Directors: AKIRA KUROSAWA

The first collaboration between the legendary cinematic couple Toshirô Mifune and Akira Kurosawa consists in a moving tale of morality, crime and revenge in post-war Tokyo, a world that I hadn't seen before this film. The brilliance implied in early Kurosawa works relies on character development and stories that, as simple as they may seem, establish a clear and true message: life must go on. An extraordinary performance by Takashi Shimura, this is an early good film by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

85/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

"So. Again we are defeated.
---
The farmers have won. Not us."

SHICHININ NO SAMURAI (1954)

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Country: Japan
Genre: Action / Adventure / Drama
Length: 207 minutes



Akira Kurosawa is one of the most critically acclaimed directors in the history of cinematography, and he undoubtedly has become in the most influencing filmmaker for future generations for decades to come since he started to construct his extraordinary and enviable filmography. Kurosawa popularized the samurai genre within the Seventh Art considerably and his incomparable stories achieved to inspire several directors such as John Sturges with The Magnificent Seven (1960), Sergio Leone mainly with Per un Pugno di Dollari (1964), Sergio Corbucci with Django (1966), George Lucas with Star Wars (1977), Walter Hill with Last Man Standing (1996), John Lasseter with A Bug's Life (1998), Quentin Tarantino more notably with Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004), and Takashi Miike with Sukiyaki Western Django (2007). Being an avid fan of epic filmmaking, Shichinin no Samurai is one of the most outstanding, powerful and unique epic stories that cinema could have ever offered. Although Kurosawa has been considered as the Japanese father of Blockbuster films several times because of the high entertainment quality that his timeless gems have provided to several generations, he was definitely one of the greatest directors that ever lived and being Shichinin no Samurai his most representative epic masterwork in his whole filmography, it is arguably the best film he ever made as well.

Akira Kurosawa edited, wrote and directed this story that deals with a poor village that is under constant attack by a bunch of bandits who steal their rice, so the village hires seven unemployed samurai that can help them to fight against the bandits. The film received two Academy Award nominations including Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White losing against Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White losing against The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956). This film should have won both of these awards, but remember we are talking about the Academy Awards, so those decisions shouldn't be that odd to us. Although the category for Best Foreign Language Film wasn't considered until the year of 1947 as an Honorary Award to films that were released outside of the United States with a predominant foreign language, it was precisely in the year of 1956 when the category was formally created. La Strada (1954), by Federico Fellini, is obviously a neorealist masterpiece, and it was a strong competition for the award of Best Foreign Language Film, but the injustice of this topic can be found on the fact that Shichinin no Samurai hadn't even been considered for this category, which is beyond me.

I agree with the plot being very simple, but Shichinin no Samurai didn't win the title of "one of the best movies ever made" for free, which it definitely is. It is the narrative structure and the way the story is handled what make of this film a giant epic. The degree of entertainment that Shichinin no Samurai ends up having is pretty high, and that is one of its main characteristics. However, this is not an aspect that negatively affects the film in the end. The story is told with such originality, style, power and glory that one can even conclude that the most adequate way to see such an unparalleled cinematographic project is on the big screen.

Just like Robert De Niro is my favorite Hollywood actor, Toshirô Mifune is the best foreign actor I have ever seen on screen for my taste, even better than Max Von Sydow. Unlike several roles that Akira Kurosawa would give him in the future which would be characterized because of their cold-blooded, arrogant, calculating and relentless personalities in films such as Kumonosu Jô (1957), Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (1958) and his immortal character Sanjûrô in both Yojimbo (1961) and Tsubaki Sanjûrô (1962), becoming a cinematographic legend and conforming one of the best pairs that cinema ever gave birth to alongside with Kurosawa, just like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, Mifune interprets a committed, stubborn, obstinate, loyal, childish and hyperactive samurai with the right amount of craziness in Shichinin no Samurai, a character more similar to the one he interpreted in the deep dramatic jewel Rashômon (1950). Without a doubt, it is the most outstanding performance out of the whole brilliantly chosen cast. The performances of Takashi Shimura as the boss, Yoshio Inaba and Seiji Miyaguchi are pretty impressive as well.

Kurosawa was trained as a painter before becoming a director, and Shichinin no Samurai is definitely the very first film where he employs an extraordinary cinematography. The handling of open and closed spaces is marvelous, and that aspect accompanied by the editing used to construct a splendid choreography which made the battle scenes easier to follow, conform an astonishing result which was useful to appropriately handle the action the film contains. The rhythm of the story is not fast nor slow, but the most possibly adequate. We as spectators don't really feel those 207 minutes lasting an eternity. This gives to the story a much more realistic and more human tone. The movie takes the time it needs to present us the psychology and to let us understand the behavior of the most important characters to an adequate degree, making us to create empathy and interest towards all of them. Kurosawa was also very careful with every detail that composes this masterpiece. The script is wonderfully written by Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, and it enabled to create very distinguishable characters, which brings a very interesting variety.

The handling of the action is pretty much realistic. The battle scenes are very characteristic of how Kurosawa tends to create action in his epic films, which reached their maximum expression in Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985). It can't be denied the fact that there's a lot of action from beginning to end, culminating with a final battle that involves 40 bandits attacking the village once again, but there is substance behind it, clearly justifying it and never losing its credibility. Both the sound and the editing couldn't have been created in a better way considering that we're talking about a film of the 50's. The music is spectacular as well as it is classic, and very characteristic for both the period it was made and the country where it was directed. The most notorious piece of music is played during the opening credits.

Shichinin no Samurai is undoubtedly my favorite film of its genre. I consider Seppuku (1962), by Masaki Kobayashi, as a deeper and more human and complex film, instantly being a superior project which doesn't particularly focuses on action, but on creating art. Even so, the grandiosity of Kurosawa's jewel is undeniable, and it has been one of the major influences in cinema history. It deserves both the admiration and the credit from the people that get the chance to see it and from the numerous directors and filmmakers that were influenced by this eternal gem in any way.

100/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

Yeah, yeah right. I've seen Star Wars. It's time to see the original one now folks...! Time to see another samurai masterpiece of Kurosawa, that is.

96/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

Review coming someday...

100/100

Brilliant and perfect direction of a wonderful epic. Did you take a look at all of those beautiful and contrasting colors?

88/100

Shakespeare tale told by Kurosawa by means of a perfect art direction and breathtaking cinematography. And admirable high-class gem.

100/100

Calmed, deep, meaningful and harmonic. Beauty can be found in every frame. Kurosawa's last masterpiece, before Madadayo.

81/100