Wikipedia:Peer review/Akira Kurosawa/archive1

Akira Kurosawa

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because of the vital importance, acknowledged by it being assigned as a level-3 vital article, of Kurosawa (widely considered one of the greatest film directors who has ever lived) not only within Arts, but also within the Wikiproject Japan, Wikiproject Biography and Wikiproject Screenwriters sections. And because this is the centennial year of Kurosawa's birth, the goal of myself and several other Kurosawa scholars is to have it appear as a Featured Article this year on Wikipedia's homepage. If it is too late for it to appear on his birthday (March 23rd), at least it can appear on the 60th anniversary of the Tokyo premier of Rashomon (August 25th).

Therefore, I'm requesting EXPEDITED peer review for this article.

Thanks, Dylanexpert (talk) 15:36, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

• Hi there. I'm not a very experienced reviewer so I hope more people will comment after me. I fully support your desire to have this as a featured article on the 100th Anniversary of his birth. I have wikified a few links and added a couple of citation templates to the Influence section.

I feel the ordering of the sections is a little strange. It seems odd to have discussion of his early films, then a gap where you talk about his influence and influences and then you return to mention his later films. I think that the biographical parts should follow each other and then you could place the discussions of influence/s after that?

I also felt that there could be more about his life whilst he was a film-maker. You mention all (I guess) the films he made during his best years. But you don't give us much about his personal life during this time. It starts to read like a brief trip over his output rather than telling us more about the man.

Many of the sections are rather light in references. You should aim, as a rough guide, to provide a citation for every assertion. Sections Youth, Directorial approach, Influences... all these sections make claims that are not cited.

All that aside, looks like a pretty good article. I felt I learned a fair bit. Good luck with your goal of Featured Article status! --bodnotbod (talk) 18:21, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Response from Wildhartlivie

Since your goal is featured article, this may seem a bit harsh, but to meet the goal, it needs to be done. The referencing is, as noted by bodnotbod, is very light. In the Youth section, each point of fact requires a reference. That may translate to each sentence. I would move the Personal life section down and expand it somewhat. When did he marry Yoko Yaguchi? Details about the courtship, marriage and family are helpful. There are entire paragraphs throughout that are unsourced, including a mention of a suicide attempt. These all need sourcing.

In the Influences section, I would like to see more specific content besides a listing of names with perhaps a quote. How Kurosawa influenced some film, scene or presentation would be of great interest, as you did with George Lucas. In sections dealing with specific films, the content would be enhanced by the addition of critical reception at the time or even today. I note some dangling participles in the prose ("the only film of Kurosawa's career that he received a "Best Director" Academy Award nomination for" should read "the only filmd for which Kurosawa received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director"). In the external links section, we no longer use the succession boxes that are listed. The focus on these is to include the content in the article itself. Nominations and wins should be listed with discussion about each film.

I hope this doesn't sound too harsh. I just went through a good article nomination and it was quite difficult. Good luck. Wildhartlivie (talk) 08:11, 11 February 2010 (UTC)