Winds From The East

Kurosawa had written a favorable commentary in the publicity leaflet that accompanies the public screening in Tokyo of Where is the friend’s Home? And Life Goes On..., “I believe the films of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami are extraordinary. Words cannot relate my feelings. I suggest you his films; and then you will see what I mean. Satyajit Ray passed away and I got very upset. But having watched Kiarostami’s films, I thank god because now we have a good substitute for him. Recently, in the face of the decline of cinema in developed countries, nations with little experience in the area of filmmaking have produced valuable works; and I have to think about this more seriously after seeing Kiarostami’s films. “An unprecedented comment by Kurosawa who seldom talks about other director’s films. In fact, during the past 43 years he has only about the works of Andrei Tarkvosky, John Cassavetes, Satyajit Ray and now Abbas Kiarostami. Late in September 1993, Abbas Kiarostami and I held a ...

I was working on a short film when my eyes fell on this book. Even though I was not well acquainted with Kurosawa san films, as my attention mainly lay on Yasujiri Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi, however, something about this book attracted me a lot, a certain kind of force. Eventually few days later my girlfriend (a big time cinephile) gifted me this book, thanks to her, my interest in Kurosawa san then grew. Everyday after the pack up, the only thing I ever looked forward to was reading the book. The day I completed the book I felt very close to the maestro, as if he gave us a sneak peak to his life. The book not only gave a glimpse of the great director formidable years, but provided a rare account on his aesthetical and his cinematic upbringing. The loss of his brother, the fencing classes, how Toshire Mifune got his break and much more, before keeping down the pen with the release of Rashoman. One of the interesting elements I read in the book was how much Kurosawa san put an e...