10 iconic directors influenced by Akira Kurosawa
When it comes to Japanese cinema, look no further than the masterful Akira Kurosawa as a leading light. Having worked on 30 films across a five-decade-long career, Kurosawa is, even today, considered one of the most important film directors to ever sit in the boss’ chair on set.
He made his directorial debut in 1943 with the action film Sanshiro Sugata and began his long-standing collaborative partnership with actor Toshiro Mifune in 1948 with the critically admired Drunken Angel. From there, Kurosawa cemented his stature as one of the all-time great directors with Rashomon in 1950.
It was after Rashomon that Kurosawa further developed his reverence on the international stage with films such as Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and Yojimbo. Kurosawa often adapted William Shakespeare for the big screen, leading to claims that he is the Bard of the modern age.
Kurosawa has influenced several of the most iconic directors of all time, from Ingmar Bergman to George Lucas, let’s take a closer look at who the Asian cinema icon has inspired over the years.
10 iconic directors influenced by Akira Kurosawa:
Ingmar Bergman
Bergman’s 1960 revenge film The Virgin Spring took great influence from Kurosawa. It takes place in medieval Sweden and tells of a father seeking out revenge after his daughter is brutally raped and murdered, and explores the notions of morality, vengeance and religion.
It’s easy to see the influence that Kurosawa had on the film, particularly his 1950 movie Rashomon, which also deals with rape and murder. Interestingly, though, while Bergman admitted to Kurosawa’s influence, he claimed The Virgin Spring was a “touristic, lousy imitation of Kurosawa”. He added: “At that time, my admiration for the Japanese cinema was at its height. I was almost a samurai myself.”
Federico Fellini
Fellini is widely considered to be one of the most unique filmmakers of all time. He combined the sublime with the mundane, the fantastical with the ultra-real and his films such as 8½, La Strada, Nights of the Cabiria, La Dolce Vita and many more have often been uttered in the breath of the most influential films ever made.
As for Fellini’s admiration for Kurosawa, the Italian director once claimed that his Japanese counterpart was “the greatest living example of all that an author of the cinema should be”. High praise indeed. A collaborative project between Fellini, Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman had been in the works, but sadly it never saw the light of day.
Steven Spielberg
The name Steven Spielberg is as synonymous with American cinema as Kurosawa’s is in Japan. Spielberg is known for making epic blockbuster films that don’t shy away from dramatic moments of insight. In that light, it’s clear to see that Spielberg is influenced by Kurosawa’s films, such as Seven Samurai.
Spielberg once said that Kurosawa is “the pictorial Shakespeare of our time”, which makes sense as the Japanese cinema icon had adapted The Bard for the big screen on several occasions. He had also been rumoured to be working on a TV adaptation of Rashomon, but that is yet to come to fruition.
Bernardo Bertolucci
Alongside his countryman Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci is considered one of the most important Italian directors in the film industry and was the first filmmaker from Italy to win the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’ – for his 1987 film The Last Emperor – and several others of his works have been admired throughout the years.
Bertolucci once claimed that it was Kurosawa, as well as Fellini, that inspired him to become a director in the first place, saying, “Kurosawa’s movies and La Dolce Vita of Fellini are the things that pushed me, sucked me into being a film director.” It’s unsurprising the learn of Kurosawa’s effect on prospective filmmakers from across the world.
Satyajit Ray
Ray did it all. He was a director, a screenwriter, an author and essayist, a poetry writer and a composer, amongst many other things. If it was artistic, Ray did it. But it was his filmography that was most celebrated, particularly his Apu Trilogy, The Music Room, The Big City and Charulata. Across his career, Ray took directorial charge of 36 films in total.
He once gave the greatest of praise to Kurosawa’s Rashomon, saying in 1992, “The effect of the film on me [upon first seeing it in Calcutta in 1952] 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 filmmaking.”
Stanley Kubrick
As Kurosawa’s name is uttered in whispers of the greatest Japanese filmmaker of all time, so too is Stanley Kubrick’s when it comes to naming the most significant American counterpart. Many of Kubrick’s films have been called some of the greatest ever made, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining.
Kubrick’s assistant Anthony Frewin once spoke of Kubrick’s admiration for Kurosawa with BFI: “Stanley thought Kurosawa was one of the great film directors and followed him closely. In fact, I cannot think of any other director he spoke so consistently and admiringly about. So, if Kubrick was cast away on a desert island and could only take a few films, what would they be? Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood.”
Andrei Tarkovsky
Where Kubrick and Spielberg have ubiquitously been attached to American filmmaking and Kurosawa to Japan, when it comes to Russia, there is no other than the legendary Andrei Tarkovsky. His films Solaris, Andrei Rublev and Stalker have often been called some of the most influential films ever made.
According to Kurosawa, Tarkovsky told him that he always watched Seven Samurai before shooting his own films. He also once remembered getting drunk with Tarkovsky in Russia (via Cinephilia Beyond): “Tarkovsky, who didn’t drink usually, drank a lot of vodka, and went so far as to turn off the speaker from which music had floated into the restaurant, and began to sing the theme of samurai from Seven Samurai at the top of his voice.”
Werner Herzog
The films of Germany’s Werner Herzog often contain characters who have seemingly impossible dreams or strange talents. Take, for instance, 1982’s Fitzcarraldo, in which the protagonist is tasked with transporting a steamship over a hill with a steep gradient. Kurosawa’s films also confront the seemingly impossible, whether it be in the conflicting accounts in Rashomon or defying the odds in Seven Samurai.
Herzog once said of Kurosawa’s Rashomon, “It is probably the only film that I’ve ever seen which has something like a perfect balance, which does not occur in filmmaking very often. You sense it sometimes in great music, but I haven’t experienced it in cinema, and it’s mind-boggling. I don’t know how Kurosawa did it. It’s still a mystery to me. That’s greatness.”
Robert Altman
Altman’s stature in the pantheon of all-time Hollywood greats is undoubted. Among his most famous works are the films M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, 3 Women, The Player and Gosford Park. He has never won a competitive Academy Award but has been given an Academy Honorary Award.
Altman is another legendary director who loves Kurosawa’s films. He once said, “Rashomon is the most interesting of Kurosawa’s films. That and Throne of Blood. Throne of Blood is the most accessible because non-Japanese audiences know the basic story of Macbeth. […] Rashomon had the visual stimulation to hit the audience. It’s a great film that certainly had an influence on me.”
George Lucas
Of course, this list would be remiss without mentioning the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas. The film franchise is heavily indebted to Kurosawa’s 1958 movie The Hidden Fortress in terms of its plot and structure. It told of two peasants who are tasked with transporting a man and woman across enemy lines, never knowing that they are royalty.
Lucas once said of Kurosawa’s films, “My favourite of all time is Seven Samurai, then maybe Yojimbo and Ikiru, and Hidden Fortress. It’s not at the very top of my list, but I was impressed, and I liked it. It’s really his visual style to me that is so strong and unique, and, again, a very powerful element of how he tells his stories.”
