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Of All My Films, People Wrote To Me Most About This One... ...i Had Wanted To Make The Idiot Long Before Rashomon. Since I Was Little I've Liked Russian Literature, But I Find That I Like Dostoevsky The Best And Had Long Thought That This Book Would Make A Wonderful Film. He Is Still My Favourite Author, And He Is The One - I Still Think - Who Writes Most Honestly About Human Existence.

-Akira Kurosawa

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Of All My Films,

Akira Kurosawa

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Of All My Films, People Wrote To Me Most About This One... ...i Had Wanted To Make The Idiot Long Before Rashomon. Since I Was Little I've Liked Russian Literature, But I Find That I Like Dostoevsky The Best And Had Long Thought That This Book Would Make A Wonderful Film. He Is Still My Favourite Author, And He Is The One - I Still Think - Who Writes Most Honestly About Human Existence.

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Although Human Beings Are Incapable Of Talking About Themselves With Total Honesty, It Is Much Harder To Avoid The Truth While Pretending To Be Other People. They Often Reveal Much About Themselves In A Very Straightforward Way. I Am Certain That I Did. There Is Nothing That Says More About Its Creator Than The Work Itself.

For Me, Filmmaking Combines Everything. That's The Reason I've Made Cinema My Life's Work. In Films, Painting And Literature, Theatre And Music Come Together. But A Film Is Still A Film.

Human Beings Are Unable To Be Honest With Themselves About Themselves. They Cannot Talk About Themselves Without Embellishing.

I Like Silent Pictures And I Always Have ... I Wanted To Restore Some Of This Beauty. I Thought Of It, I Remember In This Way: One Of Techniques Of Modern Art Is Simplification, And That I Must Therefore Simplify This Film.

Man Is A Genius When He Is Dreaming.

I Like Unformed Characters. This May Be Because, No Matter How Old I Get, I Am Still Unformed Myself.

The Role Of The Artist Is To Not Look Away.

Man Is A Genius When He Dreams. Dream What You Are Capable Of. The Harder You Dream It, The Sooner It Will Come True.

In A Mad World Only The Mad Are Sane.

It Is The Power Of Memory That Gives Rise To The Power Of Imagination.

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I Can't Afford To Hate Anyone. I Don't Have That Kind Of Time.

If You Want To Be A Great Director, Be A Great Screenwriter.

The Truth Is In The Mystery.

There Is Something That Might Be Called Cinematic Beauty. It Can Only Be Expressed In A Film, And It Must Be Present For That Film To Be A Moving Work. When It Is Very Well Expressed, One Experiences A Particularly Deep Emotion While Watching That Film. I Believe That It Is This Quality That Draws People To Come And See A Film, And That It Is The Hope Of Attaining This Quality That Inspires The Filmmaker To Make His Film In The First Place.

To Be An Artist Means To Search, To Find And Look At These Realities. To Be An Artist Means To Never Look Away.

I Suppose All Of My Films Have A Common Theme. If I Think About It, Though, The Only Theme I Can Think Of Is Really A Question: Why Can’t People Be Happier Together?

There Is Nothing That Says More About Its Creator Than The Work Itself.

But Ignorance Is A Kind Of Insanity In The Human Animal. People Who Delight In Torturing Defenseless Children Or Tiny Creatures Are In Reality Insane. The Terrible Thing Is That People Who Are Madmen In Private May Wear A Totally Bland And Innocent Expression In Public.

A Truly Good Movie Is Enjoyable Too. There’s Nothing Complicated About It.

If You Look At Everything Straight On, There Is Nothing To Be Afraid Of.

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When I Start On A Film I Always Have A Number Of Ideas About My Project. Then One Of Them Begins To Germinate, To Sprout, And It Is This, Which I Take And Work With. My Films Come From My Need To Say A Particular Thing At A Particular Time. The Beginning Of Any Film For Me Is This Need To Express Something. It Is To Make It Nurture And Grow That I Write My Script- It Is Directing It That Makes My Tree Blossom And Bear Fruit.

The Root Of Any Film Project For Me Is This Inner Need To Express Something. What Nurtures This Root And Makes It Grow Into A Tree Is The Script. What Makes The Tree Bear Flowers And Fruit Is The Directing.

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I Have No Idea Who The Characters Are, Later, Their Personalities Take Over Anything I Might Want To Do. I End Up Writing Not From My Own Will, But From Theirs-they Come Alive As I Write And Make Me Do Things That I Couldn't Have Planned.

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Human Beings Share The Same Common Problems. A Film Can Only Be Understood If It Depicts These Properly.

The Japanese See Self-assertion As Immoral And Self- Sacrifice As The Sensible Course To Take In Life.

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