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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. Why did Akira choose to leave the Proletariat Artists League?

2. In what year did Kurosawa begin shooting Sugata Sanshiro?

3. On what does Kurosawa blame the loss of so many good Japanese directors?

4. What was the first position Akira took under Yamamoto Kajiro?

5. After the war, what did Akira make a conscious effort to learn about?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Kurosawa's relationship with Japanese censors.

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

3. How did Mifune Toshiro and Kurosawa begin work together?

4. Describe the incident with the censor and the gate?

5. What was the talent like at the PCL?

6. How did One Wonderful Sunday reunite Akira and Mr. Tachikawa?

7. What controversy does Kurosawa have filming a night scene in Sugata Sanshiro?

8. How did Akira discover the similarity he had to his brother?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Akira Kurosawa makes a series of honest admissions about his personal failings throughout his autobiography, but he invariably includes a defense of these faults in the course of the admission. Write an essay about three such admissions and their defenses:

Part 1) What is the exact nature of Akira Kurosawa's physical weakness? How does it affect his ability to succeed in certain realms? Couched in his admission that he was physically weak, what strengths does the author assert? Discuss the physical exploits that Akira insists he accomplished as a teenager.

Part 2) When discussing the beginning of his directing career, Akira admits that he is a stubborn man with an awful temper. Why does he feel the need to tell the reader this? Does is inform some of the bold and often ill-conceived decisions he makes on set? Does it add some context to his unbridled success?

Part 3) At the very end of SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Kurosawa admits to being a fantastic egotist. What indications of this fact are there throughout the narrative of the book? What final act of egotistical indignation perfectly illustrates this self-regard? How has it served him well in his early career?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the relationship between Uekusa and Akira Kurosawa in the book. To what extent does Akira represent the intellect and Uekusa the heart? What romantic and foolhardy exploits does Uekusa undertake at a young age? Does he succeed in any of them? How does Akira deal with girls and danger at this same age? What professional relationship develops between these two men later?

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