Akira Kurosawa

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Any other fans out there?

The reason I ask is I just received the Criterion Collection version of 'Seven Samurai' and was able to view it last night.

I still have to go through all the supplementary material but the print itself is flawless. I'm thinking that if the other films are this good, I'll eventually get Criterion versions of all of Kurosawa films I can.

[cDnStealth]

There is a reason why he's viewed as one of the most influential film directors. Seven Samurai is a masterpiece. I'd recommend you watch Rashômon.

[gargamel]

Ikiru is probably my favorite movie of all time. As Roger Ebert said, "I think this is one of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently."

[PsYcNeT]

Aw yiss Yojimbo.

[Chill Cosby]

Amazing.

Check out Drunken Angel and High and Low (the latter is on Criterion I believe).

Dreams is also a really fantastic film. Not much of a narrative, more of a visual experience with a few loose short stories, but really good.

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Originally Posted by cDnStealth

There is a reason why he's viewed as one of the most influential film directors. Seven Samurai is a masterpiece. I'd recommend you watch Rashômon.

I own it as well, just not the Criterion version, it's brilliant.

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For those that haven't seen Ran, I highly recommend it as well...

It's King Lear re-imagined to Feudal Japan...it's my second fave Kurosawa film

[nik-]

Sanjuro and Yojimbo are two of my favourite movies, and Seven Samurai is of course amazing. Kagemusha is a good one too, and Ran.

I've never seen Throne of Blood, which is silly because MacBeth is my favourite of Shakespeare and it's an homage to that. Basically he does a lot of Shakespeare, but technically a very groundbreaking director.

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The thing I l like about the Criterion versions are those moments of "hey, I've never seen that before"

I had the same experience with the 50 Years of Bond box set and the Connery films, very cool stuff

[Magnum PEI]

I've only seen Seven Samurai and Dersu Uzala, whcih is awesome. George Lucas based Yoda on the title character.

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Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

I've only seen Seven Samurai and Dersu Uzala, whcih is awesome. George Lucas based Yoda on the title character.

Watch 'The Hidden Fortress' and you'll see where he got the script for Star Wars...even a lot of the characters

[Cali Panthers Fan]

To be honest, Seven Samurai is his magnum opus, which means everything else pales slightly in comparison, but Rashomon, Ran, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, are all great films. He is really a master of shot composition, editing, lighting (later on, color) etc. and tells so much with just an image. He was ok at directing actors and writing, but he was a master with a camera.

My favorite however is Dreams. It's where he finally doesn't bother with a traditional narrative (although each scene has something important to say) and just puts together some of the most beautiful and moving pieces of short film together. I have a friend who works in the film industry as a writer and burgeoning director, and he said after watching Dreams, "I feel sick to my stomach…I'll never come close to making anything that brilliant in my lifetime. It's just so perfect." It also has a fun little cameo from Martin Scorsese playing Vincent Van Gogh.