Compound Cinematics: Akira Kurosawa and I

Description

Akira Kurosawa is one of the most recognisable and influential film directors in the world, with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Martin Scorcese and George Lucas all naming him as a major benchmark in their own filmmaking. This new biography by his long-time friend and collaborator gives the reader a priveleged look into the life and working processes of the director of Rashomon (Daiei, 1950) and Seven Samurai (Columbia, 1954).

Shinobu Hashimoto is an award-winning screen-writer and film producer, best known across the globe for his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa. Born in 1918, in southern Japan, Hashimoto was only a middle-school graduate before he entered the world of film. His debut work was an immediate critical success in the form of the screenplay for Kurosawa's Rashomon. Through the years he went on to work on the following movies among his more than 50 films- Rashomon, Ikiru -To Live-, The Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, and The Outrage with Paul Newman.

"Fans of Japanese cinema, as well as film historians should make it a point to read Compound Cinematics: Akira Kurosawa and I, due to its immense profundity on both Hashimoto's impact on cinema as a whole, as well as Kurosawa's output as a filmmaker. Shinobu Hashimoto is one of the greatest screenwriters of Japan and this book can help English language speakers discover just a bit more about him, through one of the finest film books to be released in a long time.... Highly Recommended!" -FilmMonthly "Part memoir, part screenwriting textbook, part treatise on the art of filmmaking, Compound Cinematics is a fascinating look inside the mind of one of the great screenwriters and his collaborations with one of the world's greatest directors.... the book gives a wealth of information on how the director prepared for his films and wrote them. For Kurosawa scholars and even just fans of his movies, these details are absolutely wonderful.... for the sections with Kurosawa and the behind-the-scenes look at three of the world's greatest films, this book is highly recommended." -Cinema Sentries "If you are interested in the creative process behind some of the greatest works of cinema, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book.... Hashimoto is one of the unsung masters. And Kurosawa is a master who cannot be sung enough. A book on their collaborations is a treasure for practitioners of screen storytelling and fans of movie history alike." -Making the Movie