“Can movement tell a story? Sure, if you’re as gifted as Akira Kurosawa. More than any other filmmaker, he had an innate understanding of movement and how to capture it on screen. Join me today in studying the master, possibly the greatest composer of motion in film history.” Lofty words from Tony Zhou at YouTube channel Every Frame a Painting. In this new 8.5 minute analysis of master filmmaker Kurosawa’s work, Zhou breaks down the five primary types of movement Kurosawa employs, and then compares his classics to “flat” modern blockbusters.
“A Kurosawa film moves like no one else’s,” the video professes. “Each one is a master class in different types of motion, and also ways to combine them.” So what movements comprise the quintet of motion in a Kurosawa picture Tony discerns?
First the study explores the movement of nature. As Tony astutely points out, few Kurosawa scenes take place without the backdrop of some mobile element. Be it rain, snow or wind, even when characters on...
