MY DVD COLLECTION 1

Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)



I have been asked several times what sort of films I collect. I usually refer to my collection as a mixture of the sacred and the profane. The great masterpieces of the cinema share the shelves with low-budget exploitation horror movies and action epics. I am interested in the whole range of movies from films that are considered high art to those that crawl out from the underbelly of the film industry. So I thought I'd use this blog to list some of the directors, stars and themes I admire and the films of theirs that form part of my collection. First of is Akira Kurosawa who I regard as one of the greatest directors of all time. Describing his art, Kurosawa once said "A film must be made with the heart, not the mind. I think today's young filmmakers have forgotten this and instead they make films through their calculations. That is why Japanese films no longer have an audience. In all honesty, films must be made to target the hearts. During the time of Ozu, my mentor, and also in my time, no filmmaker made films based on theory and calculation, and that was why Japan's cinema was capable of shaping its golden years. Young filmmakers use techniques to humiliate the audience. This is wrong. We must serve cinema and make a film that would stimulate the audience. Ultimately, the aim should be to make an artistic film. That's simple, isn't it?"

Kurosawa films in my collection are : SANSHIRO SUGATA (1943) MOST BEAUTIFUL (1944) HE WHO TREADS ON THE TIGER'S TAIL (1945) ZUKO SUGATA (1945) ONE WONDERFUL SUNDAY (1947) DRUNKEN ANGEL (1948) SILENT DUEL (1949) STRAY DOG (1949) SCANDAL (1950) RASHOMON (1950) IKIRU (1952) SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) I LIVE IN FEAR (1955) THRONE OF BLOOD (1957) HIDDEN FORTRESS (1958) THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1958) YOJIMBO (1960) SANJURO (1961) HIGH AND LOW (1964) RED BEARD (1965) DERSU UZALA (1975) KAGEMUSHA (1980) RAN (1985) MADADAYO (1990)