Akira Kurosawa: A Celebration

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Akira Kurosawa

In recognition of one of the most influential and ingenious filmmakers, SIFFRAFF reflects on their first encounters with Akira Kurosawa’s filmography.

Akira Kurosawa: A Retrospective, a showcase of 2K and 4K restorations courtesy of Janus Films, is now playing at SIFF Cinema Downtown through August 15.

Ran

"Ran continues to be one of the most visually stunning films I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing."

Growing up watching Star Wars I had always been told that I needed to watch Kurosawa. Having preferred the cinema experience to my laptop or TV, and those same people insisting that I wait until I could watch them in the cinema, I bided my time in anticipation. Not too long after I moved to Seattle I was presented with the opportunity to see Ran on the big screen. My friend and I got tickets and headed to Uptown and I had my first film experience at SIFF.

Ran continues to be one of the most visually stunning films I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. The popping colors set against sweeping vistas, Mount Aso and Fuji looming like gods in the clouds. The construction and destruction of a full sized castle as well as two historical ones further the scale emblematic of Kurosawa's grasp on cinematic art. Arrows flying, gunshots whizzing, fires blazing amongst the cacophony of hundreds of men and horses simulating the chaos of another age. This flows so well with the emotions intent in the story and the descent into madness of a dying king. The use of movement through characters, environment and camera in all of his films remain one of the reasons that he is considered a master. Kurosawa's fascination with history and legend continue to return me to his work. Aesthetics from Noh theatre further the film's tension, beauty, and boldness. I am very happy we will be able to play this again at the SIFF Downtown and hope that y'all will come out to experience it!

- Antonio Ochoa, Cinema Assistant Manager

Seven Samurai

"I have a fond memory of my father and I driving from the NW suburbs into Chicago on a wintery afternoon to catch a 35mm screening of Seven Samurai at the Gene Siskel Film Center, which in hindsight was likely my first art house theater experience."

All the way back in middle school, my journey as a burgeoning cinephile developed in a predictable trajectory largely through the gateway drug of the wildly popular mid-century art house titans: Bergman/Kurosawa/Fellini (Godard's radicalism was too advanced for me at that age). Kurosawa in particular struck a chord on impressionable Ryan: the films were epically entertaining, contained geometrically satisfying compositions that taught me the fundamental concepts of blocking, and Leone's transparently clear plagiarism of Yojimbo led to a lifelong interest in the way the formalism of international cinema finds itself absorbed into other industries.

I have a fond memory of my father and I driving from the NW suburbs into Chicago on a wintery afternoon to catch a 35mm screening of Seven Samurai at the Gene Siskel Film Center, which in hindsight was likely my first art house theater experience. Parking was a nightmare and we arrived 15 minutes late, and I cringe at my memory of quoting Annie Hall in the lobby as evidence to why we should come back the following day to watch the film from the beginning. Regardless, the 192 out of 207 minutes I saw were unforgettable.

Along with a handful of other filmmakers who have large bodies of work, I have intentionally avoided completionist impulses with Akira Kurosawa; I find great comfort knowing there are always a handful more for me to discover when I return to his singular worlds every couple of years. A few years ago I encountered Rhapsody in August for the first time, a late career masterpiece starring Richard Gere as an American reckoning with the impact of the atomic bomb. Rewatching Kurosawa is also a deeply rewarding experience, and to this day I marvel at how effortless the master made it look.

- Ryan Saunders, NFFTY Managing Director

Ran

"All of it is seared in my memory, and started me on the arthouse path..."

When I was in high school, my family would go "Into The City" (we lived in the *far* west suburbs of Chicago) once a year to see an arthouse film. Whatever was playing at the Fine Arts was what we saw. There are a lot of films I have forgotten, but not the time that we saw Ran. My youngest brother and I sat with our eyes glued to the screen while the rest of the family dozed. The colors! The pure ambition! The really terrible decisions! All of it is seared in my memory, and started me on the arthouse path...

- Beth Barrett, Artistic Director

Yojimbo

"It was Kurosawa’s Yojimbo that struck my synapses."

While I did grow up with a smorgasbord of cinema due to a movie mad dad, Akira Kurosawa was a filmmaker I was introduced to in university. It was in a world cinema course led by a professor who showed us The Marriage of Maria Braun (my first Fassbinder!), Un chien andalou and Los olvidados (my first Buñuels!), but it was Kurosawa’s Yojimbo that struck my synapses. And to be honest, it’s primarily Toshiro Mifune’s performance that soldered my love for the film. I had seen what Yojimbo influenced, from Spaghetti Westerns to Star Wars, but nobody embodies the role of “the man with no name” like Mifune. He effortlessly plays an off-putting character with an unkempt appearance and a habit of scratching himself like a stray dog with fleas, yet manages to charm you with his wit and tricksy ways. He ultimately wants to do good, as long as doing good benefits himself, and then he’ll saunter out of town as if he didn’t just spend days getting to know and helping folk rid their village of two rival gangs.

Kurosawa ends Yojimbo leaving you wanting more, which, I dunno about you, is what I want out of art. You can argue with me and say he gives more with Sanjuro—yeah, yeah, sure, sure. However, I’m talking about Yojimbo here and, the moment Mifune’s rōnin decides his work is done, so does the runtime of the film. Perfection.

- Shelby Smout, Social Media Manager

Date: July 29, 2025
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Tags: Cinema