Rating: 
Summary: Coffeetable Kurosawa
Review: "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is a great introduction to Kurosawa. In both physical size and length, it is an unintimidating invitation to those seeking to learn more about a director whose films they enjoy. It is the most visual of Kurosawa studies, which is nice considering that films are a visual medium. There are both candid on-set shots as well as film stills.The book is designed for browsing, and does not need to be read front to back. A reader can easily skip around to the films that they are interested in. The writing is casual, and reads easy. Too many Kurosawa books read like college texts, and Donald Richie fills a niche by supplying a book for the casual reader. The only drawback to "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is that your interest will be sparked for many films that are not readily available. You will embark on a treasure hunt, seeking out rare gems such as "Drunken Angel," "The Bad Sleep Well" and "Throne of Blood." To add to the author's credentials, Donald Richie supplies the commentary track on the Criterion Collection DVD of "Roshomon."
Rating:
Summary: Coffeetable Kurosawa
Review: "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is a great introduction to Kurosawa. In both physical size and length, it is an unintimidating invitation to those seeking to learn more about a director whose films they enjoy. It is the most visual of Kurosawa studies, which is nice considering that films are a visual medium. There are both candid on-set shots as well as film stills. The book is designed for browsing, and does not need to be read front to back. A reader can easily skip around to the films that they are interested in. The writing is casual, and reads easy. Too many Kurosawa books read like college texts, and Donald Richie fills a niche by supplying a book for the casual reader. The only drawback to "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is that your interest will be sparked for many films that are not readily available. You will embark on a treasure hunt, seeking out rare gems such as "Drunken Angel," "The Bad Sleep Well" and "Throne of Blood." To add to the author's credentials, Donald Richie supplies the commentary track on the Criterion Collection DVD of "Roshomon."
Rating:
Summary: Coffeetable Kurosawa
Review: "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is a great introduction to Kurosawa. In both physical size and length, it is an unintimidating invitation to those seeking to learn more about a director whose films they enjoy. It is the most visual of Kurosawa studies, which is nice considering that films are a visual medium. There are both candid on-set shots as well as film stills. The book is designed for browsing, and does not need to be read front to back. A reader can easily skip around to the films that they are interested in. The writing is casual, and reads easy. Too many Kurosawa books read like college texts, and Donald Richie fills a niche by supplying a book for the casual reader. The only drawback to "The Films of Akira Kurosawa" is that your interest will be sparked for many films that are not readily available. You will embark on a treasure hunt, seeking out rare gems such as "Drunken Angel," "The Bad Sleep Well" and "Throne of Blood." To add to the author's credentials, Donald Richie supplies the commentary track on the Criterion Collection DVD of "Roshomon."
Rating:
Summary: A great retrospective of a great filmmaker
Review: Akira Kurosawa is my favorite director. He alos made my favorite move. "Seven Samurai". Donald Richie's book examines each of Kurosawa's films in fine detail and shows us what makes a truly great director. Richie's insights and analysis had me buying, unseen, copies of "Ikiru" and "Sleeping Dogs". He made want to see these movies that much. All of Kurosawa's films through "Rhapsody In August" are covered here. The chapters on "Ran" and "Dreams" are excellent and show that Kurosawa's talent has not diminished with age. (If you haven't seen these two films, I urge you to do son along with the underrated "Dersu Uzala") If you are unfamiliar with the brilliance of Akira Kurosawa, this book will introduce you to the works of a world class director whose works should be appreciated more. His influence on Peckinpah, Scorsese, John Sayles, George Miller, John Woo and others is apparent. George Lucas and Francis Coppola helped finance "Kagemusha" when financing in Japan became difficult. Steven Spielberg presented Kurosawa with a lifetime achievment Academy Award. These directors know this is one of film history's greatest artists. The rest of us should know this as well.
