This retrospective pays homage to the most famous actor of Japanese cinema, Toshiro Mifune. Mifune was born in then Japanese-occupied China and was twenty when he arrived in Japan in 1940. During WWII, he worked as an Imperial Air Force photographer in charge of taking portraits of kamikaze soldiers. With ambitions of becoming an assistant cameraman, he applied to the powerful Toho Co., but after winning the “New Faces” contest, the casting department called upon him... Mifune would meet Akira Kurosawa a few months later. In an exultant sixteen films, including some of the maestro’s finest masterpieces such as Drunken Angel, Rashomon, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, the collaboration between Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune became the stuff of legends. The filmmaker relied on the actor's physical presence to bring his heroes to life, while exploiting his comedic potential.
In 1963, bolstered by the worldwide fame he had acquired thanks to Rashomon, Mifune founded his own production company, directed his one and only film, and embarked upon an international career to star in works by Terence Young or John Frankenheimer. In the movie Hell in the Pacific, a masterpiece by John Boorman, Mifune gave an outstanding performance opposite Lee Marvin. Mifune’s signature character of the vagabond warrior in Yojimbo inspired the figure of the lone cowboy, notably incarnated by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars.
Our thanks to Carlotta Films, Park Circus, Potemkine Films, Studiocanal, The Jokers Films, Toho, Wild Side/Wild Bunch.
Drunken Angel by Akira Kurosawa (Yoidore tenshi, 1948, 1h38)
The birth of a friendship tinged with violence between a sick gangster and an alcoholic doctor... The first collaboration by Toshiro Mifune with Akira Kurosawa, the former would become that latter’s favourite actor, combining the realism of film noir with the symbolism of a personal œuvre.
Lumière Terreaux Sun 13 4:30pm | Institut Lumière (Villa) Tue 15 2pm | Institut Lumière (Villa) Tue 15 2:15pm| Comœdia Wed 16 10:45am | UGC Astoria Thu 17 8:15pm
Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa (1950, 1h28)
Three men tell three versions of the same story - the rape of a young woman... Each protagonist presents a point of view, that contrasts greatly to the others’. Where does the truth lie? This Oscar-winning epic classic introduced the Japanese filmmaker to the world.
UGC Confluence Sun 13 4:30pm | UGC Astoria Mon 14 1:30pm | Comœdia Tue 15 2:15pm | Pierre-Bénite Thu 17 8:30pm | Lumière Terreaux Sun 20 2pm
The Life of Oharu by Kenji Mizoguchi (Saikaku ichidai onna, 1952, 2h17)
Oharu falls in love with a man of inferior rank (Toshiro Mifune). Through a chain of circumstances, her life will become filled with sadness and humiliation... A deeply moving portrait of a woman mistreated over many years in the only collaboration between Mifune and Mizoguchi.
UGC Confluence Mon 14 11:15am | Pathé Bellecour Wed 16 4:15pm | Lumière Terreaux Thu 17 9:15pm | UGC Astoria Sun 20 11am
Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa (Shichinin no samurai, 1954, 3h27)
When a village recruits some samurai to protect itself from bandits, peasants and warriors get to know each other... A sword-fighting epic, a peasant saga, a drama and a truly hilarious comedy. A masterpiece!
Lumière Bellecour Sun 13 2pm | Pathé Bellecour Fri 18 7:45pm | UGC Astoria Sat 19 1:30pm | UGC Confluence Sun 20 5pm
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto by Hiroshi Inagaki (Miyamoto Musashi, 1954, 1h38)
In 1600, the young Takezo is held captive for three years by a Buddhist monk. He becomes a true samurai and goes by the name Miyamoto Musashi... A saga well served by the power and intensity of actor Toshiro Mifune!
Lumière Terreaux Tue 15 4:30pm | Comœdia Fri 18 5pm | Institut Lumière (Villa) Sat 19 7:45pm | Institut Lumière (Villa) Sat 19 8pm
The Rickshaw Man by Hiroshi Inagaki (Muhomatsu no issho, 1958, 1h44)
A rickshaw driver (Toshiro Mifune) rescues a little boy and falls in love with the child’s mother. Their class differences prevent him from revealing his feelings... A bittersweet portrait of a lovable misfit.
Pathé Bellecour Tue 15 1:30pm | Institut Lumière (Hangar) Wed 16 10pm | Lumière Terreaux Fri 18 5pm
Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa (1961, 1h50)
At the end of the Edo period, a samurai named Sanjuro arrives in a village bitterly torn between two rival gangs... Yojimbo represented Kurosawa's biggest hit in Japan, and inspired Sergio Leone to make his legendary film A Fistful of Dollars.
UGC Astoria Sun 13 5:15pm | UGC Confluence Mon 14 6pm | Pathé Bellecour Tue 15 11:15am | Institut Lumière (Hangar) Sat 19 4:15pm
High and Low by Akira Kurosawa (Tengoku to jigoku, 1963, 2h23)
An underrated Kurosawa work of stylish suspense and captivating mystery, breathtaking in its visual power, presents a moral dilemma in which wealthy shareholder (Toshiro Mifune) must choose between paying the ransom for his chauffeur's son or furthering his own capitalistic ambitions.
Institut Lumière (Hangar) Sat 12 5:15pm | Pathé Bellecour Thu 17 3:45pm | UGC Confluence Fri 18 10:45am | Lumière Terreaux Sat 19 2:30pm
Red Beard by Akira Kurosawa (Akahige, 1965, 3h05)
Young Yasumoto, a future doctor, is posted against his will to a hospital for the poor run by Red Beard (Toshiro Mifune)... After sixteen films together, this magnificent work nevertheless marks the falling out between the master Kurosawa and his favourite actor.
Pathé Vaise Sun 13 3pm | UGC Astoria Tue 15 4:15pm | Comœdia Thu 17 2pm | UGC Confluence Sat 19 2pm
Hell in the Pacific by John Boorman (1968, 1h42)
During the Pacific War, a Japanese officer (Toshiro Mifune) stranded on an island spots his American rival (Lee Marvin), shipwrecked. A relentless battle ensues... The memorable acting duo face off in a paradisiac setting that transforms itself into an open-air prison.
UGC Astoria Fri 18 8pm | UGC Confluence Sun 20 1:45pm
Red Sun by Terence Young (Soleil rouge, 1971, 1h55)
In Arizona, a gang of outlaws robs the passengers on a train on which a Japanese ambassador is travelling... Alain Delon, Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Ursula Andress star in a Western that features gunfights, Indian attacks and swordplay.
Institut Lumière (Villa) Sun 13 11:15am | Institut Lumière (Villa) Sun 13 11:30am | UGC Confluence Wed 16 3:45pm | Comœdia Sat 19 10:45am
Legacy of the 500,000 by Toshiro Mifune (Gojuman-nin no isan, 1963, 1h38)
Takeichi Matsuo (Toshiro Mifune) is forced by a rich businessman to track down a treasure of gold coins he had hidden eighteen years before... The only film directed by Toshiro Mifune, where the shadow of Kurosawa looms over the editing.
Pathé Bellecour Tue 15 6:45pm | Institut Lumière (Hangar) Sun 20 10:30am
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