Something Like An Autobiography

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

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Kurosawa was a man who came from humble beginnings, who, by his own admission, was a slow learner, who witnessed and experienced things that often sound like the fiction of a master storyteller, who rose from the bottom of the film industry to be internationally recognized as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. I loved hearing his story in his own words; my one complaint is that he only gives us half of it.

Bookwomble I enjoyed this bio, too, and wanted some more insight into the breakdown in his relationship with Mifune, but it's not too be 😞 2y

BC_Dittemore @Bookwomble Kurosawa talks quite a bit about honesty in this book. Maybe he felt he couldn‘t talk about the later parts of his life with that same honesty. As upsetting as it is to not have those stories in his own words there is no shortage of other materials about those parts of his life, and I am looking forward to seeking them out 2y

Bookwomble @BC_Dittemore I felt it was honest, too, and totally his decision what he chooses to write about. Feeling like I want to watch one of his films, now 😊 2y

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

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Something like an autobiography, and something much more like a memoir, which is no bad thing. Kurosawa explains that he'd rather his work speak for him, but that in his old age, he's been persuaded to write about himself.
The first half of the book beautifully evokes the pre-war Japan of his childhood, his adventures with his friends, his brother and parents. Then, his 'bohemian' period as a struggling painter and writer, then his almost... 👇🏼

Bookwomble ...accidental entry into the movie industry. The later chapters revolve around his film-making and studio politics, but always involve the personal, rather than dry history. He ends with the production of his classic film, Rashomon, on 1950, saying he'd now written enough and he losing interest in the memoir project. An honest (though he questions his own honesty), fascinating, and conversational account of a major figure of 20th century culture. 5y

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

"There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself."

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

"Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three feet. The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. ????

Bookwomble ... He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all his quickness he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities.” 5y

Bookwomble I love any film with Toshiro Mifune in it, so it's great to read Kurosawa's tribute. It's well known that they had some falling out and, after 16 films, never worked together again, though neither ever did what the issue was. Nevertheless, Kurosawa acknowledgement of Mifune's on-screen presence goes beyond any personal difficulties they may have had. 5y

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

“Ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal.”

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

"If you shut your eyes to a frightening sight, you end up being frightened. If you look at everything straight on, there is nothing to be afraid of."

13-year old Kurosawa's older brother told him this after leading him through the destruction & corpses left by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Kurosawa's descriptions & the photos & paintings of the disaster, seem to prefigure the horror & devastation wrought 22 years later in Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

"Human beings have launched satellites into outer space, and yet they still grovel on earth looking at their own feet like wild dogs. What is to become of our planet?"

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Bookwomble

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

Continuing to be unable to stick to the books I'm already reading, I'm moving on to this memoir by Kurosawa of his early life up to roughly the release of Rashomon in 1950. I picked it up yesterday from our local community cinema, where we watched the entirely unrelated film, Wild Rose, about a Glaswegian woman's dream of becoming a Country Music singer in Nashville. Unlikely connections! 😃

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BiblioNyan

Something Like An Autobiography | Akira Kurosawa

The autobiography of one of the finest filmmakers in cinema history fell into my mailbox today. I cannot express the excitement and eagerness swelling within my heart. 🖤🖤

#ownvoices #japanese #diversebooks #memoir #nonfiction #akirakurosawa #somethinglikeanautobiography

TobeyTheScavengerMonk How amazing. I love that man and his films 8y

BiblioNyan @TobeyTheScavengerMonk Me too! He's so extraordinary. 8y

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