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News and links: Kurosawa video game resurfaces, a new Japanese book, lots of articles and some great pictures

News from Scandal
Oh boy, this week’s Akira Kurosawa related news and links roundup is quite full on. Get ready for video game news, Michael Fassbender, Dersu Uzala celebrations, lots of articles and pictures, and not a single mention of The Magnificent Seven remake! Well, technically there’s one now.

Let’s start with the (somewhat) big one: according to a Twitter trademark bot, the video game publisher Koei Tecmo has renewed their trademark for Ni-Oh, which means that the Kurosawa inspired video game is probably still in development. First announced in 2005, the Team Ninja developed game was at least originally based on an unfilmed Kurosawa script, although it’s unclear if it’s still in its present form connected to Kurosawa. In any case, this is quite interesting as I think the last time we heard about the project was three years ago. Maybe we’ll hear more when the E3 trade fare takes place later this month? Maybe not.

If you are in Japan, the famous Ikebukuro based film theatre Shin-Bungeiza will be hosting a 40th anniversary screening of Dersu Uzala tomorrow (June 6th), with I think Teruyo Nogami and composer Shinichirō Ikebe attending. More information about the event can be found on the cinema’s website. Technically, the 40th anniversary of Dersu Uzala‘s release will actually only take place in July, but it is appropriate to celebrate it now as we are more or less living the 40th anniversary of the film’s completion (Kurosawa returned to Japan on June 18, 1975).

Also coinciding with Dersu Uzala‘s anniversary is a rather interesting looking Japanese book (see Amazon.co.jp) about the film. It’s quite a massive tome actually: 639 pages of interviews, articles and other information about the film. If I parse this correctly, among other things included is Teruyo Nogami’s shooting diary, full script and some notes by the actor Yury Solomin.

Cannes Film Festial came and went, and Kurosawa was in the news not only because of the restored copy of Ran (see here), but also because a new adaptation of Macbeth premiered there. More specifically, the film’s lead actor, the always excellent Michael Fassbender, was quoted saying that Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood is his favourite previous Macbeth adaptation. You can’t but like the man.

Last weekend marked the thirtieth anniversary of Ran‘s release and Cinephilia & Beyond marked the occasion with an article on the film that includes the screenplay and also links to an older Tumblr post with some pictures from the film’s costume fitting.

And if you speak German, also check out Der Spiegel‘s article on Ran. Toll!

For our Turkish readers, SanatLog has a long article on Sanshiro Sugata Part II, a film which rarely receives much discussion. It looks interesting, but speaking no Turkish, I have no real idea what it says.

Meanwhile, for Portuguese listeners, Cinema em Cena has a podcast on Rashomon. Again, I cannot really comment on the contents. Que droga!

For English readers, there is an article on Dreams at Flickchart which includes great screenshots and notes that the film really is about death.

Speaking of Dreams, the Tumblr blog Bright Wall/Dark Room has a lovely picture of Kurosawa and Martin Scorsese on the set.

Also check out Madman Films’ Twitter post with a slightly later picture of Kurosawa by Catherine Chabrol.

And last but definitely not least, author and artist Graham Edwards has posted a lovely drawing inspired by Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. I do wish I could draw. Or rather, I do wish people could figure out the subjects of my drawings without me having to explain them.


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