A pure soul is destroyed by the selfishness and duplicity of the post-war society in Kurosawa’s snowbound adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.
Jan 12, 2023 • Subscribe
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Akira Kurosawa Retrospective at the BFI 2023
The good folks at the BFI have sent us details for an up coming Akira Kurosawa Retrospective. Set to run from Sunday 1st January 2023 until ...
Scandal (醜聞, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
The battle for the soul of the post-war society is fought in the body of a conflicted lawyer in Akira Kurosawa’s seasonal morality tale.
Junpaku no yoru / 純白の夜/ (‘Pure White Nights’, 1951)
Obscure Japanese Film #161 Michiyo Kogure Ikuko (Michiyo Kogure) is a young woman happily married to Tsunehiko (Seizaburo Kawazu), a banke...
BFI to Host Complete Akira Kurosawa Retrospective
At BFI Southbank January and February 2023.
Rashomon (羅生門, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
A series of witnesses give conflicting accounts of a death in the forest in Akira Kurosawa’s exploration of the limits of objective truth.
Yojimbo (用心棒, Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
A cynical ronin plays warring factions off against each other to save a moribund silk town in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai western.
Kagemusha (影武者, Akira Kurosawa, 1980)
A thief reborn as a lord finds himself caught between the contradictions of the feudal order and the borders of identity in Akira Kurosawa’s Sengoku-era tragedy.
Ikiru (生きる, Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
A lifelong bureaucrat is confronted by the emptiness of the salaryman dream when diagnosed with a terminal illness in Akira Kurosawa’s intensely moving melodrama.
The Lower Depths (どん底, Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
In the absence of salvation a comforting falsehood is the only means of survival in Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of the Gorky play.
Stray Dog (野良犬, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
A rookie policeman chases an echo of himself through the backstreets of post-war Japan while looking for his missing gun in Akira Kurosawa’s sweltering noir.
Sanjuro (椿三十郎, Akira Kurosawa, 1962)
The cynical drifter finds himself offering fatherly advice to idealistic but hot-headed samurai youth in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo followup.
Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29
The Most Beautiful (一番美しく, Akira Kurosawa, 1944)
Kurosawa’s second feature explores the intense dedication of a collection of factory girls crafting precision lenses in a late National Policy Film.
Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城, Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
An ambitious retainer falls victim to the false promises of a forest spirit in Akira Kurosawa’s haunting adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Online Tributes to Akira Kurosawa for the 102nd Anniversary of his Birth
by Marc Saint-Cyr March 23rd is a particularly noteworthy date for admirers of Japanese cinema, as it marks the birth of one of its most b...
The Silent Duel (静かなる決闘, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
A doctor who contracted syphilis from a patient wrestles with desire and responsibility in Kurosawa’s post-war drama.
Photon: The Idiot Adventures
Welcome, all, again. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been sidelined this past week with an injury, and have been binging anime. Well, one of the series that I…
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Confessions and Rejections - How to Japanese - September 2022
The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人, Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
A fugitive princess offers a new hope for a peaceful and prosperous socitey in Akira Kurosawa’s Sengoku-era epic.
Drunken Angel (酔いどれ天使, Akira Kurosawa, 1948)
A gruff yet well intentioned doctor does his best to cure the ills of post-war Japan in a rundown slum on the edge of a fetid swamp in…
Dodes’ka-den (どですかでん, Akira Kurosawa, 1970)
The denizens of a small slum on the outskirts of the modern city live largely on wilful self-delusion in Kurosawa’s first experimentation with colour.
High and Low (天国と地獄, Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
A self-made millionaire faces a moral dilemma when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped in place of his own in Kurosawa’s post-war crime film.
Rhapsody in August (八月の狂詩曲, Akira Kurosawa, 1991)
Three generations reckon with the wartime past after receiving news from estranged relatives in Hawaii in Kurosawa’s humanist drama.
Photon: The Idiot Adventures OVA Review
AstroNerdBoy reviews the 6 episode OVA series, Photon: The Idiot Adventures, set on the world of Geminar (Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar!)
