In which I change your cinematic life!

Ok, maybe this won't change any lives, but there is some really exciting stuff. To me anyway.

Through out the past 24 hours, I have watched all 3 1/2 hours plus several hours of bonus features of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. I have been a big fan of Kurosawa after seeing Throne of Blood and Ran, and have been wanting to see Seven Samurai for a couple years now. And it was quite fantastic. One of these days, I'll write a little more about my growing fascination with Japan and especially Japanese art forms. The play I'm about to direct for my thesis is based in Japanese Noh Theatre. So besides for just my own personal enjoyment, I've wanted to watch a lot of Kurosawa for the influence Noh has on his films, especially the jidaigeki films, which were films that took place mostly during the Edo era, the kind of heyday of the samurai.

Not only did this film change Japanese cinema and the way it was produced, it changed how all cinema was shot and edited and created. The film is beautiful, entertaining, and technically a masterpiece. What was also great, is that the version I rented from the fabulous University of Michigan Askwith Media Library was a three disk special edition version, with tons of fantastic bonus features.

Watching little featurettes about the making of the film and interviews with Kurosawa about his career were some of the most inspiring things I've experienced lately.  Not only as a director of some truly fantastic work, but as a writer and a leader, Kurosawa was an artist. I have been especially nervous lately, not only about the thesis, which constantly is on my mind, but about a lot of writing which I will be doing soon in classes in both playwriting and creative writing, mostly short stories. I used to write a good amount, but have not in many years. Watching Kurosawa, as an artist who did... well everything from cinema to writing to painting to all sorts of technical work on his films, was extremely inspiring.

I hope, if anyone reads this, that you go out and watch a Kurosawa film. I am a huge fan of Throne of Blood, a chilling retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth in Edo Japan, but really any film is good.

There was one quote that I'll end with tonight, because I really must get to sleep. Kurosawa said this to help writers, but I feel like it applies to many things.

The first thing they teach you in mountain climbing is to never look up. When climbing a mountain it is best to just always look in front of you, climbing little by little. It's only when you look up and see how far you are from the top that you get frustrated.