Seven Samurai

One of my favorite films from Japan that is worth seeing every once a while. It also remains the most influential film to date. The great cinematography, soundtrack, and it's great writing that many will learn never forget. A must-watch for anyone willing to last for 3 and a half hours. It truly tells the several faces of Japan, ranging from calm and intelligent, to those who will fight for the heart of Japan. 10/10

Finally! My first time seeing this. What a classic.

I am so blown away by Kurosawa's depiction of women. It was like this in Rashomon, too. There's something about Kurosawa's women characters that is so satisfying for me. The women characters in Kurosawa's films are not simply projections or pathetic reflections of a man's desires or insecurities. I always felt like the women have complexity, power, and agency. Shino and Rikichi's wife made choices for themselves, despite the oppressive world around them that did its best to deprive them of their rights. I'm very impressed.

I can also see how Seven Samurai inspired all of its subsequent offshoots such as Samurai Champloo. Mugen and Jin were direct reincarnations of Kikuchiyo and Kyuzo.

Damn, I only speak USA English, and to had go backwards/forwards in this 1st film a number of times to get straight those aspects I missed the first go-rounds. Never-the-less, this is turning out to be a damn fine film/movie! I liked even though I think I missed a lot. Am going to watch the 2nd session for sure.

mike

This great film is the predecessor of another film "The Magnificent Seven" (c. 1960) that had an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson and other greats. The setting was post-Civil War in Mexico where a group of out of work gunslingers are hired to protect villagers from a group of bandits. It is one of the best American westerns ever made. Maybe our friends from Kanopy can locate that for us.

It’s a long film clocking in at 207 minutes, but I never found it boring and maybe that’s because at its root it’s a story about survival in a hostile world. It’s primal. It’s not a kind depiction of man and it makes no attempt to humanize the bandits – who are terrorizing a small village. These men do evil things and therefore that makes them evil. Another reason the film works so well, I think, is because there’s a cost to victory. Not all the Samurai live. And that makes it real. When everyone lives and there is no cost then the story feels false. In life, there is always a cost to victory – to everything we do. At a minimum whatever we do costs us time.