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Akira Kurosawa
This is a man who brought Asian cinema to the world with the release of Rashomon, and was named 'Asian of the Century' by AsianWeek magazine. Discover his astonishing range of works, from early classics to avowed masterpieces such as Seven Samurai.
The legendary Japanese director’s influence on cinema history is immense, from establishing the samurai film to inspiring the spaghetti western.
The Bad Sleep Well The Bad Sleep Well
Crime 1960 151 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.
Dodes'Ka-Den Dodes'Ka-Den
Drama 1970 140 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s first colour film is an eccentric and joyous account of a group of disparate people living in a city dump.
Drunken Angel Drunken Angel
Film noir 1948 98 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.
The Hidden Fortress The Hidden Fortress
Martial arts 1958 139 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai movie - a story of rival clans, hidden gold and a princess in distress - was famously a key inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars.
High and Low High and Low
Crime 1963 143 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice.
Throne of Blood Throne of Blood
Drama 1957 110 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
A master of period-drama, Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai) recasts Macbeth as a Japanese warlord in one of the greatest Shakespearean adaptations
Yojimbo Yojimbo
Crime 1961 111 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s classic about a drifting samurai who plays two gangs off against each other, famously remade as A Fistful of Dollars.
The Lower Depths The Lower Depths
Drama 1957 125 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s novel, in which inhabitants of a slum revel in illusions to avoid bitter reality.
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Martial arts 1952 59 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Adapted from Noh and Kabuki theatre, Kurosawa’s classic tale of deception sees a lord and his bodyguard disguise themselves as monks to bypass an enemy roadblock.
The Most Beautiful The Most Beautiful
War 1944 85 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s artful propaganda film provides a fascinating portrait of female volunteer workers in an optics factory during wartime.
No Regrets for Our Youth No Regrets for Our Youth
Drama 1946 111 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa's first post-war film stars Setsuko Hara as the privileged daughter of a professor who takes up arms against the Japanese military.
One Wonderful Sunday One Wonderful Sunday
Drama 1947 109 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s bitter-sweet story of young love set in the devastation of post-war Tokyo.
Ran Ran
Drama 1985 154 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.
Red Beard Red Beard
Drama 1965 180 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s episodic, poignant story of a 19th-century doctor (Toshiro Mifune) working in a clinic for the poor and his tumultuous friendship with a young intern.
Sanjuro Sanjuro
Crime 1962 96 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
In Akira Kurosawa's comedy, a ronin runs rings around nine young samurai while cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.
Sanshiro Sugata Sanshiro Sugata
Crime 1943 79 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.
Sanshiro Sugata part two Sanshiro Sugata part two
Crime 1945 79 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
This sequel reunites most of the principal cast from the original and follows Sanshiro face a new set of enemies whilst continuing his quest to become a judo master.
Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
Stray Dog Stray Dog
Crime 1949 122 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.
I Live in Fear I Live in Fear
Drama 1955 103 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Toshiro Mifune delivers an outstanding performance as a paranoid man striving to move his family to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent.
Ikiru Ikiru
Drama 1952 143 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
A bureaucrat’s life finds new meaning in Kurosawa’s classic original, the source for Bill Nighy’s brilliant drama, Living.