Keys of Baroque painting in Akira Kurosawa’s black and white cinema
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/Fotocinema.2018.v0i16.4093Keywords:
Akira Kurosawa, Intertextuality, Narrative, Visual Key, Baroque Painting, ChiaroscuroAbstract
In the academic studies that approach the films of Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) prevail the literary and sociological perspectives. Two fundamental reasons explain such proposals, such as the admiration of the filmmaker for the English playwright, and his eagerness to investigate the light and shadow of the Japanese society in which he lived. This article detaches itself from those perspectives to approach Kurosawa's work from a pictorial point of view, in an attempt to identify and explain some of the visual cues that from this discipline are incorporated into his images. In particular, attention is paid to the influence of baroque painting in its black and white production, which adds up to 24 films made between 1943 and 1970. Five defining keys of Kurosawa's narrative style have been identified in these years: chiaroscuro, triangular composition, the intensification of narrative time, the use of nature as an emotional metaphor, and the tension of forms.
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