Seven Samurai (1954) Movie Review

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An intense Japanese basic

Seven Samurai is an epic samurai drama, established in the latter 50 percent of the 16th century for the duration of the Sengoku period of Japanese heritage. This was a period of close to-constant civil wars and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615, which eventually finished with the closing unification of Japan beneath the Excellent Unifier, Tokugawa Ieyasu when he scored a decisive victory in the Battle of Sekigahara. As the title implies, it is about 7 samurai who are hired by a village plagued by bandits. 

But Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is not just any motion-packed samurai movie. Sergio Leone, John Sturges, Lee Katzin, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino are just a few names among the hundreds who have been influenced by Akira Kurosawa and have regarded the Japanese maestro their guru.

If that wasn’t more than enough, innumerable movies have borrowed from Seven Samurai – and owe their creativeness to its effective story-telling, its groundbreaking cinematography, its revolutionary editing composition – whether it be the western genre, sci-fi movies or children’s animated sequence. Noteworthy films like The Outstanding Seven, A Bug’s Lifetime, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Sholay are based mostly on the Seven Samurai. A person can even say that it truly laid the foundation for the American western style – a narrative that centered on the eternal concept of fantastic vs evil, the weak vs powerful – exactly where the typical persons are pitted versus effective oppressive forces. 7 Samurai became the template for the epic motion film genre for generations to occur.

7 Samurai was the most pricey film of its time in Japan. It took a 12 months to shoot, went about funds, faced a lot of problems and censure from studio executives and pretty much shut down at least 2 times, but Kurosawa caught to his guns.

He refused to compromise on his eyesight. From completely planned, entirely made village and genuine period of time costumes to introducing long focal size (telephoto) lens which was a rarity, unparalleled at that time and a path-breaking composition, he revolutionized the system of filmmaking. Even for the actors, Kurosawa was a tricky taskmaster, dependable for an arduous shoot the place he extracted performances to the limit of the actors’ bodily and emotional capabilities.

Kurosawa, the learn perfectionist was so meticulous in depth that he executed comprehensive investigation into the life of samurai. Some of the figures had been really based on genuine historic figures like Miyamoto Musashi, 1 of the most famous samurai of his periods who delivered the template for the steely grasp swordsman Kyuzo, performed by Seiji Miyaguchi.

The screenplay creating approach began with detailed notes on every of the seven major people, their physical characteristics, age, emotional tendencies and attitudes to war. In reality, he built a family members tree of the villagers so that each and every character in the village understood his total character graph and his romance with the other village people. But despite this kind of facts, the movie maintains a constant tempo, concentrating on the war in between the villagers and the bandits, creating sure not to fall back while fleshing out the figures.

Out of the 7, Kambei Shimada, performed by the good Takashi Shimura, is a war veteran, an honourable Ronin and the chief. His selfless act in conserving a small baby from an armed robber, for no personalized gain, impresses on the farmers the worth of this warrior. They are seeking for a samurai, who is a qualified warrior, at the exact time merciful and noble. And Shimada fits the invoice. Here’s a samurai, who has slash off his topknot (a surprising degradation for a samurai), shaves his hair and attire as a monk to trick the armed robber into permitting his guard down.

The legendary Toshiro Mifune portrays Kikuchiyo, a crucial determine among the the 7. A humorous, mercurial and temperamental rogue, he is a stark distinction to a sombre and calm samurai. Kikuchiyo, in spite of his pompous and insolent mind-set, is the tragic hero essential for these kinds of forms of films. An outcast amongst outcasts, he presents comedian reduction to the grim samurai warriors with his rakish humour, evokes braveness and electricity in the peasant ranks and proves his resourcefulness and usefulness to the war hard work.

Certain, Seven Samurai is a extensive viewing by today’s normal – 3 hrs 27 minutes to be precise. It is in black and white, simply cannot be seen without the need of subtitles, established in feudal Japan, nearly 50 {835de6664969b5e2b6c055b582ef3cf063416af730213b9aba3a0f9f5e47a307} a century back in time and in a distant overseas society. Nonetheless it’s timeless, has a universal concept and over all, accomplishes the best purpose of any film – it binds you, engages you, stirs your emotions and provides pure enjoyment. It can effortlessly healthy somewhere at the top rated of the “x selection of films to see just before you die” record of most cine aficionados.

 

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Shirley McQuay

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