I'm more than a bit late with this post, but better late than never, right?

So, thanks to a very good friend of mine, one whom I shall forever be indebted to, I was alerted to a retrospective of the late, great, Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. The retrospective, Akira Kurosawa: Film Artist, was hosted by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences here in Los Angeles, and it consisted of an exhibition of Kurosawa's art, personal effects, etc. at the Academy's main galleries and a series of screenings at their theatres. When I learned of this news, I was floored. I had to be there.

The funny, as in curious, thing was that it was only some months prior that I decided to embark on a Kurosawa retrospective of my own. I'd become dead set on watching as many Kurosawa films as I could get my hands on. I have a habit of doing this, especially with music, I must consume the entire catalogue of an artist's work. And I must do so in order. I'm obsessed with chronologies in this respect because there's nothing I love more than seeing something evolve over time, especially an art form. And I suppose I chose Kurosawa because I was already familiar with some of his films and felt like his filmography was something worth diving into. Thankfully, I consumed every bit of his work I could find before I learned of the Academy's retrospective, it made the experience all the more rich and involved.

So on September 23rd, 2008, I had the great pleasure of enveloping myself in the world of Akira Kurosawa. While I had been to the Academy... before, this was the first time I had ever visited their galleries. It was an amazing experience. There's just something ineffable about bridging this gap from the cinematic to the physical. All of these things, all of his work, had only ever existed in my mind, and seeing it all in person was... so many things. It was overwhelming at times, definitely surreal, exciting for sure, illuminating... I could go on and on.

I had an experience similar to this when my brother took me to the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art's exhibition of Buddhist and Hindu iconography. At that time I was well immersed in the world of religious symbology, and had a special interest in Eastern philosophies. So I'd studied this work in the same way that I've studied Kurosawa's work, from afar. Every painting, every sculpture, every piece of embroidery, etc. only existed in my mind. All I ever had were photographs and video. Seeing everything in person was a whole new experience. Something about sharing the same space... I don't know what it is. But whatever that was, I loved.

To give some perspective, there were two spaces that housed the actual exhibition. The first was in the Academy's Grand Lobby Gallery which, funny enough, is located in the lobby, on the first floor. This gallery was dedicated entirely to Kurosawa film posters from around the world. I actually didn't get to see much of this part of the exhibit because a large section of the Grand Lobby was cordoned off for a party that was scheduled later that night. I didn't really mind missing out on the posters since I felt they had little to do with the films or the artist.

The real meat of the exhibition took place in the Fourth Floor Gallery. It was a veritable Kurosawa cornucopia. They had everything: scripts, screenplays, sketches, etchings, paintings, costumes, awards, letters, etc. I was in heaven. If I were allowed to, I would've taken some photos but I didn't dare risk permanent expulsion from the Academy. I probably came close though.

I had no idea what to expect at the exhibit so I was really shocked to see costumes from Kagemusha and Ran. They even had Lady Su