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Akira Kurosawa.

(1910 - )

Part of the Chris Marker World Wide Web Site.
Written by Adrian Miles.

Marker's credits
A.K. (1985)

Kurosawa is for the western cinephile possibly the preeminent Japanese director. His position as one of the masters of cinema is well established but in spite of this his place within Japanese cinema is regarded as problematic by many, ironically over issues of his relationship and indebtedness to a western cinematic tradition. He is certainly the first significant Japanese director to have been recognised by western film makers and intellectuals:

"Yet for all of the Western adaptations and the attraction to Hollywood and Soviet-style montage, Kurosawa's status as a Japanese filmmaker can never be doubted. If, as has often been remarked, his period films have similarities with Hollywood westerns, they are nevertheless accurately drawn from the turmoil of Japanese history. If he has been attracted to Shakesperean theater, he has equally been drawn to the rarefied world of Japanese Noh drama. And if Kurosawa is a master of dynamic montage, he is equally the master of the Japanese trademarks of the long take and gracefully mobile camera." (Monaco, et al., pp. 310-11.)

References
Cinemania.
Monaco, et al.

Akira Kurosawa.

(1910 - )

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