Sydney Film Festival, in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), National Film and Sound Archive, and The Japan Foundation, will feature a selection of exceptional films by Akira Kurosawa as part of the 2017 program. Selected by David Stratton, the retrospective, titled ‘Essential Kurosawa‘, highlights the director’s greatest cinematic accomplishments between two venues – the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) and Dendy Opera Quays – both particularly significant given the genesis of Kurosawa’s celebrated vocation as a filmmaker. The Japanese auteur initially located his creativity on the canvas with dreams of becoming a painter, however, financial strain, familial tragedy, self-doubt, and his disinclination of the associated political milieu within the practice compelled Kurosawa to seek artistic refuge elsewhere – the motion picture industry.
In Something Like an Autobiography (1982), Kurosawa describes the weight of his passion for art, specifically Post-Impressionism;
“But in those days it was much harder than it is now to succeed as an artist. And I had begun to have doubts about my own talent as a painter. After looking at a monograph on Cézanne, I would step outside and the houses, streets and trees – everything – looked like a Cézanne painting. The same things would happen when I looked at a book of Van Gogh’s paintings or Utrillo’s paintings – they changed the way the real world looked to me. It seemed completely different from the world I usually saw with my own eyes… Gradually I lost confidence in my abilities, and the act of painting itself became painful for me.”
It is precisely this modified realism that elevated Kurosawa’s approach; revolutionising the rhythm, tone, and composition of the cinematic image through his inspired use of light, editing, and framing. Limited by his early achromatic canon, Kurosawa’s visual language intensified with his transition to colour cinema, infusing his films with vibrant, engaging sequences that are brought to life by his experimental sensibility toward colour design and display. As Kurosawa’s oeuvre evolved, so too did his creative process. He began to paint vastly detailed storyboards in order to illustrate the intricacies of his vision and, in many ways, appease his creative discord by reconciling his two artistic passions. In the book Ran (1986), Kurosawa writes;
“When I changed careers I burnt all the pictures that I had painted up until then. I intended to forget painting once and for all. As a well-known Japanese proverb says, ‘If you chase two rabbits, you may not catch even one.’ I did no art work at all once I began to work in cinema. But since becoming a film director, I have found that drawing rough sketches was often a useful means of explaining ideas to my staff.”
These ‘rough sketches’ became paramount to Kurosawa’s method, particularly during the production of Ran (1985) as Kurosawa’s eyesight began to significantly deteriorate.
Often regarded as his final epic masterpiece, Ran is set in Japan during the Sengoku period and follows Lord Hidetora Ichimonji and his three sons. Inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear as well as the Japanese legend of the three arrows; the narrative explores Ichimonji’s decision to abdicate in favour of his eldest son and the subsequent consequences of this transition, ultimately resulting in chaos.
The fixed composition of the film’s opening sequence resembles a string of paintings as static figures are positioned over a lush, breathing landscape. These quiet establishing shots speak volumes to the director’s duality – Kurosawa as artist is showcased immediately. His deliberate use of vibrant primary colours and careful staging to ensure no element is obscured within a single frame only serves to complete this status, uncovering Kurosawa’s painterly eye. As the climax nears, the rhythm of the film begins to match Ichimonji’s exaggerated pace, however, always juxtaposed lyrically with slow camera pans or quick cuts in moments of pause. Action and dialogue is silenced by classical music with muted crescendos turning sacrifice, death and murder into an elegant choreographed dance – transporting the spectator away from the tragic diegesis and towards a beautifully tragic, absolute image. When this interlude is disrupted by a gunshot, we wake from the trance of Kurosawa’s cinematic brushstrokes and into the chaos of the mise-en-scène. This persistent balance of still and moving imagery, pause and action, is also present within his storyboard artworks – they move. The rich textures and frenetic energy of Kurosawa’s accomplished style exemplifies his conflict as painter/filmmaker, Ran’s tormented narrative, and the technical layers that form each celluloid frame. Kurosawa’s Post-Impressionistic-inspired storyboards unveil not only the unity of canvas and screen, but also, hidden amidst the detailed vitality of his brushstrokes are two very distinct rabbits.
Ran is screening at Dendy Opera Quays on Sunday 18 June, 2pm and at Dendy Newtown on Tuesday 20 June, 8pm.
Tanya Pesa is currently undertaking a PhD in Film Studies at the University of Sydney.
