Akira Kurosawa’s Greatest Films
$1,550.00
Delve into five great films by Akira Kurosawa. We’ll discuss the effects on us of music, movement, lighting, editing, atmosphere, etc. as well as the usual suspects of character, plot and narrative structure. This will be work you probably have not done before, but it will open you up to seeing film and reading literature as nothing else has.
In stock
LEADER
David Schmitt has been reading and leading Great Books and Great Films for over thirty years. As a kid, he skipped school when there was a good movie on TV, and he’s still making those kinds of choices as an adult.
FILMS
Ikiru
Throne of Blood
The Bad Sleep Well
Ran
Rashomom
All directed by Akira Kurosawa.
All films are available in a variety of streaming and DVD formats. To find options in the US to rent, stream or buy a movie, we recommend searching JustWatch. To find options in Canada, try searching JustWatch Canada. The Criterion Channel is an option in North America. If you have Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, or other services, you can also search directly on these through your account.
Your local library may carry DVDs of these movies, or offer streaming or other access through Hoopla or (US only) Kanopy. Your local librarians can provide more information on using these services.
A note for those who want to buy DVDs: All DVDs that are produced for the USA and Canada are Region 1 discs and will work in DVD players in both of those countries.
These five films by Akira Kurosawa are each a great film. Several of them are award winners, a kind of fleeting glory, but all of them have the beauty and complexity which distinguishes the truly great — in film as in literature. Each rewards the viewer upon first and further screenings. Each raises the questions which we are used to grappling with in great books.
In great books-like discussions, we’ll discuss the effects on us of music, movement, lighting, editing, atmosphere, etc. as well as the usual suspects of character, plot and narrative structure. This will be work you probably have not done before, but it will open you up to seeing film and reading literature as nothing else has.
Ikiru, Kurosawa’s version of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, moves me to tears. It has done so every time I revisit it. What does my life mean? What will it have meant once I am gone? The final scene is unmatched in beauty and simplicity.
Throne of Blood is Kurosawa’s Macbeth. Harold Bloom believes it to be “the most successful film version of Macbeth”. It’s intense. Intense.
The Bad Sleep Well gives Hamlet a post-WWII twist. Kurosawa expands and intensifies the story, making it more real, more significant and immediate.
Ran, Kurosawa’s King Lear. What happens when the evil that men will do, constrained for a time by a rigid force of will, is suddenly loosed. This is a majestically beautiful and haunting film.
Rashomon is an amazingly inventive film. How can we know what we know? What is true? This is perhaps one of the most influential films ever made.
You’ll learn much more about these films, but you will also become much better at watching films.
“For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.”
― Akira Kurosawa
Toronto Pursuits 2024
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Additional information
| Discount | Concert ticket, Not eligible for discount, Five times, With friend, Gift registration |
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