August 12, 1951:
If Godzilla was Japan’s resident star, then film director Akira Kurosawa was its genius. In the world of film, all the major countries had their filmmakers who made popular cinema into an art form. Most noteworthy in Japan was Kurosawa. On August 12, 1951, Kurosawa’s legacy would continue its ascent upwards. At the prestigious Venice Film Festival in Italy, the Golden Lion and stands as the event’s top honor. Kurosawa’s film, the masterpiece, Rashomon would become the first Japanese made film and only one of to win the award.
All Are Welcome
In contrast to the Academy Awards, every submission is eligible for the festival grand prize, the Golden Lion. American made films do not go up against foreign entries with the Academy. Furthermore, an American film, Jean Renoir’s The Southerner for United Artists in 1946, won the first Golden Lion. The most recent awarded was Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water. Kurosawa’s win was of great artistic importance to the country of Japan in 1951. Still recovering, as was the rest of the world, from the lunacy of WWII, Rashomon would help to usher in a better competition among countries.
Intellect over fighting.
Akira Kurosawa
Amidst the havoc that was Japan post-WWII, Akira Kurosawa would emerge as the poet laureate of the new Japan. He would construct a new, more Japanese-centric style for action films. According to BFI (British Film Institute):
“The enduring popularity of such titles lies in no small part to their open influence from Hollywood, particularly the westerns of directors such as John Ford. This in itself is reflected in the ease by which they’ve in turn established an action template so readily adapted by filmmakers from all over the world. Take a look at any recent historical epic, or indeed the Manichean battle scenes that comprise so much of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, and try to imagine how they might look in an alternate universe in which Kurosawa never existed.”
Furthermore, Hollywood would fall under Kurosawa’s influence. As a result of the impact his films made, adaptations of the Japanese master’s films began to appear. The two most notable being Seven Samurai, which director John Strugess turned into The Magnificent Seven.
According to Wikipedia:
Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers.
Hence, on August 12, 1951, a man named Akira Kurosawa pulled the curtain back. He opened the curtain and shone a light. It was a light into the soul of a one time enemy.
Consequently, to everyone’s amazement, it looked just like ours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP2MhghDal4
