Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Sanshiro Sugata may be Akira Kurosawa's official debut film as a director, but one would never know it from the masterful way the young director dominates the film. Sanshiro's screenplay features many elements that would soon become clichés in martial arts movies (and which, truth be told, were perhaps not entirely fresh even in 1943), but Kurosawa's full-on, committed treatment of them makes them seem almost new and emphasizes again that often the treatment of material is more important than the material itself. Sanshiro feels as invigorating as a slap in the face because the director mines the film for all the energy he can. Yet, typical for the director, he also knows how to make sue of silence and serenity for contrast; few nascent directors could have worked the "transformation by flower" sequence so well. Kurosawa also includes many touches of Nature intruding upon, commenting upon or simply coexisting with the story, a signature of his that would be pronounced in many later works. Even in this film, one can sense the complex relationship that Kurosawa has with violence and his recognition that if it is inevitable it still must be controlled. And he takes what could have been very two-dimensional characters and situations and imbues them with a life and a vividness that are essential to Sanshiro's success. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide