Donald Richie 
The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Third Edition, Expanded and Updated 

In an epilogue provided for his incomparable study of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Donald Richie reflects on Kurosawa’s life work of thirty feature films and describes his last, unfinished project, a film set in the Edo period to be called
The Ocean Was Watching.


Kurosawa remains unchallenged as one of the century’s greatest film directors. Through his long and distinguished career he managed, like very few others in the teeth of a huge and relentless industry, to elevate each of his films to a distinctive level of art. His
Rashomon—one of the best-remembered and most talked-of films in any language—was a revelation when it appeared in 1950 and did much to bring Japanese cinema to the world’s attention. Kurosawa’s films display an extraordinary breadth and an astonishing strength, from the philosophic and sexual complexity of
Rashomon to the moral dedication of
Ikiru, from the naked violence of
Seven Samurai to the savage comedy of
Yojimbo, from the terror-filled feudalism of
Throne of Blood to the piercing wit of
Sanjuro.

Über den Autor

Donald Richie (1924-2013) was the Arts Critic for The Japan Times.