| Centennial Celebration: The Films of
Akira Kurosawa, Part I
This
is an Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!
Co-presented with the UCLA Film & Television Archive
The American Cinematheque joins the UCLA Film & Television
Archive for a two-part retrospective celebrating the career of one of cinema’s most
inventive and artful masters, Akira Kurosawa. Enraptured with the works of classic
Hollywood director John Ford, Kurosawa skillfully borrowed elements from American genre
films and wove them into the elegant tapestry of his Japanese works, which range from
contemporary noirs to epic period pieces. Some of his greatest films include RASHOMON, THE
SEVEN SAMURAI and RAN, though these three stunners hardly account for the entirety of his
oeuvre, which spanned decades. Kurosawa's career as a director featured a long-running
professional relationship with actor Toshiro Mifune, whose charismatic, hyperbolic
presence illuminated many of Kurosawa's best films.
Please join us for a retrospective of Kurosawa’s work,
co-presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, which also will include screenings
of DODES’KA-DEN, STRAY DOG, HIGH AND LOW, KAGEMUSHA, HIDDEN FORTRESS, YOJIMBO,
SANJURO and I LIVE IN FEAR.
Please check the UCLA Film & Television Archive website for
the schedule of Centennial Celebration: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Part II taking place
this summer at UCLA (/www.cinema.ucla.edu). The program will include such masterworks as
IKIRU, THRONE OF BLOOD and RED BEARD.
Special Offer on Kurosawa Box Set:
To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Akira
Kurosawa, the Criterion Collection has created the gorgeous collector's
set AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa. And for a limited time, you can
save money on your purchase while supporting the American Cinematheque.
Buy AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa at www.criterion.com,
enter the code AMCINE at the prompt, and you'll not only save 25% off the retail price of
$399.95, you'll be making a $25 contribution to the American Cinematheque.
This deluxe, linen-bound set includes timeless masterpieces from one
of cinema's greatest directors, films like Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and
High and Low. Featuring twenty-five of the films he made over the course of his fifty
years in movies—from samurai epics to postwar noirs to Shakespeare
adaptations—AK 100 is the most complete set of his works ever released in this
country, and includes four rare films that have never been available on DVD.
To take advantage of this
special offer, shop at criterion.com and enter the code AMCINE at checkout. Criterion will
take 25% off the cost of the boxset and send $25 to the American Cinematheque.
Friday, May 14 – 7:30 PM
New 35 mm! RAN,
1985, Rialto Pictures, 160 min. In Akira Kurosawa's epic and existential samurai/Noh
theater rendition of Shakespeare's "King Lear," a once-merciless and
bloodthirsty Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) leaves his kingdom to his three sons. As
Hidetora attempts to enjoy retirement in his twilight years, he is dropped into a
nightmarish hell when filial squabbling and betrayal erupts. In Japanese with English
subtitles. Trailer | Buy Tickets
Saturday, May 15 – 7:30 PM
THE SEVEN SAMURAI (SHICHININ NO
SAMURAI), 1954, Janus Films, 207 min. Director Akira Kurosawa’s character-driven
masterpiece about an aging swordsman (Takashi Shimura) who enlists six other
warriors-for-hire (among them Toshiro Mifune) to safeguard a remote village plagued by
bandits. In Japanese with English subtitles.Trailer | Buy Tickets
Sunday, May 16 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: STRAY
DOG (NORA INU), 1949, Janus Films, 122 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. When young police
detective Toshiro Mifune’s gun is lifted from him on a bus, his frenzied efforts to
find the responsible homicidal fugitive leaves the viewer breathless. In Japanese with
English subtitles.
HIGH AND LOW (TENGOKU TO JIGOKU), 1963,
Janus Films, 142 min. Kurosawa examines social class barriers and the harsh realities of
unprincipled capitalism when a shoe magnate (Toshiro Mifune) is challenged with a
life-changing decision. Will he or won’t he pay the ransom when a psycho accidentally
kidnaps the son of Mifune’s chauffeur instead of Mifune’s own child? In Japanese
with English subtitles. Trailer
| Buy Tickets
Wednesday, May 19 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: DODES’KA-DEN, 1970, Janus Films, 140 min.
Kurosawa’s fascination with slum-life (as seen in THE LOWER DEPTHS) reemerges here in
a swirling episodic portrait of various individuals, many of them children, living in
destitution in a garbage dump in Tokyo. In Japanese with English subtitles.
I LIVE IN FEAR (IKIMONO NO KIROKU),
1955, Janus Films, 103 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. An aging foundry owner becomes so
obsessed with the fear of nuclear extermination and the wish to flee to South America that
his family has him deemed legally incompetent. In Japanese with English subtitles. Buy Tickets
Thursday, May 20 – 7:30 PM
KAGEMUSHA, 1980, 20th Century Fox, 179
min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. When Lord Shingen Takeda is killed by an enemy sharp-shooter, a
condemned thief who looks uncannily like Takeda must take the ruler’s place. In
Japanese with English subtitles. Trailer
| Buy Tickets
Friday, May 21 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: RASHOMON,
1950, Janus Films, 88 min. A tragic event involving a husband, wife and local bandit
(Toshiro Mifune) is recounted by participants and witnesses who yield conflicting,
untrustworthy accounts. In Japanese with English subtitles. Trailer
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (KAKUSHI-TORIDE NO
SAN-AKUNIN), 1958, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. The basis for George
Lucas’ STAR WARS follows a samurai (Toshiro Mifune) as he transports a
high-maintenance princess through war-torn lands, accompanied by a pair of bickering
peasants. In Japanese with English subtitles. Buy Tickets
Thursday, May 20 – 7:30 PM
KAGEMUSHA, 1980, 20th Century Fox, 179
min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. When Lord Shingen Takeda is killed by an enemy sharp-shooter, a
condemned thief who looks uncannily like Takeda must take the ruler’s place. In
Japanese with English subtitles. Trailer
| Buy Tickets
Friday, May 21 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: RASHOMON, 1950, Janus Films, 88 min. A tragic event involving a
husband, wife and local bandit (Toshiro Mifune) is recounted by participants and witnesses
who yield conflicting, untrustworthy accounts. In Japanese with English subtitles.Trailer
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (KAKUSHI-TORIDE
NO SAN-AKUNIN), 1958, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. The basis for George
Lucas’ STAR WARS follows a samurai (Toshiro Mifune) as he transports a
high-maintenance princess through war-torn lands, accompanied by a pair of bickering
peasants. In Japanese with English subtitles. Buy Tickets
Sunday, May 23 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: YOJIMBO, 1961, Janus Films, 110 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa.
Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, a shiftless ronin (a samurai without a master) who wanders
into a starving village beset by a yakuza gang war. Sanjuro plays the battling sects off
against each other and nearly gets himself killed in the process. In Japanese with English
subtitles. Trailer
SANJURO (TSUBAKI SANJURO), 1962, Janus
Films, 96 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) decides to help a young
samurai and his brash cohorts when the samurai’s uncle is framed by a corrupt
superintendent. In Japanese with English subtitles. Trailer | Buy Tickets |
