Akira Kurosawa

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Madadayo
7.3

Madadayo

Apr. 17, 1993

Madadayo

In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, ...
Rhapsody in August
7.2

Rhapsody in August

May. 25, 1991

Rhapsody in August

An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and ...
Dreams
7.7

Dreams

May. 11, 1990

Dreams

Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s ...
Ran
8.2

Ran

Jun. 01, 1985

Ran

Shakespeare’s King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his ...
Kagemusha
7.9

Kagemusha

Apr. 26, 1980

Kagemusha

Akira Kurosawa’s lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order ...
Dersu Uzala
8.2

Dersu Uzala

Aug. 02, 1975

Dersu Uzala

A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one ...
Dodes’ka-den
7.3

Dodes’ka-den

Oct. 31, 1970

Dodes’ka-den

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father ...
Red Beard
8.3

Red Beard

Mar. 04, 1965

Red Beard

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes ...
High and Low
8.4

High and Low

Mar. 01, 1963

High and Low

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Sanjuro
8

Sanjuro

Jan. 01, 1962

Sanjuro

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed “Sanjuro.” In ...
Yojimbo
8.2

Yojimbo

Apr. 25, 1961

Yojimbo

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the ...
The Bad Sleep Well
7.9

The Bad Sleep Well

Sep. 19, 1960

The Bad Sleep Well

In this loose adaptation of “Hamlet,” illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and ...
The Hidden Fortress
8

The Hidden Fortress

Dec. 28, 1958

The Hidden Fortress

Sergeant Thomas Jefferson Hooker is a tough-as-nails veteran police officer with the LCPD who turns his back on a gold badge and goes back to ...
Throne of Blood
8

Throne of Blood

Jan. 15, 1957

Throne of Blood

Returning to their lord’s castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part ...
I Live in Fear
7.3

I Live in Fear

Nov. 22, 1955

I Live in Fear

An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him ...
Seven Samurai
8.6

Seven Samurai

Apr. 26, 1954

Seven Samurai

A samurai answers a village’s request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai ...
Ikiru
8.3

Ikiru

Oct. 09, 1952

Ikiru

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to ...
The Idiot
7.1

The Idiot

May. 23, 1951

The Idiot

A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the ...
Scandal
7.2

Scandal

Apr. 26, 1950

Scandal

A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Rashomon
8.1

Rashomon

Aug. 26, 1950

Rashomon

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife.
The Quiet Duel
7.3

The Quiet Duel

Mar. 19, 1949

The Quiet Duel

A young army surgeon, Kyoji Fujisaki, accidentally contracts syphilis during a WWII field operation. Back at his father’s clinic, he treats ...
Stray Dog
7.8

Stray Dog

Oct. 17, 1949

Stray Dog

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes ...
Drunken Angel
7.6

Drunken Angel

Apr. 27, 1948

Drunken Angel

In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when ...
No Regrets for Our Youth
7.1

No Regrets for Our Youth

After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own ...
Sanshiro Sugata
6.7

Sanshiro Sugata

Mar. 25, 1943

Sanshiro Sugata

A hotheaded youth in 1880s Meiji Japan apprentices to judo master Shōgorō Yano, trading brute jujutsu bravado for discipline and humility. As ...
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
6

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two

A few years after his breakthrough, Sanshiro resumes his path to judo mastery—testing his discipline against an American prizefighter and later ...