Akira Kurosawa's influence on world cinema

March 23, 2020 at 09:44 p.m.

 

The art of japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa has left its mark on the whole world. Today, on the anniversary of his birth, we review some films that capture his essence.

Influenced from a very young age by Western culture, Akira transferred that fascination to his films, so it transcended beyond his films.

Sergio Leone, John Sturges, Lee Katzin and George LucasThey are just some of the filmmakers who have been inspired by the director when it came to putting on his screenings.

It is impossible to imagine the world of cinema without Akira Kurosawa's films, the five decades that spanned the director's cinephile history left a legacy for life.

Kurosawa was the first Japanese director whose films were remade in Hollywood and other places.

George Lucas stated that the narrative structure of the first Star Wars movie was taken from the Kurosawaha movie The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Akira was the creator of cinematographic techniques that are still used today, an example of this is the filming with two or three cameras, a technique that began in the battle scenes of Seven Samurai.

In the XNUMXs, Akira Kurosawa developed the cinematographic technique that consisted of using telephoto lenses that helped him flatten the frame.

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Akira Kurosawa was also the first to use slow motion in action sequences.

Kill Bill de Quentin Tarantino It is a sample of the influence of Kurosawa, the battle to the death between Uma Thurman and the 88 katana maniacs recalls the samurai cinema of the Japanese director.

 

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Star Wars George Lucas's also has a lot in his Akira DNA, the lightsabers are reminiscent of Japanese katanas, and Darth Vader's suit looks like the armor of a futuristic samurai.

 

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Por un puñado de dólares by Sergio Leone: inspired by Yojimbo by Kurosawa. Both films star a mysterious warrior who arrives in a town dominated by rival clans. The protagonist manages to manipulate both sides and enrich himself at his expense. The resemblance of both films ended in a legal lawsuit in which Leone's film had to be recognized as an "unofficial remake" of the Japanese film.

 

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The Last Man Walter Hill's was also inspired, but legally, by Yojimbo and traded samurai for gangsters.

 

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Biutiful by Alejandro González Iñárritu tells the story of a man who tries to guide his life by discovering that he has terminal cancer, the same plot that reminds us of the film Ikiru Kurosawa.

 

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Bichos from Andrew Stanton: Akira's influence reached the animation films, the sample: Bichos, a tape that based its script on the plot of The seven samurai.

 

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Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese They are other directors who have ensured that Akira Kurosawa is an indispensable director for every movie buff.

Did you know that?

  • Akira Kurosawa forced her actors to wear the clothes she would wear in the movies months before filming, so that it did not look new.
  • Kurosawa, who was reputed to be a tough perfectionist filmmaker, did not hesitate to repeat the scenes over and over, until he reached the perfect shot.