The works of legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa will be celebrated in a week-long retrospective at Budapest’s Art+ Cinema from 14–20 August. The programme opens with Ran (Chaos), Kurosawa’s 1985 epic inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear. The 162-minute film earned four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Costume Design.
On 15 August, audiences can see Dreams (1990), an anthology of eight episodes based on the director’s recurring dreams, for which Kurosawa also wrote the screenplay. The film features Martin Scorsese as Vincent van Gogh and was produced with the support of Steven Spielberg.
The original Seven Samurai (1954) will be screened on 16 August. Inspired partly by John Ford’s westerns, it later influenced countless films, including The Magnificent Seven. On 17 August, the programme continues with Throne of Blood (1957), a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in feudal Japan.
18 August brings Dersu Uzala (1975), a Soviet co-production based on Vladimir Arsenyev’s memoir of exploring Siberia in the early 1900s. The Russian-language film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The historical epic Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior, 1980) follows on 19 August, telling the tale of a low-born criminal impersonating a dying warlord to protect his clan in the 1570s. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The retrospective concludes on 20 August with The Idiot (1951), Kurosawa’s adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel, set in post-war Japan. Originally conceived as a two-part work, it was significantly shortened for release but remains a faithful portrait of its characters and themes.
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