A True Humanist
Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) is one of the most important and pioneering filmmakers in the history of cinema. During his 57 years long career, he directed and created some of the best films the world has ever seen. His humanistic approach towards filmmaking has influenced a lot of renowned filmmakers. Kurosawa said, “Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.” We pay tribute to this great personality on his 88th death anniversary.
Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910 in Ōimachi in the Ōmori district of Tokyo
His father Isamu was a member of a former Samurai family from Akita Prefecture
Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief career as a painter
As an assistant director of the film studio Photo Chemical Laboratories, he spent 5 years and worked under Kajiro Yamamoto who had influence on Kurosawa's works
Kurosawa launched his career as a director with the film 'Sanshiro Suagata', released in 1943 which was a moving story of moral education
'Yoidore Tenshi' (Drunken Angel) is considered as Kurosawa's first major work
In this film Kurosawa first worked with the actor Toshiro Mifune, and in the decades that followed they made 16 movies together
Kurosawa made his internationally acclaimed film 'Rashomon' in 1950
Kurosawa's epic movie 'The Idiot' was an adaptation of his favourite writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel
Unable to secure funding for further work, Kurosawa slit his wrist and throat multiple times on December 22, 1971 but survived the suicide attempt
Geroge Lucas's Star Wars (1977) was highly influenced by Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress
Lucas, like many other New Hollywood directors, revered Kurosawa and considered him a role model
Besides directing 30 films, Kurosawa was also a genius screenwriter
In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement
AsianWeek Magazine and the CNN recognised him as "one of the [five] people who contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years"
Kurosawa wished that he wanted to die in the set while shooting a movie, but it was never to be fulfilled
Kurosawa died of a stroke on September 6, 1998
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