Rating:
Summary: A great retrospective of a great filmmaker
Review: Akira Kurosawa is my favorite director. He alos made my favorite move. "Seven Samurai". Donald Richie's book examines each of Kurosawa's films in fine detail and shows us what makes a truly great director. Richie's insights and analysis had me buying, unseen, copies of "Ikiru" and "Sleeping Dogs". He made want to see these movies that much. All of Kurosawa's films through "Rhapsody In August" are covered here. The chapters on "Ran" and "Dreams" are excellent and show that Kurosawa's talent has not diminished with age. (If you haven't seen these two films, I urge you to do son along with the underrated "Dersu Uzala") If you are unfamiliar with the brilliance of Akira Kurosawa, this book will introduce you to the works of a world class director whose works should be appreciated more. His influence on Peckinpah, Scorsese, John Sayles, George Miller, John Woo and others is apparent. George Lucas and Francis Coppola helped finance "Kagemusha" when financing in Japan became difficult. Steven Spielberg presented Kurosawa with a lifetime achievment Academy Award. These directors know this is one of film history's greatest artists. The rest of us should know this as well.
Rating:
Summary: This is the measure of a great man.
Review: I am a collector by nature and when I found this reference book I used it to collect Kurasawa's films. There's a lot of information about the behind the scenes drama as well as the on screen drama. It helped me to enjoy more of the man's talents even after he left this life.
Rating: 
Summary: Enlightening!!!
Review: I saw my first Kurosawa film when I was quite young. I was just a 13 year old kid in front of the TV and I was browsing through the channels when I came upon this black and white film. I still don't know why I kept on watching it, even though it was in Japanese and watching films with subtitles wasn't my favourite thing. I still remember the images. But, being a 13 year old kid after a while I changed the channel. A few days later I saw a bit of another similar film. Earlier this year a friend of mine informed me that this book had just arrived in a local bookstore. I learned its price and was off to sell a few of my sisters Mills & Boon or similar. I bought the book with the money and started reading as soon as I was home. It was so interesting for me since Donald Richie had divided every film's chapter into its various components like characterisation, story, etc. This along with being well formatted with pictures of the film's frames. It was while reading this book that I realised those bits of some black and white film I had scene at 13 was infact Kurosawas Throne of blood and The hidden fortress. I was overwhelmed with the information that was being carefully fed to me. I thank Donald Richie for writing such a good book and honouring the memory of a genious-Akira Kurosawa. This book is a must for all Kurosawa Film lovers. I know 'cause I'm one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, fascinating and lucid analysis
Review: I was most impressed with this book - the neat layout, the methodical approach of dealing with each film, the lavish screenshots and the impressive knowledge the author has of his subject. Most of all however, i really appreciated the way in which Richie makes absolutely clear all his ideas - even to a reader who had very little knowledge of cinematography or film criticism like myself. This is not to say the content of this book is simple, moreover it is presented in a way which anyone can understand. Richie's style is refreshingly fluid and jargon-free which makes the book very easy to read, unlike many critical volumes which are verbose and long-winded. There are many films in this book which i have still not seen, but it has really sparked my interest in Kurowasawa and his films. If you wish to obtain a concise but thorough grounding in the critical ideas relating to this brilliant directors work, then this book is ideal for you.
Rating: 
Summary: simplistic
Review: I'd read a previous review that referred to this book as "coffee-table Kurosawa," and so was expecting, for some reason, large color photos for at least some of the later films. There are stills for every movie; but they aren't necessarily large, and they are all in black & white. I found the text to be clumsy and choppy, and the synopses generally uninsightful. Richie presents simple ideas as if they were the most elite esoterica. You benefit more from actually watching the films than from reading this book. Much of the information contained herein is duplicated (and presented with more grace) in Kurosawa's own "Gama no Abura." [ISBN:0394714393]
Rating:
Summary: simplistic
Review: I'd read a previous review that referred to this book as "coffee-table Kurosawa," and so was expecting, for some reason, large color photos for at least some of the later films. There are stills for every movie; but they aren't necessarily large, and they are all in black & white. I found the text to be clumsy and choppy, and the synopses generally uninsightful. Richie presents simple ideas as if they were the most elite esoterica. You benefit more from actually watching the films than from reading this book. Much of the information contained herein is duplicated (and presented with more grace) in Kurosawa's own "Gama no Abura." [ISBN:0394714393]
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