14 – 21 September

Over a seventeen year period, Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) and Toshirô Mifune (1920-1997) collaborated on sixteen films. Under Kurosawa’s expert hand they pushed the boundaries of action cinema without ever losing their shared humanist vision. These three jidaigeki, Japanese period dramas, rank among their finest work together and the most influential films ever made. They also some of the most copied, each one remade more than once, sometimes with greater financial and pop-cultural success, though never told as brilliantly as by one of cinema’s finest pairings.

Dir: Akira Kurosawa
Japan 1958 139mins 35mm
In 16th century feudal Japan, two bickering farmers encounter the fierce General Rokurota Makabe as he attempts to escape hostile territory in the aftermath of a clan war. Makabe is determined to rescue the wilful Princess Yukihime of his ruling house and reclaim their royal fortune, while the misfit farmers follow in the hopes of richly rewards. If the plot of this light-hearted adventure sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because it served as George Lucas’ inspiration for the original Star Wars. Stars Toshirô Mifune. Print courtesy of the ACMI collection.

Japan 1961 110mins 35mm
A masterless samurai wanders into a rural town where two corrupt families are feuding with each other over complete control while the townsfolk live in fear. Hiring himself out as a bodyguard to the highest bidder, the samurai with no name craftily manipulates the warring camps, pitting them against each other and raising the stakes each time he defects to the other side. The quintessential “Eastern” Western, the plot was inspired by the writing of Dashiell Hammet and in turn was reworked into A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone. Stars Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

Dir: Akira Kurosawa
Japan 1954 203mins 35mm
A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, assembles a motley team of seven samurai in response to a farmer’s desperate plea for help. For three meagre meals a day, they agree protect the farmer’s village from marauding bandits and train the peasants to fight back.This strongly humanistic tale of courage and kinship effortlessly combines action swordplay with gripping drama and comedy. Kurosawa‘s technically and dramatically innovative masterpiece is widely considered among the greatest films ever made. Stars Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

Listed in 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die