Part of Akira Kurosawa: A Retrospective
A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director’s most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas’s STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (Mon, Aug 18). THE HIDDEN FORTRESS delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action and compassionate humanity.
Programmer’s Note: On Mon, Aug 18, see back-to-back screenings of THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (5:05pm) and STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (2:30pm, 8:00pm). Tickets sold separately.
“A bracing adventure in its own right — not a frivolous outlier from one of cinema’s most formative oeuvres, but rather a Cervantes-inflected delight that complicates and enriches Kurosawa’s signature humanism by exploring the value of morality in an amoral world…. Like all his films, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS flattened the hierarchy between high and low art, while dismantling the hierarchy between people. The film has been dismissed because it’s too much fun, but that’s exactly why it deserves to be mentioned alongside his other masterpieces.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire “THE HIDDEN FORTRESS is, above all, a roaring piece of entertainment, a Western-like samurai adventure set against the chaos of 16th-century Japan. It’s also more than that — but even if it wasn’t, why complain?... There’s upheaval and disorder in the world of THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, but also a prevailing sense that right and wrong can still be found in such a world.” —Keith Phipps, The Dissolve “THE HIDDEN FORTRESS represented Kurosawa's first venture into widescreen cinematography. (The CinemaScope process is referred to as ‘Toho-scope.’) He uses every millimeter of the frame, creating gorgeous compositions that stretch from one side of the screen to the other.” —James Berardinelli, ReelViews
