BC: You said earlier that all you are really capable
of doing is creating films, not explaining them or how they are
supposed to be made. And, of course, someone like me comes at films from
the opposite perspective. Could you say a bit more on this subject? AK: Critics take my work and say things about it
such as, “This scene in Kurosawa’s film means such-and-such.” But it’s
not true! I was not thinking of that at all! Really, my films are
created in a totally natural way; I just film them as I go along. They
may turn out to affect people in a certain way, but I don’t create films
by rationalizing my thoughts and then putting them on celluloid. My way
of creating, my style if you want to call it that, is something that I
was born with: it comes naturally. …
In sum, I don’t think the “messages” of my films are very obvious.
Rather, they are the end products of my reflection; my views are thus
implicit in any finished work because I, the creator, am a living,
thinking human being who lives now, in the present. I am not consciously
trying to teach a lesson or convey a particular message, to express any
philosophical or political views, since audiences don’t like that. They
are sensitive to such things, to such “sermons,” and rightly shrink
from them. People go to see films to enjoy themselves, and I think that I
have made them aware of certain problems without their having had to
learn about them so directly. …
BC: One can divide your films schematically into two categories: gendai-geki (modern film stories) and jidai-geki
(historical film-stories). Is this distinction connected to a precise
intention on your part in the formulation of a scenario and in the
filming of it?
AK: I myself do not perceive any difference. The only advantage of historical film stories, with the possible exception of Throne of Blood,
comes from their greater potential for spectacle. … For myself,
action-adventure is spectacle in the historical film story, whereas
adventure in a modern film story is more often of a metaphysical, moral,
and social kind.
What really interests me is the interior or exterior drama of a
person and how to represent that person through his particular drama. To
describe a person effectively, for instance, a social or a political
context is necessary. Moreover, I don’t think that one should depict
events of the present day in a coarse manner; the public is shocked if
it is plunged coarsely into contemporary reality. One can only make the
public accept such a reality through indirect means: the story of a
person living in this world. I would make a similar remark with regard
to your classification: it is somewhat schematic. Gendai-geki and jidai-geki
are different genres, but the subject always determines the form. And
there are subjects that one can treat more readily in the form of jidai-geki. BC: Like Rashomon, which some have called a “modern” film that has an “historical” context. AK: Yes. To repeat: I, Kurosawa, live in modern society. Thus it is normal that my “historical” films contain “modern” dimensions. BC: For you, isn’t Rashomon an “historical” film in the cinematic sense, too? AK: Yes, I think it is, and the historical reference
here is silent film. Since the advent of the talkies in the 1930s, I
felt at the time of Rashomon‘s conception, we had forgotten what was so wonderful about the old silent movies. … Rashomon would be my testing ground, the place where I could apply the ideas and desires growing out of my silent-film research. (From: Akira Kurosawa: Interviews, 174-176)
Additionally, the 1993 interview with Fred Marshall includes the following comment:
Q: How do you go about expressing the Truth in your films? A: I must find a way to put it across, but it’s
difficult to raise money by speaking the truth to your contemporaries.
It’s easier to depict Japanese history and express its cultural
values. I have to emphasize, however, that it is not my intention to
impose my specific philosophy on a film. If I had a message or thesis to
express, I could do so in words, and it would be much cheaper and
quicker to paint those words on a sign and carry it around for all to
see. (From: Akira Kurosawa: Interviews, 184-185)
