Akira Kurosawa's life and films barely got the full time allotted him in the documentary that came out a year after this one, titled just Kurosawa, and Cox's film is even shorter, but at least his doc the Last Emperor gets a couple of interesting bits amid the usual scraps of facts. For someone who's only seen Rashomon or Seven Samurai from Kurosawa, or even nothing at all, the film proves to be a suitable form of speed-reading, in a sense, cause you get to know all the essentials without the hang-ups of going into all of the little details one shallow enough might not care for.
Barely scrapes the surface of what Kurosawa and his films were about. Despite some interesting insights by Japanese film expert Donald Richie and a story by director Arturo Ripstein, all the interviews seem hurried and incomplete.
From a talented film maker comes a very respectable and concise documentary on one of the "Masters." In 50 minutes, Cox is able to paint a beautiful portrait of this Master's career and family life, and his body of work.
