"The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits. His films had an awe-inspiring power, physical and graphic. His indelible compositions seemed to have been burned into the screen. He defined a sense of possibility in movies." -- Martin Scorsese

To celebrate the centennial of one of the most influential filmmakers in world cinema, AFI presents a two-part, career-spanning retrospective of the films of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998). The writer and director of some 30 feature films, all distinguished by an uncommon blend of artistry, invention and --significantly--entertainment value, Kurosawa enjoyed a nearly 50-year career in movies that remains unsurpassed in its sustained quality and achievement, perhaps the greatest "win streak" a filmmaker ever had.

Special thanks to Janus Films and the Japan Foundation for making this series possible.

AFI Member passes will be accepted at all films in the Kurosawa series.

RAN
25th Anniversary!

This universally acclaimed adaptation of King Lear (Kurosawa's favorite of his own films) is the epic tragedy of an aging warlord (the great Tatsuya Nakadai) who decides to cede control of his kingdom to his three sons, but whose failure to truly let go of power and privilege results in his complete undoing. Banishing the youngest for remarking that treachery was behind his father's rise to power, the king finds himself unceremoniously turned out by his other two sons as their rivalry rises to all-out war.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide, based on King Lear by William Shakespeare; PROD Masato Hara, Serge Silberman. Japan/France, 1985, color, 162 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. RATED R

Friday, July 2, 3:30; Saturday, July 3, 4:30; Sunday, July 4, 5:00; Monday, July 5, 8:35

STRAY DOG

While a rubble-strewn Tokyo swelters through a torrid heat wave, awkward young detective Toshiro Mifune searches obsessively for his own stolen pistol--an eventual murder weapon--and its thief. But as the chase progresses toward a final, riveting confrontation, the curiously engaging cop and the unseen killer begin, disturbingly, to seem more and more alike. A confessed admirer of Belgian detective fiction author Georges Simenon, Kurosawa adapted his own unpublished novel for this, his first detective film (the second is HIGH AND LOW) and the real beginning of the genre in Japan.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Ryûzô Kikushima; PROD Sôjirô Motoki. Japan, 1949, b&w, 122 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, July 3, 12:30, 7:30; Sunday, July 4, 12:30; Monday, July 5, 2:40; Tuesday, July 6, 7:00

THE HIDDEN FORTRESS

Kurosawa's fastest and funniest of his many samurai pictures combines terrific action with broad comedy captured in breathtaking wide-screen cinematography, the director's first foray into the format that would become his signature visual style. Two luckless peasants are bullied into serving gruff wandering samurai Toshiro Mifune, who promises payment in gold. As the adventures and perils mount, the two discover that they are actually on a secret mission to transport a young warrior princess through enemy territory and restore her to her throne. George Lucas based STAR WARS' C-3PO and R2-D2 on the two bickering, reluctant heroes.

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryûzô Kikushima, Hideo Oguni; PROD Sanezumi Fujimoto. Japan, 1958, b&w, 139 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Friday, July 9, 4:00; Saturday, July 10, 3:30; Sunday, July 11, 3:30; Tuesday, July 13, 9:00; Thursday, July 15, 7:00

DERSU UZALA
35th Anniversary!

"An awesome portrait of man and nature. The epic simplicity of this film is something that only the subtlest genius could achieve. Must not be missed by anyone who wants to see what film can do that not even Homer and Shakespeare could do." -- Newsweek

Based on the journals of Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev, the film opens with the aged man searching for a gravesite in the wilderness. In flashback, an amazing tale of adventure is recounted, as the young Arsenyev sets out with his soldiers to survey uncharted territory with the aid of a Mongolian tribesman, first viewed by the men as a backwoods eccentric but ultimately recognized as a man of enormous wisdom and resourcefulness. "It may surprise those expecting a display of Kurosawa bravura. In fact, the film might be described as an intimate epic--a hymn to nature and friendship, and Kurosawa's most obviously Fordian film for many years." -- John Gillett. Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, 1976.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Yuri Nagibin, based on the book Dersu, okhotnik by Vladimir Arsenyev; PROD Yôichi Matsue, Nikolai Sizov. Soviet Union/Japan, 1975, color, 144 min. In Russian with English subtitles. RATED G

Saturday, July 10, 12:30; Sunday, July 11, 12:30; Tuesday, July 13, 6:15

THE BAD SLEEP WELL
50th Anniversary!

Kurosawa's excoriating take on the ruthless world of big business in Japan combines elements of Hamlet and American film noir to tell a hardboiled tale of duplicity and revenge. Young exec Toshiro Mifune appears to be making good by marrying the boss Masayuki Mori's daughter, but that's only the prelude to a complex scheme to exact revenge for Mori's role in Mifune's father's suicide. Mifune's next steps include faked deaths, kidnappings and much corporate cloak-and-dagger. The film has been referenced frequently over the years as several real-life corporate scandals in Japan demonstrated eerie parallels to Kurosawa's seemingly over-the-top plot!

