Kurosawa Films Quotes & Sayings

You see an absolutely brilliant film later, as an adult, and you walk out thinking about what to have for dinner. Whereas something like Jaws winds up having a huge effect on me. If only my parents had been taking me to Kurosawa films when I was eight, but no. — Ann Patchett

My dad was very much a struggling actor and spent more of his life as a postman, as a member of a tarmac firm, as a van driver. — Kate Winslet

When I met Akira Kurosawa in Japan, one question he asked me was, "How did you actually make the children act the way they do? I do have children in my films but I find that I reduce and reduce their presence until I have to get rid of them because there's no way that I can direct them." — Abbas Kiarostami

I am inspired by both Japanese Samurai films, in particular the films of Kurosawa, and how they share the spirit of American Westerns, with the influences running in both directions, and including the 'Spaghetti Westerns' and films of Sam Peckinpah. — Ann Nocenti

Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers. — Dave Ramsey

In the neighborhood around Waseda, there were all these movie theaters, so every morning I left the house and watched movies instead of going to class. The experience of encountering films then is one of my greatest memories. Before that I'd never paid any attention to directors, but there I was taking a crash course in Ozu, Kurosawa, Naruse, Truffaut, Renoir, Fellini. Because I've always been naturally a more introspective person, I was more interested in becoming a screenwriter than a director. — Hirokazu Koreeda

The films an audience really enjoys are the ones that were enjoyable in the making. 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. A film made in this spirit reveals the hearts of the crew. — Akira Kurosawa

If you want to make films, you'll watch Kurosawa. If you want to play a violin, you listen to Seghetti. Same with somebody who has the ambition to play in the NBA. I watch a basketball game; I enjoy it. Somebody who really wants to learn to play is studying whatever is most magnificent that's going on out there. — Robert Pinsky

In Kurosawa's films, the tragedy is that this strong man was crushed by corruption or mistrust at the end. — Claire Denis

Being a kid growing up with Kurosawa films and watching Sergio Leone movies just made me love what it could do to you, and how it could influence you - make you dream. — Antoine Fuqua

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

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

On the subject of Osama bin Laden ... we will track him down. We will capture him. We will bring him to justice, and I will follow him to the gates of hell. — John McCain

The characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they've been given. I believe you must live honestly and develop your abilities to the full. People who do this are the real heroes. — Akira Kurosawa

If it doesn't take your breath away, make a bigger wish. — Stephen Richards

I think Kurosawa was one of the first storytelling geniuses who began to change the narrative structure of films. — Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Biographies are a little like marriages: You only have room in your life for one or two. — Phyllis Rose

And the passiveness, you know, the apathy, well, that's not responsible citizenship. When I'm asked, why am I an activist, I say, well that's the rent that I pay for living on this planet, okay? — Ray McGovern

Of all my films, people wrote to me most about this one ... 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. He is still my favourite author, and he is the one - I still think - who writes most honestly about human existence. — Akira Kurosawa

Do you know how hard it was to let you work tonight? To know that I can't touch you or kiss you or even watch you?" he pants against my open mouth. "All I could think about was what you look like naked and the little noises you make when I stick my tongue inside you. — M. Leighton

The movies that made me want to make movies were action movies, and thrillers, and Kurosawa films, you know, where you have an opportunity every day to shoot it in an unusual way. I was looking for something like that. — Lawrence Kasdan

As a kid, I fell in love with the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon.' I don't know why. I liked the werewolf, Gamera, The Hulk, but I loved the Creature. — Will McIntosh

For the casual viewer, Kurosawa's films can be an exercise in endurance. — Jerry White