1. Rashomon
2. Ran
3. Ikiru
4. Seven Samurai
5. The Bad Sleep Well
I have not seen Yojimbo or Throne of Blood, but I have both tivoed and will watch them soon.
Ran
Ikiru
Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress
Maddayo
First place tied between Seven Samurai and Ran.
Then Kagemusha, Rashomon, High and Low, Yojimbo, Sanjuro.
Then Throne of Blood.
Ikiru.
Dodes’ka-den is his best.
Aside from the usual (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai), I would have to say High and Low is my overall favorite.
Ran, Seven Samurai, ikiru
Love the four noirs he made, especially Stray Dogs and High and Low. The latter is a masterpiece, imo, and made when he was at the peak of his directorial power.
Dodes’ka-den is his best.
the one he made right before he tried to commit suicide – almost ruined his career
rashomon..followed closely by ran
1) Ran
2) Throne of Blood
3) Seven Samurai
4) Rashomon
5) Ikiru
Those Suntory whiskey adverts with him chilling at his crib getting liquored up.
Although I haven’t watched all of his movies yet, I would say…
1. Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Kagemusha, Ran, Ikiru, AK’s Dreams,
2. Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, The Lower Depths,
3. Stray Dog, Dersu Uzala, Red Beard, The Most Beautiful, I Live in Fear, Drunken Angel, One Wonderful Sunday, No Regrets for Our Youth, High and Low, The Bad Sleep Well, The Idiot,
4. Scandal, Sanjuro, and Rhapsody in August…
I have not seen many of his films, I would say Ikiru is his best, followed by Ran. Throne of Blood is also worthy of mention, proving Kurosawa was great at adapting Shakespeare.
Top 5 Kurosawa for me:
1. Ran
2. Yojimbo
3. Ikiru
4. High & Low
5. Throne of Blood
100% impossible for me to hold up any one film of his I’ve seen over the others. I love each and every one of them.
100% impossible for me to hold up any one film of his I’ve seen over the others. I love each and every one of them.
haven’t seen many, but i can say that The Bad Sleep Well is the one that really made me love Kurosawa.
haven’t seen many, but i can say that The Bad Sleep Well is the one that really made me love Kurosawa.
Great Kurosawa:
Dersu Uzala
Seven Samurai
High and Low
The Lower Depths
Ikiru
Really good Kurosawa:
Yojimbo
The Bad Sleep Well
Throne of Blood
Good Kurosawa:
I Live in Fear
Sanjuro
Stray Dog
The Hidden Fortress
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail
Ran
Mediocre Kurosawa:
Rashomon
Red Beard
No Regrets for Our Youth
One Wonderful Sunday
Drunken Angel
Scandal
Bad Kurosawa:
Kagemusha
Dreams
The Idiot
Why was Kagemusha bad ? :/ I would list it under “good kurosawa”
and what keeps Ran from being “really good” ? just wondering
Kurosawa has a problem with loading his films with unnecessary commentary. It killed Rashomon, One Wonderful Sunday (the first hour of that film is the best thing Kurosawa filmed until he made Ikiru ), The Idiot, Dreams, Red Beard… basically a good portion of his films could have used a bit more subtlety.
Kagemusha got to the point where I felt I was being beaten over the head by Kurosawa himself. He made his message so obvious and I couldn’t stand it. Dreadful experience.
Ran was a film I always had a lot of problems with. I recently rewatched it and realized it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. The more I see it the more I like it, but again Kurosawa is being pretty obvious here.
not as obvious as shakespeare ;)
but that is a specific style of storytelling, Dax. Kurosawa wanted to make it obvious and I believe he was successful. Excellent film in my opinion.
Well, it rubs me the wrong way. I understand that those that love Kurosawa love this about him, though, and am willing to admit it’s just my own personal feeling about storytelling and didacticism.
thats fair :) and it looks like we both have a very high respect for High and Low. glad to know you feel the same way
“Throne of Blood” would probably be my #1 choice. “Seven Samurai” and “Rashomon” are tied for close second. “Ran” is a solid third.
1. Red Beard
2. Rashomon
3. Ikiru
4. Seven Samurai
5. Throne of Blood
and then there’s a couple that i must see like Dersu Uzala, Dodeska-den, High and Low…
I’m not much for lists. Besides, I’ve only seen nine of Kurosawa’s films, all of which I have enjoyed very much, some of course more than others, but all very enjoyable indeed, and don’t think I’ve seen enough to make an informed top five.
If I had to name my most favorite to this point, however, I think I would have to say “Red Beard.” It is the last one I saw, so maybe it does fall within the “last one seen is the best one” theory, but I’m not so sure that is the case here. It’s been nearly a week since I’ve seen it and it still lingers with me. It was such a wonderful movie. What struck me most was that I really don’t think there is anything in “Red Beard” that I haven’t seen done in countless other movies, but I’ve never seen them done so well as in “Red Beard.”
I had seen “The Hidden Fortress” only a couple of days before, and though I liked it very much, it just didn’t compare to “Red Beard” after seeing them both. That’s not a knock on “The Hidden Fortress,” but just to say how incredible I found “Red Beard” to be. And, I was fortunate to see them both on the silver screen.
The Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago is in the midst of an Akira Kurosawa series, showing seventeen of his films throughout May and June. I fully intend to take advantage of it. It was a thrill to see the two I did on the big screen, and I look forward to seeing even more. Sadly, I missed “Drunken Angel.” I don’t know if I will be able to see all of the remaining fourteen, but I’m going to give it a shot! This Saturday’s double feature, “Rashomon” and “Ikiru”!
Rashomon
Throne of Blood
Yojimbo
Seven Samurai
Ikiru
Dersu Uzala
deckard croix
True. I wrote a review on Amazon.com (under the name Horselover_Fat – yes, I know I have no life heh) for Drunken Angel which goes into how Mifune and Takashi’s characters are practically identical in their inner turmoil and ultimate fate (that being self-destruction). The film has many layers. It even sums itself up in one scene better than any other film I’ve seen: Near the first quarter of the film where Takashi’s character tries to keep a door open and it keeps closing, but he keeps opening it anyway until it finally stays open. Simple but effective.