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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. Which is not an additional job that assistant directors had on set with Yamamoto Kajiro?

2. What adjective did the censors use to describe their problems with Sugata Sanshiro?

3. What is the PCL?

4. In A Coward and A Weakling, what position was Akira given at the League newspaper?

5. After working on Horses, what does Kurosawa spend his life doing besides writing?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was Akira's editing experience under Yanamoto?

3. How did Kurosawa meet a famous American director without knowing it?

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

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

6. How did Kurosawa end up directing Sugata Sanshiro?

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

8. Why does Kurosawa think Sugata Sanshiro, Part II, was a failure?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the book, Akira Kurosawa maintains a sort of bemused, precise tone. Occasionally, though, the death of a loved one will elicit some deep emotional response. Write an essay detailing three of these occasions:

Part 1) Why does Akira Kurosawa only mention one of his sisters in the book? What is special about this particular sister, and what role did she play in young Akira's life? What particular elements of her death does the author mention, and how does this description affect him even as he writes them?

Part 2) Who is Aunt Togashi, and why is she so dear to young Akira? How old was she when she died, and what does Kurosawaa suspect was the cause of her death? What emotion does this elicit, and how is it different from the one his sister's death elicited?

Part 3) Discuss the profound impact Akira's father's death had on him as an adult. What action did Akira take upon receiving word of his father's passing? What experience did he have the next morning,a nd how was he able to convert it into a work of cinematic art?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the relationship Akira has with his older brother. When the author is young and considered a crybaby, what pointed differences exist between him and his brother? How does his brother toughen him up at this age, and what other tactics does his brother use to make him tougher over the years that follow? how does the relationship develop in the years leading to Akira's brother's suicide? What similarities between them become clear only after the brother's death?

Essay Topic 3

Akira Kurosawa's SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY deals with the author's transition from insecure child to confident - even egotistical - adult. Write an essay about three defining and transforming moments in this transition:

Part 1) Akira is a crybaby and a weakling when he enters Mr. Tachikawa's class. What talents and opportunities does Mr. Tachikawa's instruction open up to him? How does Mr. Tachikawa empower both Akira and Uekusa? How does the teacher remain a fixture in the author's life for decades following?

Part 2) What are Akira's faults and weaknesses when Mr. Iwamatsu becomes his teacher? How does Mr. Iwamatsu foster his desire to learn in the midst of a rebellious phase? How does the author's skills improve over the course of his time with this teacher?

Part 3) How does Kajiro Yamamoto prove pivotal to the author's development as an artist? What role does Akira play on Kajiro Yamamoto's sets? Discuss the film skills that Akira develops under this director and how Yamamoto continues to play a role in his life.

(see the answer keys)

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