Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa
Other than films from my lifetime that I saw in their initial release, such as The Godfather and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Seven Samurai was one of the few films from my list that I had already sought out and viewed. I had heard that Akira Kurosawa was a major influence on Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas, and Samurai was the Kurosawa work I had heard the most about.
I watched a rental of it years ago, and this film plus a few others sparked my interest in learning more about cinema. I still recommend it as an "entry" film of sorts for anyone interested in artistic cinema because I find it one of the most accessible, entertaining films in my list. Yet, deep levels of meaning and technical mastery may be found in Samurai as well.
In some critical circles it's fashionable to prefer other Japanese directors' works to Kurosawa's. I think some serious critics find him too accessible, too entertaining, or too easily appreciated by Westerners. However, the film still placed #17 on both the Critics and Directors polls, despite splitting Kurosawa votes with several of his other films.
It's not what some might expect from a "samurai" film. The fighting is a small percentage of the long (approx. 3 1/2 hours) runtime. There are no balletic duels. In an age of upheaval after civil wars, masterless samurai, or ronin, wander. Some become bandits, some are freelance mercenaries. A village being regularly raided by a nearby bandit group for food, and in a few cases, women, decides as a last resort to attempt to hire samurai to fight back. All they have is rice for payment, but after some false starts they manage to find a ronin who still holds to the old standards of protecting the weak.
Kurosawa takes his time. First the peasants enlist Kambei, played to perfection by Takashi Shimura. Shimura was a member of the Kurosawa stock company of actors, and had just given another incredible performance as the lead in Ikiru. Ikiru is considered by some (such as Roger Ebert) to be even greater than Samurai. Kambei sets about gathering a team, estimating it will take seven samurai to defend against three dozen or so bandits.
The team is recruited, goes to the village, trains the farmers to help them, and prepares for the bandits' promised attack after the rice crop is harvested. The bandits are vanquished, but not without losses among the farmers and the samurai as well. Beneath the surface, the film is also a social commentary on the passing of the samurai culture, the strictly divided Japanese class system, and even the role of the warrior in society. Similar themes are explored in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, where we sometimes find that what makes a warrior effective and necessary also can make him pretty frightening and not really someone we want to associate with once their purpose has been served.
The film has been a huge influence on movies all over the world. It includes many techniques that are either seen first (or at least widely popularized) here.
I watched a rental of it years ago, and this film plus a few others sparked my interest in learning more about cinema. I still recommend it as an "entry" film of sorts for anyone interested in artistic cinema because I find it one of the most accessible, entertaining films in my list. Yet, deep levels of meaning and technical mastery may be found in Samurai as well.
In some critical circles it's fashionable to prefer other Japanese directors' works to Kurosawa's. I think some serious critics find him too accessible, too entertaining, or too easily appreciated by Westerners. However, the film still placed #17 on both the Critics and Directors polls, despite splitting Kurosawa votes with several of his other films.
It's not what some might expect from a "samurai" film. The fighting is a small percentage of the long (approx. 3 1/2 hours) runtime. There are no balletic duels. In an age of upheaval after civil wars, masterless samurai, or ronin, wander. Some become bandits, some are freelance mercenaries. A village being regularly raided by a nearby bandit group for food, and in a few cases, women, decides as a last resort to attempt to hire samurai to fight back. All they have is rice for payment, but after some false starts they manage to find a ronin who still holds to the old standards of protecting the weak.
Kurosawa takes his time. First the peasants enlist Kambei, played to perfection by Takashi Shimura. Shimura was a member of the Kurosawa stock company of actors, and had just given another incredible performance as the lead in Ikiru. Ikiru is considered by some (such as Roger Ebert) to be even greater than Samurai. Kambei sets about gathering a team, estimating it will take seven samurai to defend against three dozen or so bandits.
The team is recruited, goes to the village, trains the farmers to help them, and prepares for the bandits' promised attack after the rice crop is harvested. The bandits are vanquished, but not without losses among the farmers and the samurai as well. Beneath the surface, the film is also a social commentary on the passing of the samurai culture, the strictly divided Japanese class system, and even the role of the warrior in society. Similar themes are explored in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, where we sometimes find that what makes a warrior effective and necessary also can make him pretty frightening and not really someone we want to associate with once their purpose has been served.
