Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1945 • Japan
The fourth film from Akira Kurosawa is based on a legendary twelfth-century incident in which the lord Yoshitsune and a group of samurai retainers dressed as monks in order to pass through a dangerous enemy checkpoint. The story was dramatized for centuries in Noh and Kabuki Theater, and here it becomes one of the director's most riveting early films.
Up Next in Directed by Akira Kurosawa
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Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1945 • Japan
Kurosawa's first film was such a success that the studio leaned on the director to make a sequel. The result is a hugely entertaining adventure, reuniting most of the major players from the original and featuring a two-part narrative in which Sanshiro fi...
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No Regrets for Our Youth
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1946 • Japan
In Akira Kurosawa's first film after the end of World War II, future beloved Ozu regular Setsuko Hara gives an astonishing performance as Yukie, the only female protagonist in Kurosawa's body of work and one of his strongest heroes. Transforming hersel...
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One Wonderful Sunday
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1947 • Japan
Yuzo and his fiancée Masako spend their Sunday afternoon together, trying to have a good time on just thirty-five yen. They manage to have many small adventures, especially because Masako's optimism and belief in dreams is able to lift Yuzo from his real...