Well, Kurosawa was not just perfect. He was picture perfect. Satyajit Ray recalls- “The effect of Rashomon on me was electric. I saw it three times on consecutive days, and wondered each time if there was another film anywhere which gave such sustained and dazzling proof of a director’s command over every aspect of film making.” This article is a tribute on Kurosawa’s 102nd birth anniversary.
Kurosawa once said- “For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film. A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.“
In the past few months, I have exhaustively researched Kurosawa’s works, exploring their intentional, compositional and punctuational beauty. These researchs were all converging to this day, when I wished to celebrate Kurosawa’s 102nd birth anniversary. Special thanks to Donald Ritchie (author, The Films of Akira Kurosawa) and Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto (author, Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema). I have borrowed heavily from the writings of the two authors. There are many other books on Kurosawa I intend to read, including Kurosawa’s autobiography, and James Goodwin’s take on Kurosawa.
Well, when I chose to write an article on Kurosawa’s anniversary, I fall short on words. No wordplay can praise Kurosawa as much as his work can. His work is and will always remain living testament of the genius he was. Kurosawa, when young wanted to be a painter. Later, he used his painting skills to draw story-boards of his films. The similarity between what he envisioned and what he created is indeed striking.
I caught hold of some of his interesting hand made story-boards and the screenshot of the corresponding scenes (thanks to this must be the place). Kurosawa’s work speak can for itself.
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 