- For me, film-making combines everything. That's the reason I've made cinema my life's work. In films painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.
- Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.
- The characters in my films try to live honestly and make the most of the lives they've been given. I believe you must live honestly and develop your abilities to the full. People who do this are the real heroes.
- With a good script, a good director can produce a masterpiece. With the same script, a mediocre director can produce a passable film. But with a bad script even a good director can't possibly make a good film. For truly cinematic expression, the camera and the microphone must be able to cross both fire and water. The script must be something that has the power to do this.
- In all my films, there's three or maybe four minutes of real cinema.
- So long as my pictures are hits I can afford to be unreasonable. Of course, if they start losing money then I've made some enemies.
- It is quite enough if a human being has but one field where he is strong. If a human being were strong in every field it wouldn't be nice for other people, would it?
- Good Westerns are liked by everyone. Since humans are weak, they want to see good people and great heroes. Westerns have been done over and over again, and in the process a kind of grammar has evolved. I have learned much from this grammar of the Western.
- I like unformed characters. This may be because, no matter how old I get, I am still unformed myself.
- When I start on a film I always have a number of ideas about my project. Then one of them begins to germinate, to sprout, and it is this which I take and work with. My films come from my need to say a particular thing at a particular time. The beginning of any film for me is this need to express something. It is to make it nurture and grow that I write my script- it is directing it that makes my tree blossom and bear fruit.
- Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing.
- To have not seen the films of Satyajit Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun.
- Being an artist means not having to avert one's eyes.
- [on Mikio Naruse] Naruse's Method consists of staging one very brief shot after another; but when we look at them placed end-to-end in the finished film, they give the impression of one long single take. The fluidity is so perfect that the cuts are invisible . . . A flow of shots that looks calm and ordinary at first glance reveals itself to be like a deep river with a quiet surface disguising a fast-raging current.
- I believe that what pertains only to myself is not interesting enough to record and leave behind me. More important is my conviction that if I were to write anything at all, it would turn out to be nothing but talk about movies. In other words, take 'myself', subtract 'movies', and the result is zero.
- {on witnessing the aftermath of the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, and the ensuing riots] Amid the expanse of nauseating redness lay every kind of corpse imaginable. I saw corpses charred black, half-burned corpses, corpses in gutters, corpses floating in rivers, corpses piled up on bridges, corpses blocking off a whole street at an intersection, and every manner of death possible to human beings displayed by corpses. When I involuntarily looked away, my brother scolded me, "Akira, look carefully now". Looking back on that excursion now, I realize that it must have been horrifying for my brother, too. It had been an expedition to conquer fear.
- [on Toshirô Mifune] Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three. The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all his quickness, he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities.
- [on his discovery of Toshirô Mifune during casting of Yoidore tenshi (1948)] I am a person who is rarely impressed by actors, but in the case of Mifune, I was completely overwhelmed.
- [on Kenji Mizoguchi] Of all Japanese directors I have the greatest respect for him. . . . With the death of Mizoguchi, Japanese film lost its truest creator.
- I begin rehearsals in the actors' dressing room. First I have them repeat their lines, and gradually proceed to the movements. But this is done with costumes and makeup on from the beginning; then we repeat everything on the set. The thoroughness of the rehearsals makes the actual shooting every time very short. We don't rehearse just the actors, but every part of every scene - the camera movements, the lightning, everything.
- The role of a director encompasses the coaching of the actors, the cinematography, the sound recording, the art direction, the music, the editing and the dubbing and sound-mixing. Altough these can be thought of as separate occupations, I do not regard them as independent. I see them all melting together under the heading of direction
- Unless you know every aspect and phase of the film-production process, you can't be a movie director. A movie director is like a front-line commanding officer. He needs a thorough knowledge of every branch of the service, and if he doesn't command each division, he cannot command the whole.
- A film director has to convince a great number of people to follow him and work with him. I often say, although I am certainly not a militarist, that if you compare the production unit to an army, the script is the battle flag and the director is the commander of the front line. From the moment production begins to the moment it ends, there is no telling what will happen. The director must be able to respond to any situation, and he must have the leadership ability to make the whole unit go along with his responses.
- Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied... That's why they can keep on working. I've been able to work for so long because I think next time, I'll make something good.
