auteurism

From the examples used in class, it's difficult to see how Kurosawa could be considered an auteur. I would first want to say that he enjoyed a violent narrative, but "Dreams" proved me wrong. I would later want to say that he liked working with Eastern influences, especially Japanese, but again, "Dreams" proved me wrong. If I had just watched "Dreams" I would've thought this director was something completely different in his auteur styles.
A common thread that I found was his uses of color. Obviously, "Dreams" was his most brilliantly lit film, but the battle scenes and the forest scenes are incorporated important uses of color. Scorsese has publicly hailed "Dreams" as one of his most favorite movies, and if I had seen the film in it's entirety, I would probably say the same. Van Gogh is my favorite artist and to see his works come to life like that was completely amazing. But it also felt like quite a stretch to compare it to his bloody war scenes or serene forest takes.
From what I have gained from the clips, he seems to have been very innovative with camera styles/ editing styles. While watching, I felt as if I hadn't seen much of these ideas before, they felt new and interesting. Because of this, I believe that the Brat Pack was a large fan of his.
It was also mentioned that he had worked with a famous actor for a long time, which was mainly the reason for his success in producing these intensive and hard working films. Many auteur's seem to seek solace in one particular actor. In class we discussed how John Wayne and John Ford collaborated multiple times throughout their careers, and I see a common thread with many other directors as well. In them, do they find a muse? It seems strange to corner yourself into just one person, but I suppose there are many difficult actors out there, and to find a hardworking/normal would would be tough to achieve!
A few years ago, I saw Ran in another class and I truly enjoyed the idea of meshing three completely different stories together, which made for a thrilling view. Also because on paper, that idea sounds boring and monotonous, instead he managed to make each story more thrilling than the next and had audiences wrapped around his finger until the very end. I loved that Ran had no closure, any other ending would've felt forced and unlikely.