The Films of Akira Kurosawa (Pre-Owned)

by Donald Richie

The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Richie is the gold standard reference on Kurosawa's work — a film-by-film examination of one of cinema's most towering careers, written by the foremost Western authority on Japanese film.

Kurosawa remains unchallenged as one of the century's greatest directors. Through his long and distinguished career he managed, like very few others in the teeth of a huge and relentless industry, to elevate each of his films to a distinctive level of art. His Rashomon was a revelation when it appeared in 1950 and did much to bring Japanese cinema to the world's attention — and his films display an extraordinary breadth and strength, from the philosophic complexity of Rashomon to the moral dedication of Ikiru, from the naked violence of Seven Samurai to the savage comedy of Yojimbo. 

This third edition is expanded and updated, with a new epilogue in which Richie reflects on Kurosawa's complete body of thirty feature films and describes his last, unfinished project — a film set in the Edo period to be called The Ocean Was Watching.

Richie was a film curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art and wrote more than 50 books on Japan, making him uniquely placed to contextualise Kurosawa's genius for a Western audience. An essential book for cinephiles, filmmakers, and anyone drawn to Japanese culture and cinema.