Akira Kurosawa
Eiga Sai 2005: Spotlight on Akira Kurosawa
"Eiga Sai", Japanese for film festival, is the main cultural event of Japan Foundation, Manila. In its latest edition to be held this month, selected works of Akira Kurosawa will be showcased.
According to young filmmaker Nerissa Picadizo, "One of the many notable things about Kurosawa is that he was able to earn the admiration of George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg long before those directors became well known around the world."
Film buff Renelson Morelos also enthused, "The four things that I like most about Kurosawa's films, which I think are distinctive features, are the color scheme, the visual composition or mise-en-scene, gender flexibility and this brim of humanism!"
Akira Kurosawa, arguably the most renowned Japanese filmmaker, was inspired by old Hollywood Westerns. "Kurosawa blended Western storytelling and technique with Eastern sentiments and style," noted Vives Anunciacion, film reviewer of Philippine Daily Inquirer Libre.
Unlike Alfred Hitchcock or Woody Allen, he didn't focus on a single genre. Whatever genre it was, be it Shakespeare (The Throne of Blood), film noir (High and Low) or epic-scale samurai drama (Kagemusha), the Tokyo-born director's brilliance was unquestionable.
The early 50s marked the apex of Kurosawa's directorial career. Rashomon, a 1951 Special Oscar Recipient for Best Foreign Language Film and considered by many film experts as one of the landmarks of World Cinema, is a series of powerful images that examines truth and human nature.
Fans are moved by the humanitarian themes of his works. Ikiru (1952) involves a dying man's valiant efforts to do a noble deed for his community while Seven Samurai (1954) shows how altruism prevails over selfishness when seven ronins band together to save a village from its enemies and bandits.
Kurosawa grew up admiring the likes of John Ford and in turn, Hollywood has returned the favor: Yojimbo was remade into Fistful of Dollars (the movie that launched Clint Eastwood to stardom) while Lucas' Star Wars has touches of The Hidden Fortress. It's also in his pictures that Toshiro Mifune became well-known, as he was often been cast as a grouchy loner.
The director became less prolific during the late stage of his career, but he managed to come up with a few more gems before his death in 1998. Ran is his riveting adaptation of King Lear while Madadayo, his final opus, is his bittersweet version of an early British classic, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
"Eiga Sai" has been an annual event of the Japan Foundation, Manila for the last eight years. Cineastes have waited this long to view the great Kurosawa's works, and now is their chance to relish them.
Aside from Rashomon, Ikiru and Seven Samurai, other films to look forward to are Judo Saga, Stray Dog and The Bad Sleep Well. Preview screenings will be held at UP Film Institute from February 23 to 26 and 28. Opening night will be at Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Little Theater on March 1, followed by regular screenings at CCP Dream Theater and PCI Bank Tower II - Antonio Molina Hall from March 2 to 11.
(First published in What's On & Expat on February 13-19, 2005)
"Eiga Sai", Japanese for film festival, is the main cultural event of Japan Foundation, Manila. In its latest edition to be held this month, selected works of Akira Kurosawa will be showcased.
According to young filmmaker Nerissa Picadizo, "One of the many notable things about Kurosawa is that he was able to earn the admiration of George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg long before those directors became well known around the world."
Film buff Renelson Morelos also enthused, "The four things that I like most about Kurosawa's films, which I think are distinctive features, are the color scheme, the visual composition or mise-en-scene, gender flexibility and this brim of humanism!"
Akira Kurosawa, arguably the most renowned Japanese filmmaker, was inspired by old Hollywood Westerns. "Kurosawa blended Western storytelling and technique with Eastern sentiments and style," noted Vives Anunciacion, film reviewer of Philippine Daily Inquirer Libre.
Unlike Alfred Hitchcock or Woody Allen, he didn't focus on a single genre. Whatever genre it was, be it Shakespeare (The Throne of Blood), film noir (High and Low) or epic-scale samurai drama (Kagemusha), the Tokyo-born director's brilliance was unquestionable.
The early 50s marked the apex of Kurosawa's directorial career. Rashomon, a 1951 Special Oscar Recipient for Best Foreign Language Film and considered by many film experts as one of the landmarks of World Cinema, is a series of powerful images that examines truth and human nature.
Fans are moved by the humanitarian themes of his works. Ikiru (1952) involves a dying man's valiant efforts to do a noble deed for his community while Seven Samurai (1954) shows how altruism prevails over selfishness when seven ronins band together to save a village from its enemies and bandits.
Kurosawa grew up admiring the likes of John Ford and in turn, Hollywood has returned the favor: Yojimbo was remade into Fistful of Dollars (the movie that launched Clint Eastwood to stardom) while Lucas' Star Wars has touches of The Hidden Fortress. It's also in his pictures that Toshiro Mifune became well-known, as he was often been cast as a grouchy loner.
The director became less prolific during the late stage of his career, but he managed to come up with a few more gems before his death in 1998. Ran is his riveting adaptation of King Lear while Madadayo, his final opus, is his bittersweet version of an early British classic, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
"Eiga Sai" has been an annual event of the Japan Foundation, Manila for the last eight years. Cineastes have waited this long to view the great Kurosawa's works, and now is their chance to relish them.
Aside from Rashomon, Ikiru and Seven Samurai, other films to look forward to are Judo Saga, Stray Dog and The Bad Sleep Well. Preview screenings will be held at UP Film Institute from February 23 to 26 and 28. Opening night will be at Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Little Theater on March 1, followed by regular screenings at CCP Dream Theater and PCI Bank Tower II - Antonio Molina Hall from March 2 to 11.
(First published in What's On & Expat on February 13-19, 2005)
posted by Francis Rex Alger @ 3:29 PM
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