Akira Kurosawa: the Man and His Muses Dr
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IJARED 3(1), 83-91 © The Author(s) 2015 [email protected] www.emeacollege.ac.in ISSN:2348-3342 Akira Kurosawa: The Man and his Muses Dr. Abdul Muneer V Assistant Professor of Journalism, EMEA College of Arts and Science, Kondotti, Kerala. Abstract: A celebrated name in Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) is one among the world’s most important film makers. Kurosawa remains a mystery for those who probe his style of filmmaking and the man himself. Several writers, from Dostoyevsky to Shakespeare, had exerted much influence on Kurosawa’s filmmaking. The way he adopted Western and Hollywood techniques invited criticism that he was “Japan’s most Western director”. Granted, analysing the style and stylistics of a legend is extremely difficult, for style is the individual. Yet, this article tries to explore various influences that shaped the life and films of one the most influential film makers in the history of cinema. “For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.” —Akira Kurosawa Brushes and rushes Kurosawa always made his story boards with detailed paintings; in fact, he sketched the entire film in story board. This sketching has got something to do with him being an art student. Painting was his passion and obsession, for he always loved the life of a painter. This passion was initially nurtured by his beloved teacher named Tachikawa during his school days. Being a progressive teacher he believed that the intelligent students should get more and introduced him to the fine arts (Richie, 1999). After usual schooling, Kurosawa was running behind western painting and, the twist, the turning point of his life, occurred when he applied for a job at a film studio. Kajirō Yamamoto, the then king maker of Japanese films, saw his job application. Impressed with his sample sketches, he decided that Kurosawa could be useful for his initial story-boarding. Thus, Kurosawa assisted Yammanto in his 24 films and that career spanned almost seven years. Before becoming a full-fledged director, he worked with some other masters as well. International Journal for Advanced Research in Emerging Disciplines (IJARED) Though the career was shifted, his first love towards painting still remained with him. He brilliantly infused the techniques of painting to his films. Amazing shots, talent to incorporate rich visuals to go with emotional effects are best examples of his painting skills that enhanced his filmography. He was well informed in Japanese painting and in western school of thoughts; European impressionism and expressionism as well. It is the proven fact that, the training in painting helped him in filming arresting visual styles. The most acclaimed movies, Ran and Throne of Blood are best examples of this painter sensibility that found its way into film (Davies, 2012). The painter, who was in an eternal love with colours, avoided colours in his films for a long time. Only in 1970, with the film Dersu Uzala he experimented colour in his cinema (Russell, 2002). The film maker always adopted a unique approach when it came to the filming of nature and landscapes. Rain is a very prominent presence in his films. Fog, wind, mist and snow, the romantic atmospheric conditions, too have notable screen space in those movies. Particularly, the severe weather conditions played important role in many of his films. The films which were shot in urban settings utilized these weather conditions to attain the qualities of compassion and humanism. For example, the snowfall characterized in the final scene in Ikiru, added more meaning and without that the climax might have lost its charm (Russell, 2002). Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, and others Authors from Dostoyevsky to Shakespeare exerted much influence on Kurosawa in his thoughts and ways of filmmaking. He interpreted the classics; Macbeth and King Lear to make the films Throne of Blood (1957) and Ran (1985). He retold those dramas as tales of war and political conspiracy happens in Japan (Dave charpentier, 2010). Throne of Blood and Ran are as valued as the Shakespearean adaptations of Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh respectively (Richie, 1996 in Desser, 1998). The filmmaker was also influenced by Russian literature. “He grew up reading the classics of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who was his favorite writer,” says Alina Leschuk an independent filmmaker from Korsakov and she added “You can clearly understand that he was inspired by Russian literature if you see some of his earlier films.” Kurosawa directed 84 International Journal for Advanced Research in Emerging Disciplines (IJARED) adaptaions of dostoyevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ and Maxim Gorky’s ‘The Lower Depths’. The 1975 film Dersu Uzala won the Oscar for the best foreign language film which is based on the life of the Russian explorer and writer Vladimir Arsenyev. The Japanese- soviet