- A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
- [on watching Điều Tạo Nên Con Người (1972) with Andrei Tarkovsky] Tarkovsky was sitting in the corner of the screening room watching the film with me, but he got up as soon as the film was over and looked at me with a shy smile. I said to him, "It's very good. It's a frightening movie." He seemed embarrassed but smiled happily. Then the two of us went to a film union restaurant and toasted with vodka. Tarkovsky, who does not usually drink, got completely drunk and cut off the speakers at the restaurant, then began singing the theme of Bảy Võ Sĩ Đạo (1954) at the top of his voice. I joined in, eager to keep up. At that moment, I was very happy to be on Earth.
- Never having seen a Satyajit Ray film is like never having seen the sun or the moon.
- Civilization has poisoned humanity. The backbone of a good film is the filmmaker's humane character. If we are not honest to ourselves, we will never be able to make decent films. Actually, it doesn't mean that if a country is well off, it is necessarily capable of making good films. A person, who is able to make good films, knows how to find his or her way into the viewer's heart; such as John Ford, Jean Renoir, John Huston, Federico Fellini, Theodoros Angelopoulos, Sidney Lumet... I've met every one of them and have spoken to them. Just as they have exceptional works, they were also very distinguished in character. It was very easy to establish a cordial relationship with them, which is quite important. The people that are depicted on screen in their films are not predetermined characters. They express human problems in a natural way. That's why their films are fascinating. Sidney Lumet is a close friend of mine, and whenever we sit down to talk we never discuss cinema. We generally discuss trivial matters, social problems or our hobbies, and we quite enjoy it. Reporters always ask me what the content of my film is and I tell them that there is no such a thing. I say ordinary things. A film is not supposed to be a lecture.
- A film must be made with the heart, not the mind. I think today's young filmmakers have forgotten this and instead they make films through their calculations. That is why Japanese films no longer have an audience. In all honesty, films must be made to target the hearts. During the time of Yasujirô Ozu, my mentor, and also in my time, no filmmaker made films based on theory and calculation, and that was why Japan's cinema was capable of shaping its golden years. Young filmmakers use techniques to humiliate the audience. This is wrong. We must serve cinema and make a film that would stimulate the audience. Ultimately, the aim should be to make an artistic film. That's simple, isn't it?
- Regarding American cinema, I could say that much better films were made in the past. Today's American cinema provides the wrong service to the audience. Violence and car crashes are often seen. What pleasure is there in watching such scenes? Old American films expressed human problems quite well, but these days the American cinema has problems. There is no doubt that a film like Công Viên Kỷ Jura (1993) is interesting, but there used to be more impressive films in the past. In contrast, films, like those of Abbas Kiarostami, touch the heart and are very beautiful. These new sci-fi, action films, are good but they are not cinema.
- In Japan, the society progressed through a rapid growth, which was an unnatural process. Daily life lost its natural course. To live, it became necessary to work beyond one's abilities. That's why instability among people has increased.
- The first film entitled Ikimono no kiroku (1955) and another film Hachigatsu no rapusodî (1991) were made about the atomic bomb. An episode of the film Yume (1990) is devoted to this topic also. Concern about the atomic bomb is very important. For example, due to the shortage of energy, nuclear energy is used, but they don't know exactly how to dispose of the nuclear waste. So I see the hazards we face. If there is really a lack of energy, then we can try to conserve energy. In Tokyo, they use electricity like there is no tomorrow. This is not necessary. If only we could take the expertise of power plant employees and direct it towards creating energy using wind or natural sources. I believe that nuclear waste disposal is an extremely important issue.
- In a mad world, only the mad are sane.
- [on Shogun (1980)] My advice to the author: study Japanese history a little harder.
- [on Gojira (1954) and Ishirô Honda] Mr. Honda is really an earnest, nice fellow. Imagine, e.g., what you would do if a monster like Godzilla emerges! Normally one would forget and abandon his duty and simply flee! You won't? But the personnel in this movie properly and sincerely lead people, don't they? That is typical of Mr. Honda. I love it. Well, he was my best friend. As you know, I am a pretty obstinate and demanding person. Thus, that I never had problems with him was due to his good personality.
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