9 of 10
Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai
Takashi Shimura
Toshir� Mifune
Yoshio Inaba
Seiji Miyaguchi
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| The Seven Samurai 9 of 10 |
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| Directed by Akira Kurosawa Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai Takashi Shimura Toshir� Mifune Yoshio Inaba Seiji Miyaguchi |
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| Akira Kurosawa is often sited by such famous directors as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola as someone who had a profound effect on their films. And it's not very hard to see why. His films are visual marvels, and have been remade by American studios time and time again. (Star Wars, A Fistful of Dollars, Outrage, and The French Connection all borrowed heavily from his work.) This film is a perfect example: its story is nearly identical to that of The Magnificent Seven. But it is a better movie than the remake. Better, of course, visually; I was expecting that. But the thing I was not prepared for was the difference in the characters. They are more interesting, and better developed. Kurosawa is the master of the beautifully choreographed and amazingly vivid action sequences. But what becomes clear after watching this movie is that he knows how to whisper as well. The scenes where Shimura and his jovial friend work to gather the Seven together are great, and give more insight into their motivations and personalities than the similar scenes in The Magnificent Seven. (Our first introduction to the Coburn look-alike is especially striking in this regard.) And Mifune's wild ronin character, (actually broken down into several separate characters in the American version), is wonderfully complex and inventive. The story is just different enough to offer a few surprises no matter what the viewing order, but there are several subtleties which I believe help to solidify the superiority of Kurosawa's version. Kurosawa always said that none of his movies had more than 3 or 4 minutes of good cinema. I beg to differ. I doubt that it is possible to find 3 or 4 minutes of anything that is not great cinema here. A truly landmark film. | ||||||