21L011 The Film Experience
Professor David Thorburn

Lecture 19 - Akira Kurosawa and Seven Samurai

1. Japanese Cinema: a note
   • Kenji Mizoguchi
   • Yasujiro Ozu
     
     
2. Kurosawa’s career
   • Rashomon (1950)
   • Ikiru (1952)
   • Yojimbo (1961)
   • High and Low (1963)
     
     
3. Seven Samurai (1954)
   • A footnote
     • Shimura’s top knot
   • Epic themes, epic structure
     • Seasons, elemental themes, founding story
     • historical transition
   • Characters
     • Shimura’s leader, Mifune’s clownish half-peasant, the technician, the disciple.
     • Villagers: from stereotype to individual 
   • Visual style: both montage and mise en scène
   • One scene: “To the Village”