http://akirakurosawa.info News, information and discussion about the Japanese film maker Akira Kurosawa Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:54:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Peter Cowie's new book Akira Kurosawa: Master of Cinema was published last week to roughly coincide with Kurosawa's centenary on March 23. Being a coffee table book, it is first and foremost a fairly well put-together visual celebration of Kurosawa's imagery, and only secondly a piece of argumentative film studies. ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/03/14/review-akira-kurosawa-master-of-cinema/ Film historian Peter Cowie's new book Akira Kurosawa: Master of Cinema is as far as I can see now published and on its way to bookshops. Amazon.co.uk lists March 1 as the publication date in the UK but also gives the book as "temporarily out of stock", while Amazon.com lists ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/03/04/akira-kurosawa-master-of-cinema-published/ On March 23rd it will be a full hundred years since the birth of Akira Kurosawa. To celebrate the occasion, Criterion has dedicated the whole of March an Akira Kurosawa Month. A message on their front page reads: March is Akira Kurosawa month at Criterion. On the twenty-third, the great Japanese ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/03/01/criterions-kurosawa-competition/ A week or so ago Lionsgate released Kurosawa's Ran in blu-ray as part of their StudioCanal line, so I thought that it is time to look at the reviews. They don't paint too positive a picture, I'm afraid. DVD Talk point out "a wealth of issues that mar this gorgeous film". ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/02/27/lionsgates-ran-blu-ray-released-to-mixed-reviews/ You may remember a short news update I posted last year about Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh's new film The Magnificent Eleven, which is a soccer themed remake of The Magnificent Seven, which of course is in turn a remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Some days ago, casting news and additional ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/02/27/the-magnificent-eleven-casting-news/ Daily Yomiuri online reports that around 380 million yen, or 4.25 million US dollars worth of Akira Kurosawa Foundation assets are currently unaccounted for. The Foundation, headed by Akira Kurosawa's son Hisao Kurosawa, has allegedly also spent 40% of its 100 million yen capital without the approval of the foundation's ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/02/08/4-25-million-of-akira-kurosawa-foundation-assets-missing/ Last month's film club feature Sanjuro (1962) was based on a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto, and this month we continue in the same mode by moving onto Dodesukaden (1970), another work based on Yamamoto's literary output, this time the short story collection A Town Without Seasons. Yamamoto's influence on Kurosawa's career ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2010/01/01/ak-film-club-21-dodesukaden/ Criterion's mammoth AK100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa box set will hit retail shelves on Tuesday (8th of December 2009). But, who should buy it? Despite the title, this is not really a review, but an attempt at one based on somewhat incomplete data. While I really appreciate Criterion's kind offer ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2009/12/05/review-criterions-ak100-box-set/ First of all, apologies for the recent silence from my part, but life (read: "work") has been hectic. Last month, I constantly kept hoping that I would find the time (and even more importantly the energy) to post my typical introduction to The Hidden Fortress -- "tomorrow" was always my ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2009/12/02/ak-film-club-sanjuro/ Lionsgate has announced the upcoming release of Ran on Region A Blu-ray, scheduled for February 16th 2010. The film is among the first three works put out as part of their new "StudioCanal Collection" line. The Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen format with Japanese, English, Spanish, French, ... http://akirakurosawa.info/2009/11/30/lionsgate-to-release-ran-blu-ray/