Jeffery Osvold Global Cinema Dr.

Carlson 3/31/12 Critical Analysis of Akira Kurosawa

Before 1950 Japanese cinema was virtually unknown to Western audiences and held very little prominence in the market, only releasing one to five substantial works per year. However, the early 1950s marked a turning point for Japanese cinema with the rise of The Big Three, which consisted of Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Akira Kurosawa. Concurrently with the rise of Japanese cinema was the concept of the auteur, which stated that a director had complete creative control over his works, as well as a distinctive style. Akira Kurosawa is one such director who obtained the title of auteur and garnered a significant number of followers and admirers. However, Kurosawa was not without criticism. Throughout his career he was constantly berated by critics with accusations of being too Western and pandering to Western values and politics (Mellen, 60). However, despite criticisms that Kurosawas work is too Western, he remains an icon of Japanese cinema based on the components that define his as one of the earliest auteurs in the history of film. Before understanding the specific details for Kurosawas status as an auteur it is important to first the major influences of his films. Kurosawas childhood held numerous influences of his work. As a boy Kurosawa grew up watching films and simply enjoyed the varied and pleasant stimulation [films] added to ordinary life (Kurosawa 6). However, it wasnt until later that Kurosawa realized that going to the movies [had] an educational value as well (6). This concept was passed down to young Akira from his

father, Isamu, who instilled a love of film in his son. Isamu, being a former member of a samurai family, also influenced Kurosawas interest in Japanese culture. His earliest films, Drunken Angel and Rashomon, fit within the genre jidai-geki, which are period films, taking place in feudal Japan that incorporate authentic samurai costumes. Later still, Kurosawa developed the ambition to become a painter. However, after attending school for a brief period of time he lost interest in it and turned his attention to film. However, his past experience as a painter is evident in his film style and can be seen in the clear and interesting composition of his shots, which are set up using wide shots of scenery that resemble landscape paintings. Leaving his childhood, Kurosawas success began with his 1948 film, Drunken Angel. However, he did not gain global recognition until 1950 with Rashomon, which won the Golden Lion in the 1951 Venice Film Festival. This success launched Kurosawa into a period of his life where he released a new film nearly every year for the next 15 years. In addition, Rashomon was the beginning of Kurosawas partnership with the Kurosawa-gumi, a group of crew and cast members that included the actors Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, composer Fumio Hayasaka, cinematographer Asakazu Nakai, and art director Yoshiro Muraki. This group would frequently take part in Kurosawas films and had a significant influence on the success of Kurosawas work. With his reputation as a filmmaker blossoming, Kurosawa began to gain admirers including many New Hollywood directors, such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese. However, he also began to take criticisms for the Western nature of his work. Unlike many of Japans traditional filmmakers, Kurosawa created narrative films that featured an individual who fights against his circumstances, which was a very

common plot element of Hollywood cinema at the time (Prince 20). Furthermore, the narrative mode followed Hollywood standards, which emphasize[d] chronological, causal, linear, and historical thinking (20). One such film that supports this argument is Yojimbo, a 1961 film that features a samurai protagonist played by Mifune who enters a town in the midst of a war between two rival crime lords. Although it sounds uniquely Japanese, Yojimbo holds many characteristics of Western cinema, which support the criticism of Kurosawas desire to please Western audiences. The biggest piece of evidence is Kurosawas reputation for borrow[ing] from Western literary sources, which, in the case of Yojimbo, included Dashiell Hammetts The Glass Key and Red Harvest (Johnston 40). This can be seen in Mifunes character, Sanjuro, whose overall demeanor is very reminiscent of film noirs classic hard-boiled detective. Numerous points throughout the film Sanjuro tells the sake brewer, Tokuemon, that he is entirely indifferent to the plight of the crime lords and only cares about who is willing to pay more for his services. Yojimbo also resembles Western films in that it was intended to look like a classic Western. Kurosawa accomplished this by incorporating large gales of wind, which picked up enormous dust clouds that swept around the town. This imagery was incredibly effective in creating the Western feel as Sanjuro walked through the town, which Kurosawa filmed as a wide shot, depicting the lone hero facing his enemies. In the beginning of the film, Sanjuro even walks through the town with a toothpick in his mouth, while glowering at the various gang members scattered upon the street. Another example of Kurosawas use of Western literature is his 1957 film, Throne of Blood, which was based off of the Shakespearean play, Macbeth. However, Throne of Blood, despite being based off of a Western piece of literature does not have

the same Western look and feel of Yojimbo. Filmed between sets on Mt. Fuji and the studio, Throne of Blood creates a setting of Japanese landscapes and forests, which differ greatly from the dusty roads of Yojimbo. In addition to the scenery, Throne of Bloods characters, Generals Miki and Washizu, portray very different characteristics than that of Sanjuro. The Generals show fealty to their Lord Tsuzuki, whereas Sanjuro shows no respect for the crime lords who hire his services. This relationship between a master and his followers is one theme that crops up numerous times in Kurosawas films and is very reminiscent of Japanese culture, in which villages were commanded by masters, who were then governed themselves by an emperor. The evidence supporting Kurosawas disposition as a maker of Westernized films seems daunting, however, Kurosawa shows that he anchored his movies in the Japanese culture and spirit (Johnston 40) and earned his title as an icon of Japanese cinema based on the components that make him an early auteur. The more obvious components are his departures from traditional Hollywood cinema in terms of technique. Kurosawa is known for employing bold and creative elements in his films that create an interest unlike any seen in Hollywood at the time. The first technique is his employment of symbols within his films. The 1950 film, Rashomon, created symbols for the characters by using creative lighting, which also served the film by making scenes look compositionally stimulating. The film, which revolves around the rape of a woman and murder of her husband, tells the story from the viewpoints of the guilty bandit, wife, her dead husband via a medium, and later a woodcutter who witnessed the events. Yet, the majority of the story is told by unreliable narrators, who alter the story to place themselves in a more flattering light. During the

