A Month of Kurosawa: Madadayo (1993)

A Month of Kurosawa: Madadayo (1993)

Posted inFilms
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Madadayo (1993) Akira Kurosawa's final film concerns an older man experiencing the ups and downs of a long life, looking back at a life well led, and saying to himself, "I'm not ready to go yet." It sure is…
A Month of Kurosawa: Rhapsody in August (1991)

A Month of Kurosawa: Rhapsody in August (1991)

Posted inFilms
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Rhapsody in August (1991) In his final years, Akira Kurosawa was tremendously concerned with the idea of legacy: what we leave behind and what our life meant. These ideas first started appearing in Dersu Uzala and Kagemusha, and then…
A Month of Kurosawa: Dreams (1990)

A Month of Kurosawa: Dreams (1990)

Posted inFilms
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Dreams (1990) It would perhaps be overstating the case to call Dreams the final masterpiece by Akira Kurosawa, as this anthology of short films doesn't quite rise to the level of his greatest works, but at times it comes…
A Month of Kurosawa: Ran (1985)

A Month of Kurosawa: Ran (1985)

Posted inFilms
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer's Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield -- preorder here! -- I'll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Ran (1985) Ran is a masterpiece, one of the greatest films of all time, and you should do everything in your power to see it right away. That really could be the sum total of this capsule review, because…
Some Things Come From Nothing: Striving For Greatness With Limited Resources

Some Things Come From Nothing: Striving For Greatness With Limited Resources

Posted inContributed Posts
Contributed Post Picture We are, inevitably, a product of our surroundings. As far as striving for greatness is concerned, we can feel bound by our surroundings. Because the struggle is so very real, especially when we are working to make our mark on this world, the very tangible feeling of succeeding in the face of modern struggles, like social mobility, inequality and the concerns of what is going to happen (especially post Brexit), can result in us finding ourselves at a disadvantage. And while triumph in the face of adversity is nothing new, the younger generations that find themselves struggling…