Essential Kurosawa Program to Screen at Sydney Film Festival

By Travis Johnson

All our Christmases have come at once. The Sydney Film Festival, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia,  and The Japan Foundation have come together to present a special program of 10 films by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, specially curated by the equally legendary David Stratton.

Kurosawa was easily the greatest director that Japan ever produced, and is recognised as one of the finest film practitioners ever, period. Best known for his “chambara” samurai period films, such as Seven Samurai (remade as The Magnificent Seven), Yojimbo (A Fistful of Dollars), and The Hidden Fortress (Star Wars), he first came to international prominence with 1950’s Rashomon, which was met coolly in Japan but blew audiences and critics away on the international festival circuit.

He worked in a wide variety of genres and modes over the years, producing masterworks in every one. If you’re going to plunge into his filmography, start with his Shakespeare adaptations; 1985’s Ran, based on King Lear, is a startling spectacle of colour and movement which marked a return to international notability after a few wilderness years, but Throne of Blood (1957) is hands down the best version of Macbeth ever mounted, with frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune as the compromised king on the receiving end of one of the most striking death scenes in cinema history.

In point of fact, you can see them all on the big screen! The films on offer are:

Rashomon (1950)
Living (Ikiru) 35mm (1952)
Seven Samurai 35mm (1954)
Throne of Blood 35mm (1957)
The Hidden Fortress 35mm (1958)
Yojimbo 35mm (1961)
High and Low 35mm (1963)
Red Beard 35mm (1965)
Kagemusha (1980)
Ran (1985)

Kurosawa tragics will be getting especially excited over Red Beard, which is both a rarity and the last time Kurosawa and Mifune ever worked together. Its inclusion is certainly a coup for the festival. These 35mm prints have been specially imported courtesy of The Japan Foundation and Toho Co. Ltd.

As Stratton, who will be introducing the Sydney screenings as well as some screenings in other cities, notes, “During the ‘golden era’ of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa was by far the best-known Japanese director internationally. His films were not only accessible, they were marvellously executed. The best of Kurosawa’s films possess a grandeur combined with a common touch. No-one filmed action scenes like he did – his use of multiple cameras, long lenses and intricate editing combined to make these sequences unforgettable.”

Essential Kurosawa: Selected by David Stratton, will screen at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Dendy Opera Quays cinema, as part of the 64th Sydney Film Festival (7-18 June). The retrospective will also screen in Melbourne at ACMI (25 May-8 June) and in Canberra at NFSA’s Arc cinema (14 June-30 June).

Sydney Film Festival tickets are on sale now for Essential Kurosawa: Selected by David Stratton screenings for $19.90 (Adult) each or Concession $17.00 + booking fee. A special discount package of all ten films in the retrospective is available for $130 + booking fee.

Flexipasses and subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2017 are on sale now.
Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information.
The full Sydney Film Festival program is announced in May 2017.

Tickets to Essential Kurosawa at ACMI in Melbourne are $18 Adult, $14 Concession, $12 ACMI Member. Tickets are available online acmi.net.au/essential-kurosawa, via phone 03 8663 2583 or in person at ACMI Fed Square. ACMI will hold a lecture by David Stratton during its season. Check the acmi.net.au for details.

Tickets to Essential Kurosawa at Arc cinema, NFSA (Acton, ACT) are $14 Adult, $12 Concession, and season passes ($75 / $80) also available. Tickets are available online .