The Art of Akira Kurosawa's Filmmaking: How He Plays With His Audience's Emotions

Many legendary directors, including Martin Scorcese, George Miller, and Guillermo del Toro, have credited Akira Kurosawa as an influence. Many of the cinematic classics he has directed and written feature complex heroes and villains in unique locations. Focusing on many characters who are troubled by internal difficulties and moral dilemmas that always teach us something worthwhile, Kurosawa captivates you with his excellent film directing. Every movie fan should watch one of Kurosawa's films at least once, since they are suspenseful and mysterious while constantly highlighting a larger purpose.

Akira's initial career aspiration was to be a painter, and he even began there. The career was short-lived, only a few years. Akira was hired by PCL Studios in response to a job posting for associate directors, and Kajiro Yamamoto, a seasoned director, served as his mentor.

Sanshiro Sugata, Akira's debut film, depicts a conflict between two martial arts schools (Judo and Jiu-Jitsu) and is a classic illustration of the issues that can occur when cultures clash. The film is set during the Meiji period, a time of intense hostilities between the West and Japan. Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" was the first Japanese film to be screened outside of Japan. Sadly, there was a moment when the genius himself struggled to get funding for his creations. When things got too tough, first because of health issues and subsequently because of a lack of work in the film industry, Kurosawa tried to end his life numerous times. Nevertheless, Kurosawa continued to produce movies well into his advanced age, and they maintained garnering excellent reviews.

Emotional Manipulation Was Kurosawa's Favorite Technique

"Ikiru," which was inspired by Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, conveys the imminent desperation of living a life without purpose. The phrase, which means "to live," perfectly captures the terror and joy that comes with having a meaningful existence. Mr Watanabe, the protagonist, is suffering from cancer and is forced to confront the meaninglessness of his work, the short life he has lived, the few friends he has, and the people he has hurt because of his ennui. Kurosawa elicits sympathy from viewers by immersing them in Watanabe's bleak, lonely environment as he strives to make sense of his existence. Watanabe is on a liquor binge, and Akira uses the crowds to emphasize the dreadful muddledness that is consuming Watanabe.

Watanabe meets a young lady named Toyo, and the vitality she emits gives him new life. Kurosawa, on the other hand, manipulates our emotions by making the protagonist more desperate. Toyo and Watanabe meet at a café, but Kurosawa makes the two feel awkward by suggesting that Toyo shouldn't be spending time with an elderly person. When Toyo quickly leaves the meeting, Watanabe is mortified.Watanabe may easily give up now that he is left with nothing and succumb to the emptiness and infinite boredom that surround him. Watanabe, recalling his first decision at the beginning of the film, decides to use his resourcefulness at work to help a village in need of a park. Kurosawa, in an attempt to make the task appear onerous, purposefully drops heavy rain and filth when Watanbe arrives to inspect it. This, however, just makes Watanbe more heroic for rising to the occasion. Watanbe dies, yet his memory lives on in the hearts of his fellow countrymen. Akira walks you through the process of dealing with and recovering from setbacks. As a result, Kurosawa understands that in order to present a story of growth and success, he must first push the protagonist to the most horrific area of defeat conceivable, allowing them to fight their way out.

The Meaning Of Faith Is Inquired About In Kurosawa's "Rashomon"

The cornerstone of Akira's filmmaking career and his most well-known work is "Rashomon". The narrative starts with a woodcutter and a monk telling a commoner through a channel about a man who died and the three subsequent statements given by the widow, the corpse, and outlaw Tajomaru. The surprising thing is that every witness, including the deceased, claims they are to blame for his passing.

By emphasizing how current each witness' statement is, Akira heightens the drama. The worker wonders why the woodsman and monk ever had any faith, whereas they lost faith in society owing to the weather. The men even make an attempt to start a bonfire. The poor fire, on the other hand, is a symbol of their waning optimism. Like in "Ikiru," Kurosawa is successful in establishing a depressing mood. The woodsman obviously knew everything. He didn't tell anyone, though, as his theft of a rare blade from the crime scene would have made the murder seem much more horrible. An orphaned baby theme is expertly woven into the ongoing drama by Akira, and it doesn't feel out of place. When the woodsman turns into a thief and the commoner departs, just the monk is still upright. But just when defeat seems inevitable, the woodsman decides to foster the child, acting morally and decently. Kurosawa frequently uses the motif of optimism in the face of hardship in his films, thus the sun comes out and the rain stops.

Kurosawa emphasizes the value of sacrifice in The Seven Samurai

Many people agree that "The Seven Samurai" is Kurosawa's greatest work and a marvel of cinema. On the surface, the plot appears simple. A ragtag group of seven Samurai are employed by the residents of a small farming town to guard their produce from thieves. The issue is much more complicated than that. The search for individuals who are willing to fight even to the point of giving their lives to defend farmland is the main theme of the movie.

Kurosawa therefore leaves the peasants in a condition of total despondency just as their search for a hero is about to come to an end. Then they encounter Kambei, a fighter who sacrifices his life to save a child from a warlord. The peasants are staring in shock as many bystanders have gathered, and they are unsure if what they are seeing is true. The tension rises in the next seconds as the peasants pursue Kambei despite their misgivings. Kambei offers to be their penultimate as a result, and he acts as the movie's central figure of strength and faith.

Along with these traits, the warrior exhibits modesty, compassion, grief, and even salvation. One of the most intriguing characters in the movie is Kikuchiyo, a warrior who was brought up as a peasant. In an effort to appeal to the other males, he alternates between aggressiveness and stupidity. Even if his choices can have fatal repercussions, he ultimately redeems himself by fighting with greater fire and bravery than his fellow soldiers. Kurosawa thus exemplifies the virtue of having faith in others even when they don't appear to know where they're heading. The coffins of their murdered countrymen serve as a symbol for the warriors' empathy and altruism in Kurosawa's film. Although the peasants are shown cheering and laughing as if they have gained nothing, Kambei argues that the warriors were victorious.

On “Dreams,” an eight-part magical-realist story, Kurosawa worked with Steven Spielberg, another of his well-known followers and a Hollywood heavyweight. According to Kurosawa, he based the movie on recurrent dreams he had experienced throughout his life. In 1990, the same year Kurosawa received a Lifetime Achievement Award, the film had its Cannes debut. Akira injured his back after falling while polishing a manuscript just a few years later. He was left wheelchair-bound and permanently crippled as a result of the tragedy, and at the age of 88, he passed suddenly from a seizure. Over the course of his incredible career, the filmmaker had accumulated a body of work that would make him one of the most well-known and esteemed filmmakers in the world.

-Sapna