Great Performances: Season 30, Episode 9Kurosawa (21 Mar. 2002)Director:Adam LowWriter:Adam Low |
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Great Performances: Season 30, Episode 9Kurosawa (21 Mar. 2002)Director:Adam LowWriter:Adam Low |
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| Episode credited cast: | |||
| Akira Kurosawa | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
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| Sam Shepard | ... |
Narrator
(voice)
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| Paul Scofield | ... |
Voice of Kurosawa
(voice)
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| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| James Coburn | ... |
Himself
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| Clint Eastwood | ... |
Himself
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Shinobu Hashimoto | ... |
Himself
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Hiromichi Horikawa | ... |
Himself
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Kon Ichikawa | ... |
Himself
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Shuichi Kato | ... |
Himself
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Masahiko Kumada | ... |
Himself
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Hisao Kurosawa | ... |
Himself
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Kazuko Kurosawa | ... |
Herself
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Machiko Kyô | ... |
Herself
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| George Lucas | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
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| Tatsuya Nakadai | ... |
Himself
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How can a biography on Akira Kurosawa, who felt his life was devoted to the films he wrote and directed, and whose themes centered around the behavior and psychology of the characters, be justified when it fails to even mention 15 of his 32 movies, and does little more than allude to a few key periods in his life?
Writer/director, Adam Low, rather than offering substantive information on Kurosawa, felt it more important to provide about 30 minutes of facts and 90 minutes of stretched out long meaningless scenes, including several of modern-day Japan, it's technological advances (do we remember what digital tv/dvd corporations were promoted here?), modern day looks at surviving cast and crew, etc. It felt like a lazy, rushed project.
I would think that anyone that watches this documentary would want to walk away with some reasonable amount of insight to either his professional or personal life (if not both). It fails badly on both counts- I give this documentary 2/10 (or 1 out of 4 stars).