Today We Celebrate Akira Kurosawa

"His influence on filmmakers throughout the entire world is so profound as to be almost incomparable" Martin Scorsese on Akira Kurosawa.

It's likely that the work of Akira Kurosawa has influenced the films you've seen even though you may not have heard of him. The Japanese director passed away in 1988, but today is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Akira was born in Tokyo, the youngest of eight children, his family descended from a line of former samurai. Luckily for us, his father (Isamu) believed that films could provide a positive educational experience and encouraged his son to watch movies.

'Sanshiro Sugata' became his directorial debut in 1943 and the rest as they say is history. His most famous film 'Seven Samurai' was remade as 'The Magnificent Seven', 'Yojimbo' became 'A Fistfull of Dollars' and the narrative structure of 'Rashomon' had a massive influence on 'The Usual Suspects' as well as countless modern features. I could go on.

If you fancy a change from the latest 3D HD interactive online clip his films are definitely worth a watch.