Title: Seven Samurai
Genre: Drama
Director: Kurosawa Akira
Format: Movie; 207 minutes.
Dates: 26 Apr 1954

Synopsis: Tormented by bandits, a small village on the edge of starvation decides to hire samurai to protect themselves. A small group of villagers venture out, hoping to find hungry samurai willing to fight for rice. Although initially unsuccessful, the villagers eventually find Kambei, an aging yet kind samurai who decides to help the poor farmers. When Kambei calculates they will need at least seven samurai to fight the bandits, he and the villagers set off to find other warriors to aid their cause.

Highlights
Story: Simplistic, but engrossing.
Characters: Unforgettably real and deep.
Acting: Some of the best Japan has to offer.
Direction: Kurosawa at his best.
Impact: One of - if not the most - well known Japanese classics.

In 1954, Seven Samurai was the single largest undertaking by a Japanese filmmaker, becoming Japan’s highest ever grossing motion picture. Directed by the now legendary Kurosawa Akira and starring some of the best actors ever to come out of Japan, it is no secret why this movie is considered one of the best of all time. Knowing this, it is easy to see how this movie was so influential - even spawning its own American remake six years later in the form of The Magnificent Seven.

Kurosawa Akira is one of Japan’s best known directors and a legend in film making. In Seven Samurai he used many techniques that had seldom been seen before. He was the first to make slow motion a prominent tool in the movie. He was also among the first to use the plot device of recruiting and gathering a team of heroes in order to accomplish a specific goal, which was later used in movies such as Ocean’s Eleven.

Kurosawa also brought along with him an all star cast including the legendary Shimura Takashi and, most importantly, Mifune Toshiro, one of the best actors of his time. These actors helped bring to life the amazing cast of Seven Samurai, from the stoic leader Kambei to the fledling samurai Katsuhiro to the rough would-be samurai Kikuchiyo. Mifune Toshiro delivers an all-time best performance in the scene where Kikuchiyo defends the actions of the villagers to the other samurai in a heart-wrenching monologue that stands out as the most dramatic scene of the movie.

At first glance the story itself seems quite simplistic: Bad guys attack the poor and the good guys come to the rescue. However, the many subplots of the movie help to draw the viewer in, and it really feels more like the telling of many stories inside of one larger: There is the recruiting of the samurai, the teaching of the villagers to defend themselves, and then the battle with the bandits. Each of these parts are broken up into their own subplots and mini-stories.

To put it simply, Seven Samurai is a classic, and in my opinion possibly one of the greatest films ever made. If you haven’t seen it, you really are missing something special. With an amazing cast behind him Kurosawa Akira has made a masterpeice in what many consider to be his best work. The bottom line is that if you are reading this review, you are probably a fan of the Japanese media, and if you are then there is absolutely no reason why you’ll dislike this movie.

The Rating: 10

Reviewed by: DarkKanti