Customer Reviews

Akira Kurosawa: Master of Cinema

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With the addition of this volume to my library I own just about every book on Kurosawa in the English language. With no serious competition it is the most beautiful. It is printed on wonderful, heavy stock paper with beautifully chosen and reproduced photographs. In a way choosing gorgeous photos for the book was not much of a challenge, because few directors had a better eye than Kurosawa. Some of the most unforgettable images that I have ever seen in movies appeared in his films. Although SEVEN SAMURAI was 200 minutes long, virtually every shot in the scene is suitable for framing. Nonetheless, the photos in this book, whether stills from the films, behind the scenes, or photos of shooting scripts are consistently beautiful and highly informative. The quality of the design of the book can be seen in the book's gorgeous cover. The front shows a still featuring Toshiro Mifune from YOJIMBO and the back a photo from the set of KAGEMUSHA. But if you take the cover off the book and unfold it, it opens to a large color poster showing a shot, I believe, from RAN.

The text is also wonderfully informative. I've read a number of books on Kurosawa, including his own SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Stephen Prince's exceptional THE WARRIOR'S CAMERA, and the standard survey of his films, THE FILMS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA by Donald Richie. While I would not recommend this above either the Prince or the Richie, this is nonetheless an extremely perceptive, insightful study of his work. It highlights a number of important themes in his work and provides a number of insights into his films. I personally did not care for the thematic organization of the films, grouping the contemporary films in one group, the historical films based on Japanese sources in another, and those films based on Western sources in another. I suppose it is helpful to show what various films have in common with one another, but I frankly did not get a great deal of insight from this kind of organization. The fact is that any serious student of Kurosawa's films will probably buy Donald Richie's superb book as a first book in a library. If you can own only one book on Kurosawa, Richie's book (he contributes a preface to Cowie's book, by the way, along with Martin Scorsese) is the one to get, and it is arranged chronologically. Cowie's intelligent, highly appreciative discussion transcends the format. The tone of the book is not probing; Cowie hints at personal difficulties in Kurosawa's life without any attempt to explore them further. He mentions, for instance, Kurosawa's many suicide attempts, but neither explores them in any detail nor explains the significance of them in his life. He also completely avoids discussing even by remote allusion the great rift that developed between Kurosawa and his most famous actor, Toshiro Mifune. Cowie not only does not explain the causes of their split but not only does not reveal that they experienced such a split. I do not believe that his is a shortcoming in the book. The book is in tone more of a memorial than anything. Although not wanting to paint Kurosawa as a paper saint, Cowie neither wants to cross a line of respect.

If you love the films of Akira Kurosawa this is a must-own volume. It is certainly one of the most beautiful books that I own, whether on film or art or whatever. I have been amazed that the hundredth anniversary of Kurosawa's birth has not resulted in a string of commemorative volumes. In my opinion, he belongs to the shortest imaginable list of the greatest filmmakers in the history of the art. But sometimes quality is more important than quantity and while there are no other volumes being released in his centenary, this one will more than fulfill that need.

This rapturous volume is an exceptional tribute to Kurosawa, designed to fully capture the visual glory of his work. Cowie's text is thoughtful, but less-detailed than other books on the director. The writing is engaging nonetheless, and examines Kurosawa's work from various perspectives: the humanist sagas; the revisionist Samurai; and his literary themes and variations.

A well-designed book, ripe with interesting photos, for those who relish Kurosawa as an icon in cinema history.

This is an expansive, generally well-conceived book.

Generously illustrated with many wonderful insights, it is

a good addition to any Kurosawa fan's library. A few

points however --while discussing Drunken Angel, Cowie

states Matsunaga is "Even more addicted to liquor

than Sanaka..."I must disagree. Sanaka is the angel

of the title, drinking his patients' alcohol.

Matsunaga seems willing to give up drinking as his

redemption approaches, but after his mentor encourages

him, he must drink to 'save face'. Regarding the

same film, Cowie says Matsunaga steals a carnation

to give to his girlfriend. Actually the yakuza has a

habit of taking the flowers for his own lapel. In

this instance, as his appreciation for life has

grown, he stops to gaze for a moment at the flower,

a moment that his old boss again disrupts.

Later on the same page, Cowie compares Shimura and

Mifune's characters in The Quiet Duel. He says

Shimura, the father, tries to save his son from

death by syphilis. Actually, the father can only

provide emotional support after he finds out, but

he does nothing else. Kyoji,the son, does not seem

to "...regard the world as harsh and unforgiving."

He continues to help his patients with devotion

and care (witness the baseball glove). He is angry

about his fate, but his ability to see outside himself

allows him to save his beloved fiancee from the

waiting game he must play. Much later in the book,

during a discussion of The Hidden Fortress, Cowie states

Tahei and Makakashi "..are freed by General Rokurota Makabe."

They are not rescued, they escape on their own.

These things are small alone, together they are a bit

troubling.