It’s been almost a month since our last Akira Kurosawa related news link roundup, so we are very much overdue an update. So, without further ado, here are some videos, articles, jokes and images. Enjoy!
We’ll kick off with a BFI discussion on The Hidden Fortress which Longstone mentioned here. We all love BFI for what they have done to Kurosawa’s availability in Europe, and we continue to love them even if they were supposed to release a Blu-ray Rashomon this April that never materialised. It now seems slated for September.
Continuing with video, Brows Held High discusses Throne of Blood as part of a summer of Shakespeare.
Over at YouTube, a short commercial featuring Kurosawa and selling NEC computers has been posted. Obviously not quite breaking news, but this one is far less known than the Suntory whiskey ads that Kurosawa appear in during the 1970s, so take a look.
Moving from video to words, Cinephilia & Beyond tips its hat to Kurosawa’s Kagemusha with an article subtitled “A Poem about Human Nature”. They are publishing so many articles on Kurosawa that I think they should just change their name to Kurosawaphilia & Beyond. If you have missed any of their recent write-ups, check out their Kurosawa tag. Some good stuff there.
The Angriest writes about No Regrets for Our Youth, having covered Kurosawa’s earlier films this spring.
But maybe you want to read reviews of all of Kurosawa’s films in one go? You can do so at Forget the Box, and you absolutely should. His review of Throne of Blood made me laugh. Kagemusha I can very much relate with.
The Culture Tip has a list of their top 10 Kurosawa films.
Meanwhile at DeviantArt, user CarmenVonMel has shared a picture of a new painting of Toshirō Mifune.
In actual news, Daisuke Ryū, who appeared in Kurosawa’s Kagemusha and Ran, was arrested in Taiwan while shooting a film for Martin Scorsese (mentioned here). Latest reports now say that he has been fired by his film company Toei.
And Kurosawa’s Rashomon has been referenced a couple of times, once in connection with an Australian political mini-series and then in connection with NBA basketball. It is also being used to teach qualitative research.
American actor Lance Henriksen lists Seven Samurai among his five favourite films. “It’s black and white but I remember it in color, which is weird”. No, it’s not weird at all, Lance.
And to finish up, this cracks me up.
