10 Directors With The Most Movies In The IMDb Top 250

9. Akira Kurosawa (5)

The Movies: Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Ikiru, Ran Akira Kurosawa is perhaps the most respected and renowned Japanese director in the history of the cinematic medium; with films such as Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Ikiru and Ran, it's hard to single out another Japanese director who can lay claim to such a consistent, idiosyncratic body of work (Ozu, perhaps, but he's not to everyone's taste). Seven Samurai stands as Kurosawa's most famous film, of course, and it is indeed a masterpiece - the way in which the director shot the film pioneered action cinema for a new era, whilst the beautiful puzzle box that is Rashomon was innovative in both its visual stylings and approach to non-linear narrative. Kurosawa wasn't just a man of action, though; it's hard to think of another film quite so touching as Ikiru, whilst Yojimbo (remade in the United States as A Fistful of Dollars) shows that artistry and action cinema can be blended into one fluid whole to create something more. And then there's Ran, Kurosawa's great epic, which - late in his career though it was - showed him at the height of his powers.