I watched Sanshiro Sugata on May 7th and am writing this after finishing Madadayo on September 27th. These 4 months I have been fortunate enough to witness storytelling that will likely never be matched. I may find individual movies I prefer, from other directors, for a variety of reasons, but I struggle to imagine a better storyteller or developer of character depth then Director Kurosawa.
Akira Kurosawa is a man of art, literature and theater that happens to have found a career making movies. His movies, like all great art, are filtered through his personal experience and seem to oscillate between unbridled optimism in humanity and unconquerable cynicism. He had, to me, four distinct phases in his career. The six films made in and around WWII, the 17 films in the prime of his career, four (Do’deska-den through Ran) that represent his attempt to force his way through all of the adversity present away from the camera and then his final three where he accepted his career was nearly over and he made some quiet, contemplative personal stories.
This ranking will most likely change my second time through his catalog, but it will be awhile before I get to that so I will leave this up here for now and welcome any and all thoughts / concerns for my sanity / debate.
- Rashomon (1950) - The creativity and inventiveness in storytelling technique as well as the acting performances put this over the top for me.
- Ikiru (1952) - Has there ever been a character-driven story that has you cheering for the protagonist more than in this film?
- Seven Samurai (1954) - One of the most fun and interesting stories ever put to celluloid.
- Sanjuro (1962) - Kurosawa at his funniest. That’s it, I ranked this so high because of how often and hard I laughed. Way underrated film from AK.
- The Hidden Fortress (1958) - Just a hair under Seven Samurai but still one of the better studio films I have ever seen in terms of action, humor and ability to hook me in.
- The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - A cynical film but flawlessly executed. Masayuki Mori’s performance as the patriarch and empathetic super-villain hooked me in.
- Madadayo (1993) - Kurosawa’s swan song muscled it’s way into this spot for me because of the immense amount of heart, love and respect between the characters and I felt great watching it.
- Yojimbo (1961) - The fact that a film of this quality is my 8th favorite from a director speaks only to the quality of his work and says nothing to a lack of quality in the film. It’s hilarious, engaging and perfectly executed.
- Dersu Uzala (1975) - Much like Madadayo, this film lands in the Top 10 for me because of heart. He created a memorable character in Dersu Uzala and the long running time flew by.
- Ran (1985) - Probably Kurosawa at his most ambitious and also my favorite visual film in his catalog. This is a melodramatic story - worthy of the bard himself - but extremely well made and the most obvious example of Kurosawa’s interest in painting.
- High and Low (1963) - My favorite of Kurosawa’s two police procedural films. Mifune was on full display here and the overall pacing and structure of this film was great.
- One Wonderful Sunday (1947) - A lot of people sh*t on this movie but I really loved it. For me it was Kurosawa a few years ahead of his time with a style that many of the French masters would perfect in about 15-20 years after this release. The New Wave stylings are all here, and the ending worked for me. Even if it was a bit overdone and heavy-handed, in 1947 I have to imagine it was new and interesting.
- Throne of Blood (1957) - Nothing inherently wrong here to have this come in 13th overall. I found myself objectively pointing out the strengths of this film as opposed to genuinely being connected to it so it slid down a few notches.
- Kagemusha (1980) - My favorite first 10-15 minutes of any Kurosawa film and my favorite soundtrack. This had potential to be my favorite overall film but, despite enjoying it, I did find myself checking my watch a time or two so it got moved down a bit. But, I still really enjoyed it.
- Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945) - I had this ranked in the Top 5 for a long time. It is an incredibly straightforward story but I just love the character of Sanshiro and felt like it was fun to watch the original Rocky IV.
- The Quiet Duel (1949) - Ranked so high purely on the back of the performances of Mifune and Shimura. Also, I found myself in a very contemplative state as the theme of maturity and taking ownership hit me on a personal level.
- The Lower Depths (1957) - Probably some of Kurosawa’s most memorable characters and a true ensemble picture. This is a very well made film but I struggled with the cynicism.
- Sanshiro Sugata (1943) - A simple story told well and a strong performance from Susumu Fujita.
- Drunken Angel (1948) - There were parts of this film I really enjoyed but there was a bit of creative experimentation here that didn’t quite land for me and Kurosawa had not fully hit his stride.
- Stray Dog (1949) - I struggled with this dropping as far as it did everything said and done I just could not get behind the “why” of this policeman’s despair over losing his gun.
- Red Beard (1965) - A great film, well made, and way too dark and cynical for my taste.
- Dreams (1990) - Some great visuals and an interesting story but Kurosawa made many greater films than this over his career.
- Scandal (1950) - I have a feeling this might rank higher on a rewatch but I never quite got invested in the success of the characters here.
- The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) - I really enjoyed this borderline short film but it’s the equivalent of finding a tape from a famous artist before they got famous and really enjoying one of their cover songs. You can’t say an excellent cover is one of your favorite songs right?
- Rhapsody in August (1991) - Preachy and unfortunately not well told although it did have some sweet moments and still an engaging film.
- The Most Beautiful (1944) - A sweet film but still a strong propaganda vehicle at the end of the day and he made a lot better than this.
- The Idiot (1951) - A miss. I would love to see the rumored Director’s cut if it does in fact exist.
- Dodes’ke-den (1970) - I couldn’t tell if it was exploiting the poor just to have a compelling vehicle for a story but either way I did not overly enjoy this picture.
- I Live in Fear (1955) - Forgettable. I had to reread the plot of this film to even remember what to say about it.
- No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) - An attempt at a sweeping character epic that, for me, felt uncoordinated and disjointed. There were parts I enjoyed but nothing I loved.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/j15kuh/every_available_narrative_kurosawa_film_ranked/
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