Influencing Kurosawa - Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film



IB Film: Year Two, W 45.2The Chambara and Jidai-gekiDo you want to see a list of the Top 10 Samurai films? ?Check out this video that looks at the most memorable feature-length films that center around the lives of samurai and/or ronin. KurosawaLike any other filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa's strength as a director grew out of his own experience of film and the arts.As noted in the section on?Rashomon, major influences on its style included silent films and modern art.Throne of Blood?(1957),?Dreams?(1990), and many other Kurosawa films were influenced by the theatre, both Japanese traditional theatre like noh drama and Kabuki, as well as Western drama and Shakespeare.One of the many noted influences on Kurosawa were the Western films of director John Ford.Like many of Ford's Westerns, Kurosawa's samurai films are often set at the end of the era, when the time of the samurai is drawing to a close.Another similarity between the directors is their preference for a particular group of technicians and actors.In Japan, this was called the Kurosawa-gumi, or Kurosawa team. A particularly important part of the team was the leading man—in Kurosawa's case, Toshiro Mifune and in Ford's case John Wayne.Kurosawa made 16 films with Mifune as his lead, while Ford and John Wayne made 12 movies together.Period DramaNeither Ford nor Kurosawa were limited to one genre, but both became associated with frequent forays into genre material.For Kurosawa, both at the beginning and the ending of his career, the 'period drama',?or jidai-geki, was frequently the genre of choice.Like the classic Western, jidai-geki are set in a traditional historical period in Japan—the Edo period from 1603 to 1868 (when Edo, the modern city of Tokyo, was the capital, and Japan was run by shoguns of the Tokugawa family).Like Ford's Westerns, Kurosawa's work in the genre transcends the cliches of the genre, and uses the genre to explore complex human issues.In his early work, Kurosawa's films feature heroes who often come from the ranks of everyday people, individuals who have to rise above their ordinary lives to deal with extraordinary events.In his later films, his vision is much darker, and history seems to be portrayed as an unending cycle of violence from which his characters cannot escape no matter how hard they try.ChambaraWhile the jidai-geki deals with not only the lives of samurai, but also with the lives of farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and other significant roles of the era, there is a sub-genre of films called chambara.Chambara literally means sword-fighting?movies.Although many of Kurosawa's movies (particularly films like?Throne of Blood,?Ran, and?Kagemusha) are jidai-geki but not chambara, many of Kurosawa's early films help set the pattern for the chambara film—movies like?Yojimbo,?Sanjuro,?The Hidden Fortress, and of course, the?Seven Samurai.Kurosawa's knack for stylizing violence and action is a major influence on the entire genre.The death of evil samurai at the end of?Sanjuro?was the first of many elaborate and gory death scenes in the genre. Kurosawa's focus on individual, solitary samurai who concealed, and did not brag of their abilities, was also an influence on the genre.Actually, like the lone gunfighter in the American Western—sometimes associated with the losing armies of the South in the American Civil War—the characters in chambara are frequently ronin?or masterless samurai,?warriors eking out an existence after battles had seen their master killed and their armies scattered.Chambara films were made frequently from the 1950s until the 1970s. By then, the fact many of the traditional stars were getting older and also, the fact the genre had been overexposed on television, meant the genre declined. Again, the decline of the chambara shows remarkable similarities with the decline of the Western, which also declined in the 1970s after dominating television screens for two decades.While Kurosawa definitely influenced these genres, even his early films such as?Rashomon?(and probably all of his later films), are focused much more on universal human problems and philosophical issues than is common in the genre.Also, while the chambara film has many points of similarity with the Western, it should be noted many American films examine the difference a lone individual can make, while many Japanese films focus on the importance of the individual's contribution to society. Though there are many parallels, there are many cultural differences as well. It is both these similarities and differences that account for our fascination with the two genres.Further ViewingThere are many characters and series in the jidai-geki and chambara genres that have been a major influence on Western filmmakers.?Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo: Zatoichi is a blind swordsman. Possibly the most famous chambara character in Japan, he is the subject of 26 films.?Pretending to simply be a masseur, he is, in fact, a deadly swordsman who fights using only his hearing.?An unofficial sequel to Kurosawa's film featured this character along with Toshiro Mifune.?Lone Wolf and Cub?is based on a famous manga series, and is one of the many films that is an influence on Quentin Tarantino's?Kill Bill.It features the adventures of a "baby-cart assassin," the royal executioner who becomes the target of the Shogun.?He is forced to escape, becoming a ronin, and bringing his infant son along with him.?Probably the only action hero ever to be constantly depicted pushing a baby-cart (although a deadly one armed with spears and swords), the story was the basis for a series of films as well as a television show.?Miyamoto Musashi was a famous historical warrior and swordsman.?Many films and television shows have been based on his life, including a six-movie series. ................
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