I've watched a little Kurosawa in the past, but my covid project (well, one of them) is to watch as many Kurosawa films as I can. Anyone have a good idea of which film I should start with? Should I watch in chronological order, or reverse chron, or some other? Thanks for your kind advice.
shareI recently watched Hidden Fortress and Throne of Blood. The latter was pretty good, the former not so much. Other than those two, I'm not very knowledgeable about him.
shareI decided to start with Rashomon. Thanks for the note, I hadn't heard of either of those yet.
shareRashomon is a good one - it's relatively short for a start.
I'd then suggest High and Low, my personal favourite. Or Seven Samurai, or Ikiru, or Red Beard or Throne of Blood, all of which are brilliant. Or the underrated Dodes'ka-den or Dersul Uzala... you have a lot to look forward to!
I watched the trailer for High and Low last night, and it's on the menu for later today.
shareI have no idea in which order to watch his movies.
However I know this and maybe it will help you out, if you have access to TCM, they have many films to choose from on demand.
1948 Drunken Angel
1949 Stray Dog
1959 The Hidden Fortress
1962 Sanjuro
1965 Red Beard
1963 High and Low
1956 Seven Samurai
1950 Rashomon
1961 Yojimbo
1957 Throne of Blood
They did a marathon just a few days ago with all of those movies and they are still available through the on demand service.
Enjoy your day.
I'm mainly watching through Criterion. It should have most if not all of those, but thanks.
shareThat's a good starting point. I would also include the following:
Ikiru (1952)
The Lower Depths (1955)
Dersu Uzala (1975)
Kagemusha (1980)
Ran (1985)
These along with the ten you listed above are, I believe, his key works. 15 classics out of 30 isn't too bad. There are a few half-decent ones that fall short of being classics as well:
Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
Scandal (1950)
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Dreams (1990)
Ones to be avoided (or at least put off for later), in my opinion:
The Most Beautiful (1942)
Sanshiro Sugata II (1945)
Men Who Tread on Tiger's Tails (1945)
One Wonderful Sunday (1946)
The Quiet Duel (1949)
The Idiot (1951)
I Live In Fear (1955)
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Rhapsody in August (1991)
Madadayo (1992)
Watch 'em all in whatever order you find 'em. You can't go wrong.
share