It is ironic that the two Asian filmmakers best known to cinephiles in the West – India’s Satyajit Ray and Japan’s Akira Kurosawa – are arguably among the least representative filmmakers in their own countries, largely because their films have been seen as more ‘[W]estern’ than most of their contemporaries.
– James Chapman, “Cinemas of the World”
Any viewer coming to Kurosawa’s work will be aware of this pronounced Western influence, but I think it’s much more useful to think of the director’s work as an exchange between Western and Japanese cultures. Traveling from East to West – the better-known route so far as Kurosawa is concerned – we find The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Rashomon remade as The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful Of Dollars and The Outrage respectively. Arguably, we can add Star Wars as a remake of Hidden Fortress too. But in the opposite direction – from West to East – not only do we have Kurosawa’s professed love of John Ford, but Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot” and Shakespeare’s “King Lear” remade as The Idiot and (loosely) Ran respectively.
As part of this exchange, Throne of Blood takes Shakespeare’s Scottish play and uses it to exhibit traditional Japanese battle art and elements of Noh theatre. It is faithful to the original and, though not Kurosawa’s best work, indicative of many elements of his films – including a remarkable, iconic finale. Although I won’t say his work isn’t more Western than most of his contemporaries, Kurosawa must surely be considered representative of Japanese filmmaking, if only because films such as Throne of Blood and The Idiot work so successfully in a Japanese context.
by Rich Watts | Source: bfi Video Publishing DVD
07 Jun 2005 8:36 AM | Submit Comment