It is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.
AKIRA KUROSAWAIt is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.
AKIRA KUROSAWAI 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 KUROSAWAThere 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 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 KUROSAWAHuman beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing.
AKIRA KUROSAWAMan is a genius when he is dreaming.
AKIRA KUROSAWAAlthough human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe role of the artist is to not look away.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThe terrible thing is that people who are madmen in private may wear a totally bland and innocent expression in public.
AKIRA KUROSAWAI can’t afford to hate anyone. I don’t have that kind of time.
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 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 KUROSAWAPage 61: No matter where I go in the world, although I can’t speak any foreign language.
AKIRA KUROSAWAWith a good script a good director can produce a masterpiece; with the same script a mediocre director can make a passable film. But with a bad script even a good director can’t possibly make a good film.
AKIRA KUROSAWAThere is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.
AKIRA KUROSAWAHe is still my favourite author, and he is the one – I still think – who writes most honestly about human existence.
AKIRA KUROSAWA