Film Talk: Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa is known primarily for his epic samurai films, but he also worked ably with contemporary material, as in the remarkable thriller Stray Dog, set against the backdrop of Occupation-era Japan.

In this illustrated talk, Alexander Jacoby will set the film in its historical context, showing how it dramatises the situation of a recently defeated nation, and in the context of Kurosawa’s wider career, exploring the way in which the director’s other contemporary dramas and thrillers address issues relevant to the postwar Japanese experience.

Stray Dog
A film noir police thriller set in post-war Tokyo. A young detective’s desperate attempts to recover his stolen pistol which leads him into the depths of the city’s criminal underworld.