probably his best work is The Human Condition trilogy (1959-1961), which clocks in at over 9 and a half hours and is, in my opinion, the finest film trilogy ever produced and among the best WWII movies.
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ve seen Kobayashi’s name around, and some of his stuff has been on my watchlist, but this comment has made me more excited to get into him. Japanese cinema has produced some of my favorite films, so if I really like Kobayashi it might just cement Japanese cinema as my favorite region of film. I’m especially interested in the Human Condition, though it does seem a little bit intimidating to start with over his other works.
@@Cinematographs_ You're welcome! And definitely don't start with The Human Condition. It's brilliant and, despite it's length, extremely well-paced, but it's an emotionally draining experience. Start with either Harakiri or Kwaidan (the former being the highest rated film on Letterboxd and the latter one of the most beautiful color films ever shot). Also, if you haven't seen them, the two horror films of Kineto Shindo (Onibaba and Kuroneko) are well worth your time, especially if you end up enjoying the folktales told in Kwaidan.
kurosawa is a major blind-spot for me so i might do the same in january. it is an obvious choice but my favourite film director is hitchcock & i would nominate his art to just about anybody , his best films are way deeper philosophically and more fun/charming than i assumed they would be
I highly suggest Kurosawa if you're into those philosophical films! I haven't seen much of Hitchcock aside from the obvious (Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window), but I've looked at some of his other films and thought they were interesting-just haven't gotten around to really diving into him yet (though I want to)! Any recommendations for where to start?
@@Cinematographs_ notorious + shadow of a doubt r sublime , strangers on a train + rope are great entry points and they both contain gay subtext which is interesting to look into , foreign correspondent is underrated imo and is amazing for it's age, the birds is really fun , my favourites are psycho + marnie
@@franklotion514 will be adding them to my watchlist!
RAN. Pronounced like "fawn".
Thank you!