The film has been a huge influence on movies all over the world. It includes many techniques that are either seen first (or at least widely popularized) here.
- It's influenced dozens of "gathering a team for a quest" films from The Dirty Dozen to The Fellowship of the Ring.
- It's perhaps the first use of a non-related action sequence to kick off the film.
- It pioneered the use of slow motion at moments of great violence.
- Its views of fighting groups emerging from the horizon as they crest a hill have also influenced films for decades.
- It's very modern in showing battle as a messy, unpredictable, violent, ignoble enterprise, not as something glorious.
- In fact, Roger Ebert enthusiastically called it the "first modern action film."
- It won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and is considered by many the greatest Japanese film of all time. It is almost certainly the best known Japanese film world-wide.
- It shows mastery of choreographed action, a perfect balance of slow and fast pacing, and also includes a subplot of young love facing obstacles of social class.
- Kurosawa even choreographs the weather - wind, rain, darkness, and the seasons all play a part in shaping the emotional life of the film.
- Practically every scene is worthy of study from a composition and/or lighting standpoint. He makes extensive use of telephoto lenses and tight cropping - not common techniques at the time.
- Kurosawa did his own editing, and is considered at least as masterful in that capacity as in directing. Samurai is full of fast cutting, pans, and highly choreographed crowd scenes. Despite the 3 1/2 hour length, it is amazingly tightly focused and does not seem that long.
- To show the changing nature of the world of the time, not a single samurai in the film dies from swordplay or single combat. They all die from a gunshot, usually from a distance. At least, given the crude muskets of the time period, all the shooters end up dying by the sword - sometimes even by the samurai they have just fatally wounded.
- As with many great films, it had difficulties in creation. The length of the shoot and its cost went greatly over budget. Critics at first had trouble understanding its new approach to period action films. However, it was an immediate, record-setting success at the box office.
- As with many other films, it was re-edited to cut the runtime and the original full version was not widely available until the early 2000s.
- I own the Criterion 2006 edition. It has many extras, including two critics' commentaries. The first is merely average, but the second one by university film scholar Michael Jeck is fantastic. It blends discussion of technique with actor information and social implications that Westerners might not catch. It's one of the best DVD commentaries I've ever heard. If you're not sure why this is one of the best films of all time, listen to this commentary and you'll be convinced.
- Only two things mar the experience from being total perfection; the soundtrack performance and some makeup details. I found the bald cap makeup on a few of the farmers distractingly poor. As a retired music teacher I was sometimes bothered by weak intonation and precision in the soundtrack. One final musical note - a cultural one: the use of the baritone saxophone to convey foreboding may sound humorous rather than menacing to Western ears. You just have to distance yourself from the typical Western use of the instrument to avoid emotional confusion.
- I do like the music and love the early use of thematic motifs for various characters.
The film makes brilliant use of the most famous Japanese actor of his era, Toshiro Mifune. He begins as braggadocious comic relief, becomes an almost pathetic figure as we find out more of his backstory, and ultimately is a leader and hero. Kurosawa scripted everything, allowing no improvisation of dialog or action, but Mifune was the exception. This is one of the greatest roles from one of the greatest of all actors.
I love a bittersweet ending, and this is one of the best. There is triumph, but not without sacrifice. In the end the farmers and samurai do not really mesh once the fight is concluded. The samurai win the battle but do not get to enjoy the rewards - the farmers are the only real winners. As the film ends the ronin muse on their fallen comrades, the farmers happily plant a new crop. We see that young love does not conquer all and the surviving samurai leave to continue their wandering.
A+
I love a bittersweet ending, and this is one of the best. There is triumph, but not without sacrifice. In the end the farmers and samurai do not really mesh once the fight is concluded. The samurai win the battle but do not get to enjoy the rewards - the farmers are the only real winners. As the film ends the ronin muse on their fallen comrades, the farmers happily plant a new crop. We see that young love does not conquer all and the surviving samurai leave to continue their wandering.
A+