co- production Dersu Uzala has got many firsts to its credit. It was directors’ first and only 70 mm film and his first non-Japanese language film (Kamalakaran, 2015). Western and Hollywood stylistics The clichéd statement is that Kurosawa is “Japan’s most western director”. Mainly due to government pressures, Japanese film makers always stayed away from western film styles and stylistics. Though they followed a unique style of filmmaking, Kurosawa refused to jump on the band wagon. Hollywood narrative styles grabbed his attention and American pulp novels too lured him. He tried to combine the best of the both worlds, East and West. This blend helped him gain international audience and won numerous accolades in International film festivals. In his cinematic text, traditional Japanese culture blended smoothly into the western narrative to produce films that easily grabbed the attention of international audience (Richie, 1996). In 1951 Kurosawa’s Rashomon was awarded Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival which brought Japanese cinema to international arena. After this, many more international successes came in- the Berlin Film Festival 1954 -Ikiru ; 1959- Hidden Fortress, and the Venice Film Festival in 1954 Seven Samurai. Kurosawa connected Jidai-geki (Japanese period drama) to Hollywood cowboy film with the help of western cinematic and narrative devices. These films on the other hand influenced Hollywood directors to produce remakes. The films Seven Samurai and Yojimbo were remade as The Magnificent Seven (Jhon Sturges, 1960), and A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964) respectively. Whether it is the adaptation of western literature or westernization of Japanese genre films, Kurosawa employed a humanist approach in all his films. His vision always rose above the geographical barriers (Standish, 2015). 85 International Journal for Advanced Research in Emerging Disciplines (IJARED) Samurai, the warrior Kurosawa addressed the Japan shattered by World War II through his films and he tried his level best to reform this society using the very medium, film. Affection towards the samurai class -warrior culture is a salient feature of his earlier films (Prince, 1991). Moreover he was born in a family of Samurai tradition. The lineage of his family could be traced back to 11th century, which describes it as descendants of Samurai. Between the 10th and 15th century, Japan had witnessed many civil wars. The warriors who fought the bloody wars for feudal landlords were samurai .They were also present during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868). And it is believed that weapons unique to Japan had been the specialty of those samurai. Different traits of Samurai life found its way to samurai films. Though it might be viewed as contradictory, the fact is that, Samurai were highly educated and cultured class of warriors. They exhibited proficiency in sculpture, painting, traditional dance, theatre, and calligraphy. That is why Samurai are defined as cultured warriors. They appreciated both swordsmanship and poetry. Daisho, Bushido, Seepuku, Hara-kiri, Ronin (unemployed samurai) are the terms describing various aspects of Samurai. Katana (long sword) and Wakazashi(short sword) are immensely important to them and these swords are popularly known as Daisho. Bushido describes the code of conduct, and it defines the character and moral strength of Samurai. Honesty and obedience are the corner stones of Bushido codes .Seepuku or Hara-kiri is the ritual suicide which is considered honourable compared to the death at the hands of enemies (Thorne, 2008) It is an undisputed fact that Kurosawa was the father of modern samurai films. He influenced this genre the most, and vice-versa. Seven Samurai (1954), his master piece, marked the beginning of his samurai films. It was the result of a long-cherished dream of making a real jidai-geki film. Though half of all Japanese films made during that period were jidai-geki genre, the “real” ones were very rare (Richie, 1996). It differed in many ways from his early films (1950s) of the same genre. He inculcated a sense of reality in those films. The lengthy battle scene-the scene towards the end of Seven Samurai -is considered as one of the superb battle scenes ever on reels. As 86 International Journal for Advanced Research in Emerging Disciplines (IJARED) mentioned earlier, In 1960, it was remade as a western by John Sturges titled Magnificent Seven (Thorne, 2008). Stage to Screen, Kabuki Kabuki is a traditional theatre form in Japan. Kurosawa disliked kabuki and in the initial years of his filmmaking; he intentionally tried to distance his works from Kabuki. But he couldn’t succeed as drama films of that period were highly influenced by its conventions. He utilized the modified version of Kabuki elements which was a tool of social criticism. The word ‘Kabuku’ itself means ‘to slant’. Like folk songs, Kabuki songs spread among people through word of mouth and how these songs found their way to stage is not yet clear.