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A ranking of all thirty films directed by Akira Kurosawa, presented in order of best to worst.
This includes a complete list of films with which he was involved (including the films on which he worked as assistant director before becoming a full director ), as well as his little-known contributions to theater, television and literature.
Akira Kurosawa. Writer: The Hidden Fortress. After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943).
- January 1, 1
- Tokyo, Japan
- January 1, 1
- Tokyo, Japan
- The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) Denjiro Okochi steals the show in this highly entertaining period film. Okochi plays the leader of a group of samurai who disguise themselves as monks in order to sneak their lord through enemy lines.
- The Most Beautiful (1944) By 1944, it was apparent Japan would lose World War II. Despite facing imminent defeat, Japanese filmmakers were encouraged to make “spiritist” films: movies showing ordinary civilians dedicated to the national cause.
- Sanjuro (1962) A clever and amusing follow-up to Kurosawa’s previous film, Yojimbo (1961). In the original, Toshiro Mifune’s wisecracking samurai pitted two imbecilic gangs against one another to wipe them both out; here, he takes a side, trying to help besieged (rather, naive) people take a stand against their persecutors.
- Scandal (1950) Even lesser Kurosawa films tend to have fascinating components and scenes of tremendous power. Scandal, a critique of yellow journalism in postwar Japan, isn’t quite as searing as its director intended, yet it still has much to offer through its plethora of intriguing characters — most notably a weak-willed lawyer played by that wonderful actor Takashi Shimura.
- Ikiru. To be the greatest movie ever directed by Akira Kurosawa also means being one of the greatest movies ever made. Such words may seem like hollow hyperbole, but in the case of "Ikiru," it's appropriate.
- Ran. When plays are adapted for film, a common complaint is that these adaptations never feel big enough. Some just seem like they're recorded performances of stage plays.
- Seven Samurai. Trying to write something new about "Seven Samurai" feels like as much of a fool's errand as finding a bad performance from Takashi Shimura.
- Drunken Angel. One of the many striking visual details in "Drunken Angel" is a sump located in the village that Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura) calls home.
All of Akira Kurosawa's movies in chronological order. Note: Only includes films directed by Akira Kurosawa.
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Featuring twenty-five of the films he made over the course of his fifty years in movies—from samurai epics to postwar noirs to Shakespeare adaptations—AK 100 is the most complete set of his works ever released in this country, and includes four rare films that have never been available on DVD.