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Hideo Oguni, Eijirô Hisaita, Ryûzô Kikushima, Shinobu Hashimoto; PROD Tomoyuki Tanaka. Japan, 1960, b&w, 135 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, July 17, 12:45; Sunday, July 18, 12:45; Monday, July 19, 6:30

HIGH AND LOW

Kurosawa's adaptation of American crime master Evan Hunter's novel King's Ransom makes for a thriller of the highest order: intellectually rich, pulse-pounding entertainment. Wealthy businessman Toshiro Mifune receives a ransom letter for his son, only to discover the kidnappers mistakenly grabbed the son of his chauffeur. Along with chief detective Tatsuya Nakadai, Mifune becomes personally involved in the case, journeying from his castle-in-the-sky penthouse to the lower depths of Tokyo's squalid slums. AFI Life Achievement Award winner Mike Nichols' name is attached to a long-rumored American remake.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Hideo Oguni, Ryûzô Kikushima, Eijirô Hisaita, based on King's Ransom by Evan Hunter; PROD Ryûzô Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka. Japan, 1963, color and b&w, 142 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, July 17, 3:30; Sunday, July 18, 3:30; Tuesday, July 20, 6:30

YOJIMBO

Tough guy Toshiro Mifune, an out-of-work, down-on-his-luck samurai, wanders into a lawless town beset by gang warfare and quickly finds his services much in demand by both factions. His response is to cynically play both sides against the other--strange for a samurai, but befitting Kurosawa's reputed source material, Dashiell Hammett's hardboiled pulp novel Red Harvest. An unprecedented mix of cartoon violence and sardonic humor, this film's influence is hard to overstate, from the remake A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and the entire spaghetti western genre of the 1960s to the Tarantino-style postmodernist pastiches of today.

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Ryûzô Kikushima. Japan, 1961, b&w, 110 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Friday, July 23, 7:00, Saturday, July 24, 3:30, 8:00; Sunday July 25, 7:00; Tuesday, July 27, 7:00

SANJURO

"You tired of being stupid yet?" After the enormous popularity of YOJIMBO, Kurosawa followed with this sequel, pushing even further into all-out comedy. Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as the in-it-for-himself swordsman, this time happening upon a town torn between two rival politicians. When a youthful squad of untested samurai seeks to throw its support behind the seemingly more magnanimous of the two leaders, the wised-up Mifune investigates, lending the youths his expertise with the blade and equally sharp-tongued advice.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Ryûzô Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, based on the novel Peaceful Days by Shûgorô Yamamoto; PROD Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ryûzô Kikushima. Japan, 1962, b&w, 96 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. RATED PG-13

Friday, July 23, 9:20; Sunday, July 25, 2:45; Tuesday, July 27, 9:20

RED BEARD
45th Anniversary!

This tale of a callow young doctor's education has become a fan favorite, as it revisits the social issues of Kurosawa's earlier films from the vantage point and benefit of a life and directorial career enriched by some 20 years. Early 19th-century Japan: recent medical school grad Yuzo Kagawa is unhappy to be sent to a provincial public clinic for his practical training instead of getting a cushy personal physician gig. When he meets hardcase head doctor Toshiro Mifune, whose personal code of honor borders on the samurai's bushido, he thinks his luck has turned even worse, but what follows turns out to be the best medical--and moral--education a young doctor could receive.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, Ryûzô Kikushima, based on the novel Akahige shinryô tan by Shûgorô Yamamoto; PROD Ryûzô Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka. Japan, 1965, b&w, 185 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Friday, July 30, 6:30; Saturday, July 31, 3:30; Sunday, August 1, 3:30

THE QUIET DUEL

Kurosawa's rarely seen early medical melodrama makes for a fascinating comparison to his later, more celebrated portrait of a driven doctor, RED BEARD. Doctor Toshiro Mifune keeps a shameful secret from his friends and loved ones: during World War II he accidentally contracted syphilis while operating on a diseased soldier. Mifune's stoic reserve is tested by both his tough-minded chief nurse, Noriko Sengoku, and the emotional appeal of his estranged fiancée, Miki Sanjo. Kurosawa coaxes a poetic meditation on morality from complex and tragic elements.

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosowa; SCR Senkichi Taniguchi, based on the play by Kazuo Kikuta; PROD Hisao Ichikawa, Sojiro Motoki. Japan, 1949, b&w, 95 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Sunday, August 1, 1:15, 7:00; Monday, August 2, 7:00

DODES'KA-DEN
40th Anniversary!

Unique in the Kurosawa canon: His first color film is thoroughly diffuse, episodic and challengingly bizarre in its patient exploration of the daily life of an ad hoc community of down-and-outers living in a trash-dump shantytown. "Dodes'ka-den" is the trolley noise made by a young boy who functions as the slum's de facto community organizer. When it failed with audiences, Kurosawa, so prolific in the years prior, attempted suicide and did not work again for five years, until DERSU UZALA--its emphasis on human connection perhaps even more poignant in light of the public's painful rejection of DODES'KA-DEN.

