Feature: How to adapt a film like Akira Kurosawa?

Akira Kurosawa is one of the world’s most revered directors, his films often cited as inspiration amongst other auteurs. Sometimes that inspiration has led to full-on remakes of Kurosawa’s films, such as Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest (2025), an adaptation of Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963). Other adaptations of Kurosawa’s work include Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Kurosawa himself liked to adapt pre-existing stories. Many of his films are interpretations of Shakespeare plays. Even High and Low is based on a novel. So how does one go about adapting and remaking a film by a great director like Kurosawa? How is the story updated for new audiences? And what kind of films lend themselves to adaptations? Today on FilmWeek, we discuss Hollywood’s attempts to remake some of Kurosawa’s most beloved films and what makes a good adaptation. Joining Larry Mantle is Peter Rainer, film critic for LAist and the Christian Science Monitor, Tim Cogshell, film critic for LAist, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com, and Charles Solomon, film critic for LAist, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine.