“Behold, within this place Now desolated, stood Once a mighty fortress Lived a proud warrior Murdered my ambition His spirit walking still Vain pride, then as now, will Lead ambition to the kill” Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 film Throne of Blood – his interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, set in feudal Japan – opens and closes with […]
Read More Akira Kurosawa Series – Throne of Blood (1957)As someone who has been a massive fan of Star Wars for longer than I have been a major cinephile and film enthusiast, whispers of Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 film The Hidden Fortress have entered the conversation many times surrounding George Lucas’ space opera. I had always heard that Kurosawa was perhaps Lucas’ biggest inspiration […]
Read More Akira Kurosawa Series – The Hidden Fortress (1958)“What would you do if you only had six months to live?” This is a direct quote from Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 drama, Ikiru, but it also serves as the essence of the story question. Takashi Shimura acts in the lead role of Kanji Watanabe, a bureaucrat who has spent the past 30 years of his […]
Read More Akira Kurosawa Series – Ikiru (1952)
The Run-Down on Movies 