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, based on the novel Kisetsu no nai machi by Shûgorô Yamamoto; PROD Yôichi Matsue. Japan, 1970, color, 140 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, August 7, 3:10; Sunday, August 8, 2:45

THE LOWER DEPTHS

Kurosawa transposes Maxim Gorky's 1902 play to late 19th-century Japan, but, as with his film adaptation of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, is otherwise meticulously faithful (he even uses dissolves where the acts break). Poverty of circumstances becomes poverty of the spirit as the various denizens of a slum flophouse bicker over money, drink and gamble. Kurosawa finds many moments of black comedy and gimlet-eyed philosophy amid the miserable milieu, but events come to a head when thief Toshiro Mifune, the fulcrum between two overlapping love triangles, is talked into murdering his landlady lover's jealous husband.

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Hideo Oguni, based on the play by Maxim Gorky. Japan, 1957, b&w, 125 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, August 14, 3:00; Sunday, August 15, 3:00; Monday, August 16, 6:30; Tuesday, August 17, 6:30

KAGEMUSHA
30th Anniversary!
New 35mm Print!

During Japan's warring states period (1467-1615), sentenced-to-be-crucified thief Tatsuya Nakadai is called down off the cross because he is a dead ringer for the local warlord. What begins as a gesture of superstitious honor turns to political subterfuge when the real warlord is slain and Nakadai is pressed into duty as a stand-in to save face and preserve order. But the enterprising Nakadai soon pushes his luck in his new role. Kurosawa's spectacular medieval epic might never have been made without the financial support of ardent fans Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, who engineered a crucial international co-production arrangement and vote of confidence.

DIR/SCR/PROD Akira Kurosawa; SCR Masato Ide. Japan, 1980, color, 162 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. RATED PG

Saturday, August 21, 3:30; Sunday, August 22, 3:30; Thursday, August 26, 6:30

MADADAYO

Forced into a small hut with his wife after his first cottage is destroyed by an Allied firebomb during the war, retired German professor Tatsuo Matsumura gathers his students for the first of what will become many gatherings to celebrate his birthday. Each year, in response to his students' beer-chugging toast, "Mou ii kai?" (loosely, "Are you ready?"), he answers, "Madadayo!" ("Not yet!" from a version of the kids' game hide and seek). Kurosawa wrings exquisite pathos from the indomitable professor's will to carry on, even as the director was facing his own mortality (he died soon after completing the film).

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa, based on the essays of Hyakken Uchida; PROD Gohei Kogure, Hisao Kurosawa, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Hiroshi Yamamoto. Japan, 1993, color, 134 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Monday, August 23, 6:30; Tuesday, August 24, 6:30

DREAMS
20th Anniversary!

Rather than rest on his laurels after the international sensation that was RAN, the 80-year-old Kurosawa followed up with a quixotic postmodern portmanteau film: eight discrete, dreamlike vignettes, loosely constructed as the stages of life of the first sequence's boy protagonist, scolded by his mother for spying on the magical fairy-foxes in the woods. What follows is a mélange of parables, ranging from specific Japanese history and mythology to a fanciful exploration of Vincent van Gogh's paintings, with graphic effects courtesy of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic and the Dutch painter memorably portrayed by Martin Scorsese!

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; PROD Mike Y. Inoue, Hisao Kurosawa. US/Japan, 1990, color, 119 min. In English, Japanese and French with English subtitles. RATED PG

Saturday, August 28, 3:30; Tuesday, August 31, 7:00

THE MEN WHO TREAD ON THE TIGER'S TAIL
Tix just $5!

This fourth film from Akira Kurosawa is based on a legendary 12th-century incident in which the lord Yoshitsune, with the help of a group of samurai, crosses enemy territory disguised as a monk. The story was dramatized for centuries in Noh and Kabuki theater, and here it becomes one of the director's lightest, most farcical films. (Courtesy of Criterion Collection)

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa, based on the play Kanjincho by Gohei Namiki; PROD Motohiko Ito. Japan, 1945, b&w, 60 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Saturday, September 4, 3:30; Sunday, September 5, 3:30

RHAPSODY IN AUGUST

The legacy of the Nagasaki bombing in 1945 plays out in complex fashion 40-odd years later for the members of an extended family. Matriarch Sachiko Murase hosts a multi-generation family reunion, including Richard Gere, the Japanese-American son of her brother, little heard from since he immigrated to Hawaii. Their delicate interactions give way to surprising revelations about the war and its ramifications. The film includes some of Kurosawa's most surreal imagery, some reality-based (playground equipment warped by the bomb's heat), some hallucinatory (a giant eye in the sky, grandmother fighting powerful winds with her tiny umbrella).

DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa, based on Nabe no naka by Kiyoko Murata; PROD Hisao Kurosawa. Japan, 1991, color, 98 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. RATED PG

Tuesday, September 7, 6:30; Wednesday, September 8, 6:30