"To be an artist means to search, to find and look at these realities. To be an artist means to never look away." ~ Akira Kurosawa
Born on this day in the Omori district of Tokyo, Japan's most renown director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1988) studied painting and was an accomplished screenwriter before following his passion to direct.
"It is directing that makes my tree blossom and bear fruit," the great film master once said.
Kurosawa directed his first film, Sanshiro Sugata (Judo Saga) in 1943. Rashomon (1951), his fascinating masterpiece about four conflicting accounts of a crime, introduced the magic of Kurosawa to the world.
A skilled craftsman with an eye for beauty and rich detail, he said of his creative expression, "The root of any film project for me is this inner need to say something."
The Japanese director admitted that love of American westerns and admiration for director John Ford inspired his classic adventure The Seven Samurai (1954). Kurasawa's remarkable film was remade by John Sturges into the popular The Magnificent Seven (w/Steve McQueen, 1960).
"In a mad world only the mad are sane," said the man who described a good film to be “like steak spread with butter and topped with good, rich, broiled eels.” The artist created intricate storyboards for all his films and scripts were based on his own ideas.
About the legacy of Kurosawa's 31 films, director Martin Scorsese said: "His influence on filmmakers throughout the entire world is so profound as to be almost incomparable."
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