Compound Cinematics: Akira Kurosawa and I

by Shinobu Hashimoto

Any list of Japan's greatest screenplay writers would feature Shinobu Hashimoto at or near the top. This memoir, focusing on his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa, a gifted scenarist in his own right, offers indispensable insider account for fans and students of the director's oeuvre and invaluable insights into the unique process that is writing for the screen.

The vast majority of Kurosawa works were filmed from screenplays that the director co-wrote with a stable of stellar writers, many of whom he discovered himself with his sharp eye for all things cinematic. Among these was Hashimoto, who caught the filmmaker's attention with a script that eventually turned into Rashomon . Thus joining Team Kurosawa the debutant immediately went on to play an integral part in developing and writing two of the grandmaster's most impressive achievements, Ikiru and Seven Samurai .

Genres: Film, Writing, Japan, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Japanese Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2005

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this book specifically for those who are interested in script writing as well as the Japanese film industry - and of course the great filmmaker Kurosawa. Other than that, this book is not that interesting. There are no 'fascinating' details about this screenwriter, Shinobu hashimoto and his work with the master - in fact, it is odd that he doesn't like some of Kurosawa's later masterpieces. But what is interesting are the work methods and how they organize themselves when they having writing sessions for and with Kurosawa.

[Kelzang Dorjee]

The book gives quite an insight into Kurosawa's collaborative method of writing a screenplay with two or more scenarists. It details out Rashomon, Ikiru & The Seven Samurai in particular, from conception through the final draft. A great read for film enthusiasts, especially lovers of post-war Japanese Cinema. And the master Kurosawa.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely would recommend to anyone even slightly familiar with Kurosawa’s work - Hashimoto is a beautiful writer and has been directly responsible for so much quintessential 20th century Japanese cinema. Literally went out and bought Seven Samurai on blu ray to watch after I finished this.

[M.R. Dowsing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shinobu Hashimoto co-wrote many of Kurosawa's films, and this memoir focuses on their collaboration - one which began with 'Rashomon', changed both their lives and became one of the most important in cinema history. The detail which Hashimoto goes into is sometimes excessive, but for anyone with a more than casual interest in Kurosawa, this is facinating. It's especially important in the way it sheds light on the unusual manner in which Kurosawa's scripts were written. Most were true collaborations, with up to five people sitting around a table; in some cases, one writer (usually Hashimoto) would lead off, writing the first version of the scene, then Kurosawa and possibly others would change it (or not), then it would have to be approved by Hideo Oguni (who rarely wrote anything himself) before they could move on to the next scene. Another method was to have several writers writing their own individual versions of a scene and then picking the best one, perhaps incorporating elements from the other versions. The writers would be shacked up together at a hot spring inn for weeks or even months until this process was completed, with no days off allowed until then. Despite having written his own highly impressive solo scripts (e.g. for Harakiri, 1962), Hashimoto remained adamant that Kurosawa's unique type of collaborative process yielded the best results - and, for all I know, he's right in saying that nobody else has ever done it that way.

I was also interested to learn about Hashimoto's mentor, writer-director Mansaku Itami, of whom I'd never heard as he died so young. The way Hashimoto describes him suggests that he was a major talent who would have gone on to great things.

Hashimoto himself comes across as an eccentric and headstrong character and some of his opinions are, frankly, a little bizarre. However, we're lucky to have a book like this available in English, so respect to translator Lori Hitchcock Morimoto and the publishers, Vertical Press for their excellent work here.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hashimoto gives plenty of hot takes in here (are Kurosawa's latter films really that bad? I don't think so), but there's also an interesting perspective on the whole Kurosawa filmography that makes the book worth reading. It's also just an enjoyable read overall, and the translation is very clear and easy to read.

[Stefan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hashimoto is a screenwriting legend who knows his stuff - which makes some of the criticism and advice he throws out towards the end of the book super confusing.

Still, it's a fun read, especially when it gets into the trials and tribulations of writing a mammoth work like Seven Samurai.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked most was learning how they would stay somewhere nice, and write in ensemble with them each writing every scene, so the end result was full of little idiosyncrasies of each of their voices. They would cook dinner for each other, and drink watered down whiskey. They would plod away at the screenplay scene by scene for weeks.

[heidi darlynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come for the treatise on collaborative screenwriting, stay for the late-career Kurosawa hot takes. ☕️

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was highly anticipating Shinobu Hashimoto's autobiography Compound Cinematics since he penned some of Akira Kurosawa's great works. The beginning of the book is the most interesting as he describes the process he went through when he was recruited into Team Kurosawa and works with the group as they write some of his best films, such as "Rashomon," "Ikiru," and "The Seven Samurai." Later, in the book when Hashimoto breaks away and goes out on his own he derides late Kurosawa classics, such as "Ran" and "Kagemusha." It seems loike ther should have been more anecdotes about the success of the masterpieces that Hashimoto worked on. And I would l have liked to have read about Hashimoto's success with other directors such as "Harakiri" with Masayuki Kobayashi, but I suspect the publishing selling point was the collaboration with Kurosawa.

[Akseli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good