Akira Kurosawa‘s legacy is getting the 4K therapy with an enormous U.S. pageant. Movie Discussion board in New York Metropolis can be internet hosting a particular retrospective to honor the late auteur, together with the U.S. premieres of a slew of 4K restorations of Kurosawa’s most beloved movies.
From July 18 to 31, Movie Discussion board will display screen the brand new 4K restorations of “Excessive and Low,” “Throne of Blood,” “Stray Canine,” “Ikiru,” “Yojimbo,” “Sanjuro,” and “The Hidden Fortress.” The pageant coincides with Spike Lee’s reimagining of Kurosawa’s 1963 crime drama “Excessive and Low,” titled “Highest 2 Lowest,” which debuted at Cannes 2025.
Kurosawa’s acclaimed “Seven Samurai” not too long ago celebrated its seventieth anniversary with a 4K restoration and theatrical re-release in 2024. The restored movie debuted on the 2024 Cannes Movie Pageant; the pageant additionally honored Kurosawa’s contributions to cinema by incorporating a nonetheless of “Rhapsody in August” within the official Cannes poster that 12 months.
All 4K restorations for Kurosawa’s movies have been made attainable by Toho Co. Ltd, which launched his authentic movies. The one non 4K function to display screen on the Movie Discussion board pageant is “Rashomon,” which can be introduced in a 2K restoration by the Academy Movie Archive, the Nationwide Movie Middle of the Nationwide Museum of Fashionable Artwork, Tokyo, and Kadokawa Footage, Inc. The pageant is made attainable by distributor Janus Movies.
Take a look at the complete record of movies, with language supplied by Movie Discussion board, under.
“Throne of Blood” – New 4K Restoration
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood, directed by Akira Kurosawa, units Shakespeare’s definitive story of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded panorama in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to energy, Toshiro Mifune provides a outstanding, animalistic efficiency, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless spouse. Throne of Blood fuses classical Western tragedy with formal components taken from Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic expertise.
Japan, 1957, 109 min
“Stray Canine” – New 4K Restoration
A nasty day will get worse for younger detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a sizzling, crowded bus. Determined to proper the fallacious, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray canine whose desperation has led him to a lifetime of crime. With every step, cop and prison’s lives turn into extra intertwined and the investigation turns into an examination of Murakami’s personal darkish aspect. Starring Toshiro Mifune, because the rookie cop, and Takashi Shimura, because the seasoned detective who retains him on the suitable aspect of the regulation, Stray Canine (Nora Inu) goes past a criminal offense thriller, probing the squalid world of postwar Japan and the character of the prison thoughts.
Japan, 1949, 122 min
“Excessive and Low“ – New 4K Restoration
Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a rich industrialist whose household turns into the goal of a cold-blooded kidnapper in Excessive and Low (Tengoku to jigoku), the extremely influential home drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa strikes effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, making a diabolical treatise on modern Japanese society.
Japan, 1963, 143 min
“The Hidden Fortress“ – New 4K Restoration
A grand-scale journey as solely Akira Kurosawa may make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a basic charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the 2 smuggle royal treasure throughout hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who might or is probably not their pals. This rip-roaring journey is among the many director’s most beloved movies and was a major affect on George Lucas’s Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft mix of wry humor, breathtaking motion, and compassionate humanity.
Japan, 1958, 139 min
“Ikiru“ – New 4K Restoration
One of many biggest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru reveals the director at his most compassionate—affirming life by means of an exploration of demise. Takashi Shimura superbly portrays Kanji Watanabe, an growing old bureaucrat with abdomen most cancers who’s impelled to seek out that means in his remaining days. Introduced in a radically conceived twohalf construction and shot with a perceptive, humanistic readability of imaginative and prescient, Ikiru is a multifaceted take a look at what it means to be alive.
Japan, 1952, 143 min
“Yojimbo“ – New 4K Restoration
The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually beautiful and darkly comedian Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a variety battle between two evil clans to his personal benefit. Remade twice, by Sergio Leone and Walter Hill, this exhilarating genre-twister stays one of the influential and entertaining movies of all time.
Japan, 1961, 110 min
“Sanjuro“ – New 4K Restoration
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to good comedian impact in Akira Kurosawa’s tightly paced, superbly composed Sanjuro. On this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of younger warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and within the course of turns their picture of a “correct” samurai on its ear. Much less brazen in tone than its predecessor however equally entertaining, this basic character’s return is a masterpiece in its personal proper.
Japan, 1962, 95 min
“Seven Samurai“ – 4K Restoration
Probably the most thrilling film epics of all time, SEVEN SAMURAI tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose determined inhabitants rent the eponymous warriors to guard them from invading bandits. This three-hour journey from Akira Kurosawa—that includes legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and leisure, delicate human feelings and relentless motion, right into a wealthy, evocative, and unforgettable story of braveness and hope.
Japan, 1954, 207 min
“Rashomon“ – 2K Restoration
A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the character of reality and the that means of justice, Rashomon is broadly thought-about one of many biggest movies ever made. 4 individuals give totally different accounts of a person’s homicide and the rape of his spouse, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with placing imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and worldwide sensation revolutionized movie language and launched Japanese cinema—and a commanding new star by the title of Toshiro Mifune—to the Western world.
Japan, 1950, 88 min