The role of the artist is to not look away.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe role of the artist is to not look away.
AKIRA KUROSAWAPage 61: No matter where I go in the world, although I can’t speak any foreign language.
AKIRA KUROSAWATo be an artist means to search, to find and look at these realities. To be an artist means never to look away.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they’ve been given.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe root of any film project for me is this inner need to express something.
AKIRA KUROSAWADuring the shooting of a scene the director’s eye has to catch even the minutest detail. But this does not mean glaring concentratedly at the set.
AKIRA KUROSAWAI have no idea who the characters are, later, their personalities take over anything I might want to do.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe films an audience really enjoys are the ones that were enjoyable in the making.
AKIRA KUROSAWAI suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can’t people be happier together?
AKIRA KUROSAWAI believe this is what the medieval Noh playwright and theorist Zeami meant by ‘watching with a detached gaze.’
AKIRA KUROSAWAYet pleasure in the work can’t be achieved unless you know you have put all of your strength into it and have done your best to make it come alive.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe great appeal of film is its relatability.
AKIRA KUROSAWAOne of techniques of modern art is simplification, and that I must therefore simplify this film.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe truth is in the mystery.
AKIRA KUROSAWAI end up writing not from my own will, but from theirs-they come alive as I write and make me do things that I couldn’t have planned.
AKIRA KUROSAWAOf all my films, people wrote to me most about this one.
AKIRA KUROSAWA