first telling of the story, given by the bandit, the woman is sitting near a creek and she is bathed in light. Kurosawa intentionally did this to indicate her purity before she gives in to the bandit, where the light actually dims as her honor leaves her. Additionally, the bandit is submersed in light during the sword fight, making him appear more attractive and heroic. Later, during the husbands retelling, when he is tied to a tree while his wife is raped, he is cast in shadow. Further into his retelling, when his wife tells the bandit to kill her husband to hide her shame, he is further obscured by darkness, which creates the impression that he is being forgotten and should be pitied for his misfortune. Lastly, when the woodcutter, who witnessed everything, tells the story, all three of the previous storytellers are placed in shadow when they are debating who should take the woman as she cried on the forest floor. Another popular element of symbolism in Kurosawas films is the weather. Rashomon uses rain as a symbol of despair as the woodcutter and priest comment on the stories with a local man who stops by the gate. After their conclusion of the story, the three discover an abandoned baby at the gate and the local man takes the kimono and amulet that were left to the baby. When the woodcutter comments on his thievery, the man accuses the woodcutter of stealing a valuable dagger from the crime scene he had witnessed. After these events, the priest utters his loss of faith in humanity. However, when the woodcutter offers to care for the baby, the rain stops and he walks off under the sun with the baby in hand. Another example of weathers symbolism is the wind in Yojimbo. The wind, blowing up large clouds of dust, does more than create a Western feel for the film. Kurosawa also used the wind as a symbol for the atrocities of the West blowing into Japan. The character Unosuke, who turns up partway through the film, wielding a pistol, and accompanied by the dust clouds, further implies this.

The second technique of Kurosawas that makes him an iconic Japanese filmmaker is his camera work. Very often, Kurosawa films scenes containing lots of nature. This includes many landscape shots, as well as shots that are often done through shrubbery so the actors can be seen between branches and leaves. This happens many times in Throne of Blood when the two generals are riding through the spiders web forest towards the castle. Kurosawa does this to create a feeling of density in the forest, which also disorients the viewer, furthering the sensation that the audience is lost within the forest as well. Another camera technique employed by Kurosawa is the axial cut, in which the camera cuts between multiple shots while maintaining a feeling of continuity. Rashomon contains an axial cut during the womans telling of the story when she is moving towards her husband with the dagger as he glares at her with loathing. The axial cut occurs by jumping between her face and his and slowly she gets closer to him without the audience actually seeing her whole body in motion. The last key components of Kurosawas title as an auteur are his distinctive themes that form the educational infrastructure of his films and give them depth beyond entertainment. The first theme of Kurosawas is existentialism, which is the emphasis of an individuals existence as a free and responsible agent who determines his or her own development through acts of will. The films that best represent this are Yojimbo and Throne of Blood, which both contain characters eager to further their own wellbeing by committing acts of will towards crime lords (Sanjuro) and emperors (Washizu). While Washizu kills Lord Tsuzuki in an act of betrayal and greed to gain the throne, Sanjuro commits acts of trickery on the crime lords to further his own profits. However, the difference between these two characters is Sanjuros honor, which he upholds when he

frees a peasants wife and provides her, her husband, and their son with enough money to run away. This act of character is very representative of Japanese culture and Kurosawa incorporated it into his film, knowing that he was paying homage to his samurai ancestry. The other theme of Kurosawas is humanism, which stresses the potential goodness of human beings. Rashomon embodies this theme very well with the trio of characters discussing the stories at the gate. Specifically, the priest is Kurosawas voice in this film and is constantly remarking on his faith in humanity and the disbelief that any man could be so evil as to lie about such a serious event just to protect their self-image. However, the local man plays the devils advocate and taunts the priest throughout the stories, saying that everyone is greedy and only looking for ways to survive in this world. Thankfully, the priests faith is restored when the woodcutter accepts responsibility for the baby and takes it home to care for it. With these two themes Kurosawa expresses a faith in the human condition and tries to depict protagonists with inner goodness and care for their fellow man. This attempt sets Kurosawa further apart from Western filmmakers whose films are often made with entertainment and money in mind. Despite the clear evidence that the West influenced Kurosawa, he should not be criticized for this element of his films because he still expresses important elements of Japanese culture with the components that make him one of the earliest auteurs in the history of film. By maintaining distinctly Japanese subject matter and ideals of individuality and honor Kurosawa creates films that deserve recognition as important pieces of Japanese cinema because of their masterful creation and ability to make an audience think critically about film.