FTW: Win a double pass to see samurai classic ‘Ran’ at ACMI
Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential names in cinema and arguably the greatest Japanese filmmaker ever, will have his work spotlighted in a special season at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) beginning this May 26.
Titled Essential Kurosawa, the celebrated filmmaker’s monumental legacy has been curated into a retrospective by one of Australia’s definitive voices in film criticism, David Stratton. To this day, Kurosawa’s films are talked about, admired and studied all over the world and his lasting influence with filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino can even be felt in their films.
So what can you expect to see from this retrospective?
- Rashomon: The 1950 classic that heralded the arrival of Kurosawa on the world stage and awarded him a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival, the festival’s highest award.
- Seven Samurai: The film with the most lasting influence in Hollywood cinema in that it essentially helped lay the foundations for the modern day action blockbuster
- Ikiru: 1952 humanistic masterwork about a bureaucrat who re-assesses his life after learning he has cancer; this film is said to have influenced television’s, Breaking Bad
- Yojimbo: Sergio Leone remade Yojimbo as A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood in what would become the first of Leone’s legendary Dollars trilogy. Enough said.
- Throne of Blood: Kurosawa’s adaptation of Macbeth with an incredible lead performance by Kurosawa’s main man, Toshiro Mifune
- Ran: This truly massive film was the filmmaker’s last epic and one of the very few times he worked with colour on film. A huge film with an epic final battle that’s worth seeing on ACMI’s beautiful screen.
- Kagemusha: Another of Kurosawa’s final epics made with the financial support of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
- The Hidden Fortress: The plot of Star Wars? It’s basically lifted from Kurosawa’s own The Hidden Fortress.
- High and Low: Some say Kurosawa was at his most intriguing when he did films that weren’t samurai epics and High and Low is further proof of his genius.
- Red Beard: Though set in feudal Japan, this contemplative drama about a doctor’s obligation to the people he treats, some argue, is the summation of Kurosawa’s life’s work.
Tickets are currently on sale for Essential Kurosawa: Selected by David Stratton. The season will be hosted at ACMI and will run from May 26 to June 6 so don’t miss out on your chance to see the work of a cinematic giant in an equally giant venue.
To celebrate the Essential Kurosawa film season at ACMI, Meld Magazine is giving away five double passes to see the newly restored Ran on Monday, May 29 (7.00pm).
All you have to do is enter our Rafflecopter competition and you can go into the running to win! Winners will be contacted via email with tickets left at ACMI’s Box Office under their name.
For more on Essential Kurosawa, visit ACMI’s official website.