I had wanted to make The Idiot long before Rashomon. Since I was little I’ve liked Russian literature, but I find that I like Dostoevsky the best and had long thought that this book would make a wonderful film.
AKIRA KUROSAWAIt’s easy to explain the psychological state of a character at a particular moment, but it’s very difficult to describe it through the delicate nuances of action and dialogue. Yet it is not impossible.
More Akira Kurosawa Quotes
-
-
Man is a genius when he dreams. Dream what you are capable of. The harder you dream it, the sooner it will come true.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
I 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 KUROSAWA -
It’s easy to explain the psychological state of a character at a particular moment, but it’s very difficult to describe it through the delicate nuances of action and dialogue. Yet it is not impossible.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
I don’t feel out of place. I think of earth as my home. If everyone thought this way, people might notice just how foolish international friction is and the would be put an end to it.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
The great appeal of film is its relatability.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
One of techniques of modern art is simplification, and that I must therefore simplify this film.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
During 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 KUROSAWA -
There is something that might be called cinematic beauty. It can only be expressed in a film, and it must be present for that film to be a moving work.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
I am not a special person, I am not especially strong; I am not especially gifted.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
Take me, subtract movies, and you get zero.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
I like unformed characters. This may be because, no matter how old I get, I am still unformed myself.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
The films an audience really enjoys are the ones that were enjoyable in the making.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
People today have forgotten they’re really just a part of nature. Yet, they destroy the nature on which our lives depend. They always think they can make something better…
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
The terrible thing is that people who are madmen in private may wear a totally bland and innocent expression in public.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
The root of any film project for me is this inner need to express something.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
Adding explanation to the descriptive passages of a screenplay is the most dangerous trap you can fall into.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
Yet 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 KUROSAWA -
The truth is in the mystery.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
He is still my favourite author, and he is the one – I still think – who writes most honestly about human existence.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
To be an artist means never to avert one’s eyes.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
but ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal. People who delight in torturing defenseless children or tiny creatures are in reality insane.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
I have no idea who the characters are, later, their personalities take over anything I might want to do.
AKIRA KUROSAWA -
While the cameras are rolling, I rarely look directly at the actors, but focus my gaze somewhere else.
AKIRA KUROSAWA