Donald Richie, whose earlier works have done so much to introduce Japanese cinema to the West, has here written the first introduction to Japanese film. Written in a highly accessible style, this up-to-date history offers a study of those qualities which make a film distinctly Japanese. It will be an invaluable resource to students of film appreciation, as well as to readers with an interest in Japan.

Japanese Cinema: An Introduction (Images of Asia)

Humor & Entertainment

RICHIE, Donald

Movies

Oxford University Press

Japanese Cinema

Secker Warburg

Akira Kurosawa -1910-1998) was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsin a career spanning 57 years. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director in 1943, during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (a.k.a. Judo Saga). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast then-unknown actor Toshirō Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director’s reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another 15 films. Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo in August 1950, and which also starred Mifune, became, In 1951, the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was subsequently released in Europe and North America. The commercial and critical success of this film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese film artists. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately a film a year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Ikiru , Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (1961). After the mid-1960s, he became much less prolific, but his later work—including his final two epics, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to win awards, including the Palme d'Or for Kagemusha, though more often abroad than in Japan. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement Posthumously, he was named "Asian of the Century in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited as one of 5 people who contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years.

The Films of Akira Kurosawa

University of California Press

"Substantially the book that devotees of the director have been waiting for: a full-length critical work about Ozu's life, career and working methods, buttressed with reproductions of pages from his notebooks and shooting scripts, numerous quotes from co-workers and Japanese critics, a great many stills and an unusually detailed filmography."--Sight and Sound Yasujiro Ozu, the man whom his kinsmen consider the most Japanese for all film directors, had but one major subject, the Japanese family, and but one major theme, its dissolution. The Japanese family in dissolution figures in every one of his fifty-three films. In his later pictures, the whole world exists in one family, the characters are family members rather than members of a society, and the ends of the earth seem no more distant than the outside of the house.

Ozu: His Life and Films

"Substantially the book that devotees of the director have been waiting for: a full-length critical work about Ozu's life, career and working methods, buttressed with reproductions of pages from his notebooks and shooting scripts, numerous quotes from co-workers and Japanese critics, a great many stills and an unusually detailed filmography."--Sight and Sound Yasujiro Ozu, the man whom his kinsmen consider the most Japanese for all film directors, had but one major subject, the Japanese family, and but one major theme, its dissolution. The Japanese family in dissolution figures in every one of his fifty-three films. In his later pictures, the whole world exists in one family, the characters are family members rather than members of a society, and the ends of the earth seem no more distant than the outside of the house.

Biographies & Memoirs

Univ. Of California Pr.

In an epilogue provided for his incomparable study of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Donald Richie reflects on Kurosawa's life work of thirty feature films and describes his last, unfinished project, a film set in the Edo period to be called The Ocean Was Watching. Kurosawa remains unchallenged as one of the century's greatest film directors. Through his long and distinguished career he managed, like very few others in the teeth of a huge and relentless industry, to elevate each of his films to a distinctive level of art. His Rashomon--one of the best-remembered and most talked-of films in any language--was a revelation when it appeared in 1950 and did much to bring Japanese cinema to the world's attention. Kurosawa's films display an extraordinary breadth and an astonishing strength, from the philosophic and sexual complexity of Rashomon to the moral dedication of Ikiru, from the naked violence of Seven Samurai to the savage comedy of Yojimbo, from the terror-filled feudalism of Throne of Blood to the piercing wit of Sanjuro.

The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Third Edition, Expanded and Updated

In an epilogue provided for his incomparable study of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Donald Richie reflects on Kurosawa's life work of thirty feature films and describes his last, unfinished project, a film set in the Edo period to be called The Ocean Was Watching. Kurosawa remains unchallenged as one of the century's greatest film directors. Through his long and distinguished career he managed, like very few others in the teeth of a huge and relentless industry, to elevate each of his films to a distinctive level of art. His Rashomon―one of the best-remembered and most talked-of films in any language―was a revelation when it appeared in 1950 and did much to bring Japanese cinema to the world's attention. Kurosawa's films display an extraordinary breadth and an astonishing strength, from the philosophic and sexual complexity of Rashomon to the moral dedication of Ikiru, from the naked violence of Seven Samurai to the savage comedy of Yojimbo, from the terror-filled feudalism of Throne of Blood to the piercing wit of Sanjuro.

Tracing the development of the Japanese cinema from 1896 (when the first Kinetoscope was imported) through the golden ages of film in Japan up to today, this work reveals the once flourishing film industry and the continuing unique art of the Japanese film. Now back in print with updated sections, major revaluations, a comprehensive international bibliography, and an exceptional collection of 168 stills ranging over eight decades, this book remains the unchallenged reference for all who seek a broad understanding of the aesthetic, historical, and economic elements of motion pictures from Japan.

The Japanese Film: Art and Industry - Expanded Edition

Anderson, Joseph L.

Princeton University Press

Where Are the Victors? (Tut Books. S)

Tuttle+publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by RICHIE, Donald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by RICHIE, Donald

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by RICHIE, Donald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Japanese Cinema: An Introduction (Images of Asia)

Japanese Cinema

The Films of Akira Kurosawa

Ozu: His Life and Films

Ozu: His Life and Films

The Films of Akira Kurosawa

The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Third Edition, Expanded and Updated

The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Third Edition, Expanded and Updated

The Japanese Film: Art and Industry - Expanded Edition

Where Are the Victors? (Tut Books. S)