Though Kiyoshi Kurosawa is now one of Japan's most respected film makers this was not always the case. Like most Japanese directors Kurosawa cut his teeth in the straight-to-video market, doing contract work for different studios cranking out low grade genre flicks on tight shooting schedules and even tighter budgets. The idea is to have a director prove himself able to work efficiently before putting them in charge of theatrical work and most good directors work their way through the ranks quickly. But not Kurosawa. After a highly public blow up with an older, better known and well respected director who had altered his work without permission, Kurosawa was locked in a v-cinema hell. Considered risky and hard to control he had to scrabble for work and spent much longer in the v-cinema world than most directors of his obvious skill would ever have to. If not for a screenwriting award from the Sundance Institute Kurosawa would likely never have had the chance to make Cure, the breakout film that got him out of v-cinema for good.
The Guard From Underground Review