Even Older Canadian Idiot
Nineteen years seems like a pretty long time to finally get a proper animated series based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, but now is as good…
I Live in Fear (生きものの記録, Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
One Wonderful Sunday (素晴らしき日曜日, Akira Kurosawa, 1947)
A young couple attempt to have a nice day out in Tokyo for only 35 yen but eventually discover something much more valuable in Akira Kurosawa’s surprisingly upbeat…
The Idiot and Slam Dunk Part 4
As they say, all good things come to an end eventually after literal years of coordination and (mostly) procrastination. But we are finally here at the end of…
The Idiot and Slam Dunk Part 4
As they say, all good things come to an end eventually after literal years of coordination and...
Infinite Stratos: On the Wings of an Idiot
I’ve watched many harems, and what I’ve noticed throughout all the good, the bad, the great and the bleh, is that at their heart. Harems are absurdist comedies.…
Repast (めし, Mikio Naruse, 1951)
An unhappily married woman fed up with the drudgery of her existence considers other options but finally concludes there are none in Naruse’s bleak melodrama
Brief Thoughts On: Luger Code 1951
Luger Code 1951 is an alternate history action anime with design work by Medaka Box creator Akira Akatsuki.
No Regrets for Our Youth (わが青春に悔なし, Akira Kurosawa, 1946)
A young woman is torn between a future with a passionate rebel or spineless conformist in Kurosawa’s meditation on the militarist folly.
Talentless Nana – 04 – A Useful Idiot
Nana contemplates her next target when the two class Gals pick on Inukai Michiru, the meekest, most guileless member of the class, with a love letter Nana knows…
Akira
Akira is an Action Science Fiction Adventure anime film by legendary Japanese animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Even if many people consider something a masterpiece, that does not…
Intolerance (空白, Keisuke Yoshida, 2021)
A angry old man struggling to accept his daughter’s death is forced to reassess his relationships in Keisuke Yoshida’s intense social drama.
Manga Musings: Onani Master Kurosawa
Myriad manga are set in the school environment and granted, a lot that I've come into contact with focus on cute high school girls. Onani Master Kurosawa however,…
Nightshade Flower (夜来香, Kon Ichikawa, 1951)
A couple who met briefly in Manchuria are reunited in Kobe but find their joy short-lived amid the vagaries of the post-war society in Kon Ichikawa’s tragic romance.
Vertical Akira
Lately it seems like every day people come up with ingenious new ways to use the latest generation of AI algorithms. A few weeks ago, this video by…
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Hi there! It’s been awhile. Apologies for the delay! Uni has been my top priority these days, but I still love sharing resources on this blog. Hopefully I’ll…
白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 3
In Volume 1 we met Shirakawa, top of her department in her office and Kuroda, a promising up-and-comer who threatens to take everything Shirakawa has built. They briefly…
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Content warning: The plot here is 100% manipulation, violence and sexual violence. Shirakawa Junko is beloved in her office. The younger employees look up to her with deep…
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In Volume 1, we met Shirakawa Junko and Kuroda Kayo two high-spec, elites in an international sales department, who are natural enemies. They don’t just fight…in fact, they…
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A rootless middle-aged man meditates on visions of corrupted paternity and lonely exile in Zhang Lu’s intensely affecting drama.
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By Andrew Osmond. If you were asked which singer comes to mind in connection with Akira, most readers would think of Kanye West cosplaying Tetsuo in his pants…
Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun – 08 – Number One Idiot
When Mimimi nods off while studying at home, she dreams of a middle school basketball match in which her team lost to Aoi’s. At school, Mimimi nods off…
Tokyo Sonata (トウキョウソナタ, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)
Orphaned salarymen are the soulless ghosts haunting an increasingly empty city in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s eerie tale of urban anxiety
Sweet Home (スウィートホーム, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1989)
A documentary film crew encounter a vengeful ghost while investigating a creepy mansion in an early gothic horror adventure from Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Cloud クラウド (2024) Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cloud クラウド (2024) Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa is his chilling warning of how people are dehumanised by materialism/technology, as told through a thriller/home invasion format and a strong performanc…
Miss Oyu (お遊さま, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1951)
Oppressive social codes and repressed desire provoke a tragic love triangle in Mizoguchi’s adaptation of the story by Tanizaki.