Unrated. Directed By: Akira Kurosawa. In Theaters:
Apr 26, 1954.
This may be a first for me and Japanese cinema. I never had a moment in the movie where stuff
happened and I couldn’t figure out why people were reacting the way they
did. I realize the cause of these
confusing moments is cultural in nature, but it’s always off-putting and I don’t
like it when it happens. Seven Samurai is about as straight
forward as a movie gets, and probably one of the better action movies I’ve ever
seen.
This is what an epic was supposed to be, what epics are
still supposed to be, although I admit that the run time of the movie is more
than a little daunting. It has a story
that everyone can get behind, even though some of the details are mired in the
16th Century existence of Japan, it’s clear that the reach of Seven Samurai was vast. Most recently, I’ve seen a similar story line
dredged up in an episode of Firefly,
although the crew of one of my favorite spaceships numbers eight, the intent
was clear enough. It’s also clear that The Magnificent Seven borrowed more than a little bit from this movie.
This is also the first movie where shadow and light didn’t
seem to hold a meaning in addition to serving as point and counterpoint of
visual acuity. I noticed again that the
images are sharply delineating in terms of light and shadow, and that the movie
had a stunning clarity for its age; there was little of the haziness that I
tend to associate with older movies.
Probably my favorite aspect of this movie was Toshiro
Mifune, who played the clownish Kikuchiyo, serving as counterpoint to the six
other samurai, who were… stolid, for lack of a better term. He brought a wonderful punch of levity to
what might have otherwise been a stark and slightly bleak story, especially
considering the sort of Reservoir Dogs like
ending. I also thought the story had an interesting
slant to it, a subtle accusation that the peasants had come of the challenge
the only winners, and had taken advantage of the noble samurai. I’m not sure I believe that, although it is a
possible description of the outcome.
Basically, there’s a reason that Seven Samurai has made so many ‘best ever’ movie lists. It is an amazing adventure movie,
particularly since it doesn’t benefit from CGI or real special effects. It has detail characters, a bit of
swashbuckling, the nobility of the samurai, and the slightest hint that the
heroes in this tale are ill used. The
movie packs a wallop of a punch, even more than you might expect with the
lengthy run time.
