Akira Kurosawa

Arguably the greatest director of all-time and one of a very small number who made cinema an art-form. There are no weaknesses here, only strengths.

one word: RAN

I have but one word to say and that word is "Ran".Followed closely by "Masterpiece".

A must se director. Seven Samurai is the acknowledged masterwork, but my particular favourite is Hidden Fortress, one of the key influences on George Lucas' Star Wars.

The best director of the 20th century in my opinion.

Better than Bergman and Bunuel combined. Films like Ran and Throne of Blood put an interesting spin on William Shakespeare's plays.

The greatest director ever. Highly influential and a master at his craft.

One of the greats. The man did close to a dozen truly fine films: "Drunken Angel," "The Seven Samurai," "Rashomon," "Stray Dog," "Yojimbo," "The Lower Depths," "Ran," "Kagamusha" just to name a few. Great feel for cinematography and got the most out of his performers, especially that magnificent Toshiro Mifune. His movies are quite watchable to Western audiences, which indicates that cultural differences aren't an obstacle to The Great Master.

Haven't seen but about four of his films, but they are awesome. Hidden Fortress was an inspiration for Star Wars, but it's not Kurosawa's best film. Some would say that Seven Samurai is his best, but I don't agree. The best one is Throne of Blood. Set in feudal Japan, it's a retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It is a haunting piece of film-making.

Another of the five best ever, his Rashomon is one of the five best films ever. A combination of Hitchcock and Welles...

One of the very few directors who never made a bad film. He had such an artistic vision, such a brilliant way of portraying stories onto screen. His films are all classics. I hope more people discover them.

In a poll i conducted of World Cinema fans' favourite films,Kurosawa's Seven Samurai(unarguably one of the all-time greatest dozen) came top,as did the director himself,ahead of Hitchcock and Renoir.One of the 3 Japanese grandmasters(along with Mizoguchi and Ozu,both less well-known in the West)Kurosawa created many of the finest international classics.Rashomon was the film which put Japanese cinema firmly on the World map;Ran is a majestic (though for me a touch overlong)adaptation of King Lear;Throne of Blood a hugely atmospheric transposition of Macbeth(for many the supreme screen Shakespeare);Ikiru a touching tale of a terminally ill man's attempt to create a children's playground;Hidden Fortress an enthralling,underrated adventure;Dersu Uzala a sincere Oscar-winning description of a Siberian forest-dweller's life;High and Low an engrossing contemporary kidnap drama;Yojimbo and Sanjuro both grand entertainments.Influenced by the westerns of John Ford,Seven Samurai and Yojimbo were... Read more

Greatest film director OF ALL TIME. should be higher ranked. many an hour used wisely watching this great man's movies.

Kurosawa is a true genius. Of the three films of his that I've seen, SEVEN SAMURAI, RASHOMON & RAN, all of them are in my top 100. A true genius indeed.

Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) is generally considered one of the greatest movies ever. He is one of those rare directors who never directed a bad movie.

"Rashoman" (I hope I spelled it right) was the one really great movie that I saw when I took a "History of Film" course in Princeton's Visual Arts department. The "history" typically left out most anything remotely popular (except Hitchcock), instead concentrating on Stanley Brakhage and all this psuedo-intellectual nonsense. But Kurosawa's film really was compelling. Actually there was one other great movie in that course; I believe it was Danish and called "Ordet" -- that was the best one in the course but "Rashomon" was definitely #2.