Bill Hader on Akira Kurosawa

Bill Hader reacts to the films of Akira Kurosawa, including Yojimbo, High and Low, Stray Dog, and Ikiru.

Sources: The Movies That Made Me hosted by Josh Olson & Joe Dante, Criterion
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[bchearne]

Kurosawa is like Shakespeare, his work is both high-art and thoroughly entertaining

[JNathanielBerke]

So cool Bill mentioned "Stray Dog" - one of the first Kurosawa films I saw. Now I own every film and every book about The Master.

[afernandezafaf]

Ikiru is one of my favorite Kurosawa films. It is so emotional and layered. Bill Hader's insight is so spot on with it. Every time I watch it, I'm moved to tears.

Ran might be my favorite, but it is so impossible to pick just one. Everything about Ran is so large and dominating.

Kurosawa was the master and every modern filmmaker is his student

[azulsimmons]

Ikiru is an awesome movie. I had no idea what to expect when I first viewed it. At the end I was in awe Kurosawa took this very small story and turned it into something epic. A human being wanting some sense of purpose and to accomplish something that made himself feel like he made a difference before he passed.

[CJStew]

Just want to say I appreciate you cutting up these videos—I could listen to Bill Hader talk about his favorite movies all day.

[VCT]

Ran, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Throne of Blood... What a great filmmaker.

[ShinGallon]

Yojimbo is not only my favorite Kurosawa film, it's my favorite film, period. My favorite Mifune performance as well. One thing I love in it is how it's got these incredibly violent scenes but the violence isn't glamorized in any way. The way Kurosawa shot them it's almost like a documentary, as if he were filming actual samurai killing each other. Masterful, utterly masterful.

[Bluechief]

Rashomon and Hidden Fortress are a must watch. Hidden Fortress being the actual inspiration for Star Wars. Rashomon was the first movie where viewers had to think whether each character's retelling of a mutual story was a lie for their own benefit. It created a whole genre.

[fuiers]

Kagemusha, High & Low and The Bad Sleep Well are my favorite Kurosawa films. I could see that Bong Joong-Ho have taken so much influence on Kurosawa. Memories of Murder and Parasite have so much in common with High & Low

[christopherpaul]

High and Low is my personal favorite. But they are all so amazing. I think it's about time to rewatch his movies.

[morpheusdorpheusorpheus]

Sanjuro (sequel to Yojimbo), Ikiru, Red Beard, Dersu Uzala (inspiration for Yoda) and The Quiet Duel are my favorite Kurosawa movies but if you're a fan of cinema at all it's an entire film school to just watch everything from Drunken Angel (1948) to Ran (1985). Everything you could ever learn about cinematography, contrast, composition, blocking, efficient story structure, creative editing and acting from the theatrical to the subtle can be learned pretty comprehensively by doing so, not to mention seeing the influence it had on some of your favorite directors

[forgetfulstranger]

The core of the artistry of Kurosawa is not the beautiful shots and the movement of the scenes and the editing, its the humanity of the stories.

[De_liebste_un_beste_Mensch]

Ran, High & Low, Seven Samurai... Only to name a few (imo his best works)
Just name one director who is capable of achieving this insane quality movie after movie. You actually can't, there is none (sorry Marty).
He did so much for movies you can't praise him enough.
Kurosawa was larger than life and the greatest film director of all time. Even the best directors who are still alive acknowledge this. There's no room for discussion.

[pachucodreams]

I was grateful I had the chance to see Ikiru and a few other films at the stanford theater during a Kurosawa retrospective in 2020 3 times and by the 3rd I was weeping uncontrollably. I didn't think the film affected me that much but something about the 3rd time and its unbearable humanity hit hard at that time. Never had an experience like that since.

[mshahnazi]

Kurosawa-San was one of the best ever movie makers of all time.
Two of his movies that were made later on into westerns, The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurais) and Fist Full of Dollars (Yojimbo) became legendary.

[emceeunderdogrising]

He's my favorite director. Every shot he places is always in the perfect spot. In every movie he ever made. It's so tough to say which is my favorite. Seven Samurai was so groundbreaking. But Ran really was the culmination of his experience with historical pieces. The way he wrapped up Shakespeare and made it purely his own was amazing. I highly suggest that film.

[HenryMulligan]

My favorite element of Stray Dog is the heatwave used as a means for each actor to display his/her personality in a very efficient and tangible manner. And the use of the song Bengawan Solo. Oh yea and everything else about the movie.

[williamgregory]

Bill Hader and Patton Oswalt need to start a movie podcast where they just talk about movies nonstop. They’d probably be the next Siskel & Ebert.

[billybussey]

I must watch Ikiru and Stray Dog right now.

[MangetsuSAMURAI]

Fun fact: my grandma was a studio actress for Toho back in the day, and she shows up in this movie as the lady who gives the piano player a beer and then storms off when he ignores her for the woman dancing.