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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In An Alleyway in the Floating World, how did the little girl respond to Akira's rescuing her?

2. What was different about The Most Beautiful's shooting concept?

3. How did film-goers know that a particular night shot in Sugata Sanshiro was shot during the day?

4. Why does Akira Kurosawa think his brother killed himself?

5. Who did Uekusa and Akira base the antagonist of The Drunken Angel on?

Short Essay Questions

1. What character flaw does Akira Kurosawa admit to at the end of Something Like an Autobiography?

2. How did an army major and Akira Kurosawa come to an agreement regarding cutting a scene from one of his films?

3. Why does Kurosawa think his writing process was flawed in Scandal?

4. Why was the final fight of Sugata Sanshiro a challenge for Kurosawa?

5. How did Akira become disillusioned with the Proletariat Artists League?

6. How did Akira find his brother in An Alleyway in the Floating World?

7. What demands did Kurosawa make of his actresses in The Most Beautiful?

8. How did Kurosawa end up directing Sugata Sanshiro?

9. What was Kurosawa trying to evoke, visually, with Rashomon?

10. How did Rashomon catapult Kurosawa to a new level of international recognition?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Akira Kurosawa finds his way through the film industry with contemporaries. Write an essay about three individuals of approximate age to his. How did each affect his decisions regarding the career of filmmaking? To what extent is each a collaborator and a foil to him? Does he break company with any of them? If so, what is the reason for this parting, and how does it affect Akira?

Part 1) Akira's brother.

Part 2) Uekusa.

Part 3) Mifune Toshiro.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the events of SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Akira Kurosawa is clearly a city boy. From time to time, he goes to the country, and the experience is always one of growth for him. Wirte an essay about these trips and how they help him grow into an adult. How does Kurosawa's first experience with sake at his father's childhood home turn out? Why does his father later send him to Toyokaya Village? What role does the country play in the films of Akira's early career?

Essay Topic 3

When Akira Kurosawa began to establish himself in the film industry, the War was still going on and a group of Japanese censors were reviewing his films. Write an essay about his conflicts with the censors. What specific issues do the censors have with his early pictures? How does he respond to these issues? Discuss the way Kurosawa describes the censors int he text. How did the conflict between the censors and Kurosawa end with the War?

(see the answer keys)

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