mdblist.com logo The Best Akira Kurosawa Directed Movies


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poster
Kanopy
92
8.6
/396772/
84
/5657/
85
/4042/
4.6
/383477/
100
/103/
97
/6724/
98
/7/
cc age 13+

Seven Samurai (1954)
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
poster
Kanopy
90
8.3
/100177/
82
/1668/
83
/1260/
4.5
/169556/
98
/57/
96
/1465/
92
/20/
cc age 11+

Ikiru (1952)
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
poster
Criterion Channel
90
8.2
/141034/
80
/2326/
81
/1605/
4.3
/162000/
96
/51/
96
/2271/
93
/17/

Yojimbo (1961)
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
poster
Kanopy
90
8.2
/148761/
80
/2489/
80
/1710/
4.5
/217941/
96
/94/
95
/2190/
97
/21/

Ran (1985)
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
poster
Kanopy
89
8.1
/193687/
79
/3134/
80
/2417/
4.2
/259677/
98
/64/
93
/2665/
98
/18/
cc age 15+

Rashomon (1950)
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
poster
Kanopy
89
8.4
/68966/
84
/1431/
83
/1052/
4.6
/179215/
97
/69/
95
/554/
90
/17/

High and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
poster
Amazon Prime Video
86
8.3
/22963/
81
/376/
81
/389/
4.4
/29613/
73
/15/
95
/388/
90
/10/

Red Beard (1965)
Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
poster
Criterion Channel
85
8.0
/45065/
79
/834/
79
/665/
4.1
/60355/
96
/52/
92
/830/
89
/16/

The Hidden Fortress (1958)
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
poster
Criterion Channel
85
8.0
/43712/
80
/892/
80
/682/
4.1
/59774/
100
/29/
95
/760/
83
/15/

Sanjuro (1962)
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
poster
Criterion Channel
85
8.0
/59337/
78
/1058/
79
/940/
4.3
/103590/
96
/49/
93
/1068/

Throne of Blood (1957)
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
poster
85
7.9
/40424/
77
/737/
78
/707/
4.2
/43692/
89
/27/
92
/710/
84
/15/

Kagemusha (1980)
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
poster
Criterion Channel
82
8.2
/35810/
79
/595/
79
/592/
4.3
/35250/
73
/15/
94
/381/

Dersu Uzala (1975)
A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.
poster
fuboTV
83
81
7.8
/20429/
76
/366/
75
/336/
4.0
/35861/
100
/21/
91
/405/

Stray Dog (1949)
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
poster
Criterion Channel
84
80
8.0
/15245/
78
/263/
77
/271/
4.1
/23000/
100
/19/
91
/265/

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
poster
Criterion Channel
81
79
7.6
/14426/
75
/315/
76
/294/
3.9
/28156/
94
/16/
89
/222/

Drunken Angel (1948)
In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
poster
Kanopy
78
7.7
/31889/
77
/658/
77
/523/
4.2
/89237/
67
/30/
86
/799/

Dreams (1990)
Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on childhood, art, mortality, and humanity’s uneasy bond with nature.
poster
Criterion Channel
77
7.3
/6601/
73
/110/
73
/127/
3.8
/6640/
88
/16/
81
/112/
79
/11/

Madadayo (1993)
In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.
poster
Criterion Channel
73
7.3
/8179/
69
/114/
70
/144/
3.7
/8905/
73
/11/
77
/85/

Dodes'ka-den (1970)
On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.
poster
71
7.2
/8098/
74
/123/
72
/144/
3.7
/7644/
60
/15/
73
/111/

Rhapsody in August (1991)
An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
poster
Criterion Channel
75
66
7.1
/4358/
67
/74/
69
/82/
3.6
/7212/
100
/6/
72
/45/

No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
After her anti-fascist professor father is dismissed, Yukie navigates love, political repression, and wartime upheaval—ultimately forging her own path in pre- and post-WWII Japan.
poster
Criterion Channel
76
66
7.2
/4049/
73
/79/
72
/88/
3.8
/7470/
88
/8/
75
/49/

One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Two broke sweethearts wander war-scarred Tokyo on a single Sunday, stretching 35 yen as they chase housing, small pleasures, and a little hope.
poster
Criterion Channel
74
66
7.2
/6343/
70
/102/
71
/138/
3.6
/6558/
83
/6/
79
/84/

The Lower Depths (1957)
Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.
poster
Criterion Channel
73
65
7.3
/6022/
71
/101/
73
/116/
3.7
/9090/
73
/11/
76
/59/

I Live in Fear (1955)
An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.
poster
Criterion Channel
72
64
7.2
/5109/
67
/82/
69
/91/
3.5
/7202/
86
/7/
72
/73/

Scandal (1950)
A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
poster
72
61
7.3
/4288/
72
/75/
73
/87/
3.6
/6099/
73
/781/

The Quiet Duel (1949)
A young army surgeon, Kyoji Fujisaki, accidentally contracts syphilis during a WWII field operation. Back at his father’s clinic, he treats himself in secret and breaks off his engagement rather than risk his fiancée’s future, even as he confronts the irresponsible patient who infected him—testing his ethics, pride, and capacity for sacrifice.
poster
Criterion Channel
68
61
6.7
/6111/
63
/115/
65
/134/
3.4
/11213/
80
/5/
65
/77/

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
A hotheaded youth in 1880s Meiji Japan apprentices to judo master Shōgorō Yano, trading brute jujutsu bravado for discipline and humility. As Sanshirō matures, he proves judo’s spirit against old-guard challengers—including a deadly duel—while falling for his vanquished opponent’s daughter. Based on the novel by Tsuneo Tomita, son of Tomita Tsunejirō, the earliest disciple of judo.
poster
Criterion Channel
68
60
7.1
/6101/
66
/93/
70
/121/
3.6
/8000/
60
/10/
73
/90/

The Idiot (1951)
A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.
poster
Criterion Channel
68
59
6.7
/4767/
67
/87/
67
/95/
3.3
/7677/
86
/7/
58
/42/

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952)
A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.
poster
Criterion Channel
57
43
6.0
/3022/
51
/50/
61
/56/
2.9
/4786/

Sanshiro Sugata Part Two (1945)
A few years after his breakthrough, Sanshiro resumes his path to judo mastery—testing his discipline against an American prizefighter and later facing vengeful karate brothers. As rival schools and public spectacle push him toward violence, he must reconcile strength with restraint and the true spirit of his art.
poster
Criterion Channel
49
37
5.6
/2711/
50
/57/
55
/53/
2.7
/4869/
28
/264/

The Most Beautiful (1944)
Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve the country.” Led by Tsuru Watanabe, they fight fatigue and setbacks to keep their line moving—even when duty collides with grief.
poster
57
12
5.9
/196/
46
/6/
59
/7/
3.2
/804/

Song of the Horse (1970)
Akira Kurosawa’s only television work—a lyrical documentary that follows a thoroughbred from birth and training to the Japan Derby—framed by a grandfather’s narration to his grandson about the fading bond between people and horses.
poster
82
?
6.5
/219/
100
/1/

Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946)
In postwar Japan, two sisters—a film studio script girl and a revue dancer—become swept up in the growing labor movement when workers around them strike for better conditions. As their conservative father opposes their activism, his own dismissal forces him to confront the realities of class struggle and join their fight for a fairer future. Now considered a lost film, Those Who Make Tomorrow was produced by Toho to promote unionization during Japan’s Allied